tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39338903567017495042024-03-27T16:54:10.848-07:00ROLANDO GARRIDO ROMORolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.comBlogger2811125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-68019340336183752682024-03-27T09:23:00.000-07:002024-03-27T09:23:49.039-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Russian FSB Chief Says US, UK, and Ukraine Could Have
Been Involved in Moscow Terror Attack</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Putin said the attack was committed by 'radical
Islamists' but has hinted that Ukraine was involved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/author/dave_decamp/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">by Dave DeCamp</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> March 26, 2024 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/26/russian-fsb-chief-says-us-uk-and-ukraine-could-have-been-involved-in-moscow-terror-attack/">https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/26/russian-fsb-chief-says-us-uk-and-ukraine-could-have-been-involved-in-moscow-terror-attack/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service
(FSB) </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/594935-us-uk-ukraine-moscow-terrorism/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">said Tuesday </span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">that the US, the UK, and Ukraine could have been
involved in the terrorist attack on a concert hall outside of Moscow that
killed 139 people.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov told reporters that
Russia was trying to identify everyone who was involved in the massacre and was
asked if the US, Britain, and Ukraine were involved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“We think that this is so. In any case, we are now
talking about the information that we have. This is general information, but
they [investigators] also have concrete results,” Bortnikov replied, according
to <i>RT</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The ISIS affiliate based in Afghanistan, known as
Islamic State – Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, has taken credit for the attack,
a claim backed by the US. Russian President Vladimir Putin </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-shooting-concert-hall-putin-dd92b2c185a65e1eab57a661382bd3ef"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">said on Monday that “radical
Islamists”</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> carried
out the attack but suggested Ukraine could have been involved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Putin also questioned the US assertion that ISIS-K was
responsible. “We are seeing that the US, through various channels, is trying to
convince its satellites and other countries of the world that, according to
their intelligence, there is allegedly no Kyiv trace in the Moscow terror
attack — that the bloody terrorist act was committed by followers of Islam,
members of the Islamic State group,” he said. “Those who support the Kyiv
regime don’t want to be accomplices in terror and sponsors of terrorism, but many
questions remain.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If Russia believes that Ukraine or any NATO country
was in some way responsible for the Moscow terrorist attack, it could lead to a
major escalation of the war in Ukraine. The Russian military has already
escalated its missile strikes across Ukraine in response to the Ukrainian
attacks inside Russia.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">According to </span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://tass.com/emergencies/1766181"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">TASS</span></a></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">,
Bortnikov noted that Ukraine had been increasing its attacks on Russian
territory and said US and British intelligence were involved in the operations.
“There have been drone strikes, strikes by uncrewed boats at sea, and
incursions by groups of saboteurs and terrorist organizations into our
territory,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In recent weeks, Ukraine has launched </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/17/ukraine-launches-dozens-of-drone-attacks-across-western-russia/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">heavy drone</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/19/russia-says-it-will-evacuate-9000-children-from-belgorod-as-ukraine-steps-up-attacks-on-russian-territory/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">artillery</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> attacks on Russian territory. The Russian
Volunteer Corps, a neo-Nazi militia made up of Russian volunteers that have</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2023/05/23/neo-nazi-militia-used-us-armored-vehicles-in-attack-on-russias-belgorod-region/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> US armored vehicles</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, launched </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-backed-anti-kremlin-fighters-say-they-are-still-operating-inside-russia-2024-03-21/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">ground incursions </span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">into Russian border regions from Ukraine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-87800641318688242642024-03-26T08:14:00.000-07:002024-03-26T08:14:46.771-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israel Is a Strategic Liability for the United
States</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The special relationship does not benefit Washington
and is endangering U.S. interests across the globe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">MARCH 22, 2024 • COMMENTARY<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">By </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.cato.org/people/jon-hoffman"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jon Hoffman</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://www.cato.org/commentary/israel-strategic-liability-united-states#">https://www.cato.org/commentary/israel-strategic-liability-united-states#</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">U.S. President Joe Biden recently </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-theres-no-going-back-to-pre-war-status-quo-there-must-be-vision-of-2-states/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">proclaimed</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that “there’s no going back to the [Middle East]
status quo as it stood on Oct. 6.” But the truth is that Biden refuses to
abandon the status quo, particularly regarding Washington’s so</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">called special relationship with Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Unwavering U.S. support for Israel has been
a consistent element of U.S. Middle East policy since the establishment of
the state in 1948. President John F. Kennedy coined the phrase “</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/23916266/us-israel-support-ally-gaza-war-aid"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">special relationship</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">” in 1962, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24913659"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">explaining</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that
Washington’s ties to the state were “really comparable only to that which it
has with Britain over a wide range of world affairs.” By 2013, then</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Vice President Biden </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://embassies.gov.il/washington/NewsAndEvents/Pages/Vice-President-Biden's-Speech-at-AIPAC.aspx"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">argued</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that “it’s not only a long</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">standing moral commitment; it’s a strategic
commitment.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">According to Biden, “if there were no Israel, we’d
have to invent one.” In 2020, then</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">President Donald Trump cut through some of the fog,
admitting that “we don’t have to be in the Middle East, other than we want to
protect Israel.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The core of the U.S.-Israel relationship is the
unparalleled amount of aid that Washington bestows upon its ally. Israel is the
top recipient of U.S. military aid, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-military-aid-does-the-us-give-to-israel/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">receiving</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> more than $300 billion (adjusted for inflation)
from the United States since World War II.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Washington continues to provide Israel with
roughly </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">$3.8 billion</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> annually in addition to other arms deals and
security benefits. (Some of the other top recipients of U.S. aid, such as Egypt
and Jordan, receive large amounts in exchange for maintaining normalized
relations with Israel). Israel and its supporters are hugely influential in
Washington, commanding attention on both sides of the political aisle through
different forms of direct and indirect </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/israel-lobby-and-us-foreign-policy"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">lobbying and influence</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What exactly the United States gets in return for this
unidirectional relationship remains unclear.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Proponents claim that unfaltering support is critical
for the advancement of U.S. interests in the Middle East. Sen. Lindsey Graham,
for example, once </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.jns.org/lindsey-graham-meets-netanyahu-the-eyes-and-ears-of-america-is-israel/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">referred</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to Israel as the “eyes and ears of America” in
the region. While intelligence</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">sharing
may have some strategic value, the past five months of war in Gaza have made
clear the numerous negative effects of the relationship, namely how Washington’s
emphatic embrace of Israel has undermined its strategic position in the Middle
East while damaging its global image. The war has starkly highlighted the
underlying </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/01/11/israel-hamas-gaza-war-us-middle-east-policy-saudi-biden/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">failures</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of U.S. Middle East policy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It’s past time for a fundamental reevaluation of
the U.S.-Israel relationship.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">ISRAEL’S CAMPAIGN of collective punishment in Gaza has
been </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-bombs-destruction-death-toll-scope-419488c511f83c85baea22458472a796"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">historic in scale</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. According to the Gazan health authorities, the
official death toll across the enclave is now </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-02-29-2024-f9b5a62a80d8b83eac4946d3c85af58b"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">roughly</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> 32,000 people, the vast majority of whom are
women and children. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/israel-killed-25-000-palestinian-women-children-since-october-pentagon-4ea9d358"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">claimed</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that 25,000 women and children alone had been
killed as a result of the war in Gaza. While some, including </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-war-palestinians-news/card/biden-says-he-doubts-accuracy-of-palestinians-death-toll-reports-WXQUdN2EwX9EZO3Jhziq"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Biden himself</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, have raised concern over whether the casualty
figures coming out of Gaza are inflated, others </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/29/1234159514/gaza-death-toll-30000-palestinians-israel-hamas-war"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">argue</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that the death toll is likely even higher
because ongoing hostilities prevent researchers from the accounting for
thousands of people whose fate or whereabouts are </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/16/gaza-missing-war-israel-detained/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">unknown</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Across the strip, civilian infrastructure has
been </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15564.doc.htm"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">systematically decimated</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, and </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/15-01-2024-preventing-famine-and-deadly-disease-outbreak-in-gaza-requires-faster--safer-aid-access-and-more-supply-routes"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">starvation and disease</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> are spreading rapidly. The situation inside Gaza
is </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/18/gaza-famine-report-ipc/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">so bad</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that the U.S. government—alongside other
countries, such as France, Jordan, and Egypt—is now </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/02/gaza-airdrop-aid-palestinians"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">airlifting</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> aid into the strip, and the United States
is </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/10/world/middleeast/us-ship-gaza-aid.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">deploying</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> 1,000 troops to build a pier off the shore
of the enclave in order to break the siege that its supposed ally—using U.S.
weapons—refuses to lift.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Despite this, the Biden administration has continued
to supply Israel with advanced weaponry—including both smart and “dumb” bombs
as well as tank and artillery ammunition—</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/06/us-weapons-israel-gaza/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">approving</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> more than 100 foreign military sales to Israel
since Oct. 7, 2023, and invoking emergency rules on two different occasions to
circumvent Congress. The United States </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-drafts-u-n-resolution-calling-for-temporary-cease-fire-in-gaza-ad5c58ce"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">recently issued</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> its third veto in the U.N. Security Council
since the conflict began, being the only country to block a resolution
calling for an immediate humanitarian cease</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">fire. This is in addition to another </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/politics/senate-foreign-aid-bill-ukraine/index.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">$14 billion</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> in military aid for Israel recently passed by
the Senate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It’s difficult to fathom that this war could get
worse, but all indicators point in that direction, as Israel insists that it
will continue to push into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite U.S.
objections, where more than 1.5 million Palestinians—exceeding half the
population of Gaza—have fled.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Biden administration has </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/02/15/readout-of-president-bidens-call-with-prime-minister-netanyahu-of-israel-12/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">said</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> it opposes an invasion of Rafah “without
a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for
the civilians.” In an interview with MSNBC, Biden </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/10/biden-makes-contradictory-remarks-on-red-lines-for-israel-in-gaza"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">spoke</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of a “red line” in response to a question
about a possible military operation in Gaza, saying, “[we] cannot have
another 30,000 more Palestinians dead,” but he then immediately stated that
“the defense of Israel is still critical, so there’s no red line.” This
incoherence not only negates Biden’s leverage, but also binds Washington to
whatever policies the far</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">right
government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ultimately adopts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Unsurprisingly, Netanyahu </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/17/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">remains adamant</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that he will not bow to Biden’s ethereal red
line by calling off his plan for a ground invasion of Rafah. Netanyahu
recently </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-hits-rafah-air-us-urges-rethink-ground-2024-03-19/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">stated</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that he made it “supremely clear” to Biden that
he is “determined to complete the elimination of these battalions in Rafah, and
there’s no way to do that except by going in on the ground.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israel has demonstrated no long</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">term </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/23/israel-military-gaza-strategy-hamas/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">political strategy</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> in Gaza beyond the systematic destruction of the
enclave and killing of its inhabitants. Netanyahu—whose support has
reached </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/08/israel-netanyahu-gaza-war-hostages/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">all</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">time lows</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, and
who faces </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-dismisses-election-calls-thousands-protest-tel-aviv-2024-02-17/#:~:text=JERUSALEM%2C%20Feb%2017%20(Reuters),opinion%20polls%20since%20Hamas'%20Oct."><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">growing protests</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> calling for early elections—seems to know that
once this ends, his time in power is over.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Yet Biden has been either unable or unwilling to
leverage the special relationship with Israel or sway Netanyahu, who has
previously </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/fibi-netanyahu"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">boasted</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of his ability to manipulate the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The White House has begun strategically leaking
reports of Biden’s increasing “</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-netanyahu-relationship-at-boiling-point-as-rafah-invasion-looms-b893bec5"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">frustration</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">” with Netanyahu, and the administration is
becoming </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/03/kamala-harris-calls-ceasefire-deal-gaza-starving"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">more vocal</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> in its support for a temporary pause to the
fighting. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/schumer-netanyahu-israel-palestinians-elections-1ebf21e4c9c0f6f42478bb26e1db7a9b"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">delivered</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> an unprecedented public condemnation of
Netanyahu on March 14, arguing that he has “lost his way” while also calling
for new elections in Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But empty rhetoric without policy change will
accomplish nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">SYMBOLIC ACTS—such as the recent U.S. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/14/west-bank-settlement-sanctions-biden/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">executive order</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> sanctioning two Israeli settler outposts in the
West Bank or Biden’s </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/23/israel-settlements-blinken-pompeo-trump-illegal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">decision</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to reestablish the position that Israeli
settlement expansion is “inconsistent with international law”—is not going to
stop the carnage in Gaza, absolve Washington of complicity, or contribute to
future stability.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Likely in direct response to these actions, Israel
just </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68490034"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">authorized</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the construction of 3,400 new houses in West
Bank settlements amid </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/08/world/middleeast/israel-settlement-expansion.html#:~:text=The%20United%20Nations%20human%20rights,amounts%20to%20a%20war%20crime."><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">historic levels</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of violence against Palestinians; the United
States has done little to punish or halt the move.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Netanyahu’s recently revealed </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-presents-blueprint-for-postwar-gaza-with-free-rein-for-israeli-military-36b1d53c"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">postwar plan</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> contains little more than a plan for the
prolonged military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, which would guarantee
future instability. Since Oct. 7, Netanyahu has repeatedly bragged that he is “</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/benjamin-netanyahu-prevented-palestinian-state-two-state-solution_n_6580a368e4b0e142c0bed60b#:~:text=%E2%80%9CI%27m%20proud%20that%20I,said%20at%20a%20news%20conference."><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">proud</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">” to have prevented the emergence of
a Palestinian state, promising that he alone can continue stopping one.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In contrast to Netanyahu’s plan, the Biden
administration’s day</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">after
blueprint includes a </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.cato.org/Users/sasha.polakow/Downloads/A%20man%20walks%20past%20a%20TikTok%20booth%20during%20the%20Appliance%20and%20Electronics%20World%20Expo%20in%20Shanghai%20on%20March%2014"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">vision</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> for a “</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/19/us/politics/biden-netanyahu-palestinian-state.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">pathway</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">” toward a Palestinian state. Notably, though, it
contains no concrete plans, much less intent, for implementation on the part of
the United States or Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The war in Gaza should demonstrate that trying to
sidestep the future of the Palestinian people is a foolish strategy. But
for Netanyahu—and for Biden, by extension—it has perversely deepened
a commitment to that status quo.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Washington’s unwavering support for Israel amid the
war in Gaza has also had disastrous regional ramifications. From the Eastern
Mediterranean to the Red Sea, a series of different flash points risk
dragging the region—and the United States—into full</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">scale war. Additionally, Washington’s continued
support of Israel’s brutal campaign in Gaza has </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/02/20/biden-gaza-muslim-liberals-israel-war/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">tarnished Washington’s image</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> as a lodestar of liberal values, making
a mockery of claims about a U.S.-led “liberal international order.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A regional war would be disastrous for the Middle East
and the interests of the United States. Nor would such a war be
a matter of Israel’s survival. No state—including Iran—is about to push
Israel into the sea. Israel’s military superiority, nuclear arsenal, and
strategic alignment with the majority of governments in the region guarantee
its security against existential challenges.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Washington’s stance allows Israel to act with impunity
while bending U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East in pursuit of objectives
that lie well beyond Washington’s interests. U.S. interests in the region
include protecting the safety and prosperity of the American people and
preventing the emergence of a regional hegemon while upholding the values
that the country claims to stand for. Knee</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">jerk support for Israel does not advance any of
these.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The pathologies of the special relationship with
Israel have hindered Washington’s strategic maneuverability in the Middle East
and inhibited U.S. leaders’ ability to even think clearly about the region. In
late 2023, for example, Biden defamed his own country when he </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/12/11/remarks-by-president-biden-at-a-hanukkah-holiday-reception/#:~:text=As%20I%20said%20after%20the,(Applause.)"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">declared</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that “were there no Israel, there wouldn’t be
a Jew in the world who was safe.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This kind of thinking makes sound statecraft
impossible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">THE UNEVEN U.S. RELATIONSHIP with Israel has, for
example, hindered Washington’s ability to engage diplomatically with Iran while
pushing the United States toward the use of military force there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Over the past five months, Israel has repeatedly </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-us-and-israel-need-to-take-iran-on-directly-proxies-hamas-threat-7f67a238"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">attempted</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to pressure the United States into direct
confrontation with Iran, despite this being anathema to U.S. interests and
regional stability. High</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">level </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/26/us-military-israel-joint-exercise-iran/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">military drills</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> between Israel and the United States, Israel’s
recent attack on major gas pipelines in Iran, and continued escalation between
Iranian</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">backed
groups and the United States across the Middle East risk sparking a regionwide
catastrophe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Washington’s engagement with Israel—like any other
state—should be driven by the pursuit of concrete U.S. interests. Even U.S.
relations with treaty allies such as France or South Korea feature debates,
disagreements, and the normal push and pull of diplomacy. By contrast, the
special relationship with Israel has fueled some of the worst actors in Israeli
politics, encouraged ruinous policies, and generally done violence to the long</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">term interest of both countries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Washington’s subsidies for Israeli policies have
insulated Israel from the costs of those policies. What incentive does Israel
face to change course when the most powerful state in the world refuses to
condition its profound levels of political, economic, and military support?
Were Israel forced to bear the full costs of its policies in the West Bank, for
example, its pro</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">settler
agenda would become harder to sustain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A special relationship with Israel does virtually
nothing for the United States while actively undermining U.S. strategic
interests and often doing violence to the values that Washington claims to
stand for.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It’s time to “normalize” the United States’
relationship with Israel. This does not mean making Israel an enemy of the
United States, but rather approaching Israel the same way that Washington
should approach any other foreign nation: from arm’s‑length.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No longer would decisions about military aid, arms
sales, or diplomatic cover be rooted in path dependency or muscle memory, but
rather in officials’ perceptions of the U.S. interests at stake. Instead of
enabling, shielding, and subsidizing Israeli policy, the United States should
reorient its relationship with Israel on the basis of concrete U.S. interests.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This would entail Washington ending its willingness to
turn a blind eye to Israeli </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/world/middleeast/10biden.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">affronts</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to U.S. interests, by providing huge amounts of
aid, and pushing for a swift end to this disastrous war and
a permanent political solution to the Israeli</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Cambria Math",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Cambria Math";">‐</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Palestinian conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Biden administration faces a choice: continue
following the Netanyahu government into the abyss, or forcefully pressure it to
change course.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-87501233456167173532024-03-25T11:08:00.000-07:002024-03-25T11:08:27.991-07:00<p><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">AOC decries
‘unfolding genocide’ in Gaza, urges halting weapons to Israel</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Progressive US legislator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
delivers impassioned speech condemning abuses against Palestinians.</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">By </span><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/author/al_jazeera_staff_150119130629458"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Al Jazeera Staff</span></a></span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Published On 22 Mar 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/22/aoc-decries-unfolding-genocide-in-gaza-urges-halting-weapons-to-israel">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/22/aoc-decries-unfolding-genocide-in-gaza-urges-halting-weapons-to-israel</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Washington, DC –</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Describing the humanitarian </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/20/israels-war-on-gaza-live-multiple-attacks-kill-dozens-of-palestinians"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">catastrophe in Gaza</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> as a genocide, progressive Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called on the United States to suspend weapons
transfers to Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In an impassioned speech on the floor of the House of
Representatives on Friday, Ocasio-Cortez condemned the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/19/israels-restrictions-to-gaza-aid-may-be-war-crime-un-rights-office-says"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israeli blockade</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> on Gaza, which the United Nations says has put
the territory on the verge of famine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“This is a mass starvation of people, engineered and
orchestrated following the killing of another 30,000, 70 percent of whom were
women and children killed. There is hardly a single hospital left. And this was
all accomplished, much of this accomplished, with US resources and weapons,”
Ocasio-Cortez, a US representative from New York, said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“If you want to know what an unfolding genocide looks
like, open your eyes. It looks like the forced famine of 1.1 million innocents.
