US Empire narratives have been repeated so many times that they've become dull. A terrorist is anyone the US government doesn't like. A conspiracy theorist is a political or policy dissident. I've been told I hate Jews or am anti-Semitic so many times since October 7 it's become like water, meet duck's back.
The actions of the US Empire have so frequently been exactly what it accuses its rivals of doing that its own narrative describes its actions to a T. The Yemenis blockade trade to Israel to protest an ongoing genocide, and so far have killed no one. The Empire responds with sanctions and bombing raids that kill Yemeni children.
Who is terrorizing a civilian population to advance a political goal here? (Hint: It's not the Houthis)
The last official definition of terrorism I heard was 'the use or threat of violence to achieve a political goal', but since all wars are fought for political reasons, that would mean any country, Govt or army that fought any war, must be terrorists.
Maybe so. Sounds like another good reason to stop throwing wars for fun and profit. And just think of all that carbon no longer being released into the atmosphere by the engines of war!
That figures. They'd rather have us go broke on buying electric cars that won't charge in the winter and on electric stoves that cost far more to run than natural gas than harm MIC profits by a smidgeon.
I added to the sarcasm by liking my own comment : ) For many years I thought the outcome of End Stage Capitalism would logically follow Marx to a path of equality and intelligent living. It was only after the Iraq war I knew Marx didn't really explain what the alternative otherwise will be. I think we are living that now, endless wars and deeper wealth inequality with declining healthcare for all. My great hope Bernie, stabbed us all in the back "(Genocide) Joe biden would make a great President". Then Bernie's approval of Palestinian Genocide which the rest of us will be included destroyed any hope without extreme pain of the 99%. My last hope before nuclear war, Jill Stein or Cornel West and better yet both on the same ticket. Apprentice sarcasm student.
The United States will end up like Brazil, albeit a Brazil with worse weather, less attractive females, a less dynamic economy, and a more hyperbelligerent foreign policy.
I am still not sure I can like your comment ha. Still thinking about it though having worked and traveled in South America. Women in Central and South America would probably use people, or maybe it was just me ha.
Oh no, "A conspiracy theorist is a political or policy dissident." ... is a right wing, unintelligent domestic terrorist now; spreading mis and disinformation NOW - Keep up Ohio.
And that is why they (Western Countries ) have ALL brought in new laws to literally penalise and lock us up for thought crimes and questioning the official language; never mind going against it.
The purpose of designating these groups as terrorists is to also stifle freedom of speech. The UK is doing the same thing- labelling groups as terrorists because then it is illegal to express support for them. If you think the Houthis are doing a good thing in preventing supplies reaching genociders, but Houthi is a proscribed terror group, you can be arrested for that. If you do not condemn them, they will attempt to twist this to say you do support them - and you're not allowed to support them by law. This is what Piers Morgan does and the purpose of the 'do you condemn Hamas?' question.
It's to stifle the fact that people in these countries are believing there is a resistance in the Middle East - and not terrorism. And they are absolutely not allowed to think that - it is a big threat to the western empire to have such dissent and freedom of thought from within
When talking about siege, the name Germany comes to mind.
Stalingrad, WWII, and on.
It should also not surprise us that lined up in Israel’s corner at the ICJ in The Hague are most of the Western US sycophants – led by the nose of course by the "exceptional" USA and now, tagging along with arrogant anti-Palestine statements and giving off a distinct smell like their media friend, Joseph Goebbels. (1939)...is Germany. This is the same country that showed Israel how to create a genocidal environment called the Holocaust on which they. have dined out for 78 years ......to their advantage. And how. Just look at the US Senate, the Congress, the Universities, the Pubic Service, Where does it end?
Berlin asked last Friday to be considered a third party in Israel’s defence at The Hague. That's DEFENCE, in case you missed it.
Well, with their experience in WWII, no one would know more about it than Germany. I would have enjoyed being at the ICJ for this one and then, as a courtesy, asked them a few questions in return. They have taught Israel all they know but Israel has well and truly exceeded them in no uncertain manner.
It is interesting you said this. Germany's PR around remorse for the Holocaust- like that of the 'American dream' - has been really good. Like the latter, it's complete BS, but it really manipulated us all very well. I wrote a note on it:
"Germany supporting Israel at the ICJ is not surprising in any way. It is another European and Western colonial power with the same Imperialistic mindset that led to it to commit the Holocaust. It would thus wholeheartedly and without reservation support its relabelling as Zionism.
Of course, Germany - that bastion of European justice - has absolutely done away with any of its Nazi profiteering and would never dream of continuing to have such corporations that did things like create the gas to kill the Jews or use forced labour from concentration camps. (BASF, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW, anyone? Anyone?)
And these Nazi-era companies did not continue their imperialistic brutality in any way anywhere else after WWII at all. Argentina, who?
As someone said to me: “It’s a bit like asking Jimmy Savile to testify that Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t a paedophile.”"
It would also allow Meta, which includes Instagram and the like to take down accounts for promoting terrorism. See if you can read about what has happened to Shaun King and his Grassroots Law account.
Shaun King is going for it in a court of law. So he says he is now being quiet on all social media to protect his case. It's a smart move. He basically does not know the case they have against him - they are guessing using these companies terms and conditions etc (which can be ever-changeable) - so in order to ensure he does not give them any further ammo he simply won't post anymore until he's sorted it out.
Yeah. Freedom of speech in Western countries is currently dying, & censorship, often with fines or criminal penalties or both, is rapidly accelerating, especially & ironically in the US / UK. Neofascism is fast becoming the norm for 2024, particularly in the theocratic Unjust States of America (USA), viz. Florida, D.C., Tenn., etc., & UK. As the planet dies, so do all of our rights & freedoms. The joke that is Western culture is killing us all, & all the exits are locked tight inside & out.
Even debilitating sometimes. I've been having a hard time focusing on other areas of my life since Oct 7. The utter inhumanity and monstrosity of everything going on is beyond comprehensible to me.
Same with me. It’s difficult to actually function knowing that my godforsaken country is facilitating the genocide. I wake up thinking about it; I go to sleep thinking about it and it’s in my brain all day.
A few weeks ago I woke up screaming; I dreamt that bombs were falling around my house. Then I wept for those for whom this is a REALITY.
The planet is tilted in an unnatural position right now; I can keenly sense it. I believe it’s due for a reset, meaning no more Homo sapiens. Good riddance to us.
What seems to help me somewhat is spending time in forums (such as this one) where I can engage with like-minded individuals that are trying to make sense of the world.
For some unexplainable reason, I can't fathom why the world doesn't care more about this Genocide. Is it a moral failing of humanity? Is it a lack of imagination ? (i.e. people not understanding how the Palestine-Israel conflict is not just about settler-colonialism but so much more than that - and if one seriously thinks about it - it affects everyone on the planet in one way or another).
I, personally, am happy to have found Caitlin's Substack and appreciate the opportunity to discuss and voice my opinions - this is my present strategy of keeping myself mentally healthy.
"why the world doesn't care more about this Genocide" - what a naive question.
Try to answer what you mean by "the world" and how "caring" for this and other genocides that at various scales have been going on forever in various parts of the world would manifest itself. In practical, not hypothetical terms.
I suspect, that once you get to the practical aspect of it you'll have your answer.
There must be a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, not with Palestinians suffering under oppressive conditions, but as a place where all live with peace and equality. It is time for Pope Francis to do more than talk. He must go to Gaza and make a stand for peace and freedom.
Once again Biden acts in a non-sensical way. His first terrorist designation was no more sensible and humane than this one. I for one have been cheering the Houthis. Nobody else is even trying to help Gaza.
From Biden's point of view, from the point of view of Empire, from the point of view of a sociopath for whom words are meaningless in and of themselves but are merely to be twisted as convenient, it makes perfect sense.
That no other Islamists are helping Gaza ought to speak volumes about what it means to be both an Islamist & a pariah. Palestinians are pariahs in the Islamic world. Either they're guilty of something almost all other Islamists fear, or Islamic theistic mythology & propaganda are just as much BS as are the theistic mythologies & propaganda of all other theocracies & examples of magical thinking. Maybe both apply in this case.
Well. I think there is also the fear of extending this into a wider war, and some American statesmen want to actually do just that, and are seeing it as an opportunity to push war with Iran. Biden has pushed all of our America's Middle Eastern wars, as well as supporting and feeding weapons to the Ukrainians to bring down Russia, even if it meant the death of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian lives. America is so perverse that Biden can reference the Houthis as a terrorist group yet find total support within both parties in helping to implement a genocide in Gaza which is in total breach of international law. Read or listen to Miko Peled at least he provides an honest perspective on Israel even from an historical perspective. In other words he confirms your sense of reality too offset the gas-lighting that's going on.
USA has been at war for all but 15 years of its existence. The military-industrial complex billionaires, the ones that Eisenhower warned us abt, make all their profits from war & munitions. The pols are just stooges who do & say what they're bribed to do & say. Almost every US politician has pushed for all of USA's endless war. Targeting Biden for all of USA's Middle Eastern misadventures is seriously narrow minded &, frankly, ignorantly partisan. Don't forget that the Trump-turd wanted to drop an a-bomb into the eye of a hurricane to stop the hurricane from doing any damage to whatever state it was ravaging. That was a "total breach of" common sense. Biden didn't order any a-bombs to be dropped on Yemen or Russia at any time in his career. But POTUS Truman ordered two a-bombs to be dropped on non-military population centers in Nagasaki & Hiroshima in 1945. And just in case you aren't aware--you're obviously unaware--allow me to relieve you of your historical ignorance: USA considers itself outside the jurisdiction of all international laws, especially those laws adjudicated by the ICJ & ICC & Geneva Conventions despite having, in Nuremberg (1945-46), with "Judge(s) sitting: Iona Nikitchenko (Soviet Union), Geoffrey Lawrence (UK), Francis Biddle (US), Donnedieu de Vabres (France) and deputies" indicted, charged, tried, convicted, & executed many NAZIs <except the scientists [e.g., Werner von Braun] USA wanted for its own martial research> for their "total breach of international law". You can find videos and a movie of the Nuremberg trials on YouTube if you Google them.
In regard to what I said about Biden, well, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2003 Biden assembled witnesses who misrepresented, well, lied about Saddam Hussein, and his WMD, and he knew them to be lies, and pushed those lies on his fellow democrats as well. He supported all our other Middle Eastern wars and even as vice president under Clinton he supported his multiple interventions as well. As Obama's vice president they helped support the coup in Ukraine relying on neo-nazis to give them a hand. Obama left Biden in charge, and that's how he was able to get his son a job, although Hunter knew nothing about oil. Surprise, surprise, but to make money they work so well together. As Obama's vice president, we had a proxy war in Syria, and lie of a war in Libya that destroyed a country that was thriving, and I heard the slave markets are back. What has he done during his presidency, well, as you know to oust Putin he was willing to support a proxy war in Ukraine costing hundred of thousands of lives, and now he's implementing a genocide, and I think the most serious crime of all. 'Trump-turd" as you call him and his wanting to send a nuclear weapon to stop a hurricane is just BS, and as he called it fake news, seems you are quite capable of putting forth a lot of BS of your own to justify your position for what ever the hell your reason is. By the way I don't need a history lesson from you.
