The US and Israel try to justify ALL of their illegal activity. Iran may be repressive, but so is the US. (Free speech, assembly?) Regardless, it's not the US governments job to control all these countries. Sanctions are killing people. Peace and honest negotiations could achieve much more. After so many years of US warmongering, the revenge factor is huge.
I agree wholeheartedly. What gives the U.S. the right to go around the world, especially in the Middle East , and dictate how those countries live their lives? Israel gets to do whatever it wants and it gets a pass by the U.S. and on the same token, the U.S. gets to do whatever it wants to other countries whether bombing their civilians, sanctioning them, supporting terrorists such as ISIS and Al Queda and yes, the IOF( all 3 of these are the REAL terrorists) like they(U.S.) did in Syria. Why can’t we mind our own business and take care of our own citizens such as those affected by hurricane Helene? I think a lot of it is the fact that b/c this country has never had actual bombs dropped on civilians like other countries have, the powers at be think nothing of having bombs dropped on other countries’ women & children(i.e. Gaza, Beirut, Hamburg(WW2), Dresden(WW2), Cologne (WW2) and Hiroshima/Nagasaki(WW2), North Vietnam, Baghdad, Iraq and Afghanistan(so called war on terror). I hate my tax dollars go to support these despicable wars.😢☮️🇵🇸
The bottom line is that our top leaders should have the sense to de-escalate conflicts wherever possible and to work towards decreasing the amount of nastiness wherever they can. They should strongly push back on anyone who wants to take military action when it isn’t necessary and isn’t in our long term interest. And as has been proven in recent history, military action is almost always the wrong way to go. It goes along with John Mearsheimer’s idea that “nationalism trumps liberalism every time” and that “you can’t do political and social engineering at the end of a gunpoint”.
As he points out, “there are limits to what can be accomplished with military action” and we in the us haven’t seemed to have been able to understand that simple concept.
So along with having a realist’s perspective of how the geopolitical system works in line with the views of George Kennan and John Mearsheimer our top leaders and diplomats should have us lead by example and try to promote that which is generally compassionate and makes people happy rather than engaging in nastiness.
These things might not seem to jive but they do.
As the late Isaac Asimov pointed out, “we now have the capacity to write our own history”.
Couple that with John Mearsheimer’s observation that we cannot agree on first principles, it’s apparent that one can only conclude that despite the fact that we cannot agree on first principles doesn’t mean there isn’t a best way forward for all things both big and small.
The trouble is that our leaders have consistently chosen the wrong way forward since the Vietnam war.
And for anyone who is interested in where this is all headed it begs the question as to “why that is”.
And that’s why my “course” is relevant because it not only answers that question but it also provides concrete answers as to how that untenable set of circumstances might best be overcome.
Your advice against military action is both misguided and naïve. What exactly do you expect Israel to do when faced with attacks from a homicidal terrorist organization, sworn to its destruction, and funded and armed by Iran, the world's most malevolent regime? There is no reasoning or negotiating with those who are committed to wiping you off the map. Israel has already been forced to relocate over 60,000 of its citizens due to relentless rocket fire. What do you propose Israel should do for these people—sit idly by while their homes are destroyed and their lives threatened?
I know 60, 000 sent somewhere else because of the bombings, well look at is this way. They say some 40 thousand are dead in Gaza, but Johnathan Cooke says it's more like triple and quadruple that amount. That should make you feel better.
Many have been killed, and their deaths unaccounted for, and no doubt are buried under the rubble of Israel's genocidal destruction. You're right many are dead from starvation, disease and lack of medical care. Richard Jaffe has repeatedly taken a position which justifies this carnage. He's in the same company as those that supported Hitler's multiple atrocities against a number of different groups of people that he thought were animals, or less then, like the Poles, gypsies, homosexuals, etc, and other groups. Jaffe is so ignorant he doesn't even know that Netanyahu is the one who funded Hamas since neither wanted a two state solution.
Please watch the YouTube videos of Howard Zinn’s presentation at MIT in 2006 and also his panel discussion regarding Obama’s presidency at Boston College. Please let me know if you generally agree with what Howard has to say or not and we can debate the issue regarding whether Israel’s current actions are going to lead it in the direction it should be striving to attain or whether its current actions will prove to be detrimental to its long term goals.
They have made all those enemies because, as John explains, they have acted and do act without regard for the consequences of their actions, because the US, and the West in general, are shielding them from those very consequences.
So the best thing to do for Israel would be to drop the support and force them to figure out ways to establish peaceful relations with their neighbours, like the rest of the civilized world.
I agree but I think it would be best to take John and Stephen’s advice from way back in 2008 and to slowly ween Israel off of our support over time. It’s not in our interest, or anyone’s interest, to have countries faced with the prospect of becoming desperate. It’s best to have them have to make that adjustment over time. Faced with that prospect, the US would have leverage over Israel and we could try to get them to adjust their behavior.
It’s kind of like what Cool Hand Luke had to say, “what we have is a failure to communicate”.
