Here's an excerpt: "The U.S. is not only failing to call out Israeli crimes while our government officials attack critics, but more important it is enabling the campaign with more weapons supplies and cheering it on with repeated expressions of support. Just as it has done for years in Yemen, the U.S. is once again aiding and abetting a client government as it tramples on international law and commits grave human rights abuses. The U.S. is complicit in the crimes that are already being committed and in those that will be committed using U.S.-made weapons. Our government is not just watching in silence while these things happen, but it is helping to make them happen."
Oct 14, 2023·edited Oct 14, 2023Liked by Bill Astore
Well put and it doesn't mention that the US has provided protection from international law for Israel by repeatedly vetoing every attempt by the UN to impose that law. By that law, an occupying power is to protect the citizenry of the occupied area and it is expressly forbidden to move its own civilian population into that area. These are flagrantly violated without apology by Israel and the US, "liberty and justice for all" protects this.
Anthony Blinken the other day had the gall to say the US stands by international law, an incredible statement from the secretary of state of a country that, along with Israel, does as it pleases, might making right.
All these war pigs have done is to expose the truth that their moral code is not universal, but situational and tribal. At best, like some over at Reason magazine, they fail to clearly condemn both sides, the way people opposed to the violent use of power should do; at worst they end up like the President and his mouthpiece saying that concern for innocents on “the other side” is repugnant.
The “good” Catholic Joe Biden can skip next Ash Wednesday’s service, because to dust he has already returned.
I totally empathize with your sentiments, Bill, although I didn't hear the Biden speech you reference. Evidently, there's been an attempt to walk back ("clarify") his comments:
Just as aside, I remember my parents talking about the beheading or bayonetting of babies by Germans and Japanese in WWII. That seems to be a universal accusation in wars.
In any case, yes, I believe 100% U.S. support for Israel, no questions asked, is inexcusable.
In case anyone is interested, below is an essay (I've gifted it) in today's NYT that presents a surprisingly nuanced view of the situation in Israel and Gaza, considering the source. I found it to be supremely rational and compassionate.
I read through probably more than a hundred of the comments on the article, and I'd guess that perhaps 95% of commenters highly praised Cohen's essay. Granted, NYT readers are a specific subset, but that percentage is encouraging. Moreover, a significant number of commenters expressed the belief that millions of people feel the same way. If that's the case, the work that remains is to elevate the Cohens and get rid of the Netanyahus and Hamas leaders, everywhere.
FWIW, U.N. General Secretary Guterres expressed similar thoughts to Cohen's today. Could the tide possibly be turning?
"It’s horrible when innocent people die. Isn’t this how any normal and sane human being would feel?" The key words, Bill, are "normal and sane." It's high time we realize that probably at least 90% of all politicians around the world are anything but normal and sane. Was it normal and sane to drop 388,000 tons of napalm on civilians in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s? Was it normal and sane to drop 2 nuclear bombs on civilian populations in Japan in 1945? Was it normal and sane to invade and totally destroy Iraq in 2003, killing around 1 million people? I could go on, but hopefully you get the point. The people who reach the upper echelons of power, particularly those at the helm of a global hegemon, are anything but normal and sane. This may be hard to come to grips with, but the sooner we do so, the better. At least we will have finally come to understand exactly what we are dealing with. Such people---Netanyahu, Biden, Blinken, Sullivan, Lindsey Graham, etc.---all suffer from some combination/mix of anti-social personality traits---megalomania, xenophobia, narcissism, misogyny and, in the case of the current genocide against Palestinians, islamophobia. It is because of these anti-social personality traits that they can support and justify mass killing on an industrial scale, as is the case now iin Gaza. And just to be clear---if Trump were in power, he would be doing the same. Perhaps it is time, finally, to demand that all politicians and would-be politicians be evaluated by a panel of psychiatrists and psychologists. A personality test should be created to determine the level of megalomania, xenophobia, narcissism, and misogyny, with the results tabulated on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most extreme form of the mental illness. At least then we would actually know how sick these people are.
Yep. I understand it but it is ludicrous at the same time: to keep being astounded at the actions of the US govt, Presidency, MIC et al. They are quite simply totally corrupt, evil and inhuman.