Fran, sometimes I wonder what reality you are living under. Or maybe it's just blindness to everything "Trump" and an abandonement of objectivity in favor of bias for Trump?
In regards to the Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Zionism - here is some reference on Trump's track record and actions:
The list of resources is endless on Trump's track record in the middle-east and his true intentions (not his stated intentions that he then walks back on by calling everything he disagrees with as "Fake News")
"Here we have the author of a peace deal (Donald Trump) who is by definition a fanatic Zionist supporter of the illegal Israeli settlement and yet he projects himself as some kind of a mediator who has the Palestinians best interest in mind. It is surrealistic in every possible way and obnoxious in every possible term".
Again, the list of facts NOT in favor of Trump are endless.
Maybe you could look harder at who Trump really is and who his supporters are:
(1) Evangelical Christian Zionists are a significat base of Trump's supporters.
(2) Trump has always been a supporter of AIPAC
(3) Trump (and his family) have always supported Israel and the Zionist agenda
Yes, Biden is bad - but so is Trump. And I can't help but wonder what actions Trump would have taken in the present conflict. I mean, why are we even discussing and comparing who is worse when it comes to Israel and Zionism?
Because I didn't approve of the democrats trying to remove an elected president from office it's wrong? They tried to remove him on the lie of Russia-gate, also because this very bad man thought it was good to get along with Russia, and even paid Putin a visit. They crucified Trump, but maybe if they hadn't, and didn't have an agenda for him, like he has to go, no doubt some 400 thousand Ukrainians would not be dead. No new wars under Trump, a novelty in the 21st century. It's interesting that at the unconstitutional Jan 6 comm, and it was unconstitutional, Liz Cheney was parading her pop around, and as you know someone who got us into the war with Iraq on a lie, and of course there was those black sites and Guantanamo, and torture. Cheney as many were, including Jeff Bush, primary signatories on the Project for a New American Century based on A Clean Break written for Netanyahu, by Richard Perle, although some call him the prince of darkness, and it goes like this, "The report explained a new approach to solving Israel's security problems in the Middle East with an emphasis on "Western values." It has since been criticized for advocating an aggressive new policy including the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and the containment of Syria by engaging in proxy warfare and highlighting its possession of "weapons of mass destruction". Well, as you know we followed that neocon policy and attacked and destroyed many countries in the Middle East, under Bush/Cheney, Obama, and of course Biden. Interesting that Palestine is now facing a genocide, and it would be naive to believe it doesn't reflect our political agenda all through this century and perhaps why we supply the weapons to carry it out. Interesting that the media lost it's objectivity, but as you know it was headed in that direction anyway, but people like Amy Goodman bought it as well, and mostly wishful thinking on her part. Poor Greenwald wanted to write an article on Biden's son's laptop, but the CIA, some 50 of them, said it was all Russian disinformation and the The Intercept which he started wouldn't let him publish his piece, so he left the very publication he started.
Yes Trump certainly wasn't perfect, but he was a perfect diversion and scapegoat from the horrors the presidents in the 21st century implemented, including those of Obama and his proxy war in Syria and his war on Libya, and I hear there are now slave markets there not to mention his backing neo-nazi's to kick out Yanukovych, and a pro-Russian government. I guess he wanted the US to be close to Putin too, but not for good reason, since NATO would be right up against Russia's borders, and those Minsk accords as Merkel said were not meant to be implemented but to allow the Ukraine to build up militarily.
The Arab states in particular Iran(which is not an Arab country) I think are holding back because they know the US have wanted a war with them for years.
I agree, but with Biden and his neocon agenda I really wonder what's coming. He calls the Houthis terrorists, a man, a country, that is complicit in a genocide. He opens our borders claiming to be a caring man, yet he's been complicit in killing over 50 thousand people, some 10 thousand of whom are children. He also fed weapons to the Ukrainians, and several hundred thousand are now dead to bring down Putin. His hypocrisy is stunning.
The United States of Hypocrisy. The same with the UK hypocrisy.
We are living in a world of .......I just don't know what to call it. Mass hysteria perhaps?
While the UK is deciding to send 'the boat people" to Rwanda.
The Iraelites want to get shot of the Palestinian people to places....UNKNOWN
Is there a place for these people which is 'safe.' I don't think so.
IF you can think of one country which is NOT war ravaged by religion/ethnic cleansing etc.
My husband and me have come up with one place in the world. Thailand. Although they have a problem with their so-called KING!
The Maldive Islands have told India to "get out." Which I think they are doing but who knows with Modi. He is no different than Biden.
I look at Bidens voting record (you can look too).
He voted for Clarence Thomas!!!!!!!
This stopped me beliveing in him years ago.
YOU have people in the DNC who tell you who to vote for....is this democracy?
I don't live in the US but I did for 23yrs and I was horrified MOSTLY because of education. You have the most stupid people on the planet. But you did not care.
Who is going to come to 'aid' you America while you have a Civil War?
I have so many American friends which are mostly leaving the US........what America cannot comprehend is that we too have legitimate excuses to deny entry to our countries.
My husband worked for American company's we were harrassed and denied entry multiple times. (I am going to write about this)
Well, maybe that's why Americans don't pay much attention to politics, no news is good news, and the only good news they'll get. You're denied entry, well Jenny maybe you and your husband should check out how to get into America illegally, and once here they'll even put you up in a nice hotel and pay for it, and if not send you off to a city that really can't afford you, but will throw high school kids out for a day or two and you can reside there, no doubt in the hallway, or they'll set up cots like they did at a mental facility. I have never liked Biden. He even had to step down from his presidential run in the 1980's since he got into the habit of stealing other people speeches. He's not only supported and pushed out many wars, but does a lousy imitation of someone who cares.
And you think that American retribution has nothing to do with it? You think that the United States will not hesitate to sanction, bomb or murder anyone who stands up for Gaza? Perhaps you think that the United States attacked Yemen just because?
The reason Ansrallah stood up for Gaza is because they have no corrupt leaders with western assets to sanction, no western toys to be taken away, no fucks to give.
Their leaders don't have western assets to sanction, western accounts to seize. They certainly don't live like the Gulfie tyrants or the Saudi potentates.
No, they aren't concerned or they'd be jointly fighting the Israelis on behalf of Hamas & the Gazans, but, as I said, they're no Sir Lancelot champions for Gazans or Hamas. They're just covering their own butts & happy that the toxic alpha-male Houthi chest pounders are willing to martyr themselves. It's always safer & cheaper in all ways to have others fight one's battles than doing it by oneself.
The Hout’hi are bonafide HEROES, shitforbrains. As are Hezbollah. If you don’t think they’re making a difference, think again. Container ships are refusing to dock in IsraHell, due to the astronomical insurance required to do so, costing the IsraHelli regime billions in lost revenue. Thank god for “alpha male chest pounders”!
Opinions are like arseholes: everybody has at least one. And ad hominem name-calling is a sure sign of a toxic alpha-male chest pounder who's been to myriad finishing schools & knows on which side his pita's buttered.
Chen Huizhe, maybe you could get off the "religions" track for explaining world events and start looking at geostrategic and geopolitical considerations.
There are many resources on the internet that explain why the leaders of many Middle Eastern and Arab countries (most of which are monarchies and dictatorships) do not want to get invovled in this conflict, even though the people of that nations they represent all support Palestinians and the Palestinian cause.
I seriously suggest using frameworks besides just religion to analyze world events. Maybe you might come across more answers to your questions this way?
"When Yemen sets up a blockade to try and stop an active genocide, that’s terrorism, but when the US empire imposes a blockade to secure its geostrategic interests in the middle east, why that’s just the rules-based international order in action...We are ruled by murderous tyrants. By nuclear-armed thugs who would rather starve civilians to protect the continuation of an active genocide than allow peace to get a word in edgewise. Our world can never know health as long as these monsters remain in 'charge."
It's time to cage or slay the "monsters in charge." We can't allow them to stay where they are any longer. Our lives are in danger and our world is under threat. "Rules-based order" be damned.
Well written. Rules based order reminds me of "democracy ". It doesn't mean what they say it means. Truth hides behind rhetoric, but most are captured by the spectacle.
I cannot possibly be the only one here who recognizes that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
If Ansrallah were targeting Russia or any other country that the United States doesn't like, we'd be hearing their praises non-stop and they'd be granted virtually unlimited cash and weapons to do so.
And that blockade is an essential building block in the Israeli genocide going on now in Gaza
But the US government led by zionists like Blinken and Sullivan has not imposed sanctions on Israel and designated the “IDF” a Foreign Terrorist Organization. No - in fact these gentlemen have evaded congress and US laws in order to send the Israeli terrorists MORE money and weapons.
But the Yeminis trying to stop the genocide are “terrorists”? Right.