It’s best to be crystal clear with creeps and not allow the tail to wag the dog.
Are we going to wean Palestinians off of their aid too?
Just to point out, if one cuts back on programs that allowed for development of Iron Dome and precision munitions, Israelis might have to stoop to tactics favored by Hamas or the Han in Xinjiang.
No one denies Israel treated Palestinians poorly in 1948 and for a good while afterward. What about the poor ethnic Germans that were ethnically cleansed and had to endure great suffering trekking to Germany from Eastern Europe after the war and near starvation afterward?
My Grandfather got cheated when he sold his farm in 1950s; I'm not looking for revenge and my Grandmother managed my Grandpa. All the people on the move after WW2 are not looking for revenge. Why can't Palestinians "get over it?" Patience of people who have supported Palestinians for many decades is wearing thin.
That previous comment was about what I think would be best for Israel. Me? I don't care what happens to Israel. I don't care what happens to the Palestinians. The Devil take you all. Just stop trying to rope us into your fight.
What I personally care about is the modus operandi, or perhaps I should say modus vivendi, of the Jews, who are so mind-boggingly skilled at playing victim and manipulating others to fight their fights for them. That has got to stop. Go fight your wars. Go kill to your heart's content, you filthy savages. But get the fuck out of my polity.
Netanyahu is the one who funded Hamas for years, made them powerful, since neither wanted a two state solution. If you were informed you would know of the multiple homicidal attacks Israel has perpetrated on the Palestinians, and it is not Israeli's who are living in an outdoor concentration camp, a very good name for it. It is not Hamas who has taken over the West Bank with their settlements, not Hamas that is killing, and jailing Palestinians most often without cause and letting them rot in their prisons for many years, or running them off their land. If you truly understood the definition of malevolence you would apply that term to the Israeli's who have perpetrated multiple atrocities toward the people of Palestine whose land they were given by a bunch of Europeans who still hang on to their distain for Arabs, like they did after the fall of the Ottoman Empire when they gave them the land of another. It wasn't Hamas who implemented the NAKBA that killed some 70 thousand people and forced some 7 to 8 hundred thousand people from their land and then took what they left behind.
Go back under your rock. You really shouldn’t be commenting because you have nothing truthful or constructive to ever say. You’re just annoying. Go away.
I wouldn't dream of pushing you out of your space, underneath your rock, filled with slimy mud, crawling with insects in the darkness. No I'll stay here in the light where truth resides.
By Mee Staff An Israeli settler group is promoting new properties for sale in southern Lebanon, as the Israeli army wages a bombing campaign in the country that has killed over 1000 people since mid-September.
“After the elimination of the Hezbollah leadership…do you also dream of a big house, a view of snowy mountains and a warm community in the land of our ancestors?” the advert reads.
I think your right Jaffe! To answer your question, well, if I were a Palestinian and lived in that outdoor concentration camp I would expect that after the attack by Hamas Israel should implement a genocide, and I feel they would be justified in killing children and everyone else. I know bodies, even those of children may never have a proper resting place, but their bodies will rot under the rubble, and eventually be shoveled away, and I know they deserve it, even though they didn't vote for Hamas. Israel also attacked them so many times they're use to it. Like Gallant said they're animals, and Israel has told them so many times they are less then human, but they just don't get it. So, who can blame you for the way you think. What nerve so many had in trying to provide them with food so they wouldn't starve. or provide them with medicines, so they wouldn't die. I know Israel want's them all dead and I think they'll get their wish. Maybe one can only dream. Israeli'e are good at these kinds of things, and they did one hell of a job during the NAKBA, and If you didn't know they killed some 80 thousand animals, children too, and sent some 700 thousand of them on their way, then took everything that was in their homes. as well as their homes, but hey that's life. Smart.
Oh you mean like Israel has done to the Palestinians for over 75 years? You mean how the Zionists have raped, tortured, murdered women and children by dropping bombs on them? You mean how Israel dropped 86 1000 pound bombs on a southern Lebanon neighborhood, killing hundreds of civilians just to kill one man? You mean how Israel has raped and tortured Palestinian men in Israeli prisons by sticking iron rods in their anuses? Newsflash: the occupier has no right to self defense, the occupied DO, however. Israel has been murdering Palestinians for over 75 years now. I ask you what are the Palestinian people supposed to do?!
They are supposed to act like civilized people and agree to live in their own country, accept a state of Israel next to them, and stop the nonsense of “right of return“ for descendants of 1948 refugees and acknowledge that they will go to the new state of Palestine. Then there will be peace.
I'm not saying I know what is best but I'd be o.k. with right of return, a single state and Arabs running things if they were liberal and could be trusted to maintain certain things such as running a competent government, provide right of Jews to immigrate and not be corrupt. There is no hope for that so it has to be two states with no right of return unfortunately.
Who is going to pay the bills for Palestine? I'm not inclined to kick in much money and let those who complain about Israeli actions pay the bills for a change.
The “right of return” is not nonsense btw. Why is it only certain groups of people have rights and others, especially if they are black and brown people, don’t in the eyes of the so called civilized Western world? Really pathetic.