Let me say that again for in today's world the most incredible, astounding and disgraceful things pass without comment, without impact, as simply the 'norm'.
'They are quite simply totally corrupt, evil and inhuman.'
once more, for good measure:
'They are quite simply totally corrupt, evil and inhuman.'
I feel like Dustin Hoffman in "Little Big Man": I can't shake the moral vision of right and wrong inculcated by my parents, the Church (teachings of Jesus), and my own naive idealism.
In his case it was Old Lodgeskins, played so memorably by Chief Dan George. The con man and snake oil salesman who educates Hoffman's character after his Cheyenne upbringing is much like Donald Trump -- what matters is exploiting the dumb and the gullible and enjoying life as much as possible at their expense.
Of course, they do both end up being tarred and feathered! :-). If only we could tar and feather most of those in DC.
you know tarring and feathering them ain't going to fix anything is it?
the fix is with us. we put them there, we leave them there.
because we have never really as people engaged in govt by the people of the people for the people.
we've engaged in 'govt by selected (self proclaimed) specialists' to coin a phrase.
we select from a choice of two every few years and then leave them to it.
like selecting one of two plumbers and then leaving them to it.
totally remiss. and this is the inevitable result of it. all around the world where this governance model has been tried.
there is big hope for the future i think. big opportunity for certain. for with the internet and ubiquitous smartphone we can now begin to govern the country ourselves. we could have perpetual referenda on any issues whatever and hard code practices that draw on all available good evidence and take it into consideration. and so on. the possibilities are wonderful.
but as yet the very notion has not even begun to be considered.
we've hardly left the age of couch potatoes watching sitcoms.
to move from that, the very epitome of lack of agency to dynamic self governing is a big, big step.
but, i think, an inevitable one and certainly the most desirable one.
It wasn't Old Lodgeskins who was the con artist and got tarred-and-feathered; it was the white snake oil salesman played by Martin Balsam. Hoffman's character is influenced by both of those guys.
It's still a great movie, even if it was made in 1970.
Thanks. I tried to say that, but the way I wrote it was unclear. That movie is my all-time favorite. I can still recite many lines from it. So much wisdom in a single film!
I watched it again 2 years ago, so I maybe remember it a little better. Yes, it's on my DVD shelf. Saw it for the first time at the theater--we were 11 years old and rode our bikes two miles or so to get there.
Another strange war. Israel is fighting Hamas but wants a million north Gaza residents to flee their homes and go to south Gaza. Just like that. Supposedly it's a war against Hamas but the actions indicate war on Gaza. I guess Israel doesn't want to validate the place of Gaza by naming it. So it doesn't exist?
That Israel "gives warnings" is just Hasbara bovine excrement.
'Hasbara' is the Israeli euphemism for propaganda, and there are some things, that are not 'hasbarable.' One of them is Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians." - the late ambassador Yohanan Meroz, a German-born diplomat of the State of Israel.
Admittedly Hamas is a group of bad people. But I'm not sure hearing a plane overhead at 20,000 ft. constitutes much of a warning. OK, there's a plane. We have 5 seconds to live.
I saw a video of Biden yesterday, decked out in his aviator sunglasses, with certainty in his voice (realizing his goal of being a wartime President - or TopGun's Maverick) proclaiming that "we stand with Israel". It's a similar comment he made with the Russian SMO, "we stand with Ukraine".
Nothing else was offered in either case. No public diplomacy; little evidence of a backchannel diplomacy; even no restraint being urged by the Secretary of State; nothing beyond "standing" with a client state that wants US aid and weapons. The US State Department should probably be disbanded to save money - the savings could be applied to the debt or more military spending and kickbacks to Congress.
I fear there is no way to stop the empire before it collapses - as it will, as have all empires.
As I posted as well on Mr. Larison's post identified below, to simply call for deescalation and be labeled repugnant ... what times we live in. I just watched this moving piece by Aaron Mate's father. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6_GDDa4bmI
Our government is funding a genocide. I feel helpless that I don't know how to get us all in the streets demanding an end to this. I feel sick that MY government is participating in mass murder RIGHT NOW and I don't know how to stop them!!!!