It looks like thousands of children eating grass as their bodies consume
themselves, while trucks of food are slowed and halted just miles away.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“It looks like good and decent people who do nothing,
or too little, too late.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most recognised names in
Congress and a rising star in President Joe Biden’s </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/2/how-democrats-are-alienating-their-base-by-blasting-a-gaza-war-ceasefire"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Democratic Party</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, had previously faced criticism from the left for
failing to join many of her fellow progressive in accusing Israel of genocide
in Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Biden administration rejects allegations that
Israel is systematically committing human rights violations in Gaza. Earlier
this year, it called </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/6/south-africa-asks-icj-for-more-measures-against-israel-over-gaza-famine"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">South Africa’s petition</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
accusing Israel of genocide unfounded.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ocasio-Cortez said on Friday that the US cannot
continue to “facilitate” mass killings in Gaza in the name of honouring its
alliance with Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“The time is now to force compliance with US law and
the standards of humanity, and fulfill our obligations to the American people
to suspend the transfer of US weapons to the Israeli government in order to
stop and prevent further atrocity,” the congresswoman said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The US is Israel’s top weapons supplier.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Washington provides at least $3.8bn in aid to Israel
annually, and Biden is </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/13/us-senate-passes-long-delayed-bill-for-aid-to-ukraine-and-israel"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">working with Congress</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to secure $14bn in additional aid to the US
ally.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Public opinion polls, however, show that the Biden
administration’s steadfast support for Israel may cost the president votes as
the election season gets under way, and Biden and key Democrats have in recent
weeks been more forceful in their criticism of the Israeli government siege of
Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">US officials have repeatedly warned Israel against
invading Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than one million displaced
Palestinians have taken shelter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But White House national security spokesperson John
Kirby suggested on Friday that Washington will not halt its weapon transfers to
Israel. US officials have said that they share Israel’s goals of eliminating
Hamas in Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Asked whether the US will use its “leverage” to
dissuade Israel from launching a major ground operation in Rafah, Kirby said,
“We’re going to continue to approach this with Israel as we have in the past,
which is to make sure that they have the tools they need to defend themselves
against a still-viable threat.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Kirby added that, at the same time, the US will use
its ties with Israel and the relationship between Biden and Israeli Prime
Minister </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/14/us-senate-leader-chuck-schumer-calls-for-new-israel-elections-amid-gaza-war#:~:text=Schumer%20called%20Israel's%20Benjamin%20Netanyahu,Gaza%2C%20in%20harshest%20criticism%20yet.&text=The%20top%20legislator%20in%20the,shake%2Dup%20in%20the%20country."><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Benjamin Netanyahu</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to “urge them to minimise civilian casualties”
and allow more humanitarian assistance to Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Earlier on Friday, the UN Security Council failed to
adopt a US-authored proposal around a ceasefire in Gaza. The measure backed the
“imperative” for “an immediate and sustained ceasefire to protect civilians on
all sides” but fell short of explicitly demanding an end to the war.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Kirby said the draft resolution signals no change in
the Biden administration’s position, which has been to push </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/12/gaza-war-how-biden-adopted-call-for-ceasefire-without-shifting-policy"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">for a temporary</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> cessation of hostilities as part of a deal that
would see the release of Israeli captives in Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“It is in line with our longstanding calls for an
immediate ceasefire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks as part of our
hostage deal – nothing new there,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The White House spokesperson added that progress is
being made in the talks to reach a truce agreement. “Nothing is negotiated
until it’s all negotiated. But we do believe that the gaps </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/21/blinken-meets-with-arab-officials-calls-for-enduring-end-to-gaza-crisis#:~:text=In%20a%20major%20speech%20earlier,taken%20shelter%20since%20being%20displaced."><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">are narrowing</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and we are getting closer,” he told reporters.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">However, US progressives have long argued that a
temporary halt in fighting is not sufficient, calling on Washington to revise
its unconditional support for Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“This is not just about Israel or Gaza. This is about
us. The world will never be the same,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Friday of the
mounting death toll and hunger in the Palestinian territory.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Our story must be not that we were good men who did
nothing, but that we were a committed democracy that did something.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-38632869476982562142024-03-24T07:26:00.000-07:002024-03-24T07:26:05.334-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It’s War: The Real Meat Grinder Starts Now</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.unz.com/author/pepe-escobar/" title="Articles, Columns, and Major Blog Posts by Pepe Escobar">PEPE ESCOBAR</a> • MARCH
23, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.unz.com/pescobar/its-war-the-real-meat-grinder-starts-now/">https://www.unz.com/pescobar/its-war-the-real-meat-grinder-starts-now/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No more shadow play. It’s now in the open. No holds
barred.</span></i></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Exhibit 1:</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Friday, March 22, 2024. It’s War. The Kremlin,
via Peskov, finally admits it, on the record.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The money quote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Russia cannot allow the existence on its borders of a
state that has a documented intention to use any methods to take Crimea away
from it, not to mention the territory of new regions.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Translation: the Hegemon-constructed Kiev mongrel is
doomed, one way or another. The Kremlin signal: “We haven’t even started”
starts now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Exhibit 2:</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Friday afternoon, a few hours after Peskov.
Confirmed by a serious European – not Russian – source. The first
counter-signal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Regular troops from France, Germany and Poland have
arrived, by rail and air, to Cherkassy, south of Kiev. A substantial force. No
numbers leaked. They are being housed in schools. For all practical purposes,
this is a NATO force.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">That signals, “Let the games begin”. From a Russian
point of view, Mr. Khinzal’s business cards are set to be in great demand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Exhibit 3:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Friday
evening. Terror attack on Crocus City, a music venue northwest of Moscow. A
heavily trained commando shoots people on sight, point blank, in cold blood,
then sets a concert hall on fire. The definitive counter-signal: with the
battlefield collapsing, all that’s left is terrorism in Moscow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And just as terror was
striking Moscow, the US and the UK, in southwest Asia, was bombing Sana’a, the
Yemeni capital, with at least five strikes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some nifty coordination. Yemen
has just clinched a strategic deal in Oman with Russia-China for no-hassle
navigation in the Red Sea, and is among the top candidates for BRICS+ expansion
at the summit in Kazan next October.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Not only the Houthis are
spectacularly defeating thalassocracy, they have the Russia-China strategic
partnership on their side. Assuring China and Russia that their ships can sail
through the Bab-al-Mandeb, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with no problems is exchanged
with total political support from Beijing and Moscow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The sponsors remain the same</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Deep in the night in Moscow,
before dawn on Saturday 23. Virtually no one is sleeping. Rumors dance like
dervishes on countless screens. Of course nothing has been confirmed – yet.
Only the FSB will have answers. A massive investigation is in progress.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The timing of the Crocus
massacre is quite intriguing. On a Friday during Ramadan. Real Muslims would
not even think about perpetrating a mass murder of unarmed civilians under such
a holy occasion. Compare it with the ISIS card being frantically branded by the
usual suspects.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let’s go pop. To quote Talking
Heads: “This ain’t no party/ this ain’t no disco/ this ain’t no fooling
around”. Oh no; it’s more like an all-American psy op. ISIS are cartoonish
mercenaries/goons. Not real Muslims. And everyone knows who finances and weaponizes
them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That leads to the most
possible scenario, before the FSB weighs in: ISIS goons imported from the Syria
battleground – as it stands, probably Tajiks – trained by CIA and MI6, working
on behalf of the Ukrainian SBU. Several witnesses at Crocus referred to “Wahhabis”
– as in the commando killers did not look like Slavs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was up to Serbia’s
Aleksandar Vucic to cut to the chase. He directly connected the “warnings” in
early March from American and British embassies directed at their citizens not
to visit public places in Moscow with CIA/MI6 intel having inside info about
possible terrorism, and not disclosing it to Moscow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The plot thickens when it is
established that Crocus is owned by the Agalarovs: an Azeri-Russian billionaire
family, very close friends of…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">… Donald Trump.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Talk about a Deep
State-pinpointed target.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ISIS spin-off or banderistas –
the sponsors remain the same. The clownish secretary of the National Security
and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, was dumb enough to virtually,
indirectly confirm they did it, saying on Ukrainian TV, “we will give them
[Russians] this kind of fun more often.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But it was up to Sergei
Goncharov, a veteran of the elite Russia Alpha anti-terrorism unit, to get
closer to unwrapping the enigma: he told Sputnik the most feasible mastermind
is Kyrylo Budanov – the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ukrainian
Ministry of Defense.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The “spy chief” who happens to
be the top CIA asset in Kiev.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s got to go till the last
Ukrainian</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The three exhibits above
complement what the head of NATO’s<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">military committee, Rob Bauer,
previously told a security forum in Kiev: “You need more than just grenades –
you need people to replace the dead and wounded. And this means mobilization.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Translation: NATO spelling out
this is a war until the last Ukrainian.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And the “leadership” in Kiev
still does not get it. Former Minister of Infrastructure Omelyan: “If we win,
we will pay back with Russian oil, gas, diamonds and fur. If we lose, there
will be no talk of money – the West will think about how to survive.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In parallel, puny “garden-and
jungle” Borrell admitted that it would be “difficult” for the EU to find an
extra 50 billion euros for Kiev if Washington pulls the plug. The
cocaine-fueled sweaty sweatshirt leadership actually believes that Washington
is not “helping” in the form of loans, but in the form of free gifts. And the
same applies for the EU.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Theater of the Absurd is
unmatchable. The German Liver Sausage Chancellor actually believes that
proceeds from stolen Russian assets “do not belong to anyone”, so they can be
used to finance extra Kiev weaponizing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Everyone with a brain knows
that using interest from “frozen”, actually stolen Russian assets to weaponize
Ukraine is a dead end – unless they steal all of Russia’s assets, roughly $200
billion, mostly parked in Belgium and Switzerland: that would tank the Euro for
good, and the whole EU economy for that matter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Eurocrats better listen to
Russian Central Bank major “disrupter” (American terminology) Elvira
Nabiullina: The Bank of Russia will take “appropriate measures” if the EU does
anything on the “frozen”/stolen Russian assets.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It goes without saying that
the three exhibits above completely nullify the “La Cage aux Folles” circus
promoted by the puny Petit Roi, now known across his French domains as
Macronapoleon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Virtually the whole planet,
including the English-speaking Global North, had already been mocking the
“exploits” of his Can Can Moulin Rouge Army.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So French, German and Polish
soldiers, as part of NATO, are already in the south of Kiev. The most possible
scenario is that they will stay far, far away from the frontlines – although
traceable by Mr. Khinzal’s business activities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Even before this new NATO
batch arriving in the south of Kiev, Poland – which happens to serve as prime
transit corridor for Kiev’s troops – had confirmed that Western troops are
already on the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So this is not about
mercenaries anymore. France, by the way, is only 7<sup>th</sup> in terms
of mercenaries on the ground, largely trailing Poland, the US and Georgia, for
instance. The Russian Ministry of Defense has all the precise records.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In a nutshell: now war has
morphed from Donetsk, Avdeyevka and Belgorod to Moscow. Further on down the
road, it may not just stop in Kiev. It may only stop in Lviv. <a href="https://sputnikglobe.com/20240320/donetsk-avdeyevka-mariupol-on-the-road-in-electoral-donbass-1117443687.html" title="https://sputnikglobe.com/20240320/donetsk-avdeyevka-mariupol-on-the-road-in-electoral-donbass-1117443687.html"><b>Mr.
87%, enjoying massive national near-unanimity</b></a>, now has the mandate to
go all the way. Especially after Crocus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s every possibility the
terror tactics by Kiev goons will finally drive Russia to return Ukraine to its
original 17<sup>th</sup> century landlocked borders: Black Sea-deprived,
and with Poland, Romania, and Hungary reclaiming their former territories.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Remaining Ukrainians will
start to ask serious questions about what led them to fight – literally to
their death – on behalf of the US Deep State, the military complex and
BlackRock.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As it stands, the Highway to
Hell meat grinder is bound to reach maximum velocity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-49935440397570454552024-03-23T10:09:00.000-07:002024-03-23T10:09:06.170-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%;">LA CIA, EL MI6 Y EL MOSSAD LOS
MÁS PROBABLES ORGANIZADORES DE LA MASACRE EN MOSCÚ</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Un grupo armado de alrededor
de 11 personas irrumpió en el Crocus City Hall del pueblo de Krasnogorsk, en
las afueras de Moscú, antes del inicio del concierto del grupo de rock Picnic,
la noche del viernes 22 de marzo, abriendo fuego indiscriminadamente.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hasta el momento van
contabilizados 133 muertos (incluidos niños) y 121 heridos.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Según los servicios de
seguridad rusos los once involucrados ya han sido aprehendidos; algunos de
ellos estaban a punto de huir hacia Ucrania.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">El Estado Islámico (ISIS) se ha
adjudicado el atentado, supuestamente como “venganza” por lo que Rusia ha hecho
en Chechenia y en el Medio Oriente.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Para el gobierno ruso los más
probables autores intelectuales de este atentado son los servicios de
inteligencia de Ucrania, que como todos saben, están manejados por la CIA, el
MI6 y el Mossad.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">No tiene absolutamente ninguna
lógica el que el Estado Islámico ataque a Rusia.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hay que recordar que dicha organización
terrorista sólo estuvo interesada en atacar al régimen de Bashar el Assad en
Siria y a los gobiernos de Irak, después de la invasión estadounidense de 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jamás atacó a las fuerzas
occidentales como su primer objetivo (sólo de manera defensiva) y nunca a
Israel. De hecho, cuando en alguna ocasión, al estar atacando en el Oeste de
Siria a las fuerzas del gobierno de Assad, algunas bombas cayeron en los Altos
del Golán -que como sabemos están ocupadas ilegalmente por Israel desde 1967- inmediatamente la dirigencia de ISIS se disculpó con el gobierno de Tel Aviv. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">¿Cuándo se ha visto que una organización
terrorista islámica se disculpe por atacar al que es considerado el principal
enemigo de los fundamentalistas musulmanes, es decir Israel?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Desde el 7 de marzo la
embajada de Estados Unidos en Moscú advirtió a sus ciudadanos que no asistieran
a eventos masivos, porque había información creíble de posibles atentados
terroristas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Igual que cuando antes del 11
de septiembre del 2001 hasta 4000 judíos de Nueva York recibieron mensajes en
los que se les advertía no acercarse a las Torres Gemelas de Nueva York, pues
había la certeza de que habría ataques contra ellas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Así, Washington, Londres y Tel
Aviv le están cobrando a Putin no sólo su reciente apabullante triunfo en las
elecciones presidenciales en Rusia; sino también su apoyo a la causa palestina ante
el genocidio que comete Israel; y por supuesto, la derrota que los rusos le
siguen infringiendo a Ucrania en la guerra que sostienen ambos países.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-54995374988429313432024-03-22T13:46:00.000-07:002024-03-22T13:46:46.796-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Large blaze rages at Russian mall hit by terrorist attack.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">https://www.rt.com/russia/594727-russian-mall-terrorist-fire/<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The popular shopping center and music venue outside
Moscow was set on fire after gunmen entered it and began shooting at visitors<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Multiple fire brigades and aircraft have been deployed
to put out a blaze at a large mall outside Moscow that was attacked by
terrorists on Friday night. The popular shopping center and music venue is
located in Krasnogorsk, just northwest of the Russian capital. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A group of gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall on
Friday night, killing at least 40 people, according to the authorities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The assailants reportedly set the building on fire.
Witnesses also said they heard explosions inside the mall.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">According to regional emergency services, around 100
people have been evacuated from the underground floor. The rescuers are working
to evacuate people from the roof.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">More than 320 firefighters are on site, officials
said. Three helicopters are dropping water on the blaze.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Opened in 2009, Crocus City Hall is a bustling
shopping and entertainment hub, which hosts many high-end stores and a music
venue. The rock band Picnic was set to perform there on Friday night, so the
building was packed with fans at the time of the attack.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-12722038699484093592024-03-22T09:20:00.000-07:002024-03-22T09:20:49.982-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Why US ceasefire proposal failed at UNSC</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Russia and China vetoed language which did represent a
shift for Biden — but the devil is in the details<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/author/tparsi/">TRITA PARSI</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MAR 22, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-ceasefire-gaza-un/">https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-ceasefire-gaza-un/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Russia and China just </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/22/us-ceasefire-resolution-veto-un-security-council" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">vetoed Biden's
draft resolution on Gaza </span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">at the UN Security Council. Algeria also voted against
it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Though the resolution fell short of clearly <i>demanding</i> a
ceasefire, Moscow and Beijing nevertheless enable Biden to shift the blame to
Russia for the Council's inaction, even though Biden has been the key obstacle
to progress at the Council for the last six months.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Though much of the debate will be on their vetoes, an
analysis of the resolution text reveals both movements in Biden's position, as
well as why his shift remains insufficient in many aspects.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">First of all, this is significantly stronger than
previous American drafts, yet it still falls short of a clear and
unequivocal <i>demand</i> for an unconditional ceasefire. One one
hand, it no longer calls for a ceasefire <i>as soon as practicable</i>, as
a previous U.S. resolution did, which was a remarkably weak formulation. But
the operative clause is still very convoluted and unnecessarily complicated —
which has become the hallmark of everything Biden has done on Gaza:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">(The Security Council)<i> Determines</i> the
imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire to protect civilians on all
sides, allow for the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance, and
alleviate humanitarian suffering, and towards that end <i>unequivocally
supports </i>ongoing international diplomatic efforts to secure such a
ceasefire in connection with the release of all remaining hostages;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The clause does not demand a ceasefire but determines
that it is imperative. Its support is not directly for the ceasefire but for
the negotiation process the U.S. has been co-leading and whose parameters the
U.S. has sought to determine in favor of Israel. The text points out that this
effort to secure a ceasefire is "in connection with the release of <i>all</i> remaining
hostages." (Emphasis mine.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is an Israeli demand that is not likely to be
accepted by Hamas in return for a time-limited ceasefire rather than a
permanent one. As such, the American draft endorses the Israeli position in the
negotiations and indirectly conditions the ceasefire on the release of all
hostages, effectively making two million civilian Gazans hostages as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Other operative clauses are stronger and more direct,
although they fall short of calling out Israel by name. For instance, the draft
is very strong in:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">— “Rejecting…</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">any forced displacement of the civilian population in
Gaza."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">— “Demanding</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> ...that Hamas and other armed groups immediately
grant humanitarian access to all remaining hostages."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">— “<i>Rejecting</i>… actions that reduce the territory
of Gaza, including through the establishment officially or unofficially of
so-called buffer zones."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">— “<i>Condemning</i> ... calls by government
ministers for the resettlement of Gaza and rejects any attempt at demographic
or territorial change in Gaza."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Of course, the government ministers in question are
all Israeli, but the text falls short of naming Israel. Still, this should
arguably commit the U.S. to stopping Israel's ongoing efforts to carve
territory in Gaza and build buffer zones. Otherwise, the U.S. will fail to act
on demands it itself put into its own UN resolution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On one crucial point, though, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Raminho?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">as UN
journalist Rami Ayarihas reported</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, the text has weakened. Earlier drafts strongly
opposed any Israeli attack on Rafah, but the current draft has watered down the
language and moved it to the preamble, only expressing "concern that a
ground offensive into Rafah would result in further harm to civilians"
instead of demanding that it be prevented.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Note that during the Security Council debate, US
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield made a critical statement: If Russia puts
forward a resolution that does not support the "diplomacy on the
ground" — that is, the diplomatic process co-led by the US — the Council
will remain deadlocked. This is a direct threat by the US to veto any
resolution that doesn't endorse the US diplomatic process and the
American/Israeli parameters for a ceasefire.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In conclusion, this is a shift in Biden's position,
but there may be less here than meets the eye. Undoubtedly, Biden's rhetorical
shift in favor of a ceasefire is noteworthy, but the devil is in the details.