Also, if you’re referring to the Old Testament in the Bible as being the history that I need to read, sorry no thanks. That is not the real history of the Middle East. God is not a real estate agent and the Bible was written by man, mainly Greek scholars.
If calling me dumb makes you feel important or like the big man on campus or whatever, maybe there’s nothing more I can say to you except I know a lot about some history b/c I read a lot of articles and listen to people on various platforms such as Col. Douglas MacGregor, Scott Ritter who is a former Marine and weapons inspector who warned the Bush administration about U.S. invading Iraq(that it wasn’t right and that there were no weapons of mass destruction) in 2003, Professors Jeffrey Sachs and John Mearsheimer, Aron Mate’ & Max Blumenthal/ his wife Anya all of the Greyzone, Phil Giraldi and the lists goes on and on. Every one of these individuals and others as well are on the side that says what Israel is doing is committing war crimes in Gaza and now, Lebanon. A former IDF soldier and Jewish Israeli who is a pro-Palestine activist speaks out against the Israeli occupation and genocide in Gaza on various platforms. His father was a general in the IDF and Miko was raised in a Zionist family. Now and for many years he has seen what Israel is, an apartheid ethno state that has been ethically cleaning the Palestinians , stealing their land and destroying their land for at least 75 years. All of these people cannot be wrong. 😢☮️🇵🇸
You spout things that are not true and there is no evidence for. The 1948 you mention is the year of the Nakba where 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their homes and many were massacred.
If Blinken can write an idea About American Renewal…. Doesn’t it sounds like an easy one ?
The Idiot couldn’t stop the Genocide despite enjoying Free Flights to that IsraHell !
America’s Strategy of Renewal
Rebuilding Leadership for a New World
By Antony J. Blinken
Today, China and Russia are seeking to upend the international system and aggressively challenge American interests, writes U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. And although the Biden administration’s strategy—built on domestic investments and reinvigorated alliances—has improved the United States’s geopolitical position, he argues, “our work is unfinished.”
In a new essay in the upcoming issue of Foreign Affairs, Blinken offers his perspective on the administration’s foreign policy track record—and weighs in on what could happen after President Joe Biden leaves the White House. “As secretary of state, I don’t do politics; I do policy. And policy is about choices,” he writes. “The choices the United States makes in the second half of this decisive decade will determine whether this moment of testing will prove to be a time of renewal or regression—whether Washington and its allies can outcompete the forces of revisionism or allow their vision to define the twenty-first century.”
First things first. There is and there was no such country called Israel that has ever existed in the annals of human history. No history has ever recorded or written such filthy or mentioned, no historian has ever mentioned about Israel biz or industry, Jesus biz or industry, the existence of the Jews biz or industry. There are very prominent and remarkable histories like Babaylonian, Mesopotamian, Sumerians, Pheonesians, and Egyptians. Egyptian history is very precise - queen to queen, king to king and Pharoah to Pharoah with pricise dating of their reins - all written in heiroglyph. These histories and their historians haven't mentioned a single word about these vergaraties. But they have given a very prominent place for Palestine and Palestinian people. Take Julius Caesar, who has written volumes in this comparative period, but not a single word about Jews biz, Israel existence biz, or Jesus biz. All these nonsensical harangues come from the Christian Bible only, and whereas it is not a history book either. The CHristian Bible storytelling - no other histories or historian has ever mentioned it and what this Christian Bible has done is anything but - mega-name-dropping biz. Isn't that very funny? Without any archeological evidence or historical records - these harangues are not in any value or can be taken very seriously. We know that according to Egyptian history and their pyramid arts, that Egyptians didn't bring any slaves from backwater, incurable-diseases ridden Europe, but from Ethiopia to carry out their gigantic building projects. These were the Ethiopian slaves who jumped Egyptian slave bondage and were stranded in the Judean desert - begging for their daily bread and yearning for their kingdom to come in utter dirty, filthy, unhygeinic conditions. For that matter, Ethiopia was the very first country which established Christianity (wide archeological findings and reserves for any historians to study). In fact, Europe was completely pagan - before dreadful Christianity was introduced by-force by Charlemengne the brute (7th-century AD) by issuing an edict or anyone opposed to slit their throats, including every man, woman, child, infant and pregnant mother.
Israel has demonstrated extraordinary intelligence capabilities in its efforts to neutralize and defeat Hezbollah. Despite critics who hypocritically claimed that Gaza wasn't being sufficiently targeted (even though Richard Spencer, an urban warfare expert, described it as the most targeted war he'd seen due to Hamas embedding itself within and under the civilian population), Israel's actions against Hezbollah have been precise, focusing almost exclusively on eliminating terrorists and destroying their weapons. Now, the U.S. and other Western nations must build on Israel’s success and take decisive action against Iran by destroying their ballistic missile, drone, and nuclear weapons facilities, ridding the world of one of its most malevolent regimes.
