Thought for the Day

[broncofan]

She has condemned the State of Israel but in the same sentence HAMAS, thus being another faded and jaded exponent of American appeasement, which in consequence trashes the rights of Palestinians for the sake of a strategic alliance,

I've never felt it's useful to avoid criticizing parties in order to make your criticism of the more culpable party in a bilateral conflict stronger. Sure, if she had only condemned Hamas in order to make her condemnations of Israel ineffectual that would be wrong, but often multiple parties deserve blame, contingent on what they do and when they do it.

For instance, I don't think Russia could be any more to blame for their invasion of Ukraine and the current conflict there. But if I'm shown evidence of Ukrainian soldiers committing war crimes against surrendering Russian soldiers, I would condemn it (edit: I'm not stating an opinion on whether it has occurred or how often as I don't know).

[Stavros]

As a separate and worthwhile subject, the occupation of the West Bank and siege of Gaza causes enormous pain and degradation to Palestinians. That the occupation has been ongoing for more than 55 years is a disgrace. I think Omar has probably done as much as any congressperson, except maybe Betty Mccollum and Rashida Tlaib to speak openly about this, without concern for U.S. alliances and foreign policy entanglements.

I accept your and Luke Warm's criticism of my post, I just don't know enough about Ilhan Omar to have made my point stick, for the most part.

What I find frustrating is that the US from the 1970s until the 1990s spent a great deal of time and eyewatering sums of money -most of which went to Israel- promoting the 'peace process', and in return, and in spite of two Treaties both signed under Democrat Presidents, Sharon and Netanyahu in effect said 'Fuck You America' with the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and their combined intention to bury the peace process for good.
At this point the US in my opinion ought to have played 'hardball' and taken severe measures to punish Israel, petty though that might sound. And in the cases of Sharon and Netanyahu I doubt they would have cared anyway, they rely on a hard core of pro-Israeli Americans in the US -not all of the Jewish, in fact I think a lot of American Jews have become exasperated with the politics Netanyahu has pursued- but as is currently clear, they can also court the Russians as an alternative, as if daring the US to do something about that. The current make-up of the Netanyahu led coalition is already taking measures to promote settlement activity -knowing the US is going to complain but in practical terms do nothing- and attack Palestinians. The death toll on both sides is increasing and as long as there is no attempt by Israel to deal with the reality of living with 4 million Palestinians, this corrosion will continue.

I understand the dilemma -the US poured money into Pakistan when it was on the front line of the proxy war with the USSR in Afghanistan, and we know where that led, just as the US has been a robust supporter of Saudi Arabia regardless of 9/11 and the entirely negative -for the US- promotion of Wahabi ideology across the Middle East and in Asia. Given the twists and turns of the Khashoggi case, and the support the US (and the UK) has given to Saudi Arabia's unwinnable war in the Yemen, one has to ask how in fact the US has benefited from this. Iran is not changing, notwithstanding the popular protests that have erupted in recent months, and in part this is due to the confrontational position taken by Trump that reversed any gains the US had made under Obama, but which also means that the Yemen conflict shows no sign of ending, so that the US remains lumbered with the Saudi Arabian war unless Biden has some magic formula to bring both sides to the table.

Egypt's treaty with Israel began when Sadat made that lightning trip to Israel, just as the 1993 Treaty with the PLO began with secret talks in Oslo between Israelis and Palestinians -I see no evidence of the people on the ground seeking an end to the conflict, and with the most extreme govt in Israel's history in power -though we don't know for how long- it seems to me the US after nearly 60 years has become impotent, talk of a 'two-state' solution worn out and irrelevant, but with few voices in the US offering either an insight into this conflict or offer any proposals to end it.

Trump negotiated with the Taliban, and Biden made good on the US promise to leave -the result has not been good, though for what it's worth, there was always more support for the Taliban in the countryside, and the failures of successive corrupt Govts did not create the very kind of security regime the UK and other states funded via the UN from 2006. Analysts have been terrified for years of an implosion in Saudi Arabia because of its potential impact, and not just on oil production and prices, so I understand why the Americans keep hedging their bets.

But eventually one has to ask -where's the return on the investment?