That's why it's needed Yati. YATI - For the majority of the planet's inhabitants, effective freedom, justice, legality and democracy do not exist, while the concentration of wealth in a few hands prevents general well-being. Four-fifths of the planet's inhabitants live in poverty and many find themselves in desperate conditions. At the same time, fear, insecurity and wars are increasing. The risk of an apocalypse is becoming more and more concrete. A few small groups organized on a national and international level prevent billions of people from living in the best possible way. Using legal tender currencies with no real value, they control most natural resources, means of production, information channels, governments and mass organizations. These groups constitute the oligarchy of real power on the planet. National states and their international organizations are instruments of this small minority that controls money, means of production and information. This is why states are either dictatorships or apparent democracies. Through approximately twenty thousand people, these groups exercise their power over all peoples. They are the decision makers: bankers, financiers, publishers, governors, magistrates, policemen, soldiers and other exponents of the institutions of national states. Some consider these decision makers to be the guides, the leadership necessary for the evolution of humanity. In reality, they are simply people chosen and designated by the top of the oligarchy, which attributes to them the fundamental function of maintaining economic relations unchanged and guaranteeing the hegemony of the global elite. Just when technological development would allow every human being to satisfy their own needs and make those who are ill feel good without making those who are well ill feel bad, those who hold wealth become more oppressive and try in every way to preserve and indeed enhance their own privileges. We could have energy at very low costs and instead we depend on the usual oil multinationals. Meanwhile, we have less and less drinking water, more people dying of hunger and curable diseases, less culture, less social communication, ever-increasing consumer prices, more pollution, more disinformation, less security, less freedom, less real democracy, more mysticism. At the same time, more is spent on military equipment than on energy, more than half of the available drinking water is wasted due to the inefficiency of sewer systems, a quarter of the food produced is destroyed and the production of low-cost medicines is prevented. to keep market prices high, the nominal value of the monetary mass is equal to over fifty times the annual wealth produced on the planet, the vast majority of peoples want peace while states wage war and this shows that popular sovereignty is only appearance. This situation depends on the hierarchical structure of the human system in the shape of a ladder pyramid made up of double-valued dyadic levels: each person represents himself with respect to those on the higher levels while representing the totality with respect to those on the lower levels. In this structure, it is the level, and not the personal value, that determines the valence. Moving to the next level requires an effort that very few people can sustain. The hierarchical structure is selective: the strongest, most gifted and fortunate use others as their tools. Nothing can change if this structure is not changed. It will always seem like everything changes but in reality everything will remain as before. Even the largest revolutions have resulted in the replacement of people in the upper levels but not in the change of the structure of the system. To change the hierarchical structure of the human system, it is necessary to transform its pyramidal shape into a helical shape and then into a sphere, moving from hierarchy, which establishes a mutual relationship of supremacy and subordination, to conarchy, which allows command in common, in union . We must eliminate levels, classes, classes, inequalities between the starting material conditions. And excesses must be limited. This is only possible through the awareness of reality, the assumption of responsibility and the concrete action of that very large majority of people who find themselves in the lower levels. The new structure will no longer have different levels but only different functions. Everyone will be able to have the same relationships with the means of production and therefore social classes will no longer exist. National states will be transformed into administrative bodies, overcoming the dualism between democracy as dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and dictatorship of the proletariat. The dictatorship of the owners and the dictatorship of the proletarians are two political solutions for the control of the state. By abolishing the state, both solutions are useless.
Everyone will be able to freely participate in a new social organization based on the self-government of post-state civil society through substantial democracy. A world government elected directly by the inhabitants of the planet will guarantee universal peace and the application of the essential rules for civil coexistence. The information will be true and free. The speculative economy will be eliminated and the real economy based on work will be supported. Property rights that do not derive from work but from crimes, thefts and wars will be abolished. A real value currency representing work will be introduced instead of legal tender currencies which should represent products and instead represent debts. All this is possible. Unfortunately, most people perceive the problems but, due to a lack of information, do not know the causes, therefore they cannot become aware of the reality and have the will and conditions to change the structure of the system. Whoever controls the banks controls the money. With money you purchase ownership of the means of production. With the ownership of the means of production, information is controlled and power is exercised over the economy and politics. To allow awareness of the causes of problems and raise awareness of reality, we need to inform about the facts. In order to inform on the facts it is necessary to isolate and render powerless the groups at the top of power and the twenty thousand people through whom they control banks, finance, governments, judiciary, police, armies and other bodies through which a small minority manages to exercise its hegemony over all humanity. It involves practicing a sort of caesura (yati), a suspension of the functions of decision-makers in the main sectors (politics, economy, finance, money, justice, army, information, law enforcement), to free society from its own summit, the only real obstacle that prevents the modification of the structure of the human system. Freed from this obstacle, human society as a whole will be able to freely decide whether to repeat the past or reorganize itself in a new way, in a more advanced structure, to build a future different from the one that otherwise awaits us. It will be the first concrete and perhaps last opportunity to change. If it does, there will be pure universal democracy and perpetual peace which until now were thought impossible. Otherwise, everything will remain as before. Yati has this sole goal: to allow the majority of human beings to freely decide about their future. Together it's possible. Friday, 25 August 2006. Rodolfo Marusi Guareschi
One must wonder how many decades people will cling to the vision of a two-state solution for the Israelis and the Palestinians while the facts on the ground move continually in the other direction. Nor is a one-state solution any more plausible. Time for a new idea.
The fundamental problem for Israel and the Palestinians is that there are 5 million stateless Palestinians and Israel will never accept them as citizens because they are not Jewish. Historically no Arabic country has welcomed them either.
>>For the past month, both Jordan and Egypt have repeatedly declared that their borders would not be opened to receive even one Palestinian—not as a way to deny humanitarian assistance to Palestinians under attack but rather as a countermove to deny Israel the opportunity to empty the West Bank and Gaza of as many Palestinians as possible. Jordan’s fears are not unfounded, and its redline of refusing to admit Palestinians remains unlikely to change for several reasons.<<
Without a country, the Palestinians will never be free. I see one possible solution: the world should buy a country for the Palestinians.
It would not be cheap. Rebuilding Gaza after Israel destroys it will also not be cheap, but the world will pay for it. Here is my proposal.
The idea when first proposed was to buy a less-developed part of Sudan bordering Egypt with a size close to that of Israel. A refinement is to negotiate a deal with the micronation self-proclaimed as the "Islamic Republic of Hala’ib Triangle". This entity covers 7,950 square miles (20,580 sq km), comparable to the size of Israel (8,630 sq mi).
Set aside the claims of Sudan and Egypt for this area, and focus on justice for the current inhabitants which number about 1500. I'm proposing a payment of $1 million US per resident, infants included. The nominal cost would be $1.5 billion, about the cost of 2 to 3 weeks of bombs to be dropped on the Gazans. Also a grant of ten acres of their choosing per resident.
Hala'ib lies between Sudan and Egypt and borders the Red Sea to the east. I believe the best approach is that the current residents, mostly Bedouins, would have citizenship in the new country along with the Palestinians. They would be suddenly rich, of course, which would not be a new phenomenom for Bedouins.
The 1500 rich Bedouins and the five million not-rich Palestinians would be the citizens of the new country which might be called the Hala'ib-Palestine Alliance.
Hala'ib-Palestine would be far enough away from Israel that continued hostilities would be unlikely in addition to being pointless.
Many persons claim that the Palestinians would never accept the idea of moving away from the birthplace of Islam. Not living in the birthplace of Islam does not seem to be a problem for the rest of the nearly 2 billion Muslims. A quick poll of the Palestinans in between bombardments and sniper attacks could resolve that question.
There would need to be a threshold for final approval on both the Hala'ib and the Palestinian sides. Of course a proposal which looks very good to those directly involved will probably be repugnant to Sudan and Egypt, so those countries must be dealt with. One possibility: offer to redirect the aid that the US gives Israel (approximately $4 billion per year) for ten years: $2 billion per year to Sudan, and the same for Egypt. Set a one-year deadline for agreement: if either country does not agree, all of the money goes to the other country. Regardless, the establishment of the new country would proceed under UN and US protection.
The new country should include a nature preserve for the Nubian wild ass.
It should also include a large interior area which is reserved for nomadic occupation only. In addition a strip of land one mile thick along the Red Sea plus land for an airport and various parcels for government installations should be under permanent government control. The oceanfront area could be leased for resort development. The land remaining after the grants to the original Hala'ib residents would be divied up among the Palestinians.
Enlist a coalition of nations to build a new Palestine in the new country. The US can contribute the money it would otherwise spend replacing the buildings and infrastructure in Gaza that Israel has turned into rubble. Israel can rebuild what it has destroyed in Gaza.
The Palestinians already had a perfectly fine country with lots of culture, big cities, agriculture, education until the British came along and decided it was an empty land that they could have and give away to a group of their choosing. They need to give it back to the Palestinians.
The British have invaded at one time 171 of the 193 countries in the world. What a damaging legacy for the human race. There is no better monoment to their shamelessness and malign influence than the continued existence of the British Museum, the largest warehouse of stolen goods in the world.
The British Empire does indeed have a poor track record in the history books ( to say the very least ) and they mostly left the colonised countries they cut loose, to deal with the Empires' mess. But it is history. Now the problem is the Amerikan Empire.
History can provide context but I don't think it offers any solutions to our current problems.
I agree, but note I was replying to Susan T who noted the role of the British in the present quagmire that is the ME. I was simply providing more context.
Agree, George. I always wondered what gave the Bastard Brits the right to dig up the tombs of the ancient Kings of Egypt. Who the fuck thinks they can desecrate the deceased?
The territory of Palestine was never a "country". The Zionists & the UK fought a war contesting the territory. The Zionists won both the war & the territory. The proverb "To the Victor Go the Spoils" applies here. The British no longer control the former (or present) territory of Palestine, so they can't "give it back to the Palestinians". If the Israelis were willing to reject Israel's being a Jewish ethnostate, they could give Gaza & the West Bank back to the Palestinians, but they won't. They would argue that without a country of their own, the Jews of the world would never be safe, & someone argued in one of these comments exactly the same for the Palestinians. Perhaps both arguments are true. I don't know. But it seems patently clear that there cannot & will not exist two ethnostates in the old Palestinian territory. Too many entities are against it. It's not even a stalemate. It's a "This is the way things are, mate. It ain't Cyprus."
For all warriors (I'm not a warrior) might is right, & what's justified is what one can get away with. Lots of Holocaust deniers believe the Holocaust never happened, but some are just trolls. Lots of neo-Nazis believe the Holocaust was justified & are angry bc the Nazis didn't achieve their goals. I don't fit in any of those categories. "Judge not lest ye be judged" is how I suppose some Christians would respond. You do you. It don't matter to me what others think, believe, or say. Sticks & stones etc.
No, I'm just not engaging in any "If pigs could fly" discussions. There's no pseudo-intellectual activity I dislike more than Michael Sandel philosophy of ethics trolley questions. I'm not the Walrus & I don't like oysters.
I would support giving Palestine back to the Palestinians or anything that Palestinians wanted. I think what people really want though, is their country, culture, agriculture, and freedom back. I watched this documentary last night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUCeQt8zg5o and felt sad and angry that all that was taken away by colonizers and made worse when Israel came into being.
I guess. But I think your proposal is kind of wimpy. What people really want is the opportunity to build back up what was stolen. I don't think people anywhere would really want to be relocated to somewhere that was being given to them to get them out of the way. Your proposal would make more sense if the Israelis went to live in "less-developed part of Sudan bordering Egypt with a size close to that of Israel". They are the ones living on stolen land, not the Palestinians.
Completely agree - though with the US and European powers backing Israel, I fear that this situation is going to be harder to resolve in some ways than Nazi Germany where the European powers were aligned against Germany.
As I said to Feral Finster earlier: ".... I'm .... not engaging in any 'If pigs could fly' discussions. There's no pseudo-intellectual activity I dislike more than Michael Sandel philosophy of ethics trolley questions. I'm not the Walrus & I don't like oysters."
First of all many thanks to Caitlin for highlighting the hypocrisy, double standards and hegemonic machinations of empire. It is time that the US be condemned by world civil society for crimes against humanity. The world has witnessed how complicit they are with Israel for the genocide of the Palestinian people. US should be standing in the dock with Israel. Their rules based world disorder has created the dystopia humanity is living through. They can with impunity designate countries and groups as terrorists; sanction countries and steal their assets, stunting their growth. Shamelessly weaponise food and other essential prerequisites for survival. Consumed with power, start wars which they never want to stop.