Over 300,000 dead Palestinian men, women and children, and it seems you're not bothered. And dropping 86 or so massive US bombs on Beirut to take out Nasrallah is "precise" is it?
Wall Street Journal is reporting Iran is about launch missiles at Israel. I would have preferred just humiliating Hezbollah but if a war has to be fought, now is probably as good a time as any.
I guess you would have no problem with your children being sent to fight and die for Israel. I guess not since you believe it’s okay to drop bombs on babies and children. You are really pathetic if you want to bomb Iran. But you listen to all the propaganda about the resistance fighters.
What else can one do when dealing with those who would kidnap and kill babies? That is Hamas; not Hezbollah or Iran. I struggle with the issue of appropriate response in the same way that I would with a person across town who would do such a thing.
I have no idea what the right strategy is to deal with Iran nor does anyone else. All I know is that I would like to see them stop arming groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. I would like for them to stop working on development of nuclear weapons.
In the meantime, I support delivery of precision and specialized munitions that prevent deaths of Israeli and Palestinian civilians. I have to defer to those with more expertise than me in making such decisions but I know civilization depends on my being willing to sacrifice my life and the life of my children in certain circumstances. It is not a circumstance that I have no familiarity with although I am lucky enough to not be an expert.
The killing of babies and the raping of women were all lies told by Israel and by the West, mainly the USA. Perhaps you think it’s okay to send your son or daughter to fight for Israel, an apartheid, genocidal state who makes war with its neighbors instead of working to live in peace. The resistance fighters are not the ones bombing hospitals, homes, orphanages, apartments, schools, mosques, churches; a child calling for help to an ambulance crew who when they came to rescue her her and the two ambulance workers were murdered in cold blood by the IOF(the evidence is irrefutable btw)and then the West keeps saying these civilians are being used as human shields by the Resistance, all bs btw. If I had a son or daughter, which I don’t, he or she would not be sent to the middle east to fight/die for Israel, oil, war profiteers, globalists etc., not if I could help it. I would fight tooth and nail any military personnel who tried to draft any child of mine to be sent to any of these imperialist wars that slaughter women & children. The US needs to get out of the middle east ASAP, if only to keep our troops from being sitting targets.😢☮️🇵🇸
I’m sure it is exaggerated but surely you would not deny that they took children and at least one baby as hostages. I can see a mistake being made by civilians accompanying Hamas but if so, a mistake such as that is easily corrected but was not. There is also no denying that Hamas is shooting rockets into Israeli civiliant territory. Hezbollah behavior has been more in-line with norms but once again, there is no denying that 60,000 Israeli’s have been away from home for a year now. I have problems with some things Israel has done but overall pretty impressive and the lies from Hamas are blatantly obvious.
Again, it has been documented that the Hannibal Directive was used on October 7, 2023 whereby the IDF killed(not all) a good many of their own people to keep them from being taken, the little girl who was burned alive was the victim of an Israeli tank that fired on her, but Israel lied and said Hamas did it just like they lied about Hamas beheading babies and mass rapes. All of this was proven not to be true. I don’t condone taking hostages ever, but when a people are mistreated, have been tortured, put in prisons without due process; when parents have their children taken away from them and thrown in jail and left there for months at a time without due process, pregnant women forced to give birth at Israeli checkpoints, young men being tortured in prisons in the most horrific ways, the amount of food, water, electricity etc. monitored by Israel, what in the hell do you expect to happen??? And to top that off, the Nova dance/concert was just outside the walls of Gaza or pretty close. Imagine having a party right outside an open air prison/concentration camp, doesn’t seem right to me. Why are people like yourself still defending Israel after a year of genocide????
Perhaps this is the justification the US is looking for to finally do the job against Iran that they should have done years ago to stop this dangerous regime.
It seems like Joe Biden could have nipped the Israeli brutalization of the Palestinians in Gaza in the bud immediately after 10/7/23 and prevented it from happening in the first place.
Now that it’s spinning out of control, what’s most likely to happen is everyone’s worst nightmare. Like so many of the other things you’ve commented on, it all could have been largely avoided.
It's not the weapons industry, multinational oil companies, wall street, billionaire sharks (the Colonial Empire's) et al. worst nightmare. Just keep your eye over the next weeks on who's raking in vast profits at whatever cost to any country or living being. What we are witnessing in horror is intentional and was never something these entities chose to avoid. Iran's oil reserves may well be the prize being sought. The 3rd largest reserves in the world.
I wish your cynicism was unfounded, but I’m afraid that most of what you have to say is true. The sad fact is that even those who are most likely to profit from these unfortunate circumstances might eventually have to pay a heavy price. A price they didn’t bargain for.
And this is yet another reason as to why my “course” is relevant.
As my wise old mother says “it’s nicer to be nice”…
WHY many Israelis (like Netanyahu, his War Cabinet and others) ARE mentally insane, even when they give an appearance of normality?
Brainwashed for millennia to get convinced that:
1) God "chose" them...
That is what gives them that sense of "superiority":
What kind of "god" would choose ONE people among thousands others ??? An absurd, irrational concept.