The unnecessarily convoluted operative clause raises concerns that this shift
is less straightforward than it could and should be.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/author/tparsi/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Trita Parsi</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Trita Parsi is the co-founder and Executive Vice
president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-51247323877946080812024-03-21T09:22:00.000-07:002024-03-21T09:22:28.784-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Canada Pauses Arms Sales to Israel</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Canada's foreign minister says there have been no new
weapons export permits since January 8<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/author/dave_decamp/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">by Dave DeCamp</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> March 20, 2024 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/20/canada-pauses-arms-sales-to-israel/">https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/20/canada-pauses-arms-sales-to-israel/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Canada’s foreign minister </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-03-20/canadian-freeze-on-new-arms-export-permits-to-israel-to-stay"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">confirmed on Wednesday</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that the country was freezing arms exports to
Israel due to its brutal assault on Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Canada had not
approved any weapons export permits to Israel since January 8, although any
approved before that time are still in effect.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Since January 8, the government has not approved new
arms export permits to Israel, and this will continue until we can ensure full
compliance with our export regime,” Joly said, according to <i>Reuters</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Her comments came after Canada’s House of Commons
passed a non-binding resolution to halt weapons sales to Israel</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/19/canada-halt-arms-sales-to-israel"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> in a vote of 204-117</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. The resolution also called for a ceasefire and for
Canada to work “towards the establishment of the state of Palestine.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Canadian law prohibits the export of weapons if they
could be used in “a serious violation of international humanitarian law” or
“serious acts of violence against women and children.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz slammed Canada’s
decision to stop arming Israel. “It is unfortunate that the Canadian government
is taking a step that undermines Israel’s right to self-defense against the
Hamas murderers who have committed terrible crimes against humanity and
innocent Israeli citizens, including the elderly, women and children,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The US still continues to provide military aid to
Israel despite the massive civilian casualties and the impending famine in
Gaza. Under US foreign assistance laws, military aid cannot be given to a
country that’s blocking the delivery of US humanitarian aid shipments, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&cx=009175551005644198388:y7jofgda1mg&q=https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/05/israel-still-blocking-us-funded-flour-shipment-into-gaza/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwirksrfvYOFAxXkmbAFHdbODNcQFnoECAUQAg&usg=AOvVaw1e9IIykbmgWRv1HKARGrAi&arm=c"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">which Israel is doing</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. Senate Democrats </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/us/politics/democrats-biden-israel-letter.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">have pointed this out to President
Biden</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, but he continues
to back the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-33098355783443380522024-03-20T09:02:00.000-07:002024-03-20T09:02:57.315-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The TikTok Totalitarians</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">by </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://original.antiwar.com/author/daniel-mcadams/" title="Posts by Daniel McAdams"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Daniel
McAdams</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Posted on </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://original.antiwar.com/daniel-mcadams/2024/03/19/the-tiktok-totalitarians/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">March 20, 2024</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://original.antiwar.com/daniel-mcadams/2024/03/19/the-tiktok-totalitarians/">https://original.antiwar.com/daniel-mcadams/2024/03/19/the-tiktok-totalitarians/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On Wednesday, March 13th, a bipartisan group of US
Representatives voted to give the US president the power to remove any website,
computer or mobile application, or even service provider that the president
determines – without due process – is run by “a person subject to the direction
of control of a foreign person or entity” as long as that foreign person or
entity is declared an “adversary” of the US.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And who gets to decide who is an “adversary”? The US
President.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Cut through the hollow propaganda about the Chinese
using it to spy on and subvert Americans – another “Saddam’s got WMDs” lie –
and it is the most dangerous and un-American piece of legislation since the
PATRIOT Act.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In fact it may be arguably worse. While the PATRIOT
Act was a fig leaf for the government to spy on Americans, this demon of a bill
will actually allow the US Government to determine what Americans can read and
thereby what they will think. Isn’t that just what supporters of this bill
claim the Chinese government is doing?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Take all the massive evidence of US government
collusion and censorship of Americans’ “wrongthink” exposed by the heroic Matt
Taibbi and the rest of the “Twitter Files” investigators and multiply it by a
million and you won’t even then begin to understand the damage this law will do
once it’s passed in the Senate and signed by Biden.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Twitter/X and its owner Elon Musk are routinely
claimed to be biased toward (or sometimes against) Russia. Obviously “foreign
adversary controlled.” Shut it down.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The video hosting and streaming service
Rumble minimizes restrictions on what can be uploaded. It rightly calls
itself the free-speech platform. They even allow Russian media RT and Iran’s
PressTV to give a perspective different than that given by the US government
and mainstream media. Shut it down. “Foreign adversary controlled.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How about the Ron Paul Liberty Report? We often take
positions at odds with the policies of the US Administration and criticize, for
example, sending hundreds of billions to fight a proxy war in Ukraine.
Obviously “foreign adversary controlled.” Shut it down.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Every single independent conservative media outlet
that is sympathetic to Donald Trump will be in the crosshairs of President
Biden when this bill becomes law, as Biden and his crew consistently accuse
Trump – even after all these years – of being in Putin’s back pocket. That is
why right-winger Federalist CEO Sean Davis is horrified by the move, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1767719695250080157" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">writing on Twitter/X</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“It’s not that the U.S. government wants to protect
you from spying and data theft and manipulation. If only. No, the people behind
the Russian collusion hoax, and the Kavanaugh hoax, and the natural origin
COVID hoax, and the illegal warrantless spying, and the forced transing of your
children – they want to be the ones spying on you and stealing your data and
poisoning the minds of your children.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Those on the Left should take heed: Be assured that if
Donald Trump is elected president this fall, the bill will become the same
political cudgel used by the Right to silence your alternative media outlets as
well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Libertarian-minded progressives like Glenn Greenwald
see the danger – and the pattern – clearly, as he </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1768271007331086757" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">writes</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“The TikTok bill is how rights erosions always always
always work: Pick a target to start with that everyone hates or fears, so that
everyone unites in support, nobody wants to defend. Then the precedent is set,
so when it expands inward, nobody can object any longer.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">See where this is going? It’s not about China. It’s
about our freedom to consume whatever media we wish to consume. No one is
forced to use TikTok. If an American exercising his or her First Amendment
rights determines that any risk of using TikTok is one worth taking, that is
his or her right.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Tucker Carlson – no friend of China – rightly deemed
it, “the most far reaching act of censorship in the history of the United
States.” He added, “it’s an attack on the right of American citizens to receive
their information from any source they choose.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">After the ignominious </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202486?Page=2" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">House vote</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, Tucker had Sen. Rand Paul on his program to explain
how the “we are protecting Americans from the Chinese Communists” explanation
for attacking the US Constitution is nothing but a ruse. Watch that episode on
Twitter/X </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1768321191654166954" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">here</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Sen. Paul himself pointed out the hypocrisy in the US
government taking such an authoritarian approach to censorship, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1768364204652728639" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">writing on Twitter/X</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, “Emulating Chinese communism is not the way to
combat Chinese communism.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There is a mafia element to the legislation as well.
The bill demands that TikTok be sold to avoid being banned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Remember when Michael Corleone </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCu9vOpwMp0&t=46s" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">told this then-girlfriend Kay Adams</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> how his father, Don Vito Corleone, “encouraged”
the bandleader that had Johnny Fontaine under contract to let him out of the
contract when Johnny started to become a star:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Michael
Corleone</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: My father
made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Kay
Adams</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: What was that?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Michael
Corleone</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Luca Brasi
held a gun to his head, and my father assured him that either his
brains or his signature would be on the contract. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s
a true story.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is exactly what the US government is doing with
this legislation. It’s hardly surprising that now that this US government
threat against TikTok has likely seriously devalued the company, deep state
denizens like former US Treasury Secretary Steven “</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/steve-mnuchin-goldman-sachs-royalty-and-culture-carrier-133523791.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Goldman Sachs</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">” Mnuchin is </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/14/mnuchin-investors-buy-tiktok" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">sniffing
around ready to pick up TikTok for a song</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Either TikTok’s signature or its brains will be on
Mnuchin’s contract.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is gangsterism and authoritarianism on steroids,
yet the uniparty running Washington DC lapped it up like mother’s milk. Perhaps
that is <i>why </i>they lapped it up so enthusiastically.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When this bill becomes law, a big part of America will
have died. That’s not an exaggeration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Reprinted with permission from the </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://ronpaulinstitute.org/killing-the-messenger/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ron Paul Institute</span></a></span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Daniel McAdams is Executive Director of the </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://ronpaulinstitute.org/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity</span></a></span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and co-Producer/co-Host, Ron Paul Liberty
Report. Daniel served as the foreign affairs, civil liberties, and
defense/intel policy advisor to U.S. Congressman Ron Paul, MD (R-Texas) from
2001 until Dr. Paul’s retirement at the end of 2012. From 1993-1999 he worked
as a journalist based in Budapest, Hungary, and traveled through the former
communist bloc as a human rights monitor and election observer.</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-90265588187317691712024-03-19T09:19:00.000-07:002024-03-19T09:19:11.595-07:00<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%;">LOS
FACTORES REALES DE PODER REAFIRMAN SU PREFERENCIA POR SHEINBAUM<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Como lo señalamos en este blog
el pasado 27 de noviembre, los factores reales de poder decidieron apoyar a
Claudia Sheinbaum, en vista de que sus intereses estarán mejor protegidos con
el actual grupo gobernante encabezado por ahora por Andrés Manuel López
Obrador, que intentar un regreso a los ahora partidos de oposición PRI y PAN
(con el PRD como invitado incómodo en dicha alianza).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">¿A qué factores reales de
poder nos referimos?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">En primer lugar los
principales oligarcas del país han logrado utilidades estratosféricas durante
el gobierno de López Obrador. A partir del 2020, las fortunas de los 14
ultrarricos mexicanos creció en 70%. Incluso empresarios que han tenido y
tienen serias diferencias con el gobierno actual, como Germán Larrea, vieron su
fortuna aumentar en 58% entre 2020 y 2023; y la del empresario más rico y
consentido del actual gobierno, Carlos Slim, en un 125%.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Incluso Ricardo Salinas
Pliego, el tercer hombre más rico del país, que tiene una dura disputa con el
gobierno que lo acusa de deber 25 mil millones de pesos de impuestos, y a quien
se le ha expropiado un campo de golf en el estado de Oaxaca, no ha sido objeto de
las invectivas presidenciales, como normalmente lo son periodistas,
comentaristas, académicos o intelectuales que critican las políticas del actual
gobierno. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">De la misma forma, los
banqueros han logrado las utilidades más altas de la historia de la banca en México,
con dos años consecutivos (2022 y 2023) llegando a 250,000 millones de pesos.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Al inicio de la actual
administración, el senador por el partido en el gobierno (Morena), Ricardo
Monreal propuso obligar a los banqueros a bajar las comisiones que cobran por
diversos servicios a los usuarios, lo que evidentemente fue rechazado por los
dueños de la banca. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">El presidente López Obrador
desautorizó a Monreal y señaló que durante su gobierno no se afectaría a la
banca mexicana en ningún sentido; lo que ha cumplido, permitiendo a los
banqueros cobrar comisiones altísimas a la población (son las más altas de
América Latina), sin que se haya expandido de manera significativa el crédito
para la población en general.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">López Obrador llegó a la
presidencia proclamando que cambiaría las políticas neoliberales de los
gobiernos del PRI y PAN que concentraron el ingreso en el país durante 36 años
(1982-2018).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sin embargo, durante su
gobierno la concentración del ingreso se ha mantenido inalterada, pues según la
organización no gubernamental Oxfam, los 14 ultrarricos mexicanos acaparan el
8% de la riqueza nacional, equivalente a 180 mil millones de dólares; y el 0.2%
de la población más rica posee 6 de cada 10 pesos en el país.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Así que, los oligarcas del
país están alineados con la candidata oficial, porque asumen que seguirán
acumulando riqueza, y en los hechos, más allá de la retórica, las políticas
neoliberales que aplicaron los gobiernos del PRI y PAN seguirán en la próxima
administración, como sucedió durante la de López Obrador.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Los principales medios de
comunicación, encabezados por la mayor empresa de multimedios del país,
Televisa, han dado una mayor cobertura a las actividades de la candidata
oficial, que a la de su principal contrincante, Xóchitl Gálvez (PAN-PRI-PRD),
tal como se puede ver en el monitoreo que el Instituto Nacional Electoral realiza
sobre la cobertura de los medios de comunicación electrónicos a las campañas
presidenciales:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Claudia Sheinbaum 41.29% del
tiempo dedicado a su candidatura.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Xóchitl Gálvez<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>36.72% del tiempo de cobertura.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jorge Alvarez <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>9.28%
del tiempo de cobertura.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Y por supuesto, el gobierno
federal con su enorme estructura y presupuesto, sumado a los 23 gobiernos
estatales que son encabezados por Morena y sus aliados, están prestando todo
tipo de apoyo y recursos (de manera ilegal) a la candidata oficial, para
realizar mitines multitudinarios, que tienen una gran cobertura en los medios
locales de cada entidad federativa.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Todo ello, más la contratación
por parte de Morena y el gobierno federal de cientos de encuestas a diversas
empresas, muchas de reciente creación, que realizan sus estudios demoscópicos a
gusto del cliente, están dando unas cifras de escándalo en favor de la
candidata oficial, del orden de 25 hasta 40 puntos porcentuales de ventaja
sobre Xóchitl Gálvez (Jorge Alvarez Maynez del Movimiento Ciudadano sólo obtiene
entre 6 y 8 puntos porcentuales de preferencia).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Está claro que López Obrador
ha logrado conformar una coalición de intereses muy poderosa (incluyendo a las
fuerzas armadas, a las que ha elevado el presupuesto en más de 100% durante su
administración y las ha puesto al frente de proyectos de infraestructura
estratégicos para el gobierno), que ha ido alineando en favor de su candidata
presidencial, Claudia Sheinbaum. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">El otro objetivo declarado de
López Obrador es conseguir la mayoría calificada en el Congreso de la Unión,
para así tener los votos suficientes para cambiar la Constitución, sin
necesidad de dialogar o negociar con la oposición.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">De lograr su objetivo, López
Obrador habrá dejado a su sucesora un partido político hegemónico, casi único, prácticamente
sin oposición, con lo que los sueños de una parte de la sociedad mexicana de
lograr una democracia multipartidista, con efectiva división de poderes, con mecanismos
de control del poder político a través de la transparencia y rendición de
cuentas, habrán terminado; y se regresará a la época -que se pensaba ya se
había superado- de una presidencia omnipotente, un partido de Estado, con una
sociedad civil casi inexistente y a merced de los grupos de poder. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-34315673790864587392024-03-18T11:22:00.000-07:002024-03-18T11:26:29.418-07:00<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Torture, Executions, Babies Left to Die, Sexual Abuse…
These Are Israel’s Crimes<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Why is the same western media obsessively reheating
five-month-old allegations against Hamas so reluctant to focus on Israel’s
current, horrifying atrocities?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">by </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://original.antiwar.com/author/cook/" title="Posts by Jonathan Cook"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jonathan Cook</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Posted on </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2024/03/17/torture-executions-babies-left-to-die-sexual-abuse-these-are-israels-crimes/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">March 18, 2024</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><a href="https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2024/03/17/torture-executions-babies-left-to-die-sexual-abuse-these-are-israels-crimes/">https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2024/03/17/torture-executions-babies-left-to-die-sexual-abuse-these-are-israels-crimes/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Hostages tortured to death. Parents executed in front
of their children. Doctors beaten. Babies murdered. Sexual assault
weaponised.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No, not Hamas crimes. This is part of an ever-growing
list of documented atrocities committed by Israel in the five months since 7
October – quite separate from the carpet bombing of 2.3 million Palestinians in
Gaza and a famine induced by Israel’s obstruction of aid.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Last week, an investigation by the Israeli
newspaper </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-07/ty-article/.premium/27-gaza-detainees-died-in-custody-at-israeli-army-facilities-since-the-start-of-the-war/0000018e-1322-d950-a18e-f3bbaa370000"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Haaretz disclosed</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that some 27 Palestinians seized off Gaza’s
streets over the past five months are known to have died during interrogations
inside Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Some were denied medical treatment. But most are
likely to have been tortured to death.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Three months ago, a </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2023-12-08/ty-article-opinion/israeli-jails-must-not-become-execution-facilities-for-palestinians/0000018c-45ed-db23-ad9f-6dfd35930000"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Haaretz editorial warned</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that Israeli jails “must not become execution
facilities for Palestinians”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israeli TV channels have been excitedly taking viewers
on tours of detention centres, showing the appalling conditions Palestinians
are kept in, as well as the </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/we-are-the-masters-of-the-house-israeli-channels-air-snuff-videos-featuring-systematic-torture-of-palestinians/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">psychological and physical abuse</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> they are subjected to.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">An Israeli judge recently called the makeshift cages
in which Palestinians are held “</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-03/ty-article/.premium/israel-police-are-holding-palestinian-prisoners-in-makeshift-cage-like-cells/0000018e-00ea-da4e-adbf-82fb03180000"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">unsuitable for humans</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Remember, a large proportion of the 4,000 or so
Palestinians taken hostage by Israel since 7 October – probably the vast
majority – are civilians, like the men and boys paraded through Gaza’s streets
or </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/israel-hamas-war-video-appears-153300556.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">held in a stadium</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> stripped of clothing before being dragged off to
a dark cell in Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Women abused</span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">According to Israeli media, many </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-12/ty-article/.premium/israel-detained-153-gazan-women-some-with-babies-says-palestinian-prisoners-club-head/0000018c-5d37-d03f-af9f-7d772cdf0000"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">dozens of Palestinian women</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> – including pregnant women – have been seized
too, but in their case off camera.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Presumably, Israel has wished to avoid undermining its
careful messaging that only Hamas weaponises violence against women.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But according to United Nations legal experts,
Palestinian women are suffering the most degrading forms of abuse at the hands
of the Israeli military.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/02/israelopt-un-experts-appalled-reported-human-rights-violations-against"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">experts observed</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that Palestinian women and girls in detention
were reportedly being subjected to “multiple forms of sexual assault, such as
being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“At least two female Palestinian detainees were
reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual
violence.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Soldiers are also believed to have taken photos of
female detainees in degrading circumstances and then uploaded them online.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Palestinian women and girls in Gaza are also reported
by their families to have gone missing after contact with the Israeli army.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“There are disturbing reports of at least one female
infant forcibly transferred by the Israeli army into Israel, and of children
being separated from their parents, whose whereabouts remain unknown,” they
said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Beatings, waterboarding<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A separate report by the UN last week revealed that 21
of its staff – humanitarian aid workers – had been snatched by Israel. They
were then </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/03/09/world/politics/unrwa-report-israel-hamas/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">tortured to extract confessions</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, most likely false, of involvement in Hamas’ 7
October attack. Their torture included beatings, waterboarding and threats to
family members.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Those confessions were cited by western allies as the
grounds – in fact, the only known grounds – for </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVtw8PKl-CE"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">cutting off funding</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to the UN relief agency UNRWA, the last lifeline
for Gaza’s starving population. It was these claims, extracted through torture,
that helped Israel rationalise its imposing of a famine on Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Of the </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/05/gazan-detainees-beaten-and-sexually-assaulted-at-israeli-detention-centres-un-report-claims"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">1,000 detainees</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> subsequently released, 29 were children, one as
young as six, and 80 women. Some were reported to have cancer and chronic
illnesses such as Alzheimer’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">According to the UN investigation, Palestinians
reported severe punishment beatings, being caged with attack dogs, and
suffering sexual assault. Physical evidence – such as broken ribs, dislocated
shoulders, bite marks, and burns – was still visible many weeks later.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Executions, human shields</span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">These horrors, of course, are not just taking place in
cells and interrogation rooms inside Israel. Gaza is being subjected to
astonishing levels of brutality and sadism from Israeli troops – quite aside
from the carpet bombing and enforced starvation of civilians.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israeli </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/9/israeli-snipers-kill-21-civilians-outside-gazas-besieged-nasser-hospital"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">snipers have fired</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> into Gaza’s hospitals, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/israeli-sniper-kills-everyone-who-moves-gaza-hospital"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">killing medical staff</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and patients there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Israeli military has used Palestinians as human
shields, including one man sent into a hospital, his hands bound, to announce
an Israeli order to evacuate the premises. Israeli forces </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/02/14/gaza-nasser-hospital-evacuation-israel-prisoner/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">executed him</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> on his return.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Those trying to follow such evacuation orders, waving
white flags, have </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Lowkey0nline/status/1722936274351161628"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">been shot at</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Medical facilities have been repeatedly invaded by the
Israeli military in stark violation of international law. Those who could not
be evacuated, such </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6jndMLmGJA"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">as premature babies</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, have been left to die unattended, even while Israeli
soldiers were occupying the building.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This week, the BBC interviewed medical staff who
reported being tortured, savagely beaten and having attack dogs set on them
inside the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis after Israeli soldiers stormed it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One, Dr Ahmed Abu Sabha, had his hands broken.