To Susan T, Chang Chokaski and Jon Carver, It's been interesting following your arguments regarding Peter Rodes Robinson's hairbrained scheme for the Palestinians. Won't Sudan have something to say about it? What gobsmacked me is his assertion that " the establishment of the new country would proceed under UN and US protection". US protection!!!!
But first you need to understand what getting out of hell would be for Palestinian people. You seem to be thinking you (or some other outside source) can tell the people of Palestine how they should resolve the issues. But the issues are more complex than you appear to be seeing and, as well, the people of Palestine may very well not appreciate your "help". It is often a dilemma when we try to help others. The dilemma is to not impose your help. To not be doing it so that YOU will feel better, but trying to really understand how you can facilitate a solution.
The Israel / Palestine conflict is a result of Europe and the US decided they needed somewhere to put all the jews (they didn't want them) and Britain agreed to the use of Palestine for that purpose. You propose to do the same thing with the Palestinians to fix this? Sudan is an inhabited country - they just had their own civil war.
I believe Einstein said "You can't solve a problem using the same thinking that caused it."
I think you came up with your proposal for humane and caring reasons, but it has a colonial tone. The whole part about relocating people is the first thing that comes to mind. The best would be for you to read a bit about helping others and what a complex thing that really is. I worked with people living in poverty for quite a few years. We talked about that thing of making ourselves feel good first and helping others just happened to be part of it. That was not considered the best way to do things. I learned more from that work than I have ever learned anywhere about relating to people in difficult situations. I also stopped thinking of "those less fortunate" and started thinking more about "those more ripped off". Helping others is not the simple do gooder thing we might like it to be when we are in that position of helping.
Peter. In my humble opinion if you start moving a race of people to another place (country) we would be doing exactly the same thing the British did with Israel.
If it's similar to the creation of Israel, the problem is not for the people moving, but for the people that were there in the first place. Do you think I have not taken care of the people that were there in the first place in my proposal? What would you do differently?
I appreciate the thought that went into this. However, the problem is the racist authoritarian apartheid government of Israel. If democracy and human rights are truly a real thing, we should be holding them accountable with overwhelming support from all "liberal democracies ". Buying another state to effectively ethnicity cleanse gaza is just sanitizing the dirty work of a horribly fascist state, essentially giving it and all of its "allies " a blank check for future "solutions". How about the citizens of Gaza decide.. after all democracy right?
Considering the mindset of the Zionists I'd suspect them of digging shallow tunnels underneath major cities (NYC, for example?) to install primed & ready to go nuclear weapons for an immediate existential reaction without the need for cumbersome ICBMs that can be intercepted. No need for despondency though as I'm pretty sure we can defeat that approach once we get our collective heads round that one.
Considering the mindset of the Zionists I'd suspect them of digging shallow tunnels underneath major cities (NYC, for example?) to install primed & ready to go nuclear weapons for an immediate existential reaction without the need for cumbersome ICBMs that can be intercepted. No need for despondency though as I'm pretty sure we can defeat that approach once we get our collective heads round that one.
Agreed that this tunnel affair in NYC underneath the Chabad Lubavitch synagogue was probably intended for individual human abuse purposes but I'm deeply suspicious that the israelis have already planted nukes in major cities everywhere under the banner of "The Samson Option". This explains why the nations of the world toady up to the Zionist entity of israel at all times. Otherwise I feel israel would already have been vaporised by now.
Utterly ridiculous. The Palestinians already HAVE a land.
Now let’s reverse your ignorant proposal and ban all the Zionazis to your proposed “homeland”. Any Jew wishing to live in peace in Palestine would be welcome to stay.
Palestine was a real, actual place. IsraHell is a quasination that exists only because of Amerikkkan taxpayer handouts.
What? Taking them in WOULD assist Israel in the ethnic cleansing. That's what Israel wants and what apologists - like you - constantly claim as the reason Palestinians are subhuman.
Btw, why would those people living in that nice house and on huge property not take you in? They seem to speak the same language, etc.
IOW, this "refuse to take them in" trolling got so tiring. Unless of course you sincerely believe it. Then you're just dim.
First, you assume facts not in evidence. Second, why would a "supermajority" of Palestinians agree to be ethnically cleansed? What on earth makes you think such an agreement would be in any way "voluntary"?
if a supermajority of Palestinians voted to reject this proposal out of hand, would you finally start thinking about how to hold the perpetrators of the genocide responsible?
If only 50% of Palestinans supported the proposal, I would immediately abandon it.
As for holding Israel responsible, the first step is for the ICJ to recognize plausible genocide and impose measures. I am optimistic that will happen soon. If it doesn't happen, the world is screwed.
But even a victory for SA will be only a small step. Israel will certainly ignore the court.
If a (so far nonexistent) supermajority of Palestinians agreed to this harebrained idea because Israel and its American thug held literal and metaphorical guns to theirs and their children's heads, would you call that a voluntary decision?
Does anyone ask the people who are getting a bunch of Palestinian refugees? Ever heard of Black September?
Biden reinstates Trump terrorist designation on the Houthis, Trump fund raised for the police and border security, Trump draconian measures on the border, Trump Abraham Accords in the Middle East, Trump settlements in Palestine, Trump embassy in Jerusalem, and then says don’t vote Trump!
US Empire narratives have been repeated so many times that they've become dull. A terrorist is anyone the US government doesn't like. A conspiracy theorist is a political or policy dissident. I've been told I hate Jews or am anti-Semitic so many times since October 7 it's become like water, meet duck's back.
The actions of the US Empire have so frequently been exactly what it accuses its rivals of doing that its own narrative describes its actions to a T. The Yemenis blockade trade to Israel to protest an ongoing genocide, and so far have killed no one. The Empire responds with sanctions and bombing raids that kill Yemeni children.
Who is terrorizing a civilian population to advance a political goal here? (Hint: It's not the Houthis)
The last official definition of terrorism I heard was 'the use or threat of violence to achieve a political goal', but since all wars are fought for political reasons, that would mean any country, Govt or army that fought any war, must be terrorists.
Maybe so. Sounds like another good reason to stop throwing wars for fun and profit. And just think of all that carbon no longer being released into the atmosphere by the engines of war!
Yeah, why don't we try that for a change?
Side note...USA does not count military polution into statistics on enviromental impact.
And it's military is the biggest gross poluter on the planet.
That figures. They'd rather have us go broke on buying electric cars that won't charge in the winter and on electric stoves that cost far more to run than natural gas than harm MIC profits by a smidgeon.
Nice dodge. You support starving civilians then?
I believe the comment is approaching expert sarcasm, not meant to be approval?
I added to the sarcasm by liking my own comment : ) For many years I thought the outcome of End Stage Capitalism would logically follow Marx to a path of equality and intelligent living. It was only after the Iraq war I knew Marx didn't really explain what the alternative otherwise will be. I think we are living that now, endless wars and deeper wealth inequality with declining healthcare for all. My great hope Bernie, stabbed us all in the back "(Genocide) Joe biden would make a great President". Then Bernie's approval of Palestinian Genocide which the rest of us will be included destroyed any hope without extreme pain of the 99%. My last hope before nuclear war, Jill Stein or Cornel West and better yet both on the same ticket. Apprentice sarcasm student.
The United States will end up like Brazil, albeit a Brazil with worse weather, less attractive females, a less dynamic economy, and a more hyperbelligerent foreign policy.
"less attractive females" - very relevant, especially when I look at these Brazilian beauties: https://youtu.be/PE3g2zeBVQQ
I am still not sure I can like your comment ha. Still thinking about it though having worked and traveled in South America. Women in Central and South America would probably use people, or maybe it was just me ha.
No, your sarcasm is at least at journeyman level. Apprentice doesn't do you justice. Honest, that was good!
I wasn't on this experiment, it ended up not being built. My friend Dick was on it so...
The Anti-Proton intersection there is a S-hole and now no longer used.
https://lss.fnal.gov/archive/test-proposal/1000/fermilab-proposal-1022.pdf
We are building some very interesting detectors for the up coming high intensity Proton
beam dump for PIP 2. https://pip2.fnal.gov/
Actually, I think you'd find a lot of civilians are starving because of war.
Most poor Americans are .. Or eating unfit processes food
reply to PennyP
Following my earlier anti - all wars comment, this was in my news feed this morning:
https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2024/01/20/michael-pascoe-australia-gaza.
My own Govt shames me and shames my country.
Oh no, "A conspiracy theorist is a political or policy dissident." ... is a right wing, unintelligent domestic terrorist now; spreading mis and disinformation NOW - Keep up Ohio.
And that is why they (Western Countries ) have ALL brought in new laws to literally penalise and lock us up for thought crimes and questioning the official language; never mind going against it.
First Country I found = https://odysee.com/@AussieFighter:8/Stay-Silent-WHITE-Irish-Man-As-Your-Government-Ushers-In-The-Main-Staple-Of-Communism...-Censorship:8
No, absolutely not if you mean, Dave's.
The purpose of designating these groups as terrorists is to also stifle freedom of speech. The UK is doing the same thing- labelling groups as terrorists because then it is illegal to express support for them. If you think the Houthis are doing a good thing in preventing supplies reaching genociders, but Houthi is a proscribed terror group, you can be arrested for that. If you do not condemn them, they will attempt to twist this to say you do support them - and you're not allowed to support them by law. This is what Piers Morgan does and the purpose of the 'do you condemn Hamas?' question.
It's to stifle the fact that people in these countries are believing there is a resistance in the Middle East - and not terrorism. And they are absolutely not allowed to think that - it is a big threat to the western empire to have such dissent and freedom of thought from within
I’ll say it loud and clear: I won’t be satisfied until the Hout’his get our gas prices up to $10 a gallon!
Looking forward to Iran shutting the Straits of Hormuz as well.
If this makes me a “ terrorist supporter”, I’ll wear that badge with pride!
The UK was in 2022 debating whether to make Houthi a terrorist group. I'm sure it will make them one now.
Hamas was only declared to be one fully in 2021 by the UK and EU at the same time. Nothing to see here, of course.
I wonder if I can gather enough support from the readers of this column to declare the US a terrorist group
It seems the UK hasn't made it one yet so you are ok in the UK. Here's their list: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations--2/proscribed-terrorist-groups-or-organisations-accessible-version
Of course - he is the real reason they want to do it: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/01/yemen-uk-houthi-rebels-aid-agencies-letter
In olden days this would be called a siege.
When talking about siege, the name Germany comes to mind.
Stalingrad, WWII, and on.
