If Blinken is too cowardly to ride in the lead truck of a 1,000+ strong convoy, then (if we were sincere) use the US military tanks and Bradleys to lead and protect. Patrick Lawrence's post today in Consortium spells our role out well and notes, "... we find the West has licensed the Israelis. They bear a pre-authorization by way of many precedents."
Indeed our actions in too many countries gave Israel the playbook by which to commit atrocities and assume little to no accountability. Though I can't help but believe that we are putting the noose around our own neck and Israel's.
How about we put every elected politician, entrenched civilian and military bureaucrat, anointed political appointee like Blinken, and every braying pundit and propagandists calling for Israel to finish the job in Palestine up in that front row with him?
Ukraine, as well, indeed, Dennis. Along with Graham and any other American politician wanting to spend more money on it, including Biden. And if Macron decides to send French troops, he can be in the lead vehicle, as well.
To top it off, this is no war, it is a one-sided deliberate slaughter. HAMAS might be able to kill an Israeli soldier now and then, but the IDF is a full equipped modern army, the best the US can make it, so the gross mismatch of the two sides makes it farcical to call this a war. Israel is literally calling all the shots and goes wherever whenever it wishes.
I guess I'm not like you as I don't subscribe to the NY Times, WaPo or CNN. I cancelled my subscriptions after Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
In addition to your column (which I read religiously) I will read Al Jazeera, South China Morning Post, Haaretz and even RT knowing full well they have their own biases and allegiances, but at least they counterbalance the bullshit I get from American MSM and I can usually count on the truth being somewhere in the middle.
Hamas and Gaza have been completely cut off from ALL supplies for 6 months now. No food, no fuel , electric, medical and most importantly NO ARMS for Hamas. The media doesn't report this obvious fact. Hamas is reduced to throwing rocks by now. Need anymore be said?
Excellent article. I hadn't really considered this temporary pier as having a dual use. BTW I don't subscribe to any of the supposed "news media" mentioned as they really all belong in the trash wrapping cat turds assuming they're still using paper.
Complicity in Genocide leaves an indelible stain which can not be cleaned up or erased from the books of history.
The US is running out of time to fix or at list partially fix what it destroyed “credibility as a democratic and progressive country and of course, its moral compass ”
I don’t agree that there is nothing we can do, protesting boycotting and suing is what needs to be done at every level and by everyone, pressure does work.
And as the issue is global and legalizing Genocide can never be accepted by any other than brainwashed eugenists, we must not only stand in opposition, but we must attack them and put them in their place if we wanna survive their insanity. “ diplomacy does not work with bullies “
Everyone must understand that continuing in this path would sum to opening wide open the door to World War III “which is in effect thanks to the US and its sold out proxies world leaders imbedded in the electropharmawar industrial complex, is already starting to open”
At this point in history, we need to provide support to the human side of humanity which the mass media are trying to suppress .
I have personally already lost my interests in macabre and negative thinkers like C hedges, which instead of giving hope, stumps on the victims of what should never be, and presents the situation as if there would be no other solution but bending over and squeeze the teeth, which is Perhaps what he likes too do in his private time, not sure and actually could not care less. “disappointing though”
We need to keep on blasting the warmongers and sadists, and demand for justice before those supporting this Genocide do more than damage than what they already have done.
Also we must always remember that Palestinians are reading what we write too, and if we care for them we must support them, and not depressing them like the sold out politicians and UN representatives with their dehumanizing psychological warfare do.
Here something I wrote a few days ago along with some important links, if you can survive my typos.
You make some great points on how this is being framed, but some people just don't seem to get it. Genocide through starvation and famine is a sin and it doesn't make anyone an anti-Semite to point this out or whether you think this side or that started it. Linking as usual @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/ and will continue to link articles like yours until this nonsense stops. As human beings we should all be better than this or mankind is lost!
With all due respect, Bill, i think it is a mistake to judge that Reuters article based solely on a read of its "Daily Briefing" summary. Or to judge the Daily Briefing summary without reading the referenced article.
And if You are correct that "most" Americans are satisfied with reading quick synopses of lengthy news articles to get their news, then, once again: Those people have the system of government and the leaders of that government that they deserve, And will get the exact political, economic, and civil society future that they deserve.
And i'm curious: What exactly are You saying or implying when You write that Hamas "allegedly started all the trouble on October 7th"? Are You suggesting that this whole thing didn't start on October 7? And/or that perhaps the whole thing is a False Flag operation, started by Hamas in cooperation and coordination with Israel and the United States?
My point, Jeff, is that you can write a quick summary that's far more accurate and hard-hitting, as I attempted to do with my title.