He </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68513408"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">told the BBC</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: “They put me on a chair and it was like a gallows. I
heard sounds of ropes, so I thought I was going to be executed.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At another stage, he and other detainees were beaten
in the back of a truck, while only in their underwear. They were taken to a
gravel pit, where they were made to kneel blindfolded. They believed they were
about to be executed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">During his eight days as hostage, Sabha was never
questioned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Dozens more medics are believed missing, presumed to
still be in Israeli detention.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Photographs published by the BBC also show patients in
the grounds of Nasser hospital in beds with their hands bound tightly above
their heads.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Those who died were left to decompose by Israeli
soldiers. A doctor there, Dr Hatim Rabaa, told the BBC: “Patients were
screaming, ‘Please remove them [the corpses] from here’. I was telling them,
‘It isn’t in my hands’.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Other examples of murderous cruelty are documented
daily. Unarmed Palestinians, including those </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/26/middleeast/hala-khreis-white-flag-shooting-gaza-cmd-intl/index.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">waving white flags</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, have been </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2024-02-02/gaza-two-young-brothers-shot-dead-while-carrying-white-flag"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">shot dead</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> by Israeli soldiers. Palestinian </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-war-israel-palestine-forces-executed-family-home"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">parents have been executed</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> in cold blood in front of their children. There
have been </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/dozens-killed-new-israeli-massacre-palestinians-waiting-aid%C2%A0"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">repeated episodes </span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">of Israeli forces gunning down en masse desperate
Palestinians trying to reach aid, as happened yet again this week.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Even Israeli hostages trying to escape their
captors </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67745092"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">have been killed</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> by the very Israeli soldiers they were trying to
surrender to.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">These are just some of the cases of Israeli sadism and
barbarity that have surfaced briefly in western media coverage, soon to be
forgotten.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Wiping Gaza off the map</span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The stomach-turning double standards are impossible to
ignore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The western establishment media has been chock full of
the most lurid allegations of savagery directed against Hamas, sometimes with
little or no supporting evidence. Claims that Hamas beheaded babies or put them
in ovens – emblazoned on front pages – were later </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.declassifieduk.org/beheaded-babies-how-uk-media-reported-israels-fake-news-as-fact/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">found to be nonsense</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Accusations against Hamas have been endlessly reheated
to paint a picture of a supremely dangerous and bestial militant group, in turn
rationalizing the carpet bombing and starvation of Gaza’s population to
“eradicate” it as a terrorist organization.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But equally barbarous atrocities committed by Israel –
not in the heat of battle, but in cold blood – are treated as unfortunate,
isolated incidents that cannot be connected, that paint no picture, that reveal
nothing of import about the military that carried them out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If Hamas’ crimes were so savage and sadistic they
still need to be reported months after they took place, why does the
establishment media never feel the need to express equal horror and indignation
at the acts of cruelty and sadism being inflicted by Israel on Gaza – not five
months ago, but right now?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is part of a pattern of behavior by the western
media that leads to only one possible deduction: Israel’s five-month-long
attack on Gaza is not being reported. Rather, it is being selectively narrated
– and for the most obscene of purposes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Through consistent and glaring failures in their
coverage, establishment media – including supposedly liberal outlets, from the
BBC and CNN to the Guardian and New York Times – have smoothed the way for
Israel to carry out mass slaughter in Gaza, what the World Court has assessed
as plausibly a genocide.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The role of the media has not been to keep us, their
audiences, informed about one of the greatest crimes in living memory. It has
been to buy time for US President Joe Biden to keep arming his most useful of
client states in the oil-rich Middle East, and to do so without damaging his
prospects for re-election in November’s US presidential vote.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If Russian President Vladimir Putin </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/russia-ukraine-war-invasion-madman-script-same"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">was a madman</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and a barbarous war criminal for invading
Ukraine, as every western media outlet agrees, what does that make Israeli
officials, when every one of them supports far worse atrocities in Gaza,
directed overwhelmingly at civilians?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And more to the point, what does that make Biden and
the US political class for materially backing Israel to the hilt: sending
bombs, vetoing demands for a ceasefire at the United Nations, and freezing
desperately needed aid?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Worrying about the optics, the president </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-netanyahu-hot-mic-gaza-885b97a75d15d15ae7f7a47d0125c918"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">expresses his discomfort</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, but he carries on helping Israel regardless.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">While western politicians and commentators worry about
some imaginary existential threat those brief events of five months
ago pose to the nuclear-armed state of Israel, Israel is quite literally wiping
Gaza off the map day by day, quite undisturbed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Hamas ‘started it’</span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There have been two, largely implicit defences for
this glaring imbalance in western priorities. Neither stands up to even the
most cursory scrutiny.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One is the argument that Hamas “started it” –
insinuated in the endless claim that, in destroying Gaza, Israel has been
“responding” or “retaliating” to the violence of 7 October.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is a justification for killing tens of thousands
of Palestinians and starving two million more that should never have been let
out of the playground. But worse, it is patent nonsense. Hamas did not initiate
anything on 7 October, except for handing Israel a pretext to wreck Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The enclave has been under a crushing siege for 17
years, in which its land, sea and air were patrolled constantly by Israel. Its
population was denied the essentials of life. They had no freedom of movement
apart from inside their cage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Long before the current Israeli-induced famine,
Israel’s trade restrictions had ensured high levels of malnutrition </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/1449-recovering-from-malnutrition-in-gaza-three-year-old-ayaas-story"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">among Gaza’s children</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. Most exhibited too the scars of </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.savethechildren.net/news/after-15-years-blockade-four-out-five-children-gaza-say-they-are-living-depression-grief-and"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">deep psychological trauma</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> from constant and massive attacks by Israel on
Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Biden crows about building a “temporary pier” – </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/us-bidens-port-for-gaza-strip-aid-pier-building-could-take-60-days/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">weeks or months</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> down the road – to bring aid into Gaza that is
desperately needed now. But there is a reason the enclave lacks a seaport and
airport. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2023-11-21/ty-article-magazine/gaza-war-25-years-intl-airport-opened-second-intifada-israel/0000018b-e6fd-dffa-adef-e6fd35a10000"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israel bombed</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the only airport back in 2001, long before Hamas
took charge of Gaza. It has been attacking and killing fishermen trawling just
off Gaza’s coast for years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israel has refused to allow Gaza to connect to the
world – and break free of Israeli control – ever since.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Hamas started nothing on 7 October. It was simply a
new, and particularly gruesome phase in what has been decades of Palestinian
resistance to Israel’s belligerent occupation of Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Bogus narrative</span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The other implicit defense of western establishments
constantly stressing Hamas’ barbarism over Israel’s is that the nature of those
atrocities is said to be categorically different – in the apples and pears
sense.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Hamas supposedly demonstrated a degree of sadism in
its killing spree on 7 October inside Israel that marks it out from Israel’s
far larger killing spree in Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">That has been the basis for every media interview that
requires guests to </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.sky.com/video/palestinian-ambassador-refuses-to-condemn-hamas-attacks-on-israel-12980247"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“condemn” Hamas</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> before they are allowed to express concern about
the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. No one is asked to condemn Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is the basis too for permitting Israeli
spokespeople to claim unchallenged that Israel targets only Hamas, not
civilians, even while some three-quarters of Gaza’s dead are women and
children.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On the BBC’s evening news last weekend, presenter
Clive Myrie made precisely this preposterous assertion as he intoned that since
7 October, “Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign targeting members of
Hamas.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But the latest revelations of the 27 reported deaths
in Israeli torture centres and the testimonies of beaten medics from Nasser
Hospital confirm how bogus this entire narrative framing by the western media
is – one intended to mislead and misinform audiences.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israel claims it is targeting Hamas, but its actions
tell an entirely different story. Famine will kill off the sick and vulnerable
long before it does Hamas fighters.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The truth is, Israel is not primarily eradicating
Hamas. It is eradicating Gaza. Its crimes are at least as cruel and savage as
anything Hamas did on 7 October – and its atrocities have been carried out on a
far larger scale and for far longer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Western establishments and their media have been
waging a giant campaign of misdirection for the past five months, as they have
against Palestinians over previous years and decades. Western publics have been
encouraged to look in the wrong direction<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Until that changes, the men, women and children of
Gaza will continue to pay the heaviest of prices at the hands of a vengeful,
sadistic Israeli military.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jonathan Cook is the author of three books on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize
for Journalism. His website and blog can be found at </span></i><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.jonathan-cook.net/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">www.jonathan-cook.net</span></a></span></i><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. </span></i><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This originally appeared in
the </span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/">Middle East Eye</a><i>.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-58159895690261990562024-03-17T08:53:00.000-07:002024-03-17T08:53:17.849-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Debate Over Israel as 'US Aircraft Carrier'</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.unz.com/author/diana-johnstone/" title="Articles, Columns, and Major Blog Posts by Diana Johnstone"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">DIANA JOHNSTONE</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> • MARCH 12, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://www.unz.com/article/the-debate-over-israel-as-us-aircraft-carrier/#comment-6470851">https://www.unz.com/article/the-debate-over-israel-as-us-aircraft-carrier/#comment-6470851</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As was to be expected, considering the extreme
complexity of the U.S.-Israel relationship, our recent article on “The Myth of
Israel as ‘US Aircraft Carrier’ in Middle East,” far from settling this
controversial issue, aroused numerous objections. We see these disagreements as
an invitation to respond, in the hope that a friendly debate can contribute to
clarifying the issues.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Aircraft Carrier Image</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A reader directly asks us “what individual or entity
is the quotation ‘The Myth of Israel as “US Aircraft Carrier” in Middle East’
borrowed from or attributed to?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There is no single answer, inasmuch as this image is
used quite frequently, originally by advocates of the U.S.-Israel alliance, to
justify it. That the Zionists make this claim is to be expected, and is no more
credible than their other claims.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Our questioning of that expression is directed
primarily at pro-Palestinian friends, usually on the left who accept and spread
the belief that Israel is a U.S. “strategic asset,” usually meaning it
contributes to U.S. control of Middle East oil.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This assumption is often based on the notion that a
capitalist power must act in its own economic interest, and thus could not be
fooled by ideology or bribery into acting against its own interests.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Not wanting to engage in ad hominem attacks on
commentators with whom we largely agree on just about everything else, we have
been reluctant to name names. But here goes: a perfect example is a </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://michael-hudson.com/2023/11/israel-as-a-landed-aircraft-carrier/" title="https://michael-hudson.com/2023/11/israel-as-a-landed-aircraft-carrier/"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">recent interview</span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> with the excellent economist Michael Hudson by
Ben Norton. Both identify as Marxist. Their interview is titled “Israel as a
Landed Aircraft Carrier.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Norton introduces his interview by citing Biden’s
notorious declaration, “if there were not an Israel, we would have to invent
one.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Michael Hudson takes up the theme. He stresses that
U.S. support to Israel, is “not altruistic” (no doubt), and provides his own
explanation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Israel is a landed aircraft carrier in the Near East.
Israel is the takeoff point for America to control the Near East…The United
States has always viewed Israel as just our foreign military base…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">His initial justification for this statement is
historic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“When England first passed the act saying that there
should be an Israel, the Balfour Declaration, it was because Britain wanted to
control the Near East and its oil supplies…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">However, we maintain that the reasons for the Balfour
Declaration (discussed at length in the book by Alison Weir that we cite) are
long out of date and cannot explain current U.S. official devotion to Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">By the time Israel came into being, after World War
II, the U.S. had effectively taken control of the region and its oil sources
and had no particular </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/cwr/97177.htm" title="https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/cwr/97177.htm"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">interest</span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> in Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Hudson’s second justification is a generalization
about U.S. imperialism:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“And that’s really the U.S. strategy all over the
world; it’s trying to fuel other countries to fight wars for its own control.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But in fact, the fighting and dying in the Middle East
has been done by the United States itself and certain NATO allies, while the
only people Israeli soldiers are actively fighting are the Palestinians, whose
destruction provides no advantage to the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Hudson’s third justification is an anecdote. From his
work at the Hudson Institute, he became a close associate of Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main national security adviser, Uzi Arad. Once
they were together at a party in San Francisco, and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“one of the U.S. generals came over and slapped Uzi on
the back and said, ‘you’re our landed aircraft carrier over there. We love
you.’ ”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So that is what a U.S. general said, and probably
believed. It is certainly what the Israeli lobby has been telling the Americans
for a long time, to justify all that money and military aid. But is it true?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Perhaps one can say that Israel is an aircraft carrier
salesman who never delivers the aircraft carrier. Because Israel for a long
time has had the rare privilege of NOT housing a U.S. military base, or at
least not housing it openly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Only in 2017, the U.S. and Israel revealed the
inauguration of “the first American military base on Israeli soil,” which the
U.S. military said was not an American base but merely living quarters for U.S.
personnel working on a secret Israeli radar site in the Negev desert evidently
spying on Iran. This facility serves Israeli defense interests. Some aircraft
carrier!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And all through the Middle East, the U.S. has its own
floating aircraft carriers, as well as great big genuine, non-floating military
bases. The largest is Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, and there are important
military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Netanyahu as Zelensky</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">However, Hudson’s argument does not in fact explain
how Israel serves U.S. purposes as a military asset, as an “aircraft carrier”
in the sense of an unsinkable military base which the U.S. can use to attack
its enemies. Rather, Hudson sees Israel as an expendable pawn, a puppet used by
Washington to trigger a war that the U.S. wants to wage against Iran, to the
ruin of Israel itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Hudson sees Netanyahu as “the Israeli version of
Zelensky in the Ukraine.” Just as the U.S. used Ukraine to provoke Russia, the
United States pushes Netanyahu to escalate against Gaza so that he will provoke
Hezbollah to come to the aid of the Palestinians, and since Hezbollah is
described as an Iranian proxy, this will be the excuse for the U.S. to go to
war against Iran.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Hudson said:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“The whole world has noticed that the U.S. now has two
aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean, right off the Near Eastern shore, and
it has an atomic submarine near the Persian Gulf…. And it’s very clear that
they’re there not to protect Israel, but to fight Iran. Again and again, every
American newspaper, when it talks about Hamas, it says Hamas is acting on
behalf of Iran….<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">America isn’t trying to fight to protect Ukraine. It’s
fighting for the last Ukrainian to be exhausted in what they’d hoped would be
depleting Russia’s military. …Well, the same thing in Israel. If the United
States is pushing Israel and Netanyahu to escalate, escalate, escalate, to do
something that at a point is going to lead [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah
to finally say, ‘okay, we can’t take it anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We’re coming in and helping rescue the Gazans and
especially rescue the West Bank, where just as much fighting is taking place.
We’re going to come in.’ And that’s when the United States will then feel free
to move not only against Lebanon, but all the way via Syria, Iraq, to Iran.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So this implies that the U.S. military and civilian
strategists are eager to find an excuse to go to war with Iran, after having
failed to gain full control of Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan or Syria after
attacking them militarily (with help from certain NATO allies, but not from
Israel). And Iran is a much more formidable power than any of those.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Meanwhile, the U.S. Armed Forces are having difficulty
in recruitment (although they may be counting on filling the ranks with some of
the undocumented immigrants flooding across the southern borders). Bogged down
in Ukraine, preparing for conflict with China, are U.S. leaders really eager to
get into a major war with Iran?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This speculation raises the key question raised by a
number of <b><i>Consortium News</i></b> readers: what is meant by the
U.S. national interest?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The National Interest</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As we anticipated, there are readers on the left who
interpret our appeal to “the national interest” as proof that we are defenders
of capitalism. One reader writes: “The defense of capitalism in this article is
truly bewildering. The authors conflate U.S. interests with Corporate
interests.” That conflation is being done by the reader who assumes that
“national interest” cannot be diversely defined.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Our position is simple. We are not aware of any
realistic prospect for abolishing the American capitalist system in the
foreseeable future, even though there are many symptoms of its radical decline
both domestically and in international relations. This decline is due largely
to the way the “national interest” is currently defined and pursued.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“This assumption is often based on the notion that a
capitalist power must act in its own economic interest, and thus could not be
fooled by ideology or bribery into acting against its own interests.”</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Our view is that even under capitalism, some policies
are better or worse than others. When it comes to the urgency of the survival
of the Palestinian people, or more broadly, of sparing humanity the devastation
of nuclear war, prudent policies are worth the risk of benefiting some less
harmful branches of capitalism in some way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Although the political system is largely paralyzed,
there exist contrary ways of defining the national interest, and some are more
perilous for the future of humanity than others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The current policies that define the official
“national interest” in the United States did not spring forth from a unanimous
understanding or scientific analysis of what is best for capitalist profit or
for anything else. The current ruling foreign policy doctrine is the product of
specific influences and individuals that can be named and identified.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">To be precise, the “national interest” that is being
pursued by the current administration both on the elected top and especially
the deep state below is a theoretical construct that has been created by the
convergence of two powers that have excluded their rivals from the process.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">These two powers are the military-industrial complex
and the intellectual branch of the Zionist lobby, known as the
“neoconservatives.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Lobby as Policy Maker</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">U.S. foreign policy has encountered moments where
positive change was possible: after withdrawal from Vietnam, and even more,
after the collapse of the Soviet Union. At that point, all the interests linked
to the military industrial complex were under threat from the prospect of a
“peace dividend” involving substantial disarmament.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What was needed was a fresh ideological justification
for the MIC, and this was provided by the growing influence of the
privately-financed think tanks that began their takeover of foreign policy
definition in the 1970s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the following decades, these institutions came
under the decisive influence of Zionist donors such as Haim Saban, Sheldon
Adelson and AIPAC itself, which founded the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy. These think tanks provided echo chambers for pro-Israel neocon
intellectuals to shape editorial policy of major liberal media as well as
foreign policy itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Here is the point: current U.S. policy is not the
natural expression of “capitalist corporate interests,” but rather is the
product of that process, of the deliberate takeover of U.S. foreign policy by a
highly motivated, coherent and talented group of </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.reasoned.org/e_PNAC2.htm" title="https://www.reasoned.org/e_PNAC2.htm"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">intellectuals</span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, some with dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship. This policy
has a name: the Wolfowitz Doctrine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Wolfowitz Doctrine & PNAC</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.archives.gov/files/declassification/iscap/pdf/2008-003-docs1-12.pdf" title="https://www.archives.gov/files/declassification/iscap/pdf/2008-003-docs1-12.pdf"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">text</span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> is available on internet and speaks for itself.
It was written as the initial version of the Defense Planning Guidance for the
1994–1999 fiscal years in the office of Under Secretary of Defense for Policy,
Paul Wolfowitz, an ardent Zionist.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The version leaked to <i>The New York Times</i> in
March 1992 was officially toned down after it caused an uproar, but it has
remained as the guidelines for aggressive U.S foreign policy ever since.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Basically, the doctrine announces that the main
objective of the United States is to retain its status as the world’s only
remaining superpower. No serious rival must be allowed to develop.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This amounts to decreeing that history has come to a
stop, and denies the natural historical process whereby China, for instance,
which in the past was a leading power, must not be allowed to resume that
status.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In 1997, neocons William Kristol and Robert Kagan
founded the “Project for the New American Century” with the clear purpose
of </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://cryptome.org/rad.htm" title="https://cryptome.org/rad.htm"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">defining</span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> U.S. foreign policy in line with the Wolfowitz
Doctrine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As the “world’s pre-eminent power,” the United States
must “shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests.” This
was to be done neither by virtuous example nor by diplomacy, but by military
strength and the force of arms.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">PNAC members including Vice President Dick Cheney,
Donald Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz took control of policy under President George W.
Bush and have kept it ever since.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Inside one administration after another, Robert
Kagan’s wife, former Cheney aide Victoria Nuland (who last week said she would
be resigning her State Dept. position) has advanced the neocon agenda, notably
by managing the Ukrainian disaster. PNAC dissolved itself in 2006, announcing
that its job was done.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This job amounted to linking the powerful military
industrial complex to the global extension of U.S. power that was turned first
and foremost against Israel’s Arab neighbors, starting with Iraq.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This branch of the Lobby, inside the government itself
and mainstream media, on the false claim that Iraq was a dangerous enemy of the
U.S., got the U.S. to attack and destroy a regime that was in fact an enemy of
Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The U.S. was fighting on Israel’s behalf, not the
other way around.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The neoconservatives have designed the policy which
AIPAC pays members of Congress to support. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/01/11/every-u-s-senator-has-taken-aipac-money/12/" title="https://informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/01/11/every-u-s-senator-has-taken-aipac-money/12/"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Every senator </span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">has taken AIPAC money.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">National Interests Can Be Redefined</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Wolfowitz doctrine is expressed in Nuland’s
anti-Russian Ukrainian policy as well as in the American provocations
surrounding Taiwan. These policies are not inevitable, even under capitalism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The expansion of NATO, as an example, was firmly
opposed by a generation of U.S. foreign policy experts who have been sidelined
and expelled from the policy-making process by the triumphant neocons.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Some are still alive, and others can emerge. So it is
neither far-fetched nor “pro-capitalist” to suggest that a more realistic, less
arrogant and belligerent foreign policy might be possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Such a change cannot be easy, but may be favored
precisely by growing recognition of the multiple failures of the reigning
neoconservative foreign policy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For this, a free debate is necessary, in which it is
possible to challenge the role of the Lobby without being accused of
plagiarizing the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Protocols-of-the-Elders-of-Zion" title="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Protocols-of-the-Elders-of-Zion"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Protocols of the Elders of Zion</span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is obvious that in the United States, where this
debate is most significant, there are Zionists who are not Jewish, while a very
large proportion of the Jewish population is highly critical of Israel and has
nothing to do with the Lobby.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The government in Jerusalem proclaiming itself “the
Jewish State” as it slaughters native Palestinians is responsible for any
current rise in misguided anti-Jewish feelings, which that government blatantly
exploits to attract Jewish immigrants from France and New Jersey, in
particular.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A reader suggests: “Some folks may find it emotionally
and psychologically comforting to blame The Lobby and Israel for the evil of
U.S. foreign policy, and somehow the good ol USA is an unwitting victim.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Can’t we more accurately suggest: “Some folks may find
it emotionally and psychologically comforting to blame the U.S. foreign policy
for everything rather than risk the inevitable furious reactions to any mention
of the Lobby and Israel?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“The U.S. was fighting on Israel’s behalf, not the
other way around.”</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Certainly U.S. foreign policy is responsible for
everything it does, and that is a gigantic evil. But that does not mean that
everyone else is totally innocent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Lobby is most certainly responsible for doing all
it can to encourage the very worst tendencies in U.S. arrogant exceptionalism,
the MIC, Islamophobia and Christian evangelical fantasies, when they can be
used against Israel’s adversaries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And we maintain that encouraging the worst tendencies
is not in the American interest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Diana Johnstone was press secretary of the Green Group
in the European Parliament from 1989 to 1996. In her latest book, <i>Circle
in the Darkness: Memoirs of a World Watcher </i>(Clarity Press, 2020), she
recounts key episodes in the transformation of the German Green Party from a
peace to a war party. Her other books include <i>Fools’ Crusade:
Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions</i> (Pluto/Monthly Review) and in
co-authorship with her father, Paul H. Johnstone, <i>From MAD to Madness:
Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning</i> (Clarity Press). She can be
reached at diana.johnstone@wanadoo.fr</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">(Republished from </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/12/the-debate-over-israel-as-us-aircraft-carrier/"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Consortium News</span></b></a></span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> by permission of author or representative)</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-9919520147916026392024-03-16T08:18:00.000-07:002024-03-16T08:18:38.512-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The German American Strategic Depth Clown Show</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.unz.com/author/pepe-escobar/" title="Articles, Columns, and Major Blog Posts by Pepe Escobar">PEPE ESCOBAR</a> • MARCH
15, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.unz.com/pescobar/the-german-american-strategic-depth-clown-show/">https://www.unz.com/pescobar/the-german-american-strategic-depth-clown-show/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Four Stooges saga of Bundeswehr officers plotting
to blow up the Kerch bridge in Crimea with Taurus missiles and getting away
with it is a gift that keeps on giving.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">President Putin, in his comprehensive interview to
Dmitry Kiselev for Russia 1/RIA Novosti, did not fail to address it:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“They are fantasizing, encouraging themselves, first.
