A grim historical lesson taught by Thucydides, who wrote on the Peloponnesian War more than two millennia ago, is that the strong do what they will while the weak suffer what they must. Historically, the Jewish people have often been weak. Weak in the sense they had no homeland. They had no army. They were, in a word, vulnerable.
Perhaps if George W. Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Powell and Cheney had been prosecuted and convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their illegal invasion and destruction of Iraq 20 years ago, a message would have been sent to other like-minded criminals, like Netanyahu, that no one is above the law and leaders who engage in such illegal actions will be held accountable. When there is no accountability, tyranny reigns.
Very likely true. As the world's "leader", the U.S. has set the example for other nations to follow and the Israelis are simply following the leader.
The U.S. was cast into the role of "leadership" simply because it was the biggest bully in the world. Bullies are not leaders, they are simply bullies. They do not lead, they just drag others along with them using brute force. What can you expect from simple minded bullies?
If you are looking for mercy, the bullies will tell you, "it's in the dictionary, between mayhem and murder".
The US was burning the Japanese alive, carpet bombing Japan and it's mostly wooden homes with Napalm. Japan was already on the verge of unconditional surrender before the US burned alive over 200,000 INNOCENT CIVILIANS in the MADNESS of War with only 2 small NUKES.
That served a double purpose.
The US was announcing to the World the Old Boss, the 247 year British Empire was gone, and the US is the New Boss so don't mess with us because we have nukes and will use them on you like we used them on the Japanese.
you nailed it, our consociate humanitarian rjc! when i 1st arrived in japan to teach at kirisutokuyo kokusai daigaku in mitaka-shi in 1962, my 1st determined foray was to hiroshima's atomic bomb museum... primarily due to my collective guilt as having been birthed in the US's north conway village of new hampshire and selfishly bemoaning the absence of a birthday cake on august 6th, my 4th bday, b/c my mother's ration card had no more butter, eggs, sugar, etc remaining on her ration card until september's allocation. meanwhile, on that same day when i was dissolving due to the absence of a bday cake, hundreds of thousands of helpless women, children, and elderly japanese were being nuked and incinerated into grey ash, gratis the US military. i exited that museum in a such a state of collapse and emotional despoliation that my boney knees buckled under me. i repetend conrad: "the horror!" it represented a watershed epiphany in my young life, and that moment remains my primary cynosure.
Excellent observation, Charlie. Additionally, had Bush II and his cabal been prosecuted, might the U.S. have been less likely to embrace tyrants like Netanyahu? I'll admit it's not likely, but maybe....
Each new day since this assault began my heart has sunk further wondering about the total lack of humanity in Western Europe and in the US - I don't want to use the word America because apparently the country that I once knew as America no longer exists. Today it is full of people who either have no interest in the rest of the world and simply go about their lives ignoring the wholesale murder of other people, or else cheering it on. Yes Bill, you named some of the recent ones Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and the names go back well over 100 years as we list the peoples we have demolished or impoverished, always telling our children that we did it for their good. There seems to be no person in our government who will speak out loudly against what is happening, certainly not our president or members of his cabinet, members of the Pentagon or people in Congress, our police and legal system, and lord knows not in the Supreme Court. It apparently doesn't matter which political party you belong to; neither one is planning to do a damn thing about any of it except maybe a mild "tut tut" or two. Too many state legislatures along with congress are passing laws preventing protests, and trying to jail people who tell the truth. WW III is high on the agenda and our leaders love it.
Our children, watch in horror and wonder if there will be a world for them - and the so- called adults don't care enough to stop the slaughter.
There is perhaps no greater simultaneous display of strength and morality than in the extension of compassion and mercy. Perhaps there is a greater need than ever for people - especially those who would be leaders, to be reminded of this truth.
This genocide, and the Ukraine war, would not have happened if the election had not of been rigged against Donald Trump.
Trump, Xi and Putin are the only ones who can stop this horror show.
Sadly, Trump is hogtied by a weaponized DOJ, FBI, and CIA, and a corrupt Democratic Party whose agenda is driven by unelected people who want to put him in jail on phony charges.