Israeli government policies are producing mass famine in Gaza. Israel has already killed or wounded more than 100,000 Palestinians since the October 7th Hamas attacks. An Israeli blockade on most aid to Gaza promises death tolls in the hundreds of thousands over the next few months. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to send weapons to Israel while providing diplomatic cover in the UN, making it complicit in genocide.
I just wrote that summary, which I think is far more accurate than the Reuters one.
And what I meant by "allegedly" and October 7th was that the Israeli persecution of Palestinians in Gaza began long before 10/7. Also, the "atrocities" committed allegedly by Hamas, mass rapes, beheaded babies, were wildly exaggerated if not completely made up.
Let me ask You this: Do You think there is any possibility that October 7 was in fact a False Flag Operation initiated by Israel and the United States, with Hamas's cooperation?
Or, another possibility: That Israel knew Hamas was going to attack and stood its defense and security operations down so as to let October 7 happen, thereby justifying what has happened since?
i find it strange that apparently no heads have rolled in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem over the biggest intelligence and national defense and security failure in Israel's history. Sort of like no heads in DC rolled after 9/11.
My guess is that Israel knew an attack was coming, but they didn't know the scale, because they underestimated Hamas. But never let a disaster go unexploited. The Israeli government quickly seized on the attack, exaggerated it, then launched preexisting plans to wipe out Gaza, the final solution to the Palestinian question there.
That's my take. I don't see a False Flag. I don't think Israel deliberately feigned unpreparedness. Again, I'm just guessing.
Roger. My short answer is the same as Yours and i'm just guessing, as well..
But i do think there is a very good possibility ~ if not probability ~ that it was a False Flag Op.
Just like the U.S. wanted and needed a War in Vietnam and staged the Tonkin Gulf "Incident," Israel wanted and needed an excuse to clear Palestine - Gaza and the West Bank ~ of as many Palestinians as possible, either by death or by departure as Refugees.
My point was ~ and now that You've added Your own Summary ~ and is that neither the Reuters Summary nor Your Summary give any hint whatsoever that the article in question is virtually entirely about, as i said, Children ~ with several very disturbing pictures ~ who are suffering from specific medical conditions that have worsened because of the War and the lack of treatment and medicine, and how the situation is only going to get worse.
Just to play "what if...": If the Israelis are stopping supplies at the border, what might their response be to a replay of the Berlin Airlift, if the US (who now supposedly cares) began to parachute in supplies? Would they fire on their primary benefactor's military cargo planes?
We're already air-dropping a small amount of supplies and MREs (with Israeli permission, of course). The problem is that airlift can't take the place of thousands of trucks.
"What if..." once again: not that the US would commit to such a thing, but would the Israelis fire on US/UN troops - if they were attached to the truck convoys - if they forced the issue at the border? Imagine a world in which the UN actually tried to enforce its rulings/decrees/international law. (perhaps I'm running a fever...should maybe check)
And before Genocide Joe makes that call to Bibi, he's got to get permission from his owners and operators, commanders and controllers, and script writers and handlers,
Just like any and every other President needs to get permission from the same people before doing anything.
Heh. Carter may have tried hard, but let us not forget that he was President when American aid, assistance, and advice to the Mujahedeen [including, most interestingly, a guy named Osama bin Laden] began in America's first post-Vietnam proxy war against the then-USSR in Afghanistan.
And then, of course, Iran happened.
i would say that there has been a shit show going on since WWII ended, starting with our bankrolling, arming, equipping, and transporting French efforts to retake their colonies in Indochina that they lost to the Japanese.
Thanks for the link, Ray. "Starvation is stalking Gaza"--I didn't realize "starvation" was a powerful actor, more powerful than Israel and the U.S. government.
Though I guess famine is one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. Nice to know we ride with famine.
If Blinken is too cowardly to ride in the lead truck of a 1,000+ strong convoy, then (if we were sincere) use the US military tanks and Bradleys to lead and protect. Patrick Lawrence's post today in Consortium spells our role out well and notes, "... we find the West has licensed the Israelis. They bear a pre-authorization by way of many precedents."
Indeed our actions in too many countries gave Israel the playbook by which to commit atrocities and assume little to no accountability. Though I can't help but believe that we are putting the noose around our own neck and Israel's.
Well said, Tom G.
How about we put every elected politician, entrenched civilian and military bureaucrat, anointed political appointee like Blinken, and every braying pundit and propagandists calling for Israel to finish the job in Palestine up in that front row with him?
I'm all for it!
Ukraine, as well, indeed, Dennis. Along with Graham and any other American politician wanting to spend more money on it, including Biden. And if Macron decides to send French troops, he can be in the lead vehicle, as well.