I can't be more direct than in my last comment. West is the man I feel is best for the job of anyone running. The votes he gets will indicate how popular his views are in this country, and I'm in.
Thanks for calling me a friend, Dennis, I consider you one as well. But I must say, since I believe you left this country objecting to it, which to me says your vote with your feet is for "none of the above" now or in the future. That is despair. I don't share it and neither does West. Reform may not come, but it is worth working to achieve.
Dennis, I don't rely on stand-up comics to inform my political choices. I've followed West for years and have never heard him say anything I would dispute. He tells the truthteller, not a politician, and a persuasive speaker. Our politics are captive to big donors due to and contributing to the complete corruption of our political system. West is speaking to the people and hoping to get their support/donations as we are told it is supposed to be. He is facing into a hurricane.
As for him being a disaster as president, at present I see Biden opening windows to nuclear war and showing absolutely no evidence he has been alive since the original terror and armed force that Zionists used to expel the natives of Palestine. I repeat, no evidence. Isn't this evidence of either insanity or complete capture of his thinking by a lobby? Harry Truman at least acknowledged that his recognition of Israel was due to American politics, not to any refusal by him to see the Palestinian Arabs had a legitimate complaint.
On the other hand we have Trump who, not surprisingly, tells us he can end both the Ukraine war and the Israeli assault on Gaza immediately if made president. Again, insanity, or the words of a "very stable genius"?
As I have said in the past, I don't place my vote as someone gambling. I have no illusions that West will become president. Let everyone vote as he or she wishes. I am voting FOR West. I won't see him lose for the lack of my vote.
Wasting your vote Clif. You might as well just stay home on election day. Sorry.
If you have no illusions that West will become president why are bothering to vote for him? What do you hope to achieve by that my friend? He is going to lose even if you vote for him!
OK, it makes you feel good. But what good does that do? Isn't that selfish?
Besides, the goofy Professor can't even decide which Party he is throwing his hat in with!
A ceasefire means Hamas gets away with what they did and the hostages remain in their control. Even the UN and other tut-tutters in “international community “ at least give lip service to returning hostages while tut-tutting Israel for doing what any government would do in response to a direct attack on their territory.
The UN gives statistics that indicate 20 Palestinians have been killed for each Israeli killed since 2009. Prior to that it was about 10:1. Over time Biden has been president, vice-president and senator. AFAIK he has said nothing about this in all that time.
One should note that the killings of Palestinians have been continual, one or two at a time by the IDF in the West Bank and East Jerusalem accompanied by the frenzy killings in Gaza during the repeated attacks that began in 2009. The West Bank killings, sporadic, have been associated with constant evictions, housing demolitions and harsh oppression daily of a people with no rights living on their own land and now assaulted by Israeli settlers in addition to the IDF and border police.
Biden has not objected and from his response to the HAMAS attack one would think none of what I have just mentioned ever happened.
Kudos to Cornel West who continues to be the only honest candidate running.
Just saw this article by Daniel Larison at his site: https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/the-biden-administration-is-aiding
Here's an excerpt: "The U.S. is not only failing to call out Israeli crimes while our government officials attack critics, but more important it is enabling the campaign with more weapons supplies and cheering it on with repeated expressions of support. Just as it has done for years in Yemen, the U.S. is once again aiding and abetting a client government as it tramples on international law and commits grave human rights abuses. The U.S. is complicit in the crimes that are already being committed and in those that will be committed using U.S.-made weapons. Our government is not just watching in silence while these things happen, but it is helping to make them happen."
Well put and it doesn't mention that the US has provided protection from international law for Israel by repeatedly vetoing every attempt by the UN to impose that law. By that law, an occupying power is to protect the citizenry of the occupied area and it is expressly forbidden to move its own civilian population into that area. These are flagrantly violated without apology by Israel and the US, "liberty and justice for all" protects this.
Anthony Blinken the other day had the gall to say the US stands by international law, an incredible statement from the secretary of state of a country that, along with Israel, does as it pleases, might making right.