It should also not surprise us that lined up in Israel’s corner at the ICJ in The Hague are most of the Western US sycophants – led by the nose of course by the "exceptional" USA and now, tagging along with arrogant anti-Palestine statements and giving off a distinct smell like their media friend, Joseph Goebbels. (1939)...is Germany. This is the same country that showed Israel how to create a genocidal environment called the Holocaust on which they. have dined out for 78 years ......to their advantage. And how. Just look at the US Senate, the Congress, the Universities, the Pubic Service, Where does it end?
Berlin asked last Friday to be considered a third party in Israel’s defence at The Hague. That's DEFENCE, in case you missed it.
Well, with their experience in WWII, no one would know more about it than Germany. I would have enjoyed being at the ICJ for this one and then, as a courtesy, asked them a few questions in return. They have taught Israel all they know but Israel has well and truly exceeded them in no uncertain manner.
It is the nature of the beast.
It is interesting you said this. Germany's PR around remorse for the Holocaust- like that of the 'American dream' - has been really good. Like the latter, it's complete BS, but it really manipulated us all very well. I wrote a note on it:
"Germany supporting Israel at the ICJ is not surprising in any way. It is another European and Western colonial power with the same Imperialistic mindset that led to it to commit the Holocaust. It would thus wholeheartedly and without reservation support its relabelling as Zionism.
Of course, Germany - that bastion of European justice - has absolutely done away with any of its Nazi profiteering and would never dream of continuing to have such corporations that did things like create the gas to kill the Jews or use forced labour from concentration camps. (BASF, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW, anyone? Anyone?)
And these Nazi-era companies did not continue their imperialistic brutality in any way anywhere else after WWII at all. Argentina, who?
As someone said to me: “It’s a bit like asking Jimmy Savile to testify that Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t a paedophile.”"
I think I will join you both.
Merci beaucoup.
It would also allow Meta, which includes Instagram and the like to take down accounts for promoting terrorism. See if you can read about what has happened to Shaun King and his Grassroots Law account.
Shaun King is going for it in a court of law. So he says he is now being quiet on all social media to protect his case. It's a smart move. He basically does not know the case they have against him - they are guessing using these companies terms and conditions etc (which can be ever-changeable) - so in order to ensure he does not give them any further ammo he simply won't post anymore until he's sorted it out.
Interesting. I hadn't thought of that ploy by the Western governments. Makes perfect sense. Thank you.
I will write more on this soon - it'll be made clearer.
There are 14 Northern Irish groups on the proscribed terror list. I mean, it speaks volumes
Yeah. Freedom of speech in Western countries is currently dying, & censorship, often with fines or criminal penalties or both, is rapidly accelerating, especially & ironically in the US / UK. Neofascism is fast becoming the norm for 2024, particularly in the theocratic Unjust States of America (USA), viz. Florida, D.C., Tenn., etc., & UK. As the planet dies, so do all of our rights & freedoms. The joke that is Western culture is killing us all, & all the exits are locked tight inside & out.
What? How? So many people are wearing Palestine colours on marches? What was the police reasoning??
That's for sure. Genocide? No problem. Block ships belonging to countries committing and enabling genocide? Problem.
It’s been said before, Diana:
Amerikkka cares more about shipping containers than dead and dying Gazan children.
What fucking planet are we living on?
No kidding.
There is nothing normal about killing children, destroying infrastructure and cutting off electricity, food and water in Gaza.
Watching this genocide unfold while our leaders sit on their thumbs is agonizing and completely unacceptable.
Even debilitating sometimes. I've been having a hard time focusing on other areas of my life since Oct 7. The utter inhumanity and monstrosity of everything going on is beyond comprehensible to me.
It's just horrific, I know.
I never have writer's block, but it took me about two weeks to write coherently about the situation in Gaza, it was so distressing for me.
It's still thoroughly upsetting and the killing and destruction just has to stop!
Hi Chang
Same with me. It’s difficult to actually function knowing that my godforsaken country is facilitating the genocide. I wake up thinking about it; I go to sleep thinking about it and it’s in my brain all day.
A few weeks ago I woke up screaming; I dreamt that bombs were falling around my house. Then I wept for those for whom this is a REALITY.
The planet is tilted in an unnatural position right now; I can keenly sense it. I believe it’s due for a reset, meaning no more Homo sapiens. Good riddance to us.
What seems to help me somewhat is spending time in forums (such as this one) where I can engage with like-minded individuals that are trying to make sense of the world.
For some unexplainable reason, I can't fathom why the world doesn't care more about this Genocide. Is it a moral failing of humanity? Is it a lack of imagination ? (i.e. people not understanding how the Palestine-Israel conflict is not just about settler-colonialism but so much more than that - and if one seriously thinks about it - it affects everyone on the planet in one way or another).
I, personally, am happy to have found Caitlin's Substack and appreciate the opportunity to discuss and voice my opinions - this is my present strategy of keeping myself mentally healthy.
Agree 100% Chang. I’m so happy to have found Caitlin’s community of wonderful people. It gives me the tiniest sliver of hope.
"why the world doesn't care more about this Genocide" - what a naive question.
Try to answer what you mean by "the world" and how "caring" for this and other genocides that at various scales have been going on forever in various parts of the world would manifest itself. In practical, not hypothetical terms.
I suspect, that once you get to the practical aspect of it you'll have your answer.
A capitalist planet run by Zionists in the U.S. government and oligarchy.
Some countries have better education?
There must be a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, not with Palestinians suffering under oppressive conditions, but as a place where all live with peace and equality. It is time for Pope Francis to do more than talk. He must go to Gaza and make a stand for peace and freedom.
Please sign the petition and share widely.
https://chng.it/CRQ7qw4Gzn
More petitions:
To support the application by South Africa to the ICJ
https://chng.it/5fMpQxbcZW
Codepink:
https://www.codepink.org/cnngaza?utm_campaign=12_15_pali_update_alert_3&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink
Ceasefire Now
https://www.change.org/p/sign-and-share-this-urgent-petition-calling-for-a-ceasefirenow-in-gaza-and-israel
These are a few small things we can do. If we can do more, let us do more.
Once again Biden acts in a non-sensical way. His first terrorist designation was no more sensible and humane than this one. I for one have been cheering the Houthis. Nobody else is even trying to help Gaza.
From Biden's point of view, from the point of view of Empire, from the point of view of a sociopath for whom words are meaningless in and of themselves but are merely to be twisted as convenient, it makes perfect sense.
That no other Islamists are helping Gaza ought to speak volumes about what it means to be both an Islamist & a pariah. Palestinians are pariahs in the Islamic world. Either they're guilty of something almost all other Islamists fear, or Islamic theistic mythology & propaganda are just as much BS as are the theistic mythologies & propaganda of all other theocracies & examples of magical thinking. Maybe both apply in this case.
Well. I think there is also the fear of extending this into a wider war, and some American statesmen want to actually do just that, and are seeing it as an opportunity to push war with Iran. Biden has pushed all of our America's Middle Eastern wars, as well as supporting and feeding weapons to the Ukrainians to bring down Russia, even if it meant the death of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian lives. America is so perverse that Biden can reference the Houthis as a terrorist group yet find total support within both parties in helping to implement a genocide in Gaza which is in total breach of international law. Read or listen to Miko Peled at least he provides an honest perspective on Israel even from an historical perspective. In other words he confirms your sense of reality too offset the gas-lighting that's going on.
USA has been at war for all but 15 years of its existence. The military-industrial complex billionaires, the ones that Eisenhower warned us abt, make all their profits from war & munitions. The pols are just stooges who do & say what they're bribed to do & say. Almost every US politician has pushed for all of USA's endless war. Targeting Biden for all of USA's Middle Eastern misadventures is seriously narrow minded &, frankly, ignorantly partisan. Don't forget that the Trump-turd wanted to drop an a-bomb into the eye of a hurricane to stop the hurricane from doing any damage to whatever state it was ravaging. That was a "total breach of" common sense. Biden didn't order any a-bombs to be dropped on Yemen or Russia at any time in his career. But POTUS Truman ordered two a-bombs to be dropped on non-military population centers in Nagasaki & Hiroshima in 1945. And just in case you aren't aware--you're obviously unaware--allow me to relieve you of your historical ignorance: USA considers itself outside the jurisdiction of all international laws, especially those laws adjudicated by the ICJ & ICC & Geneva Conventions despite having, in Nuremberg (1945-46), with "Judge(s) sitting: Iona Nikitchenko (Soviet Union), Geoffrey Lawrence (UK), Francis Biddle (US), Donnedieu de Vabres (France) and deputies" indicted, charged, tried, convicted, & executed many NAZIs <except the scientists [e.g., Werner von Braun] USA wanted for its own martial research> for their "total breach of international law". You can find videos and a movie of the Nuremberg trials on YouTube if you Google them.
In regard to what I said about Biden, well, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2003 Biden assembled witnesses who misrepresented, well, lied about Saddam Hussein, and his WMD, and he knew them to be lies, and pushed those lies on his fellow democrats as well. He supported all our other Middle Eastern wars and even as vice president under Clinton he supported his multiple interventions as well. As Obama's vice president they helped support the coup in Ukraine relying on neo-nazis to give them a hand. Obama left Biden in charge, and that's how he was able to get his son a job, although Hunter knew nothing about oil. Surprise, surprise, but to make money they work so well together. As Obama's vice president, we had a proxy war in Syria, and lie of a war in Libya that destroyed a country that was thriving, and I heard the slave markets are back. What has he done during his presidency, well, as you know to oust Putin he was willing to support a proxy war in Ukraine costing hundred of thousands of lives, and now he's implementing a genocide, and I think the most serious crime of all. 'Trump-turd" as you call him and his wanting to send a nuclear weapon to stop a hurricane is just BS, and as he called it fake news, seems you are quite capable of putting forth a lot of BS of your own to justify your position for what ever the hell your reason is. By the way I don't need a history lesson from you.
Fran, sometimes I wonder what reality you are living under. Or maybe it's just blindness to everything "Trump" and an abandonement of objectivity in favor of bias for Trump?