I am pleased to recommend this very well-written and powerful post that should be required reading in journalism classes.
To top it off, this is no war, it is a one-sided deliberate slaughter. HAMAS might be able to kill an Israeli soldier now and then, but the IDF is a full equipped modern army, the best the US can make it, so the gross mismatch of the two sides makes it farcical to call this a war. Israel is literally calling all the shots and goes wherever whenever it wishes.
Sorry, Bill.
I guess I'm not like you as I don't subscribe to the NY Times, WaPo or CNN. I cancelled my subscriptions after Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
In addition to your column (which I read religiously) I will read Al Jazeera, South China Morning Post, Haaretz and even RT knowing full well they have their own biases and allegiances, but at least they counterbalance the bullshit I get from American MSM and I can usually count on the truth being somewhere in the middle.
Hamas and Gaza have been completely cut off from ALL supplies for 6 months now. No food, no fuel , electric, medical and most importantly NO ARMS for Hamas. The media doesn't report this obvious fact. Hamas is reduced to throwing rocks by now. Need anymore be said?
As usual, I couldn’t agree more, Bill. But why should _you_ have to say this? Why isn’t _everyone_ saying this?
Well, I'm not taking any money from AIPAC. And I don't have a boss editing my articles here. Unless you count Tom :-)
Read the Intercept- all press releases MUST be approved by IDF censors.
Excellent article. I hadn't really considered this temporary pier as having a dual use. BTW I don't subscribe to any of the supposed "news media" mentioned as they really all belong in the trash wrapping cat turds assuming they're still using paper.
Complicity in Genocide leaves an indelible stain which can not be cleaned up or erased from the books of history.
The US is running out of time to fix or at list partially fix what it destroyed “credibility as a democratic and progressive country and of course, its moral compass ”
I don’t agree that there is nothing we can do, protesting boycotting and suing is what needs to be done at every level and by everyone, pressure does work.
And as the issue is global and legalizing Genocide can never be accepted by any other than brainwashed eugenists, we must not only stand in opposition, but we must attack them and put them in their place if we wanna survive their insanity. “ diplomacy does not work with bullies “
Everyone must understand that continuing in this path would sum to opening wide open the door to World War III “which is in effect thanks to the US and its sold out proxies world leaders imbedded in the electropharmawar industrial complex, is already starting to open”
At this point in history, we need to provide support to the human side of humanity which the mass media are trying to suppress .
I have personally already lost my interests in macabre and negative thinkers like C hedges, which instead of giving hope, stumps on the victims of what should never be, and presents the situation as if there would be no other solution but bending over and squeeze the teeth, which is Perhaps what he likes too do in his private time, not sure and actually could not care less. “disappointing though”
We need to keep on blasting the warmongers and sadists, and demand for justice before those supporting this Genocide do more than damage than what they already have done.
Also we must always remember that Palestinians are reading what we write too, and if we care for them we must support them, and not depressing them like the sold out politicians and UN representatives with their dehumanizing psychological warfare do.
Here something I wrote a few days ago along with some important links, if you can survive my typos.
https://mywisdom.substack.com/p/truth-be-told
You make some great points on how this is being framed, but some people just don't seem to get it. Genocide through starvation and famine is a sin and it doesn't make anyone an anti-Semite to point this out or whether you think this side or that started it. Linking as usual @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/ and will continue to link articles like yours until this nonsense stops. As human beings we should all be better than this or mankind is lost!
Lying by omission is still lying.
With all due respect, Bill, i think it is a mistake to judge that Reuters article based solely on a read of its "Daily Briefing" summary. Or to judge the Daily Briefing summary without reading the referenced article.
The article in question [ at https://www.reuters.com/default/gaza-starving-children-fill-hospital-wards-famine-looms-2024-03-19/ ] focuses especially on Children ~ with several very disturbing pictures ~ who are suffering from specific medical conditions that have worsened because of the War and the lack of treatment and medicine.
And if You are correct that "most" Americans are satisfied with reading quick synopses of lengthy news articles to get their news, then, once again: Those people have the system of government and the leaders of that government that they deserve, And will get the exact political, economic, and civil society future that they deserve.
And i'm curious: What exactly are You saying or implying when You write that Hamas "allegedly started all the trouble on October 7th"? Are You suggesting that this whole thing didn't start on October 7? And/or that perhaps the whole thing is a False Flag operation, started by Hamas in cooperation and coordination with Israel and the United States?
My point, Jeff, is that you can write a quick summary that's far more accurate and hard-hitting, as I attempted to do with my title.