Secondly, they are trying to intimidate us. As for the Federal Republic of
Germany, there are constitutional problems there. They correctly say: if these
Taurus hit that part of the Crimean Bridge, which, of course, even according to
their concepts, is Russian territory, this is a violation of the constitution
of the Federal Republic of Germany.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Yet it gets curioser and curioser.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/593714-full-leaked-crimean-bridge-recording-germany/" title="https://www.rt.com/news/593714-full-leaked-crimean-bridge-recording-germany/"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When the transcript of the Taurus
leak </span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">was
published by RT, everyone was able to hear Brigadier General Frank Gräfe – head
of operations of the German Air Force – speaking with Lieutenant Colonel Fenske
from the German Space Command Air Operations on the plan to deploy Taurus
systems in Ukraine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A key point is that during the plotting, these two
mention that plans were already discussed “four months ago” with “Schneider”,
the successor of “Wilsbach”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Well, these are German names, of course. Thus, it did
not dawn on anyone that (Kevin) Schneider and (Kenneth) Wilsbach could instead
be… Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Yet that did raise the eyebrows of German
investigative journalist Dirk Pohlmann – who I had the pleasure to meet in
Berlin years ago – and his fellow researcher Tobias Augenbraun.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">They found out that the German-sounding names did
identify Americans. Not only that: none less than the former and the current
Commanders of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Four (Six) Stooges element gets an extra boost
when it is established that Liver Sausage Chancellor Scholz and his
Totalenkrieg Minister Pistorius learned about the Taurus plan no less than four
months later.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So here apparently, we have a clear cut case of top
German military officers taking direct orders regarding an attack on Crimea –
part of the Russian Federation – directly from American officers in the Pacific
Air Forces.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">That opens the dossier to a large spectrum ranging
from national treason (against Germany) to casus belli (from the point of view
of Russia).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Of course, none of that is being discussed on German
mainstream media.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">After all, the only thing that seems to disturb
Brigadier General Gräfe is that German media may start seriously prying on the
Bundeswehr’s Multiple Stooges methods.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The only ones who actually did proper investigation
were Pohlmann and Augenbaun.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It would be too much to expect from German media of
the “Bild” type to analyze what would be the Russian response to the Multiple
Stooge shenanigans against Crimea: a devastating retaliation against Berlin
assets.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It’s so cold in Alaska.</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">During the jolly Bundeswehr conversation yet another
“plan” is mentioned:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Nee, nee. Ich mein wegen der anderen Sache.” (“No,
no. I mean the other matter.”) Then: “Ähm … meinst du Alaska jetzt?” (“Ahm, you
mean Alaska now?”)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It all gets juicier when it is known that German Space
Command Air Operations Centre officer Florstedt will meet none other than
Schneider next Tuesday, March 19, in Alaska.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And Gräfe will also “have to go back to Alaska” to
explain everything all over again to Schneider as he is “new” in the post.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So the question is: Why Alaska?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Enter American shadowplay on a lot of “activities” in
Alaska – which happen to concern none other than China.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And there’s more: during the conversation still
another “plan” (“Auftrag”, meaning “mission”) also surfaces, bearing a not
clearly understandable code name sounding like “Kumalatra”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What all of that tells us is that the Crash Test Dummy
administration in the White House, the CIA and the Pentagon seem to be betting,
in desperation, on Total War in the black soil of Novorossiya.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And now they are sayin’ it out loud, with no shadow
play, and coming directly from the head of the CIA, William Burns, who
obviously sucks at secrecy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is what Burns told the members of the U.S. Senate
Intelligence Committee earlier this week:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“I think without supplemental assistance in 2024,
you’re going to see more Avdeevkas, and that – it seems to me – would be a
massive and historic mistake for the United States.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">That spells out how much the Avdeevka trauma is
impressed on the psyche of the U.S. intel apparatus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Yet there’s more: “With supplemental assistance,
Ukraine can hold its own on the front lines through 2024 and into early 2025.
Ukraine can continue to exact costs against Russia, not only with deep
penetration strikes in Crimea, but also against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Here we go: Crimea all over again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Burns believes that the humongous $60 billion new
“aid” package which must be approved by the U.S. Congress will enable Kiev to
launch an “offensive” by the end of 2024.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The only thing he gets right is that if there’s no new
package, there will be “significant territorial losses for Ukraine this year.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Burns may not be the brightest bulb in the – intel –
room. A long time ago he was a diplomat/CIA asset in Moscow and seems to have
learned nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Apart from letting cats and kitties galore out of the
bag. It’s not only about attacking Crimea. This one is being read with surpreme
delight in Beijing:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“The U.S. is providing assistance to Ukraine in part
because such activities help curb China.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Burns nailed his Cat Out of the Bag Oscar win when he said,
“if we’re seen to be walking away from support for Ukraine, not only is that
going to feed doubts amongst our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific; it’s
going to stoke the ambitions of the Chinese leadership in contingencies ranging
from Taiwan to the South China Sea”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The inestimable Andrei Martyanov perfectly summed up
the astonishing incompetence, peppered with tawdry exceptionalism, that
permeates this performance by Burns.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There are things “they cannot grasp due to low level
of education and culture. This is a new paradigm for them – all of them are
‘graduates’ of the school of ‘beating the crap from defenseless nations’
strategic ‘studies’, and with the level of economic ‘science’ in the West they
cannot grasp how this all unfolds.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So, what is left is panic, as expressed by Burns in
the Senate, mixed with the impotence in understanding a “different warrior
culture” such as Russia’s: “They simply have no reference points.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And still they choose war, as </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://globalsouth.co/2024/03/09/war-is-chosen/" title="https://globalsouth.co/2024/03/09/war-is-chosen/"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">masterfully analyzed by Rostislav Ishchenko</span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Even as the acronym fest of the CIA and 17 other U.S.
intel agencies have concluded, in a </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ATA-2024-Unclassified-Report.pdf" title="https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ATA-2024-Unclassified-Report.pdf"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">report</span></b></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> shown to Congress earlier this week, that Russia
is <i>“almost certainly”</i> seeking to avoid a direct military
conflict with NATO and will calibrate its policies to steer clear of a global
war.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">After all the Empire of Chaos is all about Forever
Wars. And we are all in the middle of a do or die affair. The Empire simply
cannot afford the cosmic humiliation of NATO in Novorossiya.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Still every “plan” – Taurus on Crimea-style – is a
bluff. Russia is aware of bluff after bluff. The Western cards are now all on
the table. The only question is when, and how fast will Russia call the bluff.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-31736384471480587992024-03-15T10:05:00.000-07:002024-03-15T10:07:11.517-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What NATO Country Doesn’t Have Troops in Ukraine?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">European discussions about sending troops obscures the
fact that several NATO countries already have boots on the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/author/ted-snider/">Ted Snider</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Mar 11, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/what-nato-country-doesnt-have-troops-in-ukraine/">https://www.theamericanconservative.com/what-nato-country-doesnt-have-troops-in-ukraine/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The war in Ukraine has reached that long-feared fork in
the road. Ukraine is losing the war, and no amount of arms or aid is going to
change that. The West has to either accept that assessment and nudge Ukraine to
the negotiating table or send more than arms and aid. It is going to have to
escalate its support and send troops, risking direct confrontation with Russia
and the disaster scenario it has tried to avoid since the first days of the
war. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This realization has sparked a bitter debate in
Europe. Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/slovak-pm-says-some-western-states-consider-bilateral-deals-send-troops-ukraine-2024-02-26/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">said</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> on February 26 that “a number of NATO and EU
member states are considering that they will send their troops to Ukraine on a
bilateral basis.” That same day, the French President Emmanuel Macron </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/02/27/ukraine-s-allies-divided-over-potential-ground-intervention-raised-by-macron_6563523_4.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">said</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that, though “there is no consensus today to
send troops on the ground in an official, accepted, and endorsed manner...no
option should be discarded.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/nato-stoltenberg-ukraine-troops-france-slovakia-5d4ed747861a3c0edb8f922fa36427c2" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">shot back</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that the consensus was “that there will be no
ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil who are sent there by European
states or NATO states.” Germany, Poland, Sweden, Spain, Italy, the Czech
Republic, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/world/europe/russia-nato-france-macron.html#:~:text=Kremlin%20Warns%20Against%20NATO%20Ground,when%20asked%20about%20the%20possibility." target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">all said</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> there was no plan to send troops to
Ukraine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Macron </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/frances-macron-urges-allies-not-be-coward-ukraine-2024-03-05/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">replied</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that the time has come for a “Europe where it
will be appropriate not to be a coward.” The German Defense Minister Boris
Pistorius </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/macron-urges-europe-not-to-be-cowards-on-ukraine/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">said</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that “talk about boots on the ground or having
more courage or less courage...does not really help solve the issues we have
when it comes to helping Ukraine.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The debate over sending NATO troops to Ukraine may be
masking the need for more immediate debate about NATO troops already on the
ground in Ukraine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://sputnikglobe.com/20240301/full-transcript-of-german-top-military-officials-leaked-plot-to-attack-crimean-bridge-1117078481.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">transcript</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of an intercepted February 19 conversation
between senior German air force officials discussing the possible transfer of
German Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine says that the Germans “know how
the English do it.... They have several people on-site.” The revelation that
the UK has troops on the ground has now been </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-has-no-plans-large-scale-deployment-ukraine-pms-spokesman-2024-02-27/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">confirmed</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> by the British Prime Minister’s office: “Beyond
the small number of personnel we do have in the country supporting the armed
forces of Ukraine, we haven't got any plans for large-scale deployment.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The transcript says that “the French don’t do it that
way,” but Scholz has hinted that they do. On February 26, the German Chancellor
defended his decision not to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine by </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/04/british-soldiers-on-ground-ukraine-german-military-leak" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">saying</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that it would require the presence of Germans in
Ukraine to match their British and French counterparts. He </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/germany-russia-ukraine-taurus-cruise-missiles-4a7d8da5b1999792b694136af18ab037" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">explained</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, “What is being done in the way of target control and
accompanying target control on the part of the British and the French can’t be
done in Germany.” He worried that “a participation in the war could emerge from
what we do.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The transcript also cryptically alludes to an American
presence on the ground. Wondering whether Ukraine would be able to do targeting
on their own, one of the officials says, “It's known that there are numerous
people there in civilian attire who speak with an American accent.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And there are numerous American civilian officers in
Ukraine. On February 26, a <i>New York Times</i> </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/world/europe/cia-ukraine-intelligence-russia-war.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">report</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> revealed in greater detail than ever before the
extent of CIA involvement on the ground in Ukraine. In the days before the war
began, U.S. personnel were evacuated from Ukraine—except for a small group of
CIA officers whom CIA Director William Burns ordered be left behind, and the
“scores of new officers” who were sent in “to help the Ukrainians.” They helped
them by passing on critical information, “including where Russia was planning
strikes and which weapons systems they would use.” The CIA officers provided
“intelligence for targeted missile strikes.” And they provided “intelligence
support for lethal operations against Russian forces on Ukrainian soil.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">These recent intercepts and reports suggest that the
U.S., UK, and France already have troops or operatives on the ground in
Ukraine. Russia has long </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://tass.com/politics/1524597" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">claimed</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the presence of a large number of Polish
fighters in Ukraine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-russia-war-help-estonia-prime-minister-kaja-kallas/#:~:text=Estonian%20Prime%20Minister%20Kaja%20Kallas,help%20Kyiv%20was%20a%20possibility." target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Other NATO
countries appear open to such direct involvement</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said that
“everything” is on the table when it comes to helping Ukraine, that “I think it
is also the signals that we are sending to Russia, that we are not ruling out
different things.” Referring to Macron’s comments that sending troops to
Ukraine should be an option that is not discarded, the Lithuanian Foreign
Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2210074/lithuanian-fm-echoes-macron-on-sending-troops-to-ukraine-no-option-can-be-rejected" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">agreed</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that “nothing can be taken off the table, no
option can be rejected out of hand,” adding that “I very much welcome and
encourage the discussion that has started.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And other NATO countries are considering sending
troops to Ukraine in noncombatant roles. The Czech President Petr Pavel </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://kyivindependent.com/czech-president-reportedly-calls-to-continue-discussion-on-sending-western-troops-to-ukraine/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">says</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that Ukraine’s Western partners should “not
limit ourselves where we don't have to,” including potentially sending troops
for “non-combat engagement” like training missions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Canada’s Defense Minister Bill Blair </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/under-the-right-conditions-canada-open-to-sending-noncombat-troops-to-ukraine-defence-minister-bill/article_eec6806c-d71d-11ee-91fb-ab92d0af803e.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">says</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that Canada already has a small military
presence in Ukraine to protect diplomatic staff (though it had been </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-canadian-embassy-ukraine/#:~:text=No%20evacuation%20plans%20were%20made,fled%20to%20Poland%20on%20Feb." target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">reported</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that Canada evacuated its diplomats at the start
of the war). He says that Canada has “no plans to deploy combat troops” to
Ukraine, but that some Canadian training of Ukrainian troops has been
“challenging because it’s difficult to get people out of Ukraine to do the
training.” So, he says, there was “discussions that, could we do it more
efficiently, and is it possible to do it in Ukraine?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The West has arrived at a fearful dilemma. Doubling
down and sending troops to fight in Ukraine is a dangerous option that could
lead to direct confrontation with Russia and an unthinkable war. But it is not
the only road that can be taken. The West can also turn off the path of war
that has benefitted no one, not send troops to Ukraine and, instead, explore
the diplomatic road. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ted Snider<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ted Snider is a columnist on U.S. foreign
policy and history at Antiwar.com. He is also a frequent contributor to
Responsible Statecraft as well as other outlets.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-79683227104609472082024-03-14T08:56:00.000-07:002024-03-14T08:56:23.316-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Bombs, guns, treasure: What Israel wants, the US gives</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Tel Aviv's exceptional status in American weapons
policy shields it from scrutiny over alleged human rights abuses<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/author/cechols/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">CONNOR ECHOLS</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">MAR 13, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-weapons-israel-2667495926/">https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-weapons-israel-2667495926/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This article was </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/how-us-law-shields-israel-accountability" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">co-published</span></a></span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> with The New Arab.</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Close watchers of Israel’s war in Gaza have faced a
question in recent months: If the U.S. is rushing weapons to Israel, then why
hasn’t the public heard of any arms sales besides two relatively small
transfers late last year?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Washington Post delivered an answer last week.
Reporter John Hudson </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/06/us-weapons-israel-gaza/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">revealed</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that the Biden administration has approved
over </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/us-approved-100-secret-arms-deals-israel-amid-gaza-war" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">100 smaller
weapons packages</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> for
Israel since Oct. 7 that fell under the $25 million threshold for formally
notifying Congress — and thus the public — about the transfers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In total, these mini sales could add up to more than
$1 billion worth of U.S. military aid.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The decision to deliver U.S. aid in smaller packages
is far from unusual. The U.S. government has done so in the past for practical
and </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/oig-armstransfers.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">nefarious</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> purposes alike; only about 2% of weapons
transfers occur above the threshold to notify Congress, according to former
officials.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But what is abnormal is the fact that many of those
weapons were likely pre-positioned on Israeli territory before the war. Unlike
other countries, Israel has a stockpile of American weapons on its soil to
which it has privileged access.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When a U.S.-made bomb slams into Gaza, there’s a real
chance that it started the day in an American facility, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL33222/44" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">managed</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> by American soldiers and governed by American
law.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“It’s clear that it’s been a major source of arms for
Israel,” said Josh Paul, a former State Department official who </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/us-state-dept-official-resigns-over-biden-israel-gaza-policy" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">resigned in
protest of U.S. support</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> for
Israel’s war. Unfortunately, Paul added, “it’s an opaque process, so it’s hard
to say exactly what weapons they’re getting” from the stockpile.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This cache of arms is just a small piece of the
puzzle. Taken as a whole, U.S. efforts to shield Israel from human rights
restrictions and guarantee its access to continued military aid go further than
for any other country, according to experts and former senior U.S. officials.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">These advantages include modified human rights
vetting, special access to U.S. weapons, and a veto on American arms sales to
Israel’s neighbors. Up to this point, the State Department hasn’t </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/how-end-americas-hypocrisy-gaza" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">carried out</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> a formal assessment of Israel’s compliance with
the law in its Gaza war.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Experts claim these arms transfer cutouts have
continued or, in some areas, been expanded since Israel launched its campaign
in Gaza, which has left over 31,000 Palestinians </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2024/03/11/Gaza-health-ministry-says-war-death-toll-at-31-112-" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">dead</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and much of the strip’s population in </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/famine-looms-gaza-how-will-world-know-it-has-arrived-2024-03-05/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">famine</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> or famine-like </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/world-health-organization-malnutrition-particularly-extreme-north-gaza-2024-03-05/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">conditions</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. Even last month, as war crime accusations mounted,
the U.S. reportedly </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/how-the-u-s-arms-pipeline-to-israel-avoids-public-disclosure-e238de75" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">gave</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Israel at least 1,000 precision-guided munitions
and artillery shells.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“The bottom line is that either you have human rights
standards and legal standards or you don't,” Paul said. When U.S. officials
fail to hold Israel accountable for alleged abuses, “it not only creates an
exception for Israel, but it also undermines your diplomacy with other
countries,” he told Responsible Statecraft/ The New Arab.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“I have serious concerns that the continued transfer
of weapons to Israel is facilitating indiscriminate bombing that may violate
international humanitarian law,” Rep. Joaquin Castro told Responsible
Statecraft/ The New Arab in a statement. “Congress needs to push the Biden
administration to hold Benjamin Netanyahu accountable for any use of U.S.
security assistance that violates international law.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told
Responsible Statecraft/ The New Arab that all transfers to Israel since Oct. 7
have followed U.S. law and policy, including notifications to Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“We have followed the procedures Congress itself has
specified to keep members well-informed and regularly brief members even when
formal notification is not a legal requirement,” Miller said in a statement,
adding that claims that the U.S. has cut up weapons packages in order to avoid
public scrutiny are “unequivocally false.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The White House did not respond to a request for
comment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Exceptions make the rules<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When a Middle Eastern country asks the U.S. for
weapons, American officials’ minds go straight to Israel. Would Tel Aviv
approve of the transfer? Could new fighter jets give Egypt an edge over Israel
on the battlefield if their </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/how-will-egypt-react-israeli-ground-invasion-rafah" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">peace deal</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> fell apart? Would Israeli officials come around
if we offer them better weapons to sweeten the pot?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This line of reasoning doesn’t have anything to do
with the personal opinions of U.S. officials. In fact, U.S. law
explicitly </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">states</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that the U.S. must give Israel a “qualitative
military edge” over its neighbors to counter a threat from “any individual
state or possible coalition of states or [...] non-state actors.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">U.S. partners are starkly aware of — and unhappy about
— this reality, according to a former senior U.S. military official in Cairo
who requested anonymity to speak freely about his experience.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Egyptian officials would sometimes request high-tech
weapons just to “watch us squirm and come up with some way to say ‘no’ without
saying the Israelis won't approve it,” the former official recalled.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“This is another place where it’s very explicit that
Israel has a special status that no other country enjoys,” said John
Ramming-Chappell of the Center for Civilians in Conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This qualitative advantage is enforced by the
quantitative side. Since World War II, Israel </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/what-us-military-support-israel-means-gaza-war" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">is far and
away</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the largest
recipient of U.S. military aid. Washington’s funding for the Israeli military,
which now totals $3.8 billion per year, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">makes up</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> about 16% of its total budget, according to the
Congressional Research Service. Israel, which can spend part of its U.S. aid on
Israeli weapons, gets this cash in an interest-bearing account in New York,
making it one of only two states that get a multimillion-dollar tip on top of
baseline U.S. support.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When it comes to human rights, Israel also gets
special protections. Take the Leahy law, a statute that prevents specific units
of foreign militaries from receiving U.S. aid if American officials have
evidence they’ve committed “gross violations of human rights.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For most countries, Leahy vetting happens before aid
is disbursed. Israel gets the equipment first, and the ensuing vetting
process </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/18/us-supply-weapons-israel-alleged-abuses-human-rights" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">looks
different</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> than for
other countries. Lower-level State Department officials have found multiple
cases in which Israeli units should lose access to American weapons under U.S.