2) God "gave them" the whole of Palestine... Because it was written in a book.
Where are the deeds ???...
This is why they want to force the Palestinians out of their millennial lands and they have brutally, forcefully occupied 87% of the land assigned by the United Nations to the Palestinians when the UN created the State of Israel.
3) Their wicked "God" ORDERED them to exterminate the AMALEKITES (current Palestinians).
This explains WHY Netanyahu (brainwashed with hatred to the Palestinians) refuses any kind of ceasefire, Peace Agreement, much less the worldwide, agreed Two States Solution, even by the United States.
Bible, 1 Samuel 15:3:
"Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and WOMEN, CHILDREN and INFANTS..." ...
What kind of "god" would ORDER to KILL children, infants and women ???
Only a wicked one.
Bible, Deutoronomy 25:19:
"Therefore it shall be, when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies all around, in the Land which the LORD your God is giving you as an "inheritance to possess", that YOU SHALL BLOT OUT the remembrance of Amalekites (current Palestinians) from under heaven..."
Tuesday's rocket attack on Israel from Iran was massive, with a couple of hundred ballistic missiles. However, no one was injured, according to Israeli authorities.
The reason is Israel's advanced defense systems - and good help from one of the USA's newest missiles, on board two American ships.
- The Americans have two destroyers near Israel now: the USS Cole, which was hit by a suicide attack in Aden in 2003, and the USS Bulkeley. The two operate together, and the USS Bulkeley is equipped with interceptor missiles of the SM-3 type. These missiles are specially designed to take down ballistic missiles already in the mid-phase, when they are at the top of their trajectory, says naval captain Tor Ivar Strømmen at the Naval Academy to VG.
This missile is new this year. The first time it was used was in April, also against Iranian missiles on their way to Israel. Strommen guesses that the US's two warships accounted for around 10% of the missiles that were shot down on Tuesday evening.
Not all of the Iranian missiles were shot down by the Israeli Defense Forces or the United States. It was deliberate, believes Strømmen. The Israeli defense system is very advanced, and assesses whether the rocket will hit a place that poses no danger to people. In such cases, the system allows the Iranian missile to fall to the ground without intercepting it. Iran claims it fired 220 missiles. Israel says the number was 180. Several videos published of the attack showed several rockets hitting the ground. Strømmen estimates that around 40-50 rockets hit the ground.
- It looks spectacular and dangerous. But to a large extent these were Iranian missiles that were not intercepted because they were not considered to do much damage, explains Strømmen. A ballistic missile is far more demanding to shoot down than cruise missiles and drones, explains Haga. They go in high lanes and have great speed when they plunge towards the goal.
- Then you need missiles with large engines that can reach high, quickly. The American SM-3 is designed to hit the target by going on a collision course. This requires very precise sensors and exceptional maneuverability, since you have to hit a "needle" that comes at mach 6.
Mearsheimer and similar people live well off from the attention they get and they get more money to appear on conferences and seminars. A well known Finnish researcher told me they do and say these things so they get invitations from states and statesmen. Then they get invited to China and Russia or Hungary. If they criticize them then the money faucet dries as well.
The ability to do things like that is extremely expensive and not necessarily sustainable over decades from a technological perspective.
I do not know where the Palestinians in Gaza, Hezbollah and Iran stand on living in peace with Israel but it appears they remain committed which is a very good argument for continuing and expanding the war in my opinion. I would not pretend to know what is best but I wish Mearsheimer would admit that he does not know either.
As nearly 200 ballistic missiles, including a hypersonic missile, rained down on Israel in an unprecedented attack, the time to act is now.
No more mindless calls for ceasefire, de-escalation, or compromising with terrorists. No more appeasement of Iran.
And no more talk of regime change in Israel (yes, Schumer, we’re looking at you).
The time has come for regime change in Tehran.
This is the same Iran that took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days, funds terrorist groups across the globe, supplies missiles and drones to Russia, and chants Death to Israel and Death to America.
What better way to mark October 7, the anniversary of one of the most horrific attacks in modern history, than to strike the country behind it and take out their ballistic missile, drone, and nuclear weapons factories.
The United States must defend the American-led world order and Western civilization by standing with Israel to dismantle the Ayatollah’s despotic regime and its global spread of terrorism.
This is all included in my “course”. We would be doing ourselves a big favor if we and our top leaders and diplomats followed the basic suggestions and set of vibes which are presented in my course.
In addition to what John Mearsheimer has recommended, the vibe and tact that Howard Zinn conveyed in his 2006 lecture at MIT is what the US should be actively trying to follow.
The US and Israel try to justify ALL of their illegal activity. Iran may be repressive, but so is the US. (Free speech, assembly?) Regardless, it's not the US governments job to control all these countries. Sanctions are killing people. Peace and honest negotiations could achieve much more. After so many years of US warmongering, the revenge factor is huge.
Yup.