All these war pigs have done is to expose the truth that their moral code is not universal, but situational and tribal. At best, like some over at Reason magazine, they fail to clearly condemn both sides, the way people opposed to the violent use of power should do; at worst they end up like the President and his mouthpiece saying that concern for innocents on “the other side” is repugnant.
The “good” Catholic Joe Biden can skip next Ash Wednesday’s service, because to dust he has already returned.
I totally empathize with your sentiments, Bill, although I didn't hear the Biden speech you reference. Evidently, there's been an attempt to walk back ("clarify") his comments:
https://nypost.com/2023/10/11/biden-ive-seen-pictures-of-terrorists-beheading-children-in-israel/
Just as aside, I remember my parents talking about the beheading or bayonetting of babies by Germans and Japanese in WWII. That seems to be a universal accusation in wars.
In any case, yes, I believe 100% U.S. support for Israel, no questions asked, is inexcusable.
In case anyone is interested, below is an essay (I've gifted it) in today's NYT that presents a surprisingly nuanced view of the situation in Israel and Gaza, considering the source. I found it to be supremely rational and compassionate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/opinion/israel-military-war.html?unlocked_article_code=0LUGchWd45MroKrutllCqSorzlyWY_ivj5q2VKtovXBj2152gf6u-8ct0vmVDUpVhPgRV2ktnuLDhKG0E-KpGoWR6l53dC1A9Bh-PqjFmsMulE08kYCGSvZ46SQteZcnY0HvQxYWg1Du8qYAjX9iBwTeW1t6K3ER_6qHtjZ8-Nm8iQN7x8nnvOiuFSGUIp7iWwihOP58gfpO_lge3pobQVynnhC6VfrVOmDghFLK867NXbZlt8GwxUsJWAjZq80kRENqAIw6HqRiPyh05SgG6oUqDvjOCmspWPKOGgFlv3Erupp5gHM3ZITzo41dIQdNVfu9k7Vz0Caapbueyw&smid=url-share
Yes, there's no better security than a just peace. Thanks for sending the link, Denise.
Truly, my pleasure.
I read through probably more than a hundred of the comments on the article, and I'd guess that perhaps 95% of commenters highly praised Cohen's essay. Granted, NYT readers are a specific subset, but that percentage is encouraging. Moreover, a significant number of commenters expressed the belief that millions of people feel the same way. If that's the case, the work that remains is to elevate the Cohens and get rid of the Netanyahus and Hamas leaders, everywhere.
FWIW, U.N. General Secretary Guterres expressed similar thoughts to Cohen's today. Could the tide possibly be turning?
They were probably making similar accusations about babies during the Trojan War, and even before that.
"It’s horrible when innocent people die. Isn’t this how any normal and sane human being would feel?" The key words, Bill, are "normal and sane." It's high time we realize that probably at least 90% of all politicians around the world are anything but normal and sane. Was it normal and sane to drop 388,000 tons of napalm on civilians in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s? Was it normal and sane to drop 2 nuclear bombs on civilian populations in Japan in 1945? Was it normal and sane to invade and totally destroy Iraq in 2003, killing around 1 million people? I could go on, but hopefully you get the point. The people who reach the upper echelons of power, particularly those at the helm of a global hegemon, are anything but normal and sane. This may be hard to come to grips with, but the sooner we do so, the better. At least we will have finally come to understand exactly what we are dealing with. Such people---Netanyahu, Biden, Blinken, Sullivan, Lindsey Graham, etc.---all suffer from some combination/mix of anti-social personality traits---megalomania, xenophobia, narcissism, misogyny and, in the case of the current genocide against Palestinians, islamophobia. It is because of these anti-social personality traits that they can support and justify mass killing on an industrial scale, as is the case now iin Gaza. And just to be clear---if Trump were in power, he would be doing the same. Perhaps it is time, finally, to demand that all politicians and would-be politicians be evaluated by a panel of psychiatrists and psychologists. A personality test should be created to determine the level of megalomania, xenophobia, narcissism, and misogyny, with the results tabulated on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most extreme form of the mental illness. At least then we would actually know how sick these people are.
Yep. I understand it but it is ludicrous at the same time: to keep being astounded at the actions of the US govt, Presidency, MIC et al. They are quite simply totally corrupt, evil and inhuman.