Israeli government policies are producing mass famine in Gaza. Israel has already killed or wounded more than 100,000 Palestinians since the October 7th Hamas attacks. An Israeli blockade on most aid to Gaza promises death tolls in the hundreds of thousands over the next few months. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to send weapons to Israel while providing diplomatic cover in the UN, making it complicit in genocide.
I just wrote that summary, which I think is far more accurate than the Reuters one.
And what I meant by "allegedly" and October 7th was that the Israeli persecution of Palestinians in Gaza began long before 10/7. Also, the "atrocities" committed allegedly by Hamas, mass rapes, beheaded babies, were wildly exaggerated if not completely made up.
Let me ask You this: Do You think there is any possibility that October 7 was in fact a False Flag Operation initiated by Israel and the United States, with Hamas's cooperation?
Or, another possibility: That Israel knew Hamas was going to attack and stood its defense and security operations down so as to let October 7 happen, thereby justifying what has happened since?
i find it strange that apparently no heads have rolled in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem over the biggest intelligence and national defense and security failure in Israel's history. Sort of like no heads in DC rolled after 9/11.
The short answer, Jeff, is how would I know?
My guess is that Israel knew an attack was coming, but they didn't know the scale, because they underestimated Hamas. But never let a disaster go unexploited. The Israeli government quickly seized on the attack, exaggerated it, then launched preexisting plans to wipe out Gaza, the final solution to the Palestinian question there.
That's my take. I don't see a False Flag. I don't think Israel deliberately feigned unpreparedness. Again, I'm just guessing.
Roger. My short answer is the same as Yours and i'm just guessing, as well..
But i do think there is a very good possibility ~ if not probability ~ that it was a False Flag Op.
Just like the U.S. wanted and needed a War in Vietnam and staged the Tonkin Gulf "Incident," Israel wanted and needed an excuse to clear Palestine - Gaza and the West Bank ~ of as many Palestinians as possible, either by death or by departure as Refugees.
i understand Your point completely, Bill.
My point was ~ and now that You've added Your own Summary ~ and is that neither the Reuters Summary nor Your Summary give any hint whatsoever that the article in question is virtually entirely about, as i said, Children ~ with several very disturbing pictures ~ who are suffering from specific medical conditions that have worsened because of the War and the lack of treatment and medicine, and how the situation is only going to get worse.
P.S. Thanks for the stimulus. I added "my" summary to the main piece.
You're very welcome. Always glad to be of a stimulus of some sort. It happens less and less as i move deeper into my late 70s.
Just to play "what if...": If the Israelis are stopping supplies at the border, what might their response be to a replay of the Berlin Airlift, if the US (who now supposedly cares) began to parachute in supplies? Would they fire on their primary benefactor's military cargo planes?
We're already air-dropping a small amount of supplies and MREs (with Israeli permission, of course). The problem is that airlift can't take the place of thousands of trucks.
"What if..." once again: not that the US would commit to such a thing, but would the Israelis fire on US/UN troops - if they were attached to the truck convoys - if they forced the issue at the border? Imagine a world in which the UN actually tried to enforce its rulings/decrees/international law. (perhaps I'm running a fever...should maybe check)
And before Genocide Joe makes that call to Bibi, he's got to get permission from his owners and operators, commanders and controllers, and script writers and handlers,
Just like any and every other President needs to get permission from the same people before doing anything.
If "Presidential Competency" is defined as:
1. Having Balanced or Surplus Budgets; and
2. Not starting any New Wars and/or ending any Wars that were happening when assuming office...
then Who would You say, Dennis, was the last "competent" President of the United States?
LBJ was competent in 1964; indeed, almost masterful in what he achieved in civll rights. Then in 1965 he threw it away when he escalated in Vietnam.
Carter, for what it's worth, tried damn hard.
Clinton had balanced budgets but wasn't man enough to steer clear of siren calls for war meddling.
Everything since 9/11 has been a shit show of war and more war, spending and more spending.
Heh. Carter may have tried hard, but let us not forget that he was President when American aid, assistance, and advice to the Mujahedeen [including, most interestingly, a guy named Osama bin Laden] began in America's first post-Vietnam proxy war against the then-USSR in Afghanistan.
And then, of course, Iran happened.
i would say that there has been a shit show going on since WWII ended, starting with our bankrolling, arming, equipping, and transporting French efforts to retake their colonies in Indochina that they lost to the Japanese.
Thanks for the link, Ray. "Starvation is stalking Gaza"--I didn't realize "starvation" was a powerful actor, more powerful than Israel and the U.S. government.
Though I guess famine is one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. Nice to know we ride with famine.