I agree wholeheartedly. What gives the U.S. the right to go around the world, especially in the Middle East , and dictate how those countries live their lives? Israel gets to do whatever it wants and it gets a pass by the U.S. and on the same token, the U.S. gets to do whatever it wants to other countries whether bombing their civilians, sanctioning them, supporting terrorists such as ISIS and Al Queda and yes, the IOF( all 3 of these are the REAL terrorists) like they(U.S.) did in Syria. Why can’t we mind our own business and take care of our own citizens such as those affected by hurricane Helene? I think a lot of it is the fact that b/c this country has never had actual bombs dropped on civilians like other countries have, the powers at be think nothing of having bombs dropped on other countries’ women & children(i.e. Gaza, Beirut, Hamburg(WW2), Dresden(WW2), Cologne (WW2) and Hiroshima/Nagasaki(WW2), North Vietnam, Baghdad, Iraq and Afghanistan(so called war on terror). I hate my tax dollars go to support these despicable wars.😢☮️🇵🇸
Israel can't be depended on to remake anything it has bombed to rubble.
Always a real pleasure to listen to you John!
It is always disheartening to see just how simplistic the so-called expert view is in the West. The lack of depth is palpable.
And now Iran started bombing Israel. They have targeted the intelligence centers, so it seems they try to avoid going full in.
The bottom line is that our top leaders should have the sense to de-escalate conflicts wherever possible and to work towards decreasing the amount of nastiness wherever they can. They should strongly push back on anyone who wants to take military action when it isn’t necessary and isn’t in our long term interest. And as has been proven in recent history, military action is almost always the wrong way to go. It goes along with John Mearsheimer’s idea that “nationalism trumps liberalism every time” and that “you can’t do political and social engineering at the end of a gunpoint”.
As he points out, “there are limits to what can be accomplished with military action” and we in the us haven’t seemed to have been able to understand that simple concept.
So along with having a realist’s perspective of how the geopolitical system works in line with the views of George Kennan and John Mearsheimer our top leaders and diplomats should have us lead by example and try to promote that which is generally compassionate and makes people happy rather than engaging in nastiness.
These things might not seem to jive but they do.
As the late Isaac Asimov pointed out, “we now have the capacity to write our own history”.
Couple that with John Mearsheimer’s observation that we cannot agree on first principles, it’s apparent that one can only conclude that despite the fact that we cannot agree on first principles doesn’t mean there isn’t a best way forward for all things both big and small.
The trouble is that our leaders have consistently chosen the wrong way forward since the Vietnam war.
And for anyone who is interested in where this is all headed it begs the question as to “why that is”.
And that’s why my “course” is relevant because it not only answers that question but it also provides concrete answers as to how that untenable set of circumstances might best be overcome.
Your advice against military action is both misguided and naïve. What exactly do you expect Israel to do when faced with attacks from a homicidal terrorist organization, sworn to its destruction, and funded and armed by Iran, the world's most malevolent regime? There is no reasoning or negotiating with those who are committed to wiping you off the map. Israel has already been forced to relocate over 60,000 of its citizens due to relentless rocket fire. What do you propose Israel should do for these people—sit idly by while their homes are destroyed and their lives threatened?
I know 60, 000 sent somewhere else because of the bombings, well look at is this way. They say some 40 thousand are dead in Gaza, but Johnathan Cooke says it's more like triple and quadruple that amount. That should make you feel better.
40k killed directly by Israeli attacks. 150k-300k dead from the conflict, starvation, disease, exposure, lack of medical treatment, etc.
Many have been killed, and their deaths unaccounted for, and no doubt are buried under the rubble of Israel's genocidal destruction. You're right many are dead from starvation, disease and lack of medical care. Richard Jaffe has repeatedly taken a position which justifies this carnage. He's in the same company as those that supported Hitler's multiple atrocities against a number of different groups of people that he thought were animals, or less then, like the Poles, gypsies, homosexuals, etc, and other groups. Jaffe is so ignorant he doesn't even know that Netanyahu is the one who funded Hamas since neither wanted a two state solution.
Please watch the YouTube videos of Howard Zinn’s presentation at MIT in 2006 and also his panel discussion regarding Obama’s presidency at Boston College. Please let me know if you generally agree with what Howard has to say or not and we can debate the issue regarding whether Israel’s current actions are going to lead it in the direction it should be striving to attain or whether its current actions will prove to be detrimental to its long term goals.
Israel's enemies are largely of their own making.
They have made all those enemies because, as John explains, they have acted and do act without regard for the consequences of their actions, because the US, and the West in general, are shielding them from those very consequences.
So the best thing to do for Israel would be to drop the support and force them to figure out ways to establish peaceful relations with their neighbours, like the rest of the civilized world.
I agree but I think it would be best to take John and Stephen’s advice from way back in 2008 and to slowly ween Israel off of our support over time. It’s not in our interest, or anyone’s interest, to have countries faced with the prospect of becoming desperate. It’s best to have them have to make that adjustment over time. Faced with that prospect, the US would have leverage over Israel and we could try to get them to adjust their behavior.