law, but those cases are consistently blocked by higher-ups in government who
usually don’t weigh in on such cases for other countries, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/josh-paul-us-israel-weapons/" target="_self"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">according to
Paul</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The result is that, unlike Egypt and other U.S.
partners in the Middle East, no Israeli unit has ever been sanctioned under the
Leahy law despite numerous credible allegations of human rights abuses, a fact
that the statute’s namesake has </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/patrick-leahy-israel-gaza-aid-b2509035.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">loudly railed
against</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The State Department has previously justified this
disparity by pointing to Israel’s judicial system, which U.S. officials believe
is capable of handling human rights violations internally.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In recent weeks, congressional attention has focused
on whether Israel is violating a U.S. law that prevents countries from
receiving American weapons if they block U.S. humanitarian aid in whole or in
part. While the statute has rarely been enforced, the Biden administration
promised to hold states accountable to the law in a recent memorandum.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At this point, many experts and lawmakers </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://x.com/SenSanders/status/1767568964962439431?s=20" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">believe</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Israel is in clear violation of this law given
how little aid now enters Gaza. Yet the White House has still not offered a
reason — or a formal waiver — to justify its failure to enforce its own
commitment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“I really haven’t heard a good response to the
question of why we should not apply existing U.S. law [...] to ensure that U.S.
military assistance is used in accordance with our values,” </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-america-isnt-using-its-leverage-with-israel" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">said</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Given the evidence that Israel is intentionally
blocking the passage of humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Biden administration has
an obligation to enforce Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act and move towards
limitations on further offensive aid to Israel as long as the aid blockade
continues,” Rep. Castro said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">‘As supportive as possible’<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When the White House moved to expedite weapons
transfers to Israel after Oct. 7, it faced an unusual problem. The president
already had more than enough authority to make this happen, but officials
wanted to signal that they were being “as supportive as possible.” The solution
was to further loosen laws around U.S. arms transfers, according to Paul, who
still worked in government at the time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“It's not that those were things that we'd been
previously thinking about,” Paul said. “The previous position within government
had been [that] Israel already has more than you could possibly want in terms
of authorities and funding.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Now, the Senate’s supplemental spending package for
Israel has provisions that would </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/91213/the-war-reserve-stockpile-allies-israel-explained-why-congress-should-not-expand-it/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">dramatically
expand</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the
secretive U.S. stockpile on Israeli soil while </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/11/25/biden-israel-weapons-stockpile-arms-gaza/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">loosening</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> public reporting requirements about transfers
from it. A bill with similar changes passed the House as well, signaling broad
support for the proposal in Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Alongside already existing loopholes, these new
restrictions weaken America’s case that it is committed to protecting human
rights on the world stage, according to Ramming-Chappell.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“The exceptional status that Israel enjoys in U.S.
arms transfer policy and law, when taken in conjunction with the devastating
effects of Israel’s current campaign in Gaza, really undermines U.S. leadership
and claims to moral authority in the international sphere,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/author/cechols/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Connor Echols</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Connor Echols is a reporter for Responsible
Statecraft. He was previously an associate editor at the Nonzero Foundation,
where he co-wrote a weekly foreign policy newsletter. Echols received his
bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, where he studied journalism and
Middle East and North African Studies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-89099250222747309162024-03-13T11:45:00.000-07:002024-03-13T11:45:20.413-07:00<p><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Why Netanyahu is
laughing all the way to the bank</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">David Petraeus
said recently that US leverage on Israel to do the right thing in Gaza is
'overestimated' — that's just not true<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/author/ppillar/">PAUL
R. PILLAR</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MAR 06, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-israel-leverage/">https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-israel-leverage/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Favors that one country gives to another imply
leverage that the former can exert on the latter. Withholding, or even
threatening to withhold, such largesse, focuses minds within the recipient
country’s government and can influence its policies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The favors that the United States has given to Israel
have been enormous, as reflected in $318 billion, adjusted for inflation,
in </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-military-aid-does-the-us-give-to-israel/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">foreign aid</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> through 2022 — far more than the United States
has given to any other country since World War II. Thus, the leverage the
United States has available to use on Israel is large. But it has used almost
none of it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Even when Israeli policies fly in the face of U.S.
preferences, the result is nothing more than a verbal slap on the wrist.
Examples include the countless times that construction of more Israeli
settlements in occupied territory are followed by timid official U.S.
statements but no action — such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/blinken-says-israels-new-settlements-west-bank-inconsistent-with-international-2024-02-23/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">saying</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> last month that he was “disappointed” by
Israel’s latest announcement of new settlement construction in the West Bank.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When the subject of employing the leverage is raised,
voices in response usually say something similar to what retired general David
Petraeus </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.cfr.org/event/american-military-leadership-middle-east" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">said</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> recently, which was that the United States is
“committed” to Israeli security, that we tend to “overestimate the leverage,”
and that Israel is currently in a “life and death situation.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In fact, the days of Israel being a beleaguered,
vulnerable state surrounded by strong, hostile neighbors are long gone. Israel
has the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/10/21/israel-military-capabilities-explained" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">most potent</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> military in the Middle East — even just at the
conventional level, let alone when considering </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar/israels-widely-suspected-unmentionables-11191" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">nuclear
weapons</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. Israel’s
military offsets any numerical inferiority in raw numbers of troops with
advanced technology that far surpasses what any other state in the region
enjoys. Despite frequently heard rhetoric that attributes to some regime or
group a supposed dedication to “destroying” Israel, no enemy of Israel has
anything close to the capability of doing so.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One might argue that this secure Israeli position is
thanks in part to all that U.S. assistance, and thus is a reason to continue
the aid. But Israel is a wealthy country. It is in the richest </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">20 percent</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> or even </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">10 percent</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of nations in the world, depending on how one
measures GDP per capita. Israel can pay by itself for that potent military. The
voluminous U.S. aid is a subsidy by American taxpayers to Israeli taxpayers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Therefore, reduction or termination of the aid would
not endanger Israeli security, no matter how much the United States considers
itself committed to that security. Israel would spend what it must to meet its
own conception of security. But interruption of the voluminous
no-strings-attached American subsidy would certainly get the attention of
Israeli politicians and thus can have considerable influence on Israeli policy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In many respects, spending on, and use of, the Israel
Defense Forces does not enhance Israeli security and may even detract from it.
In recent years, the IDF has been largely occupied with keeping down a
subjugated and thus discontented Palestinian population in the occupied
territories and </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.molad.org/en/articles/Israeli-security-pays-price-for-settlements" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">protecting</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Israeli settlements there. This is not a matter
of securing Israel but instead of incurring the costs of choosing to cling to
conquered territory and sustaining an illegal occupation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The full range of costs of this use of the IDF was
underscored by the lethal Hamas attack on southern Israel last October. One
reason Hamas was able to perpetrate its atrocity so easily was that Israel
had </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/2-commando-companies-said-diverted-from-gaza-border-to-west-bank-days-before-oct-7/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">moved</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> forces from the area in question to the West
Bank.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Today, any munitions that the United States provides
to Israel or finances are most likely to be used in further devastation of the
Gaza Strip. That raises important issues, in addition to questions of leverage
and influence, about possible U.S. complicity in </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://time.com/6342821/israel-airstrike-us-military-war-crimes/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">war crimes</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. But for present purposes, one point to note is that
because the Israeli assault has gone far beyond what can be construed as
defense, any U.S. curtailment of the means for continuing the assault would be
reducing devastation in Gaza, not Israeli security.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In fact, continuation of the assault, and any
logistical or financial facilitation of the assault, is likely to decrease
rather than increase the future security of Israelis. The suffering of the
Palestinians in Gaza is breeding an entire angry generation that will be
determined to strike back against Israel, including with terrorist violence. As
journalist Peter Beinart </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://peterbeinart.substack.com/p/even-destroying-hamas-wont-make-israel" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">observes</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, even if Israel could achieve the probably
unachievable objective of “destroying Hamas,” we should expect that
“Palestinians will create another organization based on trying to fight back,
indeed using violence, given the extreme unimaginable violence that
Palestinians have now suffered.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Another relevant point about the current carnage in
Gaza is that the U.S. has leverage that can curb the worst aspects of Israeli
policies not only by influencing Israeli policymakers but also by directly
inhibiting the execution of those policies. Although Israel will eventually
make or obtain elsewhere the munitions it wants to use, at least in the short
run the fewer bombs the U.S. provides that can </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/updates/us-must-monitor-use-of-us-weapons-in-gaza/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">flatten</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> civilian neighborhoods, the fewer neighborhoods
are likely to be flattened.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">U.S. largesse toward Israel and the leverage that goes
along with it extend far beyond military aid. The diplomatic cover that the
United States has routinely provided Israel, shielding it from consequences of
Israel’s own actions, are unquestionably of high importance to Israeli
policymakers. Of the 89 </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://globalaffairs.org/bluemarble/how-us-has-used-its-power-un-support-israel-decades#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20has%20vetoed%2089,treatment%20of%20the%20Palestinian%20people." target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">vetoes</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the United States has cast in the history of the
United Nations Security Council, more than half have been on resolutions
criticizing Israel, mostly for its occupation of Palestinian territory and
treatment of the Palestinians. The Biden administration has continued this
pattern, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-casts-third-veto-un-action-since-start-israel-hamas-war-2024-02-20/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">vetoing</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> multiple resolutions calling for a cease-fire in
Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Even just abstentions on such resolutions would jolt
Israeli decisionmakers into having to think more seriously about changing their
most damaging policies. Votes in favor would have even more of an effect,
underscoring for Israel that it could no longer count on its superpower patron
standing in the way of worldwide outrage over Israeli actions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Biden administration could take other non-military
measures to exercise its considerable political and diplomatic leverage with
Israel. It could reverse some of the all-in-with-Israel actions of the Trump
administration, such as by re-establishing the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/20/why-biden-jerusalem-consulate-promise-remains-unfulfilled" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">consulate</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> in East Jerusalem that had served as a principal
channel of communications with the Palestinians. It could even join the 139
nations that have formally </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_recognition_of_the_State_of_Palestine" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">recognized</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the State of Palestine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">None of these diplomatic measures would jeopardize in
the slightest the security of Israel or any U.S. commitment to that security.
Nor would they entail international political or diplomatic costs to the United
States. To the contrary, they would improve the U.S. global standing by making
the United States less of an outlier from an international consensus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu projects, at least
as much as other Israeli leaders, the image of someone determined to go his own
way regardless of what the United States wants or says. But that self-assurance
is based on the now decades-old pattern of the United States not using its
leverage with Israel. “I know what America is,” Netanyahu once </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2010/7/18/netanyahu-us-easily-manipulated" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">said</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. “America is a thing you can move very easily, move
it in the right direction. They won’t get in the way.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If America were to stop being moved so easily and
started getting in the way of objectionable Israeli conduct, Netanyahu and
other Israeli leaders would change their tune.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The default U.S. policy toward Israel through multiple
administrations has been to lavish unqualified support and hope that the United
States can gain some influence through the very closeness of the relationship.
The Biden administration has continued this approach with its </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/10/20/the-biden-hug" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">influence-through-hugging</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> notion. Clearly, the approach has not worked. It
is past time to exercise the leverage the United States has had all along.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/author/ppillar/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Paul R. Pillar</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Paul R. Pillar is Non-resident Senior Fellow at the
Center for Security Studies of Georgetown University and a non-resident fellow
at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He is also an Associate
Fellow of the Geneva Center for Security Policy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-17073250828176723882024-03-13T07:44:00.000-07:002024-03-13T07:44:49.596-07:00<p><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">China-Iran-Russia
joint drills not a threat, but a security belt: Global Times editorial</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Global Times<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Published: Mar 13, 2024 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202403/1308713.shtml">https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202403/1308713.shtml</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The navies of China,
Iran, and Russia are conducting joint drills called "Maritime Security
Belt - 2024" near the Gulf of Oman. The exercise will last from March 11
to 15. In addition to the three countries, naval representatives from Pakistan,
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Oman, India, and South Africa will also observe the
exercise. Since 2019, this joint exercise had been successfully held three
times, forming a normalized mechanism between the three countries. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Like
in previous years, this year's exercise aims to jointly maintain regional
maritime security. The exercise is not targeted at any country and is not
related to the geopolitical situation. In other words, any interpretation
trying to associate the "Security Belt" with specific countries is
inaccurate.<br />
<br />
In the past, the topics of the China-Iran-Russia joint naval exercises have
focused on the joint protection of shipping and maritime economic activities by
fleet formations, mainly practicing fleet movements, naval gunnery,
communication exercises and counter-piracy operations, which are in line with
the participation of the three countries' navies in the escort operations in
the Gulf of Aden. This year is no exception. Counter-piracy, search and rescue
are the main contents of the joint exercise.<br />
<br />
The Gulf of Oman is located at the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz, and about
one-fifth of the world's oil is transported through here. The common goal of
the three parties is to jointly maintain the security of this passage, ensuring
regional maritime peace and stability, which is not only the consensus of the
three parties but also the common interest of the global community. From the
first cooperation to the present, the joint exercises have become
institutionalized and routine. It demonstrates that the exercise has been
satisfactory for all parties involved, showcasing the willingness and
capability of the three parties to cooperate, which is also in line with the
needs of the region.<br />
<br />
Countering piracy, search and rescue, and other capabilities are essential for
modern navies to carry out escort missions and ensure the security of
waterways. Practicing these capabilities is a suitable arrangement in response
to the security situation in the region, and it is completely different from
exercises conducted by some countries for military confrontation. If some
countries are concerned about "Maritime Security Belt," such concerns
are unnecessary. Even without comparing exercise subjects, just looking at the
code names of joint exercises by some countries, it's either a "Keen
Edge" or an "Iron Fist," or even "Yudh Abhyas," which
means "training for war" in Hindi. These code names are
intimidatingly aggressive, displaying a strong deterrent meaning. Isn't it
obvious who should be the cause for concern?<br />
<br />
The current situation in the Middle East is turbulent and unsettled. Some
Western public opinions believe that the trilateral military exercises are
intended to demonstrate the support of China and Russia for Iran. The issue is
that the "Maritime Security Belt" is being held for the fourth time.
Previously, Western media claimed that the it was a means for China and Russia
to sell weapons to Iran. Last year, they claimed that it was countermeasure
actions targeted at "AUKUS." Relevant claims are updated every year.
Even if the Western media themselves are not confused, the outside world will
be bewildered.<br />
<br />
The "Maritime Security Belt" focuses on non-traditional security
areas to address common threats in the international community, bringing
positive impacts to the smooth flow of international trade. The three parties
are not likely to form an alliance based on it, nor will they develop a
military alliance. Statements that forcefully associate the three countries as
a so-called "alliance" or "axis" are underestimating the views
of the three countries, and are still stuck in the inertia of Western
"camp confrontation" thinking. The cooperation among the three
parties will not be disturbed by such assertions, and will not be restrained
because of displeasure from the West.<br />
<br />
The latest "2024 Annual Threat Assessment Report" released by US'
Office of the Director of National Intelligence believes that the US faces an
increasingly fragile global order during the next year, mentioning China, Iran,
and Russia. It should be noted that the real vulnerability of the current
global order lies in the fact that the US has taken too many actions to incite
camp confrontations under the guise of the so-called "axis" narrative
and has too little rational understanding of global changes.<br />
<br />
The security of the waters in the Gulf of Oman is crucial to the interests of
all countries and requires collective efforts to maintain. The Chinese force
participating in this exercise is from the PLA's 45th escort task force in the
Gulf of Aden. China actively engages in international security cooperation and
makes contributions, which demonstrates our responsible image as a major
nation. Regarding the "Maritime Security Belt," Washington said last
year that it would "closely watch it." The US often urges China to
"assume regional responsibilities," and this time the international
community will also closely observe the US to see whether it really means what
it said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-67364854510771302062024-03-12T08:33:00.000-07:002024-03-12T08:33:13.779-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Poland’s Foreign Minister Confirms NATO Troops Are in
Ukraine</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Discord leaks revealed last year that 97 NATO
special operations troops were in Ukraine as of March 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/author/dave_decamp/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">by Dave DeCamp</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> March 11, 2024 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/11/polands-foreign-minister-confirms-nato-troops-are-in-ukraine/">https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/11/polands-foreign-minister-confirms-nato-troops-are-in-ukraine/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/post/29300"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">confirmed in comments on Friday</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that NATO troops are inside Ukraine but would
not name the countries who have personnel on the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“NATO soldiers are already present in Ukraine. And I
would like to thank the ambassadors of those countries who have taken that
risk,” Sikorski said at a conference commemorating Poland’s 25th year as a NATO
member.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“These countries know who they are, but I can’t
disclose them. Contrary to other politicians, I will not list those countries,”
he added.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The fact that NATO troops are in Ukraine has been an
open secret since </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/special-operations-leak.jpeg"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">the Discord leaks revealed last year</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that as of March 2023, there were 97 NATO
special operations soldiers in the country, including troops from the US, the
UK, Latvia, and France.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The issue has gotten renewed attention since French
President Emmanuel Macron said the deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine
shouldn’t be ruled out. His comments prompted several NATO countries to say
they weren’t considering sending troops and sparked a backlash from Russia.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In response to Sikorski’s comments, Russian Foreign
Minister spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said there was no point in NATO continuing
to claim it doesn’t have troops inside Russia.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A leaked recording of a conversation between German
military officers that was </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/04/german-military-leak-reveals-british-soldiers-are-in-ukraine-helping-fire-storm-shadow-missiles/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">recently published by Russian media</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> revealed that British soldiers inside Ukraine
are helping Ukrainian forces fire Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of
about 150 miles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The small NATO presence inside Ukraine risks a direct
NATO-Russia war, which could quickly turn nuclear. But despite the risk of
escalation, more and more NATO countries are openly discussing sending more
troops.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Sikorski also said last week that the idea of NATO
troops in Ukraine is “not unthinkable” and said he appreciated Macron’s
comments because “it is about Putin being afraid, not us being afraid of
Putin.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Sikorski is known for suggesting the US was behind the
sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines that connect Russia and
Germany. After explosions hit the pipelines in September 2022, Sikorski, then a
member of the European Parliament, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2024/01/10/poland-resists-cooperation-with-nord-stream-sabotage-investigation/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">wrote on Twitter</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, “Thank you, USA.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-72551525772927045852024-03-11T08:06:00.000-07:002024-03-11T08:06:51.632-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Biden’s Pier for Gaza Is a Hollow Gesture That Will
Accomplish Nothing</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The US President and the Democratic party are betting
voters are dumb enough to fall for this charade. </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Please
don’t prove them right.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">by </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://original.antiwar.com/author/cook/" title="Posts by Jonathan Cook"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jonathan Cook</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Posted on </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2024/03/10/bidens-pier-for-gaza-is-a-hollow-gesture-that-will-accomplish-nothing/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">March 11, 2024</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2024/03/10/bidens-pier-for-gaza-is-a-hollow-gesture-that-will-accomplish-nothing/<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">A few observations on President Biden’s building of a
“temporary pier” – or what his officials are grandly calling a “port” – to get
aid into Gaza:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">1. Though no one is mentioning it, Biden is violating
Israel’s 17-year blockade of Gaza with his plan. Gaza doesn’t have a seaport,
or an airport, because Israel, its occupier, has long banned it from having
either.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israel barred anything getting into Gaza that didn’t
come through the land crossings it controls. Israel stopped international aid
flotillas, often violently, from reaching Gaza to bring in medicine. The
blockade also created a captive market for Israel’s own poor-quality goods,
like damaged fruit and veg, and allowed Israel to skim off money at the land
crossings that should have gone to the Palestinians in fees and duties.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">2. It will take many weeks for the US to build this
pier offshore and get it up and running. Why the delay? Because every western
capital, including the United States, has supported the blockade for the past
17 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The siege of Gaza caused gradual malnutrition among
the enclave’s children, rather than the current rapid starvation. By helping
Israel inflict collective punishment on Gaza for all those years, the US and
Europe were complicit in a gross and enduring violation of international law,
even before the current genocide.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">With his pier, Biden isn’t reversing that
long-standing collusion in a crime against humanity. He has stressed it will be
temporary. In other words, it will be back to business in Gaza as usual
afterwards: any children who survive will once again be allowed to starve in
slow-motion, at a rate that doesn’t register with the establishment media and
put pressure on Washington to be seen to be doing something.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3. Biden could get aid into Gaza much faster than by
building a pier if he wanted to. He could simply insist that Israel let aid
trucks through the land crossings and threaten it with serious repercussions
should it fail to comply. He could threaten to withhold the US bombs he is
sending to kill more children in Gaza. Or he could threaten to cut off the
billions in military aid Washington sends to Israel every year. Or he could
threaten to refuse to cast a US veto to protect Israel from diplomatic fallout
at the United Nations. He could do any of that and more, but he chooses not to.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">4. Even after Biden buys Israel a few more weeks to starve
Palestinians in Gaza further aggressively, while we wait for his temporary pier
to be completed, nothing may change in practice. Israel will still get to carry
out the same checks it currently does at the land crossings but instead in
Lanarca, Cyprus, where the aid will be loaded on to ships. In other words,
Israel will still be able to create the same interminable hold-ups using
“security concerns” as the pretext.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">5. Biden isn’t changing course – temporarily – because
he suddenly cares about the people, or even the children, of Gaza. They have
been suffering in their open-air prison, to varying degrees, for decades. If he
had cared, he would have done something to end that suffering after he became
president. If he had done something then, October 7 might never have happened,
and all those lives lost on both sides – lives continuing to be lost on the
Palestinian side every few minutes – might have been saved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And if he really cared, he wouldn’t have helped Israel
in its efforts to destroy UNRWA, the UN relief agency for Palestinians and a
vital lifeline for Gaza, by freezing its funding, based on unevidenced claims
against the agency by Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No, Biden doesn’t care about Palestinian suffering, or
about the fact that, while he’s been busy eating ice cream, many, many tens of
thousands of children have been murdered, maimed, or orphaned – and the rest
starved. He cares about the polls. His timetable for helping Palestinians is
being strictly dictated by the schedule of the presidential election. He needs
to look like Gaza’s saviour when Democrats are deciding who they are voting
for.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He and the Democratic party are betting voters are
dumb enough to fall for this charade. Please don’t prove them right.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jonathan Cook is the author of three books on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize
for Journalism. His website and blog can be found at </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.jonathan-cook.net/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">www.jonathan-cook.net</span></a></span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This originally <a href="https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2024-03-08/biden-pier-gaza-hollow-gesture/">appeared
at his website</a>.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-11527884338335036952024-03-10T08:34:00.000-07:002024-03-10T08:34:53.635-07:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israeli rabbi says ‘kill everyone in Gaza, including
babies’</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Rabbi Eliyahu Mali and his Yeshiva are sponsored by
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9">News Desk</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MAR 8, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-rabbi-says-kill-everyone-in-gaza-including-babies">https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-rabbi-says-kill-everyone-in-gaza-including-babies</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Rabbi Eliyahu Mali, head of the Shirat Moshe yeshiva
(religious school) in the occupied city of Jaffa, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/sy3bfhu6p"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">called</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> on the Israeli army to kill everyone in Gaza,
including babies. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">During a conference on 8 March, Mali said that
“according to the halachic principle (a religious-ethical system of legal
reasoning in Judaism), all residents of Gaza must be killed.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When asked during the conference if babies should be
killed as well, he said: “The same thing. You can't be clever with the Torah.