In regards to the Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Zionism - here is some reference on Trump's track record and actions:
(1) Democracy Now->“Yet Another Declaration of War on Palestinians”: Rashid Khalidi on Trump’s Middle East “Peace” Plan [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qCcqyA__tk]
(2) Trump vows to help Israel finish Hamas and ban Gaza refugees from entering the US [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0CqwurerEQ]
(3) AlJazeera->Trump's Middle East plan and a century of failed deals [https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2020/the-failed-deals-of-the-century/index.html]
(4) Trump’s reckless Middle East policy has brought the US to the brink of war [https://www.brookings.edu/articles/trumps-reckless-middle-east-policy-has-brought-the-us-to-the-brink-of-war/]
(5) Trump claims he made peace in the Middle East with Abraham Accords. That’s False. [https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2023/dec/05/donald-trump/trump-claims-he-made-peace-in-the-middle-east-with/]
(6) TheIntercept->Trump’s War Policy Left Civilians Dead in Yemen [https://theintercept.com/2020/10/29/trump-yemen-war-civilian-deaths/]
(7) AlJazeera->Analysis: Trump's Middle East plan: The farce, the fraud and the fury [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hbYJXQiyjA]
(8) WATCH: Senate votes to restrict Trump's war powers [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4C0wZNifpE]
The list of resources is endless on Trump's track record in the middle-east and his true intentions (not his stated intentions that he then walks back on by calling everything he disagrees with as "Fake News")
"Here we have the author of a peace deal (Donald Trump) who is by definition a fanatic Zionist supporter of the illegal Israeli settlement and yet he projects himself as some kind of a mediator who has the Palestinians best interest in mind. It is surrealistic in every possible way and obnoxious in every possible term".
Here are some more facts:
(1) AlJazeera->Biden admin ends Trump-era Houthi ‘terrorist’ designation [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/16/biden-admin-ends-trump-era-houthi-terrorist-designation]
(2) Trump not only withdrew out of the Iran Nuclear Deal [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/8/five-years-after-trumps-exit-no-return-to-the-iran-nuclear-deal], but also escalated tensions with Iran by his administration assassinating Soleimani [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/6/29/iran-and-us-president-donald-trump-a-timeline-of-key-events] and placing sanctions on Iran.
(3) Trump has a horrendous track record on Yemen ->The Trump Administration Embraces the Saudi-Led War in Yemen [https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/the-trump-administration-embraces-the-saudi-led-war-yemen]
Again, the list of facts NOT in favor of Trump are endless.
Maybe you could look harder at who Trump really is and who his supporters are:
(1) Evangelical Christian Zionists are a significat base of Trump's supporters.
(2) Trump has always been a supporter of AIPAC
(3) Trump (and his family) have always supported Israel and the Zionist agenda
Yes, Biden is bad - but so is Trump. And I can't help but wonder what actions Trump would have taken in the present conflict. I mean, why are we even discussing and comparing who is worse when it comes to Israel and Zionism?
Because I didn't approve of the democrats trying to remove an elected president from office it's wrong? They tried to remove him on the lie of Russia-gate, also because this very bad man thought it was good to get along with Russia, and even paid Putin a visit. They crucified Trump, but maybe if they hadn't, and didn't have an agenda for him, like he has to go, no doubt some 400 thousand Ukrainians would not be dead. No new wars under Trump, a novelty in the 21st century. It's interesting that at the unconstitutional Jan 6 comm, and it was unconstitutional, Liz Cheney was parading her pop around, and as you know someone who got us into the war with Iraq on a lie, and of course there was those black sites and Guantanamo, and torture. Cheney as many were, including Jeff Bush, primary signatories on the Project for a New American Century based on A Clean Break written for Netanyahu, by Richard Perle, although some call him the prince of darkness, and it goes like this, "The report explained a new approach to solving Israel's security problems in the Middle East with an emphasis on "Western values." It has since been criticized for advocating an aggressive new policy including the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and the containment of Syria by engaging in proxy warfare and highlighting its possession of "weapons of mass destruction". Well, as you know we followed that neocon policy and attacked and destroyed many countries in the Middle East, under Bush/Cheney, Obama, and of course Biden. Interesting that Palestine is now facing a genocide, and it would be naive to believe it doesn't reflect our political agenda all through this century and perhaps why we supply the weapons to carry it out. Interesting that the media lost it's objectivity, but as you know it was headed in that direction anyway, but people like Amy Goodman bought it as well, and mostly wishful thinking on her part. Poor Greenwald wanted to write an article on Biden's son's laptop, but the CIA, some 50 of them, said it was all Russian disinformation and the The Intercept which he started wouldn't let him publish his piece, so he left the very publication he started.
Yes Trump certainly wasn't perfect, but he was a perfect diversion and scapegoat from the horrors the presidents in the 21st century implemented, including those of Obama and his proxy war in Syria and his war on Libya, and I hear there are now slave markets there not to mention his backing neo-nazi's to kick out Yanukovych, and a pro-Russian government. I guess he wanted the US to be close to Putin too, but not for good reason, since NATO would be right up against Russia's borders, and those Minsk accords as Merkel said were not meant to be implemented but to allow the Ukraine to build up militarily.
100% agree with this.
The Arab states in particular Iran(which is not an Arab country) I think are holding back because they know the US have wanted a war with them for years.
I agree, but with Biden and his neocon agenda I really wonder what's coming. He calls the Houthis terrorists, a man, a country, that is complicit in a genocide. He opens our borders claiming to be a caring man, yet he's been complicit in killing over 50 thousand people, some 10 thousand of whom are children. He also fed weapons to the Ukrainians, and several hundred thousand are now dead to bring down Putin. His hypocrisy is stunning.
Well the name 'hypocrisy" should be added.
The United States of Hypocrisy. The same with the UK hypocrisy.
We are living in a world of .......I just don't know what to call it. Mass hysteria perhaps?
While the UK is deciding to send 'the boat people" to Rwanda.
The Iraelites want to get shot of the Palestinian people to places....UNKNOWN
Is there a place for these people which is 'safe.' I don't think so.
IF you can think of one country which is NOT war ravaged by religion/ethnic cleansing etc.
My husband and me have come up with one place in the world. Thailand. Although they have a problem with their so-called KING!
The Maldive Islands have told India to "get out." Which I think they are doing but who knows with Modi. He is no different than Biden.
I look at Bidens voting record (you can look too).
He voted for Clarence Thomas!!!!!!!
This stopped me beliveing in him years ago.
YOU have people in the DNC who tell you who to vote for....is this democracy?
I don't live in the US but I did for 23yrs and I was horrified MOSTLY because of education. You have the most stupid people on the planet. But you did not care.
Who is going to come to 'aid' you America while you have a Civil War?
I have so many American friends which are mostly leaving the US........what America cannot comprehend is that we too have legitimate excuses to deny entry to our countries.
My husband worked for American company's we were harrassed and denied entry multiple times. (I am going to write about this)
Well, maybe that's why Americans don't pay much attention to politics, no news is good news, and the only good news they'll get. You're denied entry, well Jenny maybe you and your husband should check out how to get into America illegally, and once here they'll even put you up in a nice hotel and pay for it, and if not send you off to a city that really can't afford you, but will throw high school kids out for a day or two and you can reside there, no doubt in the hallway, or they'll set up cots like they did at a mental facility. I have never liked Biden. He even had to step down from his presidential run in the 1980's since he got into the habit of stealing other people speeches. He's not only supported and pushed out many wars, but does a lousy imitation of someone who cares.
And you think that American retribution has nothing to do with it? You think that the United States will not hesitate to sanction, bomb or murder anyone who stands up for Gaza? Perhaps you think that the United States attacked Yemen just because?
The reason Ansrallah stood up for Gaza is because they have no corrupt leaders with western assets to sanction, no western toys to be taken away, no fucks to give.
The Houthis "stood up for Gaza is because they have no corrupt leaders...."? Are you for real or just a troll? I'm leaning toward the latter.
Their leaders don't have western assets to sanction, western accounts to seize. They certainly don't live like the Gulfie tyrants or the Saudi potentates.
Keep trying.
Then how do you reply to Hezbollah, pal?
Good point. I also wonder if the Muslims in other nations aren't concerned about Israeli aggression towards them.
No, they aren't concerned or they'd be jointly fighting the Israelis on behalf of Hamas & the Gazans, but, as I said, they're no Sir Lancelot champions for Gazans or Hamas. They're just covering their own butts & happy that the toxic alpha-male Houthi chest pounders are willing to martyr themselves. It's always safer & cheaper in all ways to have others fight one's battles than doing it by oneself.
The Hout’hi are bonafide HEROES, shitforbrains. As are Hezbollah. If you don’t think they’re making a difference, think again. Container ships are refusing to dock in IsraHell, due to the astronomical insurance required to do so, costing the IsraHelli regime billions in lost revenue. Thank god for “alpha male chest pounders”!
Opinions are like arseholes: everybody has at least one. And ad hominem name-calling is a sure sign of a toxic alpha-male chest pounder who's been to myriad finishing schools & knows on which side his pita's buttered.
Iran has known for years that the US is after them...they are waiting and watching think.
I am not so sure but they certainly will be aided by Turkey and the other Farsi speaking people.
Chen Huizhe, maybe you could get off the "religions" track for explaining world events and start looking at geostrategic and geopolitical considerations.
There are many resources on the internet that explain why the leaders of many Middle Eastern and Arab countries (most of which are monarchies and dictatorships) do not want to get invovled in this conflict, even though the people of that nations they represent all support Palestinians and the Palestinian cause.
I seriously suggest using frameworks besides just religion to analyze world events. Maybe you might come across more answers to your questions this way?
Or people just want to live on their land and not be screwed with by jailers.
Up is down. Firing squads are diplomats. We are Soylent Green. Israel is a Democracy. Zionism isn't Judaism.
So, the reality is -- Un-United $nakes of Amnesia-Terror-Chaos-Lies-Pollution -- when Five Myopic Blind Eyes call 'them' terrorists, they are heroes.
Defned your fucking people, man. Heroes = Houthis.
https://paulokirk.substack.com/p/they-are-coming-for-not-just-your
Is Zionism Judaism? Are Mormons Christians?
Did the little piggie cry wee wee wee all the way home? https://youtu.be/ITrYv7f_DhU
are christians satanists and zionists?
US CENTRAL COMMAND ? 🤣🤣 the emperor still has no clothes
"When Yemen sets up a blockade to try and stop an active genocide, that’s terrorism, but when the US empire imposes a blockade to secure its geostrategic interests in the middle east, why that’s just the rules-based international order in action...We are ruled by murderous tyrants. By nuclear-armed thugs who would rather starve civilians to protect the continuation of an active genocide than allow peace to get a word in edgewise. Our world can never know health as long as these monsters remain in 'charge."
It's time to cage or slay the "monsters in charge." We can't allow them to stay where they are any longer. Our lives are in danger and our world is under threat. "Rules-based order" be damned.
Well written. Rules based order reminds me of "democracy ". It doesn't mean what they say it means. Truth hides behind rhetoric, but most are captured by the spectacle.
I cannot possibly be the only one here who recognizes that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
If Ansrallah were targeting Russia or any other country that the United States doesn't like, we'd be hearing their praises non-stop and they'd be granted virtually unlimited cash and weapons to do so.
An entire bag of Greenies to you Feral 😁
Thanks, I could use a snack!
Well, I’ve long been disgusted with Biden, US government inhumane policies.The US is in bad moral shape.
Lol Che… talk about an oxymoron!