It’s kind of like what Cool Hand Luke had to say, “what we have is a failure to communicate”.
It’s best to be crystal clear with creeps and not allow the tail to wag the dog.
Are we going to wean Palestinians off of their aid too?
Just to point out, if one cuts back on programs that allowed for development of Iron Dome and precision munitions, Israelis might have to stoop to tactics favored by Hamas or the Han in Xinjiang.
No one denies Israel treated Palestinians poorly in 1948 and for a good while afterward. What about the poor ethnic Germans that were ethnically cleansed and had to endure great suffering trekking to Germany from Eastern Europe after the war and near starvation afterward?
My Grandfather got cheated when he sold his farm in 1950s; I'm not looking for revenge and my Grandmother managed my Grandpa. All the people on the move after WW2 are not looking for revenge. Why can't Palestinians "get over it?" Patience of people who have supported Palestinians for many decades is wearing thin.
That previous comment was about what I think would be best for Israel. Me? I don't care what happens to Israel. I don't care what happens to the Palestinians. The Devil take you all. Just stop trying to rope us into your fight.
What I personally care about is the modus operandi, or perhaps I should say modus vivendi, of the Jews, who are so mind-boggingly skilled at playing victim and manipulating others to fight their fights for them. That has got to stop. Go fight your wars. Go kill to your heart's content, you filthy savages. But get the fuck out of my polity.
Netanyahu is the one who funded Hamas for years, made them powerful, since neither wanted a two state solution. If you were informed you would know of the multiple homicidal attacks Israel has perpetrated on the Palestinians, and it is not Israeli's who are living in an outdoor concentration camp, a very good name for it. It is not Hamas who has taken over the West Bank with their settlements, not Hamas that is killing, and jailing Palestinians most often without cause and letting them rot in their prisons for many years, or running them off their land. If you truly understood the definition of malevolence you would apply that term to the Israeli's who have perpetrated multiple atrocities toward the people of Palestine whose land they were given by a bunch of Europeans who still hang on to their distain for Arabs, like they did after the fall of the Ottoman Empire when they gave them the land of another. It wasn't Hamas who implemented the NAKBA that killed some 70 thousand people and forced some 7 to 8 hundred thousand people from their land and then took what they left behind.
Go back under your rock. You really shouldn’t be commenting because you have nothing truthful or constructive to ever say. You’re just annoying. Go away.
I wouldn't dream of pushing you out of your space, underneath your rock, filled with slimy mud, crawling with insects in the darkness. No I'll stay here in the light where truth resides.
You sir, need to go away with your racist nonsense. You haven’t got anything to back up your ignorance.
Look at how industrious some are Richard.
By Mee Staff An Israeli settler group is promoting new properties for sale in southern Lebanon, as the Israeli army wages a bombing campaign in the country that has killed over 1000 people since mid-September.
“After the elimination of the Hezbollah leadership…do you also dream of a big house, a view of snowy mountains and a warm community in the land of our ancestors?” the advert reads.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-settler-group-advertises-new-properties-southern-lebanon
zero
I think your right Jaffe! To answer your question, well, if I were a Palestinian and lived in that outdoor concentration camp I would expect that after the attack by Hamas Israel should implement a genocide, and I feel they would be justified in killing children and everyone else. I know bodies, even those of children may never have a proper resting place, but their bodies will rot under the rubble, and eventually be shoveled away, and I know they deserve it, even though they didn't vote for Hamas. Israel also attacked them so many times they're use to it. Like Gallant said they're animals, and Israel has told them so many times they are less then human, but they just don't get it. So, who can blame you for the way you think. What nerve so many had in trying to provide them with food so they wouldn't starve. or provide them with medicines, so they wouldn't die. I know Israel want's them all dead and I think they'll get their wish. Maybe one can only dream. Israeli'e are good at these kinds of things, and they did one hell of a job during the NAKBA, and If you didn't know they killed some 80 thousand animals, children too, and sent some 700 thousand of them on their way, then took everything that was in their homes. as well as their homes, but hey that's life. Smart.
You're right Israel is all good! Too bad a lot of the world doesn't think so.
Oh you mean like Israel has done to the Palestinians for over 75 years? You mean how the Zionists have raped, tortured, murdered women and children by dropping bombs on them? You mean how Israel dropped 86 1000 pound bombs on a southern Lebanon neighborhood, killing hundreds of civilians just to kill one man? You mean how Israel has raped and tortured Palestinian men in Israeli prisons by sticking iron rods in their anuses? Newsflash: the occupier has no right to self defense, the occupied DO, however. Israel has been murdering Palestinians for over 75 years now. I ask you what are the Palestinian people supposed to do?!
They are supposed to act like civilized people and agree to live in their own country, accept a state of Israel next to them, and stop the nonsense of “right of return“ for descendants of 1948 refugees and acknowledge that they will go to the new state of Palestine. Then there will be peace.
I'm not saying I know what is best but I'd be o.k. with right of return, a single state and Arabs running things if they were liberal and could be trusted to maintain certain things such as running a competent government, provide right of Jews to immigrate and not be corrupt. There is no hope for that so it has to be two states with no right of return unfortunately.