Today he's a baby, tomorrow he's a fighter. There are no questions here.
Today's terrorists were previously 8-year-old children.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Those who create the terrorists” should also be
killed, he said in reference to women in Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Rabbi went on to explain that Israel’s war on Gaza
is a “Mitzvah war,” which is defined as a war of “commandment” in Jewish
tradition. According to Jewish law, this kind of war does not require
permission from a “Sanhedrin,” also known as a council or assembly, such as the
war against Amalek – previously declared in a biblical reference by Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of the war on Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“There is a difference between a civilian population
in other places and a civilian population in Gaza. In Gaza, according to
estimates, 95 to 98 percent want us destroyed.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">"Since this is a sensitive issue, and I was told
that it is being uploaded on the Internet, I want to be ahead of the curve and
say that the bottom line is that you have to do exactly what is said in the
IDF's order,” Mali added. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The rabbi’s students in the Shirat Moshe yeshiva serve
in the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/top-israeli-commanders-killed-by-the-dozens-in-gaza-report"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israeli army</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. The Yeshiva is sponsored by the Israeli
government. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Some in Israel have distanced themselves from his
rhetoric, such as Israeli Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">"Using Halacha does not give any rabbi permission
to present Judaism or Israel as bloodthirsty and revengeful. This directly
harms the security of the State of Israel and like other distorted statements
in the name of Halacha, it will be used by our enemies … I demand that the IDF
and the Ministry of Defense stop cooperating with the Yeshiva until the rabbi
is fired. The IDF must not allow such dangerous moral corruption in its
ranks," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Mali has long been a controversial figure due to his
beliefs. In 2021, shortly before the outbreak of the Sword of Jerusalem battle
between Israel and the Gaza resistance, he was </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/jaffa-yeshiva-rabbi-assaulted-after-inquiring-about-apartment-2-arrested/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">beaten up</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> by Palestinian citizens of Israel on the streets
of occupied Jaffa. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-60037264062520573602024-03-09T09:22:00.000-08:002024-03-09T09:22:05.440-08:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Complicity in Genocide—The Case Against the Biden
Administration</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Israel’s mass bombardment of civilians in Gaza is
being facilitated, aided and abetted by the United States government.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://inthesetimes.com/authors/azadeh-shahshahani"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">AZADEH SHAHSHAHANI</span></a></span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> AND </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://inthesetimes.com/authors/sof%C3%ADa-ver%C3%B3nica-montez"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">SOFÍA VERÓNICA MONTEZ</span></a></span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">FEBRUARY
26, 2024<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/israel-gaza-palestine-genocide-biden-blinken-austin"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">https://inthesetimes.com/article/israel-gaza-palestine-genocide-biden-blinken-austin</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Early this month, a federal judge dismissed
a case brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/11/Complaint_DCI-Pal-v-Biden_ww.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">charging</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense
Lloyd Austin, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken with complicity in the
Israeli-led genocide in Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But while many media outlets were quick to report on
the case not moving forward, they largely missed a key aspect of the
ruling: the judge did not dismiss the case on its merits but rather because it
fell “outside the court’s limited jurisdiction,” therefore rejecting it
on technical grounds. In fact, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White’s
statement appeared to uphold some of plaintiff’s key charges in the
case: “Both the uncontroverted testimony of the plaintiffs and the expert
opinion proffered at the hearing on these motions as well as statements made by
various officers of the Israeli government indicate that the ongoing military
siege in Gaza is intended to eradicate a whole people and therefore
plausibly falls within the international prohibition against genocide.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The judge went further, urging Biden and his
administration officials to scrutinize “the results of their unflagging
support” for the Israeli government’s assault on Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Judge White was not alone in his appraisal. The case,
first heard on January 26 in front of the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of California, saw</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/biden-genocide-gaza-israel-court-hearing-b2484404.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> roughly</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> 100 human rights and humanitarian aid
groups write briefs supporting CCR’s charges against the
Biden administration. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">These briefs make it abundantly clear that the Biden
administration, in its steadfast support of the Israeli government, is
complicit in the ongoing genocide, the displacement of</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-02-14/displaced-palestinians-leave-one-of-gazas-main-hospitals-after-weeks-of-being-isolated-by-fighting" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> approximately 80%</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of Palestinians from their homes and the</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-02-21/gaza-death-toll-rises-to-29-313-rafah-residents-killed-in-strike" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> deaths
of more than 29,000</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> so
far in this latest chapter of a 76‑year-long</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/world/reflections-on-the-75th-anniversary-the-nakba/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Nakba
(catastrophe) that never ended</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">CCR’s lawsuit underscored the plight of
a Palestinian people asserting their humanity and refusing to be
sacrificed at the altar of</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HZs-v0PR44" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> U.S. geopolitical interests</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. By looking at the charges and evidence presented
against the Biden administration, a clear picture emerges: The United
States is actively aiding a campaign of mass slaughter in Gaza being
carried out by the government of Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Active U.S. support</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The suit by CCR referenced</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://un-documents.net/a3r260.htm" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the 1948 Genocide Convention</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">—which tasks governments with preventing genocides and
forbids their complicity in genocides perpetrated by another party — and</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-19-genocide-18-usc-1091" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the U.S.
Genocide Convention Implementation Act</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, passed in 1988, which incorporates this mandate
into U.S. law.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As multiple human rights</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/fidh-resolution-israels-unfolding-crime-genocide-and-other-crimes-gaza-and-against-palestinian-people#:~:text=Since%20the%20attacks%20and%20hostage,majority%20of%20its%202.3%20million" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> advocates</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and experts such as Israeli historian and
Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies Raz Segal have laid out,
Israel is</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-case-of-genocide" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> carrying out</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> a “textbook case of genocide” in Gaza,
backed by clear genocidal intent, laid bare in Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav
Gallant’s Oct. 9 declaration: “We are imposing a complete
siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is
closed. We are fighting human animals and we will act accordingly.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In response to the case, the Biden administration</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2024/01/64_1-12-24_Govt-reply-MTD_w.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> countered
that</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> CCR’s
lawsuit should not move forward because supporting Israel is a foreign
policy decision reserved for the executive branch, free from judicial
interference; that the United States is not responsible for how Israel,
a foreign government, acts; and that there is no federal law allowing the
plaintiffs to sue.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/12/44_12-22-23_PI-reply-MTD-oppn_w.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">CCR noted</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, first, that the issue is not whether the U.S. can
make foreign policy decisions involving Israel but rather that the decision to
aid in a genocide violates federal law, and the courts have a duty to
uphold the law even against U.S. officials.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Second, CCR explained in detail how the Biden
administration, far from a neutral spectator, is actively supporting the
genocide through military, economic and diplomatic assistance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Militarily, Secretary Blinken</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/08/politics/state-department-congress-tank-munitions-sale/index.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> exercised</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> emergency powers</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/29/biden-blinken-byspass-congress-israel-weapons-sale?ref=upstract.com" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> twice</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> in December to approve the sale of armament
worth approximately $254 million.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47828" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> According to the Defense
Department</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">,
these supplies come from the</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/91213/the-war-reserve-stockpile-allies-israel-explained-why-congress-should-not-expand-it/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> War
Reserve Stocks for Allies-Israel (WRSA-I)</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, an</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/11/25/biden-israel-weapons-stockpile-arms-gaza/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> obscure</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> U.S. stockpile in Israel containing billions of
dollars’ worth of equipment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The administration now seeks to</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/11/25/biden-israel-weapons-stockpile-arms-gaza/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> loosen
WRSA-I restrictions for Israel</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, expanding access to weaponry, increasing the annual
stockpile limits, and removing legislative oversight, while adding to the
privileges Israel already enjoys such as permission to withdraw WRSA-I items</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/12/44-7_12-22-23_Paul-Decl_w.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> without
the prior justification</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> required
of all other recipient countries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The U.S. has provided (or is on track to provide)
Israel</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1wp1rncp" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> over 25,000 tons</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-14/pentagon-is-quietly-sending-israel-ammunition-laser-guided-missiles?embedded-checkout=true&sref=j0yibzu3" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> military
supplies</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">:</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-01-25/ty-article/.premium/u-s-and-israel-finalize-major-military-aircraft-deals-amid-gaza-war/0000018d-4234-d35c-a39f-ea7e5b8c0000" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> dozens
of F‑35 and F-15 fighter jets (to be received in the coming years),
a dozen Apache helicopters</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/11/18/23966137/us-weapons-israel-biden-package-explained" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> two
thousand Hellfire missiles</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.tag24.com/topic/israel-war/palestinian-plaintiffs-file-damning-new-declarations-in-biden-genocide-case-3048361" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> MK‑84 bombs</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/white-house-request-waiver-arms-sales-gaza-israel"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Joint Direct Attack Munitions</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to guide them,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/world/middleeast/israel-white-phosphorus-us.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></a><a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/11/07/israel-us-weapons-secret/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Spice bombs</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/11/18/23966137/us-weapons-israel-biden-package-explained" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> M141 bunker‑buster
munitions</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, one million
rounds of</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/11/Complaint_DCI-Pal-v-Biden_ww.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> 7.62mm
munitions</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and
thousands of</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/white-house-request-waiver-arms-sales-gaza-israel"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> 155mm artillery shells</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/11/18/23966137/us-weapons-israel-biden-package-explained" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> 30mm
cannon munitions, night‑vision devices</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and much more. Meanwhile, the presence of</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-gaza-hostages-us.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> U.S.
surveillance drones in Gaza</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> suggests
the possibility of greater U.S. military involvement than
previously thought.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Financially, President Biden requested an emergency
supplemental budget</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/27/ijc-verdict-israel-gaza-war-biden-pressure" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> exceeding
$14 billion</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to
support Israel. The House of Representatives</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7217?s=1&r=26" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> responded
with a bill</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> reflecting
this amount plus billions of dollars for joint operations assistance. The
Senate has now</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/politics/senate-foreign-aid-bill-ukraine/index.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> passed</span></a><a href="https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/emergency_national_security_supplemental_bill_text.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> a bill</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> for $14.1 billion permitting the supply of
currently forbidden military items to Israel, as well as waiving WRSA-I caps.
These bills are currently being debated in Congress but enjoy broad
bipartisan support.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And, diplomatically, the United States exercised its
veto privilege at the United Nations Security Council to stall international
calls for a cease-fire in Gaza on</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/10/1142507" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> October 18</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/12/1144562" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> December 8</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/02/1146697" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> February 20</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. The December instance followed UN Secretary General
António Guterres’s</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.un.org/en/situation-in-occupied-palestine-and-israel/sg-sc-article99-06-dec-2023" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> invocation
of Article 99</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> of
the UN Charter to refer to the Security Council a “matter which, in [his]
opinion, may aggravate existing threats to the maintenance of international
peace and security.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Article 99 was</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/2023/12/07/the-un-secretary-general-invoked-article-99-to-push-for-a-gaza-cease-fire-what-exactly-is-it/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> last
invoked in 1971</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> preceding
the split of Bangladesh from Pakistan. Additionally, the UN General Assembly
overwhelmingly supported cease-fire resolutions on</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://press.un.org/en/2023/ga12548.doc.htm" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> October 27</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> and</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://press.un.org/en/2023/ga12572.doc.htm" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> December 12</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, both of which the U.S. voted against. And,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/12/1145022" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> on December 22</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, the U.S. abstained from a Security Council vote
to direct humanitarian aid to Gaza after stalling for four days to remove
a call for cease-fire from the resolution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">These various forms of support unequivocally
constitute aiding and abetting of Israel’s cataclysmic destruction of Gaza, and
the CCR argued as much in establishing that the U.S. has been actively
complicit in the ongoing genocide.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Relatedly, the CCR referenced this very aiding and
abetting in claiming that they do have a federal right to sue under the
Alien Tort Statute (ATS). As they explained, “aiding and abetting
liability, particularly for U.S. defendants,” triggers the ATS goal of “provid[ing]
a forum for violations of international law.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Therefore, the CCR concluded, the courts do have
a constitutional duty to put an end to the executive branch’s complicity
in genocide; the executive branch is complicit based on its clear aiding and
abetting in the form of military, financial and diplomatic support; and the ATS
permits plaintiffs to sue federal officials for their violations of the
Genocide Convention.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">No conditions</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">CCR further charged Biden, Blinken and Austin with
failure to prevent the genocide. The Genocide Convention and customary
international law compel governments to exercise due diligence to prevent
genocide, and self-defense is</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/geneva-convention-relative-protection-civilian-persons-time-war" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> legally
insufficient</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> as
a justification for eradicating a population. U.S. officials are
liable if they could likely influence Israel’s conduct and if they should have
known that Israel’s acts raised a serious risk of genocide in Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In Gaza, the U.S. indisputably can influence Israel’s
conduct. The U.S. fills</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/11/18/23966137/us-weapons-israel-biden-package-explained" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> 92% of
Israel’s arms imports</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. Much
of this equipment can only originate from the U.S. as it utilizes</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/12/44-7_12-22-23_Paul-Decl_w.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> proprietary
technologies</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.
Defense Minister Gallant</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/gallant-we-cant-say-no-to-the-us-on-humanitarian-aid-given-how-much-they-do-for-us/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> admitted</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> as much, when the U.S. pressured for
humanitarian aid to Gaza, noting that “[t]he Americans insisted and we are not
in a place where we can refuse them. We rely on them for planes and
military equipment. What are we supposed to do? Tell them no?” The Biden
administration</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-at-a-press-availability-43/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> similarly
boasted</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> about its
influence in persuading Israel to pause aggressions for seven days in
late November.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And the United States is doubtlessly aware of the
ongoing genocide in Gaza. The CCR shared its</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/10/Israels-Unfolding-Crime_ww.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> emergency
legal briefing paper</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> with
Biden, Blinken, and Austin in October explaining these exact points. The
International Court of Justice</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/e9d8337ab5ae1d92/72977573-full.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> (ICJ)
ruled</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> in January
that there is a plausible risk that Israel is carrying out genocide.
Additionally, more than 800 public officials and diplomats across
a range of countries,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/02/us/politics/protest-letter-israel-gaza.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> close
to 80 of whom</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> are
based in the U.S. and work primarily within Blinken’s State Department,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/e/2PACX-1vTbqPLjpzDpGdamN2LWL1a-lLCkgs0nDOmgBN3MT-U-3-t5D1gIgrc5KORsHfO9nEIuOBdCnD-5tDKX/pub?pli=1" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> warned
in February that</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> their
governments were at risk of being complicit in genocide.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://icj-cij.org/case/91" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In a previous case</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, the ICJ found Serbia to be liable for failing to
prevent the genocide of Muslim communities in Srebrenica in 1995 by
the Bosnian Serb forces, an independent actor that perpetrated the genocide
with the support of the Serbian government. Dr. William A. Schabas,
a renowned Professor of Human Rights Law and International Criminal Law,
concluded that U.S. complicity in the war on Gaza “has many parallels”
with the Serbian government’s complicity in Srebrenica since, like the
relationship between Israel and the U.S., “[t]he Bosnian Serb forces were very
dependent upon weaponry and other logistical support from Serbia, and there
were strong political and economic ties” between the two. The U.S.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/182/182-20220907-WRI-01-00-EN.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> acknowledged</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> this very duty to prevent genocide when it
commented in support of Ukraine’s case against Russia at the ICJ in 2022.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Biden administration blanketly denies the genocide
charges against Israel while refusing to investigate them altogether. President
Biden</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/10/07/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-terrorist-attacks-in-israel/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> vowed
that</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> his “administration’s
support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering.” Secretary Blinken</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/4398781-israel-gaza-blinken-genocide-case-meritless/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> has
stated</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> his view
that South Africa’s “charge of genocide [against Israel before the ICJ]
is meritless.” And White House Coordinator for Strategic Communications John
Kirby</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/4398781-israel-gaza-blinken-genocide-case-meritless/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> said</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, on behalf of the Biden administration, that “[w]e
find [South Africa’s] submission meritless, counterproductive and completely
without any basis in fact, whatsoever,” later</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2024/01/26/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-nsc-coordinator-for-strategic-communications-john-kirby-and-national-climate-advisor-ali-zaidi/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> insisting
that</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> “we find
that that claim is unfounded.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">More recently, former Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi baselessly</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/nancy-pelosi-claims-no-u-s-weapons-have-been-used-to-carry-out-israeli-atrocities-in-gaza/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> claimed
that</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> “nothing
[the U.S. has] sent since Oct. 7 [to Israel] has contributed to this
brutality,” despite</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/12/israel-opt-us-made-munitions-killed-43-civilians-in-two-documented-israeli-air-strikes-in-gaza-new-investigation/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> well
recorded evidence</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to
the contrary.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The U.S. State Department</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/state-department-internal-emails-gaza-israel_n_65296395e4b0a304ff6ff95d?ykm" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> ordered
officials</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to refrain
from using the phrases “de‑escalation,” “cease-fire,” “end to
violence,” “end to bloodshed,” and “restoring calm” in press
releases, and Secretary Blinken</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://twitter.com/RobbieGramer/status/1711366571665342603?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1711370118440030459%7Ctwgr%5Ea57dd47286731812fa9d09d3f5c874a2e8693e4a%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fblinken-deletes-social-media-post-calling-israel-hamas-cease-fire" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> was
found to have deleted</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> references
to a cease-fire in his posts on X (formerly Twitter) after they had
already been sent out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Conspicuously, a State Department task force on
preventing atrocities took</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/state-department-israel-hamas-gaza_n_6543a0c4e4b0cde80b8bd72e" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> a full
two weeks</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> into the
extremely brutal assault before meeting to discuss Israel and Palestine, and it
was nevertheless sidelined by the administration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">According to Kirby, the U.S. imposes</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4339929-kirby-defends-us-approach-israel/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> no
conditions</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> on
weapons transfers to Israel even though the Foreign Assistance Act, the Leahy
Law, and the Conventional Arms Transfer policy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/12/44-7_12-22-23_Paul-Decl_w.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> prohibit
transfers</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> when the
weapons are likely intended to be used for genocide. Notably, transfers to most
countries can be</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/12/44-7_12-22-23_Paul-Decl_w.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> put on
hold</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> if one
stakeholder suspects an item will be used unlawfully. In the case of Israel,
multiple stakeholders, including the Bureau of Near East Affairs (NEA) and the
U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, must first agree that such risk exists, and the hold
must be approved by the Deputy Secretary of State.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Moreover, these transfers</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/11/07/israel-us-weapons-secret/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> are
shrouded in secrecy</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.