Obama wouldn't, but Trump approved supplying LETHAL weapons to Ukraine.
Long before Biden, he approved ECONOMIC SANCTIONS on any European Company that defied his will and continued working on completing the few remaining miles of Nordstream II in an Economic WIN for both Germany and Russia
But not to the extent of approving and facilitating genocide.
To be Human Being is enough to support Palestine, irrespective of nation.
Sadly, Joe Biden, on his death bed, is not a Human Being anymore. Why he should be in a rest home where he is only able to wreak havoc on his caregivers.
Biden will go down in history for NOT STOPPING this war, unconscionably throwing gasoline on the fire with his utter incompetence not even knowing what he is doing. Being merely a cardboard cut-out for the evil non-human Jew Victoria Nuland and her neocon ilk in the US State Department.
thank you, rjc. your deeply penetrating understanding is a propination i value. my aged, hobbled, compromised eyes no longer detect, w/ any semblance of visual acuity, all the solecisms i make, so i appreciate your charitable responses and your overlooking of all the errors i make in delivery. your humanitarian injections inoculate me w/ hope.
The UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY approved a non-binding Resolution Friday calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
The 193-member World body adopted the Resolution by a vote of 120-14 (with 45 gutless abstentions) after rejecting a Canadian amendment backed by the United States to unequivocally condemn the October 7 “terrorist attacks” by Hamas and demand the immediate release of hostages taken by Hamas.
Unlike the SECURITY COUNCIL, there are no vetoes in the GENERAL ASSEMBLY, so one would think the Resolution would result in a cessation of hostilities.
Nope! Tragically, GENERAL ASSEMBLY resolutions are not legally binding.
The UN shows it is dysfunctional and a useless toothless paper tiger again.
Do I have this right?
Netanyahu will thumb his nose at the 120-14 vote of World Leaders, and will keep on with his indiscriminate murdering of innocent people.
Oct 28, 2023·edited Oct 28, 2023Liked by Bill Astore
zb, I agree with the UN Secretary-General who said "October 7 didn't happen in a Vacuum" in a moment of genuine candour. Israel is furious he spoke the Truth and wants him fired!
In 2013 I was not aware of Professor Richard Falk the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Rights in Occupied Palestine. I read in the MSM Israel and the US wanted him fired! My 1st thought was he must be doing something RIGHT! Researching him confirmed my 1st thought was right!
From the 4 hostages who were released, their Witness and Testimony is their captors treated them better than the Jews massively murdering the helpless and vulnerable Men, Women, Children and BABIES in Gaza accompanied by the massive destruction of their HOMES in acts of BLATANT Ethnic cleansing the World can see.
The US West is complicit in this Jewish inhumanity to man as they worship Israel as the Golden Calf it is and beyond reproach! Shameful!
As for the many Israelis killed October 7 & 8, I give credence to this Israeli survivor of the Gazan youth escaping the JEWISH controlled Gaza Ghetto & BIGGEST Concentration Camp in the World and going crazy for their 1st Time experiencing FREEDOM.
They're all DEAD, killed by the IDF and now Israel is making the Innocent pay.
It's sad that we care so much for 230 hostages but care little about 7,500 (and climbing) dead, or their surviving families.
Don't get me wrong. HAMAS invasion was a travesty and a crime against humanity, but cheering Israel's revenge with massive, indiscriminate bombing, while condemning HAMAS is pure hypocrisy.
Perhaps if George W. Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Powell and Cheney had been prosecuted and convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their illegal invasion and destruction of Iraq 20 years ago, a message would have been sent to other like-minded criminals, like Netanyahu, that no one is above the law and leaders who engage in such illegal actions will be held accountable. When there is no accountability, tyranny reigns.
Very likely true. As the world's "leader", the U.S. has set the example for other nations to follow and the Israelis are simply following the leader.
The U.S. was cast into the role of "leadership" simply because it was the biggest bully in the world. Bullies are not leaders, they are simply bullies. They do not lead, they just drag others along with them using brute force. What can you expect from simple minded bullies?