Kind of like “US Intelligence” 😂
Great post!
Meanwhile the Israeli government has been and still is imposing a naval blockage on Gaza since 2007 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_the_Gaza_Strip
And that blockade is an essential building block in the Israeli genocide going on now in Gaza
But the US government led by zionists like Blinken and Sullivan has not imposed sanctions on Israel and designated the “IDF” a Foreign Terrorist Organization. No - in fact these gentlemen have evaded congress and US laws in order to send the Israeli terrorists MORE money and weapons.
But the Yeminis trying to stop the genocide are “terrorists”? Right.
That's why it's needed Yati. YATI - For the majority of the planet's inhabitants, effective freedom, justice, legality and democracy do not exist, while the concentration of wealth in a few hands prevents general well-being. Four-fifths of the planet's inhabitants live in poverty and many find themselves in desperate conditions. At the same time, fear, insecurity and wars are increasing. The risk of an apocalypse is becoming more and more concrete. A few small groups organized on a national and international level prevent billions of people from living in the best possible way. Using legal tender currencies with no real value, they control most natural resources, means of production, information channels, governments and mass organizations. These groups constitute the oligarchy of real power on the planet. National states and their international organizations are instruments of this small minority that controls money, means of production and information. This is why states are either dictatorships or apparent democracies. Through approximately twenty thousand people, these groups exercise their power over all peoples. They are the decision makers: bankers, financiers, publishers, governors, magistrates, policemen, soldiers and other exponents of the institutions of national states. Some consider these decision makers to be the guides, the leadership necessary for the evolution of humanity. In reality, they are simply people chosen and designated by the top of the oligarchy, which attributes to them the fundamental function of maintaining economic relations unchanged and guaranteeing the hegemony of the global elite. Just when technological development would allow every human being to satisfy their own needs and make those who are ill feel good without making those who are well ill feel bad, those who hold wealth become more oppressive and try in every way to preserve and indeed enhance their own privileges. We could have energy at very low costs and instead we depend on the usual oil multinationals. Meanwhile, we have less and less drinking water, more people dying of hunger and curable diseases, less culture, less social communication, ever-increasing consumer prices, more pollution, more disinformation, less security, less freedom, less real democracy, more mysticism. At the same time, more is spent on military equipment than on energy, more than half of the available drinking water is wasted due to the inefficiency of sewer systems, a quarter of the food produced is destroyed and the production of low-cost medicines is prevented. to keep market prices high, the nominal value of the monetary mass is equal to over fifty times the annual wealth produced on the planet, the vast majority of peoples want peace while states wage war and this shows that popular sovereignty is only appearance. This situation depends on the hierarchical structure of the human system in the shape of a ladder pyramid made up of double-valued dyadic levels: each person represents himself with respect to those on the higher levels while representing the totality with respect to those on the lower levels. In this structure, it is the level, and not the personal value, that determines the valence. Moving to the next level requires an effort that very few people can sustain. The hierarchical structure is selective: the strongest, most gifted and fortunate use others as their tools. Nothing can change if this structure is not changed. It will always seem like everything changes but in reality everything will remain as before. Even the largest revolutions have resulted in the replacement of people in the upper levels but not in the change of the structure of the system. To change the hierarchical structure of the human system, it is necessary to transform its pyramidal shape into a helical shape and then into a sphere, moving from hierarchy, which establishes a mutual relationship of supremacy and subordination, to conarchy, which allows command in common, in union . We must eliminate levels, classes, classes, inequalities between the starting material conditions. And excesses must be limited. This is only possible through the awareness of reality, the assumption of responsibility and the concrete action of that very large majority of people who find themselves in the lower levels. The new structure will no longer have different levels but only different functions. Everyone will be able to have the same relationships with the means of production and therefore social classes will no longer exist. National states will be transformed into administrative bodies, overcoming the dualism between democracy as dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and dictatorship of the proletariat. The dictatorship of the owners and the dictatorship of the proletarians are two political solutions for the control of the state. By abolishing the state, both solutions are useless.
Everyone will be able to freely participate in a new social organization based on the self-government of post-state civil society through substantial democracy. A world government elected directly by the inhabitants of the planet will guarantee universal peace and the application of the essential rules for civil coexistence. The information will be true and free. The speculative economy will be eliminated and the real economy based on work will be supported. Property rights that do not derive from work but from crimes, thefts and wars will be abolished. A real value currency representing work will be introduced instead of legal tender currencies which should represent products and instead represent debts. All this is possible. Unfortunately, most people perceive the problems but, due to a lack of information, do not know the causes, therefore they cannot become aware of the reality and have the will and conditions to change the structure of the system. Whoever controls the banks controls the money. With money you purchase ownership of the means of production. With the ownership of the means of production, information is controlled and power is exercised over the economy and politics. To allow awareness of the causes of problems and raise awareness of reality, we need to inform about the facts. In order to inform on the facts it is necessary to isolate and render powerless the groups at the top of power and the twenty thousand people through whom they control banks, finance, governments, judiciary, police, armies and other bodies through which a small minority manages to exercise its hegemony over all humanity. It involves practicing a sort of caesura (yati), a suspension of the functions of decision-makers in the main sectors (politics, economy, finance, money, justice, army, information, law enforcement), to free society from its own summit, the only real obstacle that prevents the modification of the structure of the human system. Freed from this obstacle, human society as a whole will be able to freely decide whether to repeat the past or reorganize itself in a new way, in a more advanced structure, to build a future different from the one that otherwise awaits us. It will be the first concrete and perhaps last opportunity to change. If it does, there will be pure universal democracy and perpetual peace which until now were thought impossible. Otherwise, everything will remain as before. Yati has this sole goal: to allow the majority of human beings to freely decide about their future. Together it's possible. Friday, 25 August 2006. Rodolfo Marusi Guareschi
New idea.
One must wonder how many decades people will cling to the vision of a two-state solution for the Israelis and the Palestinians while the facts on the ground move continually in the other direction. Nor is a one-state solution any more plausible. Time for a new idea.
The fundamental problem for Israel and the Palestinians is that there are 5 million stateless Palestinians and Israel will never accept them as citizens because they are not Jewish. Historically no Arabic country has welcomed them either.
>>For the past month, both Jordan and Egypt have repeatedly declared that their borders would not be opened to receive even one Palestinian—not as a way to deny humanitarian assistance to Palestinians under attack but rather as a countermove to deny Israel the opportunity to empty the West Bank and Gaza of as many Palestinians as possible. Jordan’s fears are not unfounded, and its redline of refusing to admit Palestinians remains unlikely to change for several reasons.<<
https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/11/21/jordan-s-redline-on-admitting-palestinians-is-unlikely-to-change-pub-91077
Without a country, the Palestinians will never be free. I see one possible solution: the world should buy a country for the Palestinians.
It would not be cheap. Rebuilding Gaza after Israel destroys it will also not be cheap, but the world will pay for it. Here is my proposal.
The idea when first proposed was to buy a less-developed part of Sudan bordering Egypt with a size close to that of Israel. A refinement is to negotiate a deal with the micronation self-proclaimed as the "Islamic Republic of Hala’ib Triangle". This entity covers 7,950 square miles (20,580 sq km), comparable to the size of Israel (8,630 sq mi).
https://micronations.wiki/wiki/Islamic_Republic_of_Hala%27ib_Triangle
Set aside the claims of Sudan and Egypt for this area, and focus on justice for the current inhabitants which number about 1500. I'm proposing a payment of $1 million US per resident, infants included. The nominal cost would be $1.5 billion, about the cost of 2 to 3 weeks of bombs to be dropped on the Gazans. Also a grant of ten acres of their choosing per resident.
Hala'ib lies between Sudan and Egypt and borders the Red Sea to the east. I believe the best approach is that the current residents, mostly Bedouins, would have citizenship in the new country along with the Palestinians. They would be suddenly rich, of course, which would not be a new phenomenom for Bedouins.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1982/01/31/saudi-arabiafrom-bedouins-to-oil-barons/bef09597-7dd2-481c-9a85-1041320e0a63/
The 1500 rich Bedouins and the five million not-rich Palestinians would be the citizens of the new country which might be called the Hala'ib-Palestine Alliance.
Hala'ib-Palestine would be far enough away from Israel that continued hostilities would be unlikely in addition to being pointless.
Many persons claim that the Palestinians would never accept the idea of moving away from the birthplace of Islam. Not living in the birthplace of Islam does not seem to be a problem for the rest of the nearly 2 billion Muslims. A quick poll of the Palestinans in between bombardments and sniper attacks could resolve that question.
There would need to be a threshold for final approval on both the Hala'ib and the Palestinian sides. Of course a proposal which looks very good to those directly involved will probably be repugnant to Sudan and Egypt, so those countries must be dealt with. One possibility: offer to redirect the aid that the US gives Israel (approximately $4 billion per year) for ten years: $2 billion per year to Sudan, and the same for Egypt. Set a one-year deadline for agreement: if either country does not agree, all of the money goes to the other country. Regardless, the establishment of the new country would proceed under UN and US protection.
The new country should include a nature preserve for the Nubian wild ass.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian_wild_ass
It should also include a large interior area which is reserved for nomadic occupation only. In addition a strip of land one mile thick along the Red Sea plus land for an airport and various parcels for government installations should be under permanent government control. The oceanfront area could be leased for resort development. The land remaining after the grants to the original Hala'ib residents would be divied up among the Palestinians.
Enlist a coalition of nations to build a new Palestine in the new country. The US can contribute the money it would otherwise spend replacing the buildings and infrastructure in Gaza that Israel has turned into rubble. Israel can rebuild what it has destroyed in Gaza.
The Palestinians already had a perfectly fine country with lots of culture, big cities, agriculture, education until the British came along and decided it was an empty land that they could have and give away to a group of their choosing. They need to give it back to the Palestinians.
The British have invaded at one time 171 of the 193 countries in the world. What a damaging legacy for the human race. There is no better monoment to their shamelessness and malign influence than the continued existence of the British Museum, the largest warehouse of stolen goods in the world.
The British Empire does indeed have a poor track record in the history books ( to say the very least ) and they mostly left the colonised countries they cut loose, to deal with the Empires' mess. But it is history. Now the problem is the Amerikan Empire.
History can provide context but I don't think it offers any solutions to our current problems.
I agree, but note I was replying to Susan T who noted the role of the British in the present quagmire that is the ME. I was simply providing more context.
Agree, George. I always wondered what gave the Bastard Brits the right to dig up the tombs of the ancient Kings of Egypt. Who the fuck thinks they can desecrate the deceased?
In my Ninth edition of Encyclopedia Britannica ~ 1890, it is not really accepted that blacks are human. See entry under Negro.