Let me say that again for in today's world the most incredible, astounding and disgraceful things pass without comment, without impact, as simply the 'norm'.
'They are quite simply totally corrupt, evil and inhuman.'
once more, for good measure:
'They are quite simply totally corrupt, evil and inhuman.'
There is nothing they do that is good.
Nothing.
I feel like Dustin Hoffman in "Little Big Man": I can't shake the moral vision of right and wrong inculcated by my parents, the Church (teachings of Jesus), and my own naive idealism.
In his case it was Old Lodgeskins, played so memorably by Chief Dan George. The con man and snake oil salesman who educates Hoffman's character after his Cheyenne upbringing is much like Donald Trump -- what matters is exploiting the dumb and the gullible and enjoying life as much as possible at their expense.
Of course, they do both end up being tarred and feathered! :-). If only we could tar and feather most of those in DC.
didn't see it, don't know, but get the idea.
you know tarring and feathering them ain't going to fix anything is it?
the fix is with us. we put them there, we leave them there.
because we have never really as people engaged in govt by the people of the people for the people.
we've engaged in 'govt by selected (self proclaimed) specialists' to coin a phrase.
we select from a choice of two every few years and then leave them to it.
like selecting one of two plumbers and then leaving them to it.
totally remiss. and this is the inevitable result of it. all around the world where this governance model has been tried.
there is big hope for the future i think. big opportunity for certain. for with the internet and ubiquitous smartphone we can now begin to govern the country ourselves. we could have perpetual referenda on any issues whatever and hard code practices that draw on all available good evidence and take it into consideration. and so on. the possibilities are wonderful.
but as yet the very notion has not even begun to be considered.
we've hardly left the age of couch potatoes watching sitcoms.
to move from that, the very epitome of lack of agency to dynamic self governing is a big, big step.
but, i think, an inevitable one and certainly the most desirable one.
It wasn't Old Lodgeskins who was the con artist and got tarred-and-feathered; it was the white snake oil salesman played by Martin Balsam. Hoffman's character is influenced by both of those guys.
It's still a great movie, even if it was made in 1970.
Thanks. I tried to say that, but the way I wrote it was unclear. That movie is my all-time favorite. I can still recite many lines from it. So much wisdom in a single film!
I watched it again 2 years ago, so I maybe remember it a little better. Yes, it's on my DVD shelf. Saw it for the first time at the theater--we were 11 years old and rode our bikes two miles or so to get there.
Well said, indeed. Linking once again @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
Another strange war. Israel is fighting Hamas but wants a million north Gaza residents to flee their homes and go to south Gaza. Just like that. Supposedly it's a war against Hamas but the actions indicate war on Gaza. I guess Israel doesn't want to validate the place of Gaza by naming it. So it doesn't exist?
Stalin, Mao, Hitler …. Bibi, Biden.
Millions are a statistic!
Ain't it the truth.
That Israel "gives warnings" is just Hasbara bovine excrement.
'Hasbara' is the Israeli euphemism for propaganda, and there are some things, that are not 'hasbarable.' One of them is Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians." - the late ambassador Yohanan Meroz, a German-born diplomat of the State of Israel.
Admittedly Hamas is a group of bad people. But I'm not sure hearing a plane overhead at 20,000 ft. constitutes much of a warning. OK, there's a plane. We have 5 seconds to live.
Since they've told Gaza residents to leave I doubt that the IDF wastes much time dropping door knockers.
I saw a video of Biden yesterday, decked out in his aviator sunglasses, with certainty in his voice (realizing his goal of being a wartime President - or TopGun's Maverick) proclaiming that "we stand with Israel". It's a similar comment he made with the Russian SMO, "we stand with Ukraine".
Nothing else was offered in either case. No public diplomacy; little evidence of a backchannel diplomacy; even no restraint being urged by the Secretary of State; nothing beyond "standing" with a client state that wants US aid and weapons. The US State Department should probably be disbanded to save money - the savings could be applied to the debt or more military spending and kickbacks to Congress.
I fear there is no way to stop the empire before it collapses - as it will, as have all empires.