Whereas the U.S. published pages detailing what weapons, and in what
quantities, it provided to Ukraine, governmental disclosures concerning Israel
amount to one brief sentence. Josh Paul, former director in the State
Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/white-house-request-waiver-arms-sales-gaza-israel"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> remarks that</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> there is no benefit in this secrecy except
diminished oversight.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And the administration insists that it has remained
close to the Israeli officials perpetrating the genocide. Kirby</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/john-kirby-israel-gaza-offensive-us_n_653760fbe4b0689b3fbdb8c5" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> claimed
that</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> “we have,
since the beginning of the conflict, in the early hours, maintained
a level of communication with our Israeli counterparts to ascertain their
intentions, their strategy, their aims.” Secretary Blinken has held</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-news-hamas-war-10-16-23/h_4a8db70a949bc92e01057954f2a265b2" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> hours-long
conferences</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> with
Israeli military officials, and Secretary Austin</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3558715/dod-remains-resolute-in-support-of-israel/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> had
near-daily calls</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> with
Minister Gallant “to meet Israel’s needs, which include air defense,
precision guided munitions, artillery and medical supplies.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Responsibility to act </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The U.S. District Court in California, spotlighting
the ICJ’s finding of plausible genocide,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2024/01/91_1-31-24_Order-granting-MTD_w.pdf" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> implored</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the administration to reconsider its course for
the welfare of the Palestinian people, finding the judiciary to be lamentably
powerless to interfere with foreign policy decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Looking to the future, a group of South African
lawyers</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://twitter.com/IsmailAbramjee/status/1744748556907405758" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> stated
to</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> the Biden
administration their intention to sue the U.S. government for “aiding,
abetting and supporting, encouraging or providing material assistance and means
to Israel” during a genocide. On February 12, the South African
government</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/south-africa-makes-urgent-request-international-court-justice-rafah-offensive" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> urgently
requested</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that the ICJ
use its powers to prevent further genocidal acts by Israel in light of the most
recent attack on Rafah, “the last refuge for surviving people
in Gaza.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As the CCR case makes clear, the United States
government is currently facilitating the annihilation of Gaza and the
Palestinian people. In the face of this massacre, Congress has
a responsibility to rein in the abuses of the Biden administration by
exercising its review authority to end any further aid to the Israeli
government. While recent efforts to condition such aid have </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/16/bernie-sanders-senate-test-vote-military-aid-israel" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">failed</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, that should not prevent members of Congress from
taking a clear stand: now is the time to hold the Biden administration
accountable for its complicity in the crime of genocide.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-17761107921543819602024-03-08T07:35:00.000-08:002024-03-08T07:35:51.544-08:00<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Report: Israel
Sets March 15 as Deadline for ‘Broad War’ Against Lebanon<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Aid groups urge
immediate ceasefire on humanitarian grounds<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/author/jason/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">by Jason Ditz</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">March 7, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/07/report-israel-sets-march-15-as-deadline-for-broad-war-against-lebanon/">https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/07/report-israel-sets-march-15-as-deadline-for-broad-war-against-lebanon/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">While tensions are high on the Lebanon-Israel border
right now, there are reports that recent visits by a US envoy </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/lebanon/2024/03/07/amos-hochstein-lebanon-israel-border-talks/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">made some progress</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> with a roadmap based on UN Security Council
Resolution 1701 which ended the 2007 Israel-Lebanon war.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Nevertheless Israel has reportedly ratcheted down
hopes for a truce by </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-sets-15-march-deadline-to-launch-broad-war-against-lebanon-report"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">the March 15 deadline</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Tel Aviv set for launching a broad war against
neighboring Lebanon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Fighting along the border has been raging for months,
with tens of thousands of residents displaced on both sides amid near-daily
fire. At one point, Israel announced that returning residents to their homes
was the primary incentive for the strikes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">More recently, however, Israel shifted to the
long-term goal of removing Hezbollah from the border region. While both US and
French proposals for peace would do this, they also appear to be non-starters
as long as a Gaza ceasefire is not in place.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A large coalition of aid agencies has urged the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.savethechildren.net/news/joint-statement-humanitarian-agencies-issue-fervent-plea-cessation-hostilities-southern-lebanon"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">cessation of hostilities</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> on humanitarian grounds. They noted the 42
civilians killed since Israeli strikes began, including 7 children. They also
reported that some 91,288 civilians were displaced from southern Lebanon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In detailing the $1.2 billion in direct losses in the
south, much of the destruction was inflicted on local farmland, with white
phosphorus in particular causing considerable damage. This includes the
destruction of 47,000 olive trees.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Meantime, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has
been</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://news.antiwar.com/2024/02/25/israeli-dm-ceasefire-in-gaza-would-mean-escalation-in-lebanon/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> talking up the possibility of
using a ceasefire</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> as
an opportunity to escalate the war in Lebanon by diverting resources from the
Gaza Strip.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Still, while a Gaza ceasefire has not been reached,
Hamas said talks could resume over the coming weekend. There is hope for a
Ramadan ceasefire, although as that month-long religious holiday begins March
10, there is not much time to forestall an all-out Lebanon war.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem downplayed the
chances of a broader war, saying he is “90% sure that there will not be a large
scale war,” adding that it would require Israel or the US to change their
position for there to be one.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-49042131312573418812024-03-07T10:13:00.000-08:002024-03-07T10:13:55.017-08:00<p><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Scoop: Democrats
say Rafah invasion "likely" violates U.S. military aid rules</span></b></p>
<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/authors/asolender">Andrew Solender,</a><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/authors/barak_ravid">Barak Ravid</a><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mar 6, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/06/biden-israel-rafah-house-democrats">https://www.axios.com/2024/03/06/biden-israel-rafah-house-democrats</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A group of House
Democrats is making the case to </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/politics-policy/joe-biden" target="_self"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">President Biden</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that an Israeli invasion of Rafah could
violate </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/27/israel-sign-letter-international-law-weapons-us-aid" target="_self"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">his requirement</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that U.S. military aid be used in accordance
with international law, Axios has learned.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Why it
matters: </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It places new
pressure on the Biden administration to consider suspending aid to Israel
should the country move forward with the operation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What they're
saying: </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">More than three
dozen House Democrats, in a </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24459623-2024-03-05-letter-on-rafah-to-president-biden" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">letter</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to Biden, cited a memorandum he signed last
month requiring any recipient of U.S. aid to provide "credible and
reliable written assurances" it will comply with international law.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">An invasion of Rafah, they argued, "would
likely contravene" the memorandum, noting the "the absence of a
credible plan" to protect civilians.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The lawmakers urged Biden to "use every tool
at your disposal to ensure ... that all recipients of U.S. aid are held
accountable to the commitments demanded" by the memorandum.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Between the
lines: </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The signers of the
letter, led by Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Jan
Schakowsky (D-Ill.), include many senior Democrats and close Biden allies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">State of
play: </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Democrats and
Biden officials have expressed concerns that an invasion of the city, which
houses more than a million Palestinians, could result in a human rights
catastrophe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Biden </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/15/biden-netanyahu-rafah-hostages-humanitarian-aid" target="_self"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">voiced
opposition</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to
the Rafah operation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu without a
plan for ensuring the safety of civilians.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Negotiations for a temporary ceasefire between
Israel and Hamas are ongoing, with </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/25/netanyahu-israel-gaza-hamas-hostages-rafah" target="_self"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Netanyahu
saying</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> last
week an agreement would delay — but not cancel — plans for the
Rafah operation<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The big
picture: </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The letter
reflects growing concern among Democrats across the ideological spectrum
towards the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/01/14/gaza-israel-palestinians-famine-disease-hospitals-humanitarian" target="_self"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">humanitarian
crisis in Gaza</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">,
which has seen tens of thousands of Palestinians killed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Democrats have also </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/29/democrats-sound-alarm-voter-blowback-gaza" target="_self"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">faced
backlash</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> from
Arab American and young voters for their continued support of Israel in
its war with Hamas.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Even some of the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/01/biden-gaza-airdrop-congress-israel" target="_self"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">most
staunchly pro-Israel Democrats</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> have applauded Biden's steps to surge
humanitarian aid to the region, including </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/02/gaza-airdrop-aid-palestinians" target="_self"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">through
airdrops</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What's next: </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Secretary of State Antony Blinken has until March 25
to certify that Israel has signed the commitment sought by the memorandum.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If the certification is not given, U.S. weapons
transfers to Israel would be suspended.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-89836052310254505122024-03-06T07:04:00.000-08:002024-03-06T07:04:11.095-08:00<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On Hypocrisy and Genocide – How Gaza Has Exposed the
West Like Never Before</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">by </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://original.antiwar.com/author/ramzy-baroud/" title="Posts by Ramzy Baroud"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ramzy
Baroud</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Posted on </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2024/03/03/on-hypocrisy-and-genocide-how-gaza-has-exposed-the-west-like-never-before/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">March 04, 2024</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><a href="https://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2024/03/03/on-hypocrisy-and-genocide-how-gaza-has-exposed-the-west-like-never-before/">https://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2024/03/03/on-hypocrisy-and-genocide-how-gaza-has-exposed-the-west-like-never-before/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Israeli genocide in Gaza will be remembered as the
moral collapse of the West.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As soon as the Israeli war began, following the
Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7, every moral or legal frame of reference
that Washington and its western allies supposedly held dear was suddenly
dropped. Western leaders rushed to Israel, one after the other, offering
military, political and intelligence support – along with a blank check to
rightwing Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and his generals to
torment the Palestinians.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The likes of the US Secretary of State, Antony
Blinken, went as far as joining Israel’s first war council meeting, so that he
could take part in the discussion which directly resulted in the Gaza genocide.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“I come before you not only as the United States
Secretary of State, but also as a Jew,” he</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-767997"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> said</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> on October 12. The interpretation of these words
is disturbing, no matter how it is spun, but it also ultimately means that
Blinken has lost all credibility as an American, as a politician or even as a
fair-minded human being.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">His boss, President Joe Biden, as if in an infinite
loop, has been, for years, repeating that “You don’t have to be Jewish to be a
Zionist”. Indeed, he has lived up to his maxim,</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/biden-were-there-no-israel-there-wouldnt-be-a-jew-in-the-world-who-is-safe/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> declaring</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, time and again, “I am a Zionist”. Indeed, he is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Like many other US and western officials and
politicians, the US President abandoned international and humanitarian laws
altogether, even the law of his own country. The Leahy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.state.gov/key-topics-bureau-of-democracy-human-rights-and-labor/human-rights/leahy-law-fact-sheet/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Law</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> “prohibits the US Department of State and
Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign security
force units that violate human rights with impunity.” Instead, he, like
Blinken, subscribed to tribal affiliation and ideological notions, which simply
added fuel to the fire.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Though “</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/israel/hebron6-04.htm"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">protected persons</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">” under international law, Palestinians seem
dispensable, in fact, irrelevant to the point that their collective death
appears critical for Israel to regain its ‘deterrence’, and to protect itself,
in the words of Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, against the “human
animals” of Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If there is a stronger word than hypocrisy, one would
have used it. But, for now, it would have to suffice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At the beginning of the war, many rightly drew a
parallel between the West’s reaction to Gaza and their enraged response to the
war in Ukraine. However, as the death toll grew, this comparison seemed
inadequate. Over 12,000 children have been killed in Gaza in 140 days of war,
compared to 579 in the two-year Russia-Ukraine war.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Yet, when the EU Foreign Policy Chief, Josep Borrell,
was asked, point blank, in an Al-Jazeera interview on November 20 about the
violations of international law in Gaza, he offered two completely different
answers. “I am not a lawyer,” he said, when the legality of Israel’s atrocities
in Gaza were questioned. When the interviewer shifted to talk about Al-Aqsa
Flood, Borrell had no qualms about the issue. “Yes, we consider that a war
crime, for killing civilians in this apparent way without any reason,” he</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://en.mehrnews.com/news/208645/Borrell-faces-criticism-over-double-standards-on-Gaza-war"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> said</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This episode has not been repeated often in the US
media, simply because few mainstream media journalists are bothered or, more
accurately, dare to question Israel’s grisly behavior in the Gaza Strip.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">However, when such opportunities arose, the flagrant
hypocrisy was impossible to hide. Marvel, for example, at Matthew Miller,
spokesperson for the US State Department, in response to rape allegations in
both Gaza and Israel. When he was asked, on February 18, about allegations of
rape by Israeli soldiers of Palestinian women in Gaza, his answer was that the
US has</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/us-strongly-urges-israel-to-investigate-reports-of-violations-against-palestinian-women/3143303"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> urged</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Israel to “thoroughly and transparently
investigate credible allegations”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Compare this to his response to a question about
unverifiable allegations of sexual assaults made by Palestinians against
Israelis, although </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-01-04/ty-article/.premium/israeli-police-ask-victims-and-witnesses-to-testify-about-hamas-sexual-violence/0000018c-d580-d751-ad8d-ffa4acf40000"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">debunked</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> even by Israel’s own media. “They’ve committed
rape. We have no reason at all to doubt those reports,” he</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-december-4-2023/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> said</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> at a press conference on December 4.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Such examples are produced daily by hundreds of
western leaders, top officials and media organizations. Even now, when the
death toll has broken all records of brutality in recent human history, they
still speak of Israel’s “right to defend itself”, willfully ignoring the fact
that Israel has forfeited this right as soon as it engaged in this prolonged
aggression, starting in 1948.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Indeed, international law on the rules of wars and
military occupation is situated within a framework – notably laid out by the
Fourth Geneva Convention – that exists to defend the rights of the occupied,
not the right of the Occupier.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This time-honored truth is obvious to the vast
majority of humanity, save Washington and a few others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As dozens of envoys from around the world</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203551"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> testified</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> before
the International Court of Justice from February 19 to 26, protesting Israel’s
horrific violence, protracted occupation and racial system of apartheid, the US
sent its envoy to the highest Court in the world to lobby for something else
entirely.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">With the ironic title of “Acting legal adviser for the
US State Department”, Richard Visek bizarrely urged the ICJ to ignore
international law altogether. “The Court should not find that Israel is legally
obligated to immediately and unconditionally withdraw from Occupied Territory,”
he</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/21/us-tells-icj-israel-should-not-be-ordered-to-immediately-end-occupation"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> said</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For far too long, but especially since October 7,
Western governments, starting with the US, have violated every last set of
ethics, morality and laws that they themselves developed, drafted, promoted,
even imposed on the rest of the world for many decades. Currently, they are
practically dismantling their own laws, and the very ethical standards that led
to their formation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Now that some western leaders have begun to feel
increasingly uncomfortable as the enormity of the Gaza genocide unfolds, a few,
though bashfully, are declaring that Netanyahu may be ‘going too far’. Even so,
not even an outright admission of responsibility would erase the fact that they
are active participants in Netanyahu’s killing campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When all is said and done, the blood of the
horrifyingly high number of Palestinian victims will be shared equally between
Tel Aviv, Brussels, London, Sydney, and all other genocide apologists. A crime
of this magnitude will never be forgotten or forgiven.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the
Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest
book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Our-Vision-Liberation-Palestinian-Intellectuals/dp/1949762440"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Our Vision for Liberation</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak
Out<i>. His other books include </i>My Father was a Freedom Fighter<i> and </i>The
Last Earth<i>. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center
for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). </i></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">His website is</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.ramzybaroud.net/"><i> www.ramzybaroud.net</i></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3933890356701749504.post-18711216160199511492024-03-05T09:04:00.000-08:002024-03-05T09:04:27.005-08:00<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">THE SAME PROPOSALS TO ACHIEVE SECURITY AND PEACE IN MEXICO<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The presidential campaigns have begun in Mexico, as well
as the rest of the campaigns to elect a total of 20,708 positions at the local,
state, and federal levels, in the June 2 elections.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Obviously, most attention is focused on the presidential
candidates Claudia Sheinbaum of the Let’s Keep Making History Coalition (Morena,
PVEM and PT); Xóchitl Gálvez of the Coalition Force and Heart for Mexico (PAN, PRI,
and PRD); and Jorge Alvarez Máynez of the Citizen Movement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Although there are many issues relevant to the population
(economy, health, education, environment, migration, etc.), the main issue in all
the surveys (with 70% of the respondents) is the insecurity and violence that have
plagued the country for decades, without any government, regardless of party, having
been able to solve or contain the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">International governmental and non-governmental institutions
and agencies have provided data and indicators on the serious security crisis that
Mexico is experiencing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For example, the Institute for Economics and Peace, based
in Sydney, Australia, has been conducting a Global Peace Index covering 163 countries
for 17 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Mexico ranked 139th in 2022 and 136th in 2023, while the
Geneva-based non-governmental organization (NGO) Global Initiative Against Transnational
Organized Crime, released its Global Organized Crime Index, which evaluates 193
countries, in which Mexico was considered the most dangerous country in the world
in 2023 in terms of organized crime.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">However, according to the National Institute of Statistics
and Geography (INEGI), an autonomous body of the Mexican State, the perception of
insecurity in cities has decreased in the last 5 years (that is, during the government
of Andrés Manuel López Obrador), because while in 2018 more than 70% of respondents
claimed to feel insecure in their city, by 2023, 61.4% of the urban population claimed
to feel insecure in their city.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This figure has been widely publicized by President Lopez
Obrador’s government as a sign that its “security strategy” is working.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On the other hand, the opposition parties point out that
there is a significant increase in violence in the country, having reached the figure
of 180,000 murders during the five years of López Obrador's government (and there
are still seven months before his term in office ends), a figure higher than all
the murders committed during the two previous governments (Peña Nieto 2012-2018;
and Calderón 2006-2012).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Likewise, the number of missing persons during the López
Obrador administration has already reached 45,000, more than in any previous administration
since these statistics were collected (1962).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For this reason, the security strategy proposed by the
presidential candidates will become the topic most analyzed and debated during the
presidential campaign, and to which citizens will pay more attention.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Both Sheinbaum and Gálvez have already outlined the security
policy they would apply if they became president of the Republic, and the truth
is that none of them proposes anything new or different from what both the current
and previous governments have already tried.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">To allocate more budget to security; to professionalize
and improve the working conditions of local and state police; to increase the number
of members of the National Guard and expand its presence throughout the country;
to improve the intelligence capabilities of the Mexican State; to improve coordination
and collaboration between local, state and federal authorities; to establish closer
cooperation agreements with the United States; to tackle the social causes that
lead to delinquency among young people, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">All this that is being proposed by both candidates has
already been proposed before and has usually not been implemented or has been poorly
done.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Xóchitl Gálvez has wanted to differentiate herself a bit
by proposing to build a mega prison, with extremely harsh measures in it, such as
the one build by President Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, to intimidate criminals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">While Sheinbaum promises to continue with López Obrador's
strategy of not confronting criminal organizations directly, but attacking the social
and economic causes that foster criminality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In addition, neither of the two main candidates in the
presidential race has commented on the reform of prosecutors' offices, which are
usually understaffed and under-budgeted, overworked and lack real autonomy to conduct
proper criminal investigations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Most likely, the presidential candidates will continue
to promise the same things they always do, with the same kind of policies that have
already been tried, and that have failed (especially to militarize public security),
so that organized crime (along with its partners and accomplices in local, state
and even federal governments) will continue to have the upper hand and, by the same
token, will continue to hurt and plunder the Mexican people.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rolando Garrido Romohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00420419511920256919noreply@blogger.com0