[Stavros]

The Smartmatic case against Fox News has prompted this quote from Murdoch's company-

""There is nothing more newsworthy than covering the president of the United States and his lawyers making allegations of voter fraud," a Fox News spokesperson told Insider. "We are confident we will prevail as freedom of the press is foundational to our democracy and must be protected, in addition to the damages claims being outrageous, unsupported, and not rooted in sound financial analysis, serving as nothing more than a flagrant attempt to deter our journalists from doing their jobs.""
Rudy Giuliani gets hit with 2 more counts in Smartmatic's defamation lawsuit (yahoo.com)

But does Freedom of Speed trump the Freedom of the Individual -as in, their right to vote, and have their vote respected?

[Stavros]

"“What’s in America’s best interest? Is it to sit and wait for Abu Mazen [Abbas], a known terrorist who’s killed lots and lots of people, including Americans … to draw a line on a map? That’s what the state department would do,” he said.
“The previous secretary of state ran back and forth from Tel Aviv to Ramallah and tried to draw lines on a map. We said: ‘That’s not in America’s best interest. Let’s go create peace,’ and we did.”

Pompeo was part of the Trump administration team that negotiated the Abraham accords normalisation agreements between Israel and several formerly hostile countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan. At the time he said the accords were part of the administration’s efforts to ensure that “that this Jewish state remains”.

“I am confident that the Lord is at work here,” he said."
Pompeo says Israel has biblical claim to Palestine and is ‘not an occupying nation’ | Mike Pompeo | The Guardian

That's odd. I spoke to God this morning, and God assures me Pompeo is an idiot. As for the 'known terrorist' Yitzhak Shamir, didn't he become Prime Minister years after assassinating Lord Moyne?
Yitzhak Shamir: Why we killed Lord Moyne | The Times of Israel

[Stavros]

I think this is a fair assessment of the AP African American History course controversy. Just don't ask the parents what they want, not in Florida, where Ron De Santis knows what is best for everyone, though he has yet to learn how to use the word 'woke' in English.

The new AP African American Studies course has been consumed by politics. But what's actually being taught? (yahoo.com)

[Stavros]

These two stories concern the Republicans and what seems to me to be their cruelty with regard to women. I would have thought the Democrats could campaign successfully against Republicans who seem determined to inflict as much pain and humiliation on women as they can, as if they enjoy causing harm. In the abortion case, it is surely only a sick mockery for De Santis to use words like 'Pro-life' for a foetus that is not going to survive and indeed, because of the abnormality in its gestation is going to suffocate to death -more like Pro-Death. One wonders if De Santis and that cruel moron in Texas have ever seen a baby die.

As for the menstruation obsession, maybe the day is coming when Republicans will demand that women be confined to home during their menstrual cycle.

Shameful, from a party of sick people.

Florida couple unable to get abortion will see baby die after delivery | Abortion | The Guardian

Va. Republicans shelve bill to protect menstrual data from search warrants (nbcnews.com)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

These two stories concern the Republicans and what seems to me to be their cruelty with regard to women. I would have thought the Democrats could campaign successfully against Republicans who seem determined to inflict as much pain and humiliation on women as they can, as if they enjoy causing harm. In the abortion case, it is surely only a sick mockery for De Santis to use words like 'Pro-life' for a foetus that is not going to survive and indeed, because of the abnormality in its gestation is going to suffocate to death -more like Pro-Death. One wonders if De Santis and that cruel moron in Texas have ever seen a baby die.

As for the menstruation obsession, maybe the day is coming when Republicans will demand that women be confined to home during their menstrual cycle.

Shameful, from a party of sick people.

Florida couple unable to get abortion will see baby die after delivery | Abortion | The Guardian

Va. Republicans shelve bill to protect menstrual data from search warrants (nbcnews.com)

Agree it is shameful from a party of sick people,who claim to be pro-life.

[Stavros]

1960s -or the 1760s?

A New Hampshire GOP national committeewoman says 'there are people' in the party who 'want to put women back into the 1960s' (yahoo.com)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

1960s -or the 1760s?

A New Hampshire GOP national committeewoman says 'there are people' in the party who 'want to put women back into the 1960s' (yahoo.com)

Not surprised at all,and this is the same party who fully embraced the MAGA King Donald Trump's despicable and disgusting political veiws,and enabled his unhinged behavior for over 6 years.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Lauren-Ultra MAGA Karen-Boebert gets torched on the House Floor by Jamie Raskin.