The State Department should go back to maintaining embassies and issuing passports in a timely manner.
As I posted as well on Mr. Larison's post identified below, to simply call for deescalation and be labeled repugnant ... what times we live in. I just watched this moving piece by Aaron Mate's father. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6_GDDa4bmI
I so agree with you: Biden is brain dead as is our militant forever war Congress. West is the best (candidate) out there.
peace brothers and sisters
West would be an unmitigated disaster as POTUS.
The goofy professor has probably never managed more than 6-people in his life.
And cannot hold down a job!
They will skin him alive in the swamp.
Sadly, the only choice anti-war American's has is Donald J. Trump
Our government is funding a genocide. I feel helpless that I don't know how to get us all in the streets demanding an end to this. I feel sick that MY government is participating in mass murder RIGHT NOW and I don't know how to stop them!!!!
I can't be more direct than in my last comment. West is the man I feel is best for the job of anyone running. The votes he gets will indicate how popular his views are in this country, and I'm in.
Thanks for calling me a friend, Dennis, I consider you one as well. But I must say, since I believe you left this country objecting to it, which to me says your vote with your feet is for "none of the above" now or in the future. That is despair. I don't share it and neither does West. Reform may not come, but it is worth working to achieve.
Dennis, I don't rely on stand-up comics to inform my political choices. I've followed West for years and have never heard him say anything I would dispute. He tells the truthteller, not a politician, and a persuasive speaker. Our politics are captive to big donors due to and contributing to the complete corruption of our political system. West is speaking to the people and hoping to get their support/donations as we are told it is supposed to be. He is facing into a hurricane.
As for him being a disaster as president, at present I see Biden opening windows to nuclear war and showing absolutely no evidence he has been alive since the original terror and armed force that Zionists used to expel the natives of Palestine. I repeat, no evidence. Isn't this evidence of either insanity or complete capture of his thinking by a lobby? Harry Truman at least acknowledged that his recognition of Israel was due to American politics, not to any refusal by him to see the Palestinian Arabs had a legitimate complaint.
On the other hand we have Trump who, not surprisingly, tells us he can end both the Ukraine war and the Israeli assault on Gaza immediately if made president. Again, insanity, or the words of a "very stable genius"?
As I have said in the past, I don't place my vote as someone gambling. I have no illusions that West will become president. Let everyone vote as he or she wishes. I am voting FOR West. I won't see him lose for the lack of my vote.
Wasting your vote Clif. You might as well just stay home on election day. Sorry.
If you have no illusions that West will become president why are bothering to vote for him? What do you hope to achieve by that my friend? He is going to lose even if you vote for him!
OK, it makes you feel good. But what good does that do? Isn't that selfish?
Besides, the goofy Professor can't even decide which Party he is throwing his hat in with!
Take care'
A ceasefire means Hamas gets away with what they did and the hostages remain in their control. Even the UN and other tut-tutters in “international community “ at least give lip service to returning hostages while tut-tutting Israel for doing what any government would do in response to a direct attack on their territory.
Hamas does this to draw the world's attention to the crimes of Israel.
The world totally ignores the message and urges Israel to redouble its crimes.
'The world'. Sorry. 'The Western World'. That morally bankrupt cesspit.
The UN gives statistics that indicate 20 Palestinians have been killed for each Israeli killed since 2009. Prior to that it was about 10:1. Over time Biden has been president, vice-president and senator. AFAIK he has said nothing about this in all that time.
One should note that the killings of Palestinians have been continual, one or two at a time by the IDF in the West Bank and East Jerusalem accompanied by the frenzy killings in Gaza during the repeated attacks that began in 2009. The West Bank killings, sporadic, have been associated with constant evictions, housing demolitions and harsh oppression daily of a people with no rights living on their own land and now assaulted by Israeli settlers in addition to the IDF and border police.
Biden has not objected and from his response to the HAMAS attack one would think none of what I have just mentioned ever happened.
Kudos to Cornel West who continues to be the only honest candidate running.
Cornel West is unelectable and wasting everbody's time Clif.
A jack off standup comedian doing YouTube® videos in his garage demolished the goofy Professor in one show! As POTUS he would worse than useless.