The territory of Palestine was never a "country". The Zionists & the UK fought a war contesting the territory. The Zionists won both the war & the territory. The proverb "To the Victor Go the Spoils" applies here. The British no longer control the former (or present) territory of Palestine, so they can't "give it back to the Palestinians". If the Israelis were willing to reject Israel's being a Jewish ethnostate, they could give Gaza & the West Bank back to the Palestinians, but they won't. They would argue that without a country of their own, the Jews of the world would never be safe, & someone argued in one of these comments exactly the same for the Palestinians. Perhaps both arguments are true. I don't know. But it seems patently clear that there cannot & will not exist two ethnostates in the old Palestinian territory. Too many entities are against it. It's not even a stalemate. It's a "This is the way things are, mate. It ain't Cyprus."
So if might is right, that would mean that the Holocaust was justified.
For all warriors (I'm not a warrior) might is right, & what's justified is what one can get away with. Lots of Holocaust deniers believe the Holocaust never happened, but some are just trolls. Lots of neo-Nazis believe the Holocaust was justified & are angry bc the Nazis didn't achieve their goals. I don't fit in any of those categories. "Judge not lest ye be judged" is how I suppose some Christians would respond. You do you. It don't matter to me what others think, believe, or say. Sticks & stones etc.
You are trying to change the subject.
No, I'm just not engaging in any "If pigs could fly" discussions. There's no pseudo-intellectual activity I dislike more than Michael Sandel philosophy of ethics trolley questions. I'm not the Walrus & I don't like oysters.
Sez you. IsraHell won’t exist in another ten years. The world has finally seen them for who they are.
Correct.
Everything you say is true. Would you oppose my proposal, if a super majority of the Palestinians agreed with it?
I would support giving Palestine back to the Palestinians or anything that Palestinians wanted. I think what people really want though, is their country, culture, agriculture, and freedom back. I watched this documentary last night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUCeQt8zg5o and felt sad and angry that all that was taken away by colonizers and made worse when Israel came into being.
>>anything that Palestinians wanted<<
Including my proposal I assume.
I guess. But I think your proposal is kind of wimpy. What people really want is the opportunity to build back up what was stolen. I don't think people anywhere would really want to be relocated to somewhere that was being given to them to get them out of the way. Your proposal would make more sense if the Israelis went to live in "less-developed part of Sudan bordering Egypt with a size close to that of Israel". They are the ones living on stolen land, not the Palestinians.
Well said Susan T! My sentiments exactly!
Completely agree - though with the US and European powers backing Israel, I fear that this situation is going to be harder to resolve in some ways than Nazi Germany where the European powers were aligned against Germany.
As I said to Feral Finster earlier: ".... I'm .... not engaging in any 'If pigs could fly' discussions. There's no pseudo-intellectual activity I dislike more than Michael Sandel philosophy of ethics trolley questions. I'm not the Walrus & I don't like oysters."
it reminds me very distinctly of another frequent poster.
First of all many thanks to Caitlin for highlighting the hypocrisy, double standards and hegemonic machinations of empire. It is time that the US be condemned by world civil society for crimes against humanity. The world has witnessed how complicit they are with Israel for the genocide of the Palestinian people. US should be standing in the dock with Israel. Their rules based world disorder has created the dystopia humanity is living through. They can with impunity designate countries and groups as terrorists; sanction countries and steal their assets, stunting their growth. Shamelessly weaponise food and other essential prerequisites for survival. Consumed with power, start wars which they never want to stop.
To Susan T, Chang Chokaski and Jon Carver, It's been interesting following your arguments regarding Peter Rodes Robinson's hairbrained scheme for the Palestinians. Won't Sudan have something to say about it? What gobsmacked me is his assertion that " the establishment of the new country would proceed under UN and US protection". US protection!!!!
RIGHT. ON. JON!
I hate the idea of Israel getting what it wants - the whole enchilada sans those pesky Palestinians.
Regardless of how this conflict is resolved, Israel is 100% responsible for making Gaza habitable again, and cleaning up the bombing mess.
I hate the idea of Israel getting what it wants, also, but I love the idea of getting the Palestinians out of hell more.
But first you need to understand what getting out of hell would be for Palestinian people. You seem to be thinking you (or some other outside source) can tell the people of Palestine how they should resolve the issues. But the issues are more complex than you appear to be seeing and, as well, the people of Palestine may very well not appreciate your "help". It is often a dilemma when we try to help others. The dilemma is to not impose your help. To not be doing it so that YOU will feel better, but trying to really understand how you can facilitate a solution.
Do you see anything in my proposal about imposing help? Point it out and I will remove it.
The Israel / Palestine conflict is a result of Europe and the US decided they needed somewhere to put all the jews (they didn't want them) and Britain agreed to the use of Palestine for that purpose. You propose to do the same thing with the Palestinians to fix this? Sudan is an inhabited country - they just had their own civil war.
I believe Einstein said "You can't solve a problem using the same thinking that caused it."
>>I believe Einstein said "You can't solve a problem using the same thinking that caused it."
So very well said dave.jumanji!
This is a pop quiz. Where did I say they would go?
I think you came up with your proposal for humane and caring reasons, but it has a colonial tone. The whole part about relocating people is the first thing that comes to mind. The best would be for you to read a bit about helping others and what a complex thing that really is. I worked with people living in poverty for quite a few years. We talked about that thing of making ourselves feel good first and helping others just happened to be part of it. That was not considered the best way to do things. I learned more from that work than I have ever learned anywhere about relating to people in difficult situations. I also stopped thinking of "those less fortunate" and started thinking more about "those more ripped off". Helping others is not the simple do gooder thing we might like it to be when we are in that position of helping.
I live in the Dominican Republic and I don't know any Palestinians. Do you think I should abandon my project?
You can speak honestly because I'm not going to abandon it.
Now if you know any Palestinians, I would be delighted if you relayed information.
It's like saying that giving up your wallet in response to "Your money or your life!" is both voluntary and a good deal, considering.
Peter. In my humble opinion if you start moving a race of people to another place (country) we would be doing exactly the same thing the British did with Israel.
I wish we could have a conversation.
If it's similar to the creation of Israel, the problem is not for the people moving, but for the people that were there in the first place. Do you think I have not taken care of the people that were there in the first place in my proposal? What would you do differently?
I appreciate the thought that went into this. However, the problem is the racist authoritarian apartheid government of Israel. If democracy and human rights are truly a real thing, we should be holding them accountable with overwhelming support from all "liberal democracies ". Buying another state to effectively ethnicity cleanse gaza is just sanitizing the dirty work of a horribly fascist state, essentially giving it and all of its "allies " a blank check for future "solutions". How about the citizens of Gaza decide.. after all democracy right?
I added the word "supermajority" to this sentence in my draft:
There would need to be a threshold (supermajority) for final approval on both the Hala'ib and the Palestinian sides.
A supermajority of all of the Palestinians would have to approve. That's in the proposal. Would you oppose what most of the Palestinians wanted to do?
*most
Someone always gets screwed
I vote for making the Jews leave Palestine.
And if the Israelis threaten to respond to any attack by a NATO member with a nuclear missile, or missiles?
How committed are you?
Return fire.
Considering the mindset of the Zionists I'd suspect them of digging shallow tunnels underneath major cities (NYC, for example?) to install primed & ready to go nuclear weapons for an immediate existential reaction without the need for cumbersome ICBMs that can be intercepted. No need for despondency though as I'm pretty sure we can defeat that approach once we get our collective heads round that one.
Considering the mindset of the Zionists I'd suspect them of digging shallow tunnels underneath major cities (NYC, for example?) to install primed & ready to go nuclear weapons for an immediate existential reaction without the need for cumbersome ICBMs that can be intercepted. No need for despondency though as I'm pretty sure we can defeat that approach once we get our collective heads round that one.
Just watched, Che.
Horrifying but not particularly surprising.
Agreed that this tunnel affair in NYC underneath the Chabad Lubavitch synagogue was probably intended for individual human abuse purposes but I'm deeply suspicious that the israelis have already planted nukes in major cities everywhere under the banner of "The Samson Option". This explains why the nations of the world toady up to the Zionist entity of israel at all times. Otherwise I feel israel would already have been vaporised by now.
Utterly ridiculous. The Palestinians already HAVE a land.
Now let’s reverse your ignorant proposal and ban all the Zionazis to your proposed “homeland”. Any Jew wishing to live in peace in Palestine would be welcome to stay.
Palestine was a real, actual place. IsraHell is a quasination that exists only because of Amerikkkan taxpayer handouts.
So you're basically arguing for ethnic cleansing.
Ethnic-Cleansing
"Historically no Arabic country has welcomed them either." - why would they?
Same language, same religion, similar culture. But the immediate reason is that they refuse to assist Israel in its ethnic cleansing.
Really?
Lebanon?
Yemen?
Iran (Not Arab, but very helpful nonetheless.)
What? Taking them in WOULD assist Israel in the ethnic cleansing. That's what Israel wants and what apologists - like you - constantly claim as the reason Palestinians are subhuman.
Btw, why would those people living in that nice house and on huge property not take you in? They seem to speak the same language, etc.
IOW, this "refuse to take them in" trolling got so tiring. Unless of course you sincerely believe it. Then you're just dim.
You are only accepting the Zionist idea of “transfer” going back to the late 19th century. Imagination has gotten the better of humanity and justice.
I will ask you the same question: if a super majority of Palestinians approved this proposal, would you still oppose it?
First, you assume facts not in evidence. Second, why would a "supermajority" of Palestinians agree to be ethnically cleansed? What on earth makes you think such an agreement would be in any way "voluntary"?
When do you think Israel is going to stop killing Palestinians?
When it is forced to do so.
When do you think that will happen? Be realistic.
if a supermajority of Palestinians voted to reject this proposal out of hand, would you finally start thinking about how to hold the perpetrators of the genocide responsible?
If only 50% of Palestinans supported the proposal, I would immediately abandon it.
As for holding Israel responsible, the first step is for the ICJ to recognize plausible genocide and impose measures. I am optimistic that will happen soon. If it doesn't happen, the world is screwed.
But even a victory for SA will be only a small step. Israel will certainly ignore the court.
If a (so far nonexistent) supermajority of Palestinians agreed to this harebrained idea because Israel and its American thug held literal and metaphorical guns to theirs and their children's heads, would you call that a voluntary decision?
Does anyone ask the people who are getting a bunch of Palestinian refugees? Ever heard of Black September?
Biden reinstates Trump terrorist designation on the Houthis, Trump fund raised for the police and border security, Trump draconian measures on the border, Trump Abraham Accords in the Middle East, Trump settlements in Palestine, Trump embassy in Jerusalem, and then says don’t vote Trump!
Excellent piece, Caitlin. Let us hope the suit against Biden Blinken and Austin will get some traction on these hypocritical bastards.
The U.S. Government is demonic-period.