If you are looking for mercy, the bullies will tell you, "it's in the dictionary, between mayhem and murder".
The US was burning the Japanese alive, carpet bombing Japan and it's mostly wooden homes with Napalm. Japan was already on the verge of unconditional surrender before the US burned alive over 200,000 INNOCENT CIVILIANS in the MADNESS of War with only 2 small NUKES.
That served a double purpose.
The US was announcing to the World the Old Boss, the 247 year British Empire was gone, and the US is the New Boss so don't mess with us because we have nukes and will use them on you like we used them on the Japanese.
you nailed it, our consociate humanitarian rjc! when i 1st arrived in japan to teach at kirisutokuyo kokusai daigaku in mitaka-shi in 1962, my 1st determined foray was to hiroshima's atomic bomb museum... primarily due to my collective guilt as having been birthed in the US's north conway village of new hampshire and selfishly bemoaning the absence of a birthday cake on august 6th, my 4th bday, b/c my mother's ration card had no more butter, eggs, sugar, etc remaining on her ration card until september's allocation. meanwhile, on that same day when i was dissolving due to the absence of a bday cake, hundreds of thousands of helpless women, children, and elderly japanese were being nuked and incinerated into grey ash, gratis the US military. i exited that museum in a such a state of collapse and emotional despoliation that my boney knees buckled under me. i repetend conrad: "the horror!" it represented a watershed epiphany in my young life, and that moment remains my primary cynosure.
Excellent observation, Charlie. Additionally, had Bush II and his cabal been prosecuted, might the U.S. have been less likely to embrace tyrants like Netanyahu? I'll admit it's not likely, but maybe....
Each new day since this assault began my heart has sunk further wondering about the total lack of humanity in Western Europe and in the US - I don't want to use the word America because apparently the country that I once knew as America no longer exists. Today it is full of people who either have no interest in the rest of the world and simply go about their lives ignoring the wholesale murder of other people, or else cheering it on. Yes Bill, you named some of the recent ones Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and the names go back well over 100 years as we list the peoples we have demolished or impoverished, always telling our children that we did it for their good. There seems to be no person in our government who will speak out loudly against what is happening, certainly not our president or members of his cabinet, members of the Pentagon or people in Congress, our police and legal system, and lord knows not in the Supreme Court. It apparently doesn't matter which political party you belong to; neither one is planning to do a damn thing about any of it except maybe a mild "tut tut" or two. Too many state legislatures along with congress are passing laws preventing protests, and trying to jail people who tell the truth. WW III is high on the agenda and our leaders love it.
Our children, watch in horror and wonder if there will be a world for them - and the so- called adults don't care enough to stop the slaughter.
Yes, it's a depressing time.
I go for walks out in nature and share time with loved ones. Friends.
This is very good: https://roddreher.substack.com/p/the-axis-of-the-human-heart
Yes it is. Thanks for the link, Alex.
There is perhaps no greater simultaneous display of strength and morality than in the extension of compassion and mercy. Perhaps there is a greater need than ever for people - especially those who would be leaders, to be reminded of this truth.
This genocide, and the Ukraine war, would not have happened if the election had not of been rigged against Donald Trump.
Trump, Xi and Putin are the only ones who can stop this horror show.
Sadly, Trump is hogtied by a weaponized DOJ, FBI, and CIA, and a corrupt Democratic Party whose agenda is driven by unelected people who want to put him in jail on phony charges.
Trump is even more outspoken in supporting Israel than Biden, Dennis.
What would Trump have done to stop this genocide?
Obama wouldn't, but Trump approved supplying LETHAL weapons to Ukraine.
Long before Biden, he approved ECONOMIC SANCTIONS on any European Company that defied his will and continued working on completing the few remaining miles of Nordstream II in an Economic WIN for both Germany and Russia
Not what Comatose Joe has done Bill.
Yes, Trump is outspoken in supporting Israel.
But not to the extent of approving and facilitating genocide.
To be Human Being is enough to support Palestine, irrespective of nation.
Sadly, Joe Biden, on his death bed, is not a Human Being anymore. Why he should be in a rest home where he is only able to wreak havoc on his caregivers.
Biden will go down in history for NOT STOPPING this war, unconscionably throwing gasoline on the fire with his utter incompetence not even knowing what he is doing. Being merely a cardboard cut-out for the evil non-human Jew Victoria Nuland and her neocon ilk in the US State Department.
thank you, rjc. your deeply penetrating understanding is a propination i value. my aged, hobbled, compromised eyes no longer detect, w/ any semblance of visual acuity, all the solecisms i make, so i appreciate your charitable responses and your overlooking of all the errors i make in delivery. your humanitarian injections inoculate me w/ hope.
My thoughts on Israel, then and now, and excerpts from this must-read book, with links, and audio https://open.substack.com/pub/heininger/p/israel-a-book-the-ethnic-cleansing?r=16lm0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
unalloyed tnx for your understanding and concinnity, christopher holmes.
IS THE UNITED NATIONS JUST A JOKE OR WHAT?
The UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY approved a non-binding Resolution Friday calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
The 193-member World body adopted the Resolution by a vote of 120-14 (with 45 gutless abstentions) after rejecting a Canadian amendment backed by the United States to unequivocally condemn the October 7 “terrorist attacks” by Hamas and demand the immediate release of hostages taken by Hamas.
Unlike the SECURITY COUNCIL, there are no vetoes in the GENERAL ASSEMBLY, so one would think the Resolution would result in a cessation of hostilities.
Nope! Tragically, GENERAL ASSEMBLY resolutions are not legally binding.
The UN shows it is dysfunctional and a useless toothless paper tiger again.
Do I have this right?
Netanyahu will thumb his nose at the 120-14 vote of World Leaders, and will keep on with his indiscriminate murdering of innocent people.
When Netanyahu addressed the US Congress he received 29 standing ovations.
New Speaker's FIRST Bill - more money to those poor folks in Israel.
You know, the ones who all have free healthcare paid for by American taxpayers - who don't!
Tell's you everything you need to know about who really runs America eh!
😩😩😩😩😩😩😩
ISRAEL FIRST. AMERICA LAST BABY
Also a good article: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar/israel%E2%80%99s-gaza-invasion-will-fail-207039
Well said.
I wonder if Israel will accept Palestinian refugees from war-torn Gaza.
Not likely. Israel is exterminating the Palestinians in Gaza the World can see happening on TV!
Are the 230 Israeli hostages strong? Or are they too weak for you to even bother mentioning?
zb, I agree with the UN Secretary-General who said "October 7 didn't happen in a Vacuum" in a moment of genuine candour. Israel is furious he spoke the Truth and wants him fired!
In 2013 I was not aware of Professor Richard Falk the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Rights in Occupied Palestine. I read in the MSM Israel and the US wanted him fired! My 1st thought was he must be doing something RIGHT! Researching him confirmed my 1st thought was right!
From the 4 hostages who were released, their Witness and Testimony is their captors treated them better than the Jews massively murdering the helpless and vulnerable Men, Women, Children and BABIES in Gaza accompanied by the massive destruction of their HOMES in acts of BLATANT Ethnic cleansing the World can see.
The US West is complicit in this Jewish inhumanity to man as they worship Israel as the Golden Calf it is and beyond reproach! Shameful!
As for the many Israelis killed October 7 & 8, I give credence to this Israeli survivor of the Gazan youth escaping the JEWISH controlled Gaza Ghetto & BIGGEST Concentration Camp in the World and going crazy for their 1st Time experiencing FREEDOM.
They're all DEAD, killed by the IDF and now Israel is making the Innocent pay.
https://youtu.be/rTQcjyhPOIk?si=khBy60p5Z2HL9AtR
A excellent interview with Abby Martin worth watching follows the Israeli survivor and what she described as the Truth in what she saw as it happened!
It's sad that we care so much for 230 hostages but care little about 7,500 (and climbing) dead, or their surviving families.
Don't get me wrong. HAMAS invasion was a travesty and a crime against humanity, but cheering Israel's revenge with massive, indiscriminate bombing, while condemning HAMAS is pure hypocrisy.