Who is going to pay the bills for Palestine? I'm not inclined to kick in much money and let those who complain about Israeli actions pay the bills for a change.
The “right of return” is not nonsense btw. Why is it only certain groups of people have rights and others, especially if they are black and brown people, don’t in the eyes of the so called civilized Western world? Really pathetic.
Wow, you’re as dumb as a rock. Have you even read the history? You and dumb dumb Fran should get together to tell your stories to each other.
Also, if you’re referring to the Old Testament in the Bible as being the history that I need to read, sorry no thanks. That is not the real history of the Middle East. God is not a real estate agent and the Bible was written by man, mainly Greek scholars.
If calling me dumb makes you feel important or like the big man on campus or whatever, maybe there’s nothing more I can say to you except I know a lot about some history b/c I read a lot of articles and listen to people on various platforms such as Col. Douglas MacGregor, Scott Ritter who is a former Marine and weapons inspector who warned the Bush administration about U.S. invading Iraq(that it wasn’t right and that there were no weapons of mass destruction) in 2003, Professors Jeffrey Sachs and John Mearsheimer, Aron Mate’ & Max Blumenthal/ his wife Anya all of the Greyzone, Phil Giraldi and the lists goes on and on. Every one of these individuals and others as well are on the side that says what Israel is doing is committing war crimes in Gaza and now, Lebanon. A former IDF soldier and Jewish Israeli who is a pro-Palestine activist speaks out against the Israeli occupation and genocide in Gaza on various platforms. His father was a general in the IDF and Miko was raised in a Zionist family. Now and for many years he has seen what Israel is, an apartheid ethno state that has been ethically cleaning the Palestinians , stealing their land and destroying their land for at least 75 years. All of these people cannot be wrong. 😢☮️🇵🇸
You spout things that are not true and there is no evidence for. The 1948 you mention is the year of the Nakba where 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their homes and many were massacred.
If Blinken can write an idea About American Renewal…. Doesn’t it sounds like an easy one ?
The Idiot couldn’t stop the Genocide despite enjoying Free Flights to that IsraHell !
America’s Strategy of Renewal
Rebuilding Leadership for a New World
By Antony J. Blinken
Today, China and Russia are seeking to upend the international system and aggressively challenge American interests, writes U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. And although the Biden administration’s strategy—built on domestic investments and reinvigorated alliances—has improved the United States’s geopolitical position, he argues, “our work is unfinished.”
In a new essay in the upcoming issue of Foreign Affairs, Blinken offers his perspective on the administration’s foreign policy track record—and weighs in on what could happen after President Joe Biden leaves the White House. “As secretary of state, I don’t do politics; I do policy. And policy is about choices,” he writes. “The choices the United States makes in the second half of this decisive decade will determine whether this moment of testing will prove to be a time of renewal or regression—whether Washington and its allies can outcompete the forces of revisionism or allow their vision to define the twenty-first century.”
In: Foreign Affairs
First things first. There is and there was no such country called Israel that has ever existed in the annals of human history. No history has ever recorded or written such filthy or mentioned, no historian has ever mentioned about Israel biz or industry, Jesus biz or industry, the existence of the Jews biz or industry. There are very prominent and remarkable histories like Babaylonian, Mesopotamian, Sumerians, Pheonesians, and Egyptians. Egyptian history is very precise - queen to queen, king to king and Pharoah to Pharoah with pricise dating of their reins - all written in heiroglyph. These histories and their historians haven't mentioned a single word about these vergaraties. But they have given a very prominent place for Palestine and Palestinian people. Take Julius Caesar, who has written volumes in this comparative period, but not a single word about Jews biz, Israel existence biz, or Jesus biz. All these nonsensical harangues come from the Christian Bible only, and whereas it is not a history book either. The CHristian Bible storytelling - no other histories or historian has ever mentioned it and what this Christian Bible has done is anything but - mega-name-dropping biz. Isn't that very funny? Without any archeological evidence or historical records - these harangues are not in any value or can be taken very seriously. We know that according to Egyptian history and their pyramid arts, that Egyptians didn't bring any slaves from backwater, incurable-diseases ridden Europe, but from Ethiopia to carry out their gigantic building projects. These were the Ethiopian slaves who jumped Egyptian slave bondage and were stranded in the Judean desert - begging for their daily bread and yearning for their kingdom to come in utter dirty, filthy, unhygeinic conditions. For that matter, Ethiopia was the very first country which established Christianity (wide archeological findings and reserves for any historians to study). In fact, Europe was completely pagan - before dreadful Christianity was introduced by-force by Charlemengne the brute (7th-century AD) by issuing an edict or anyone opposed to slit their throats, including every man, woman, child, infant and pregnant mother.
Israel has demonstrated extraordinary intelligence capabilities in its efforts to neutralize and defeat Hezbollah. Despite critics who hypocritically claimed that Gaza wasn't being sufficiently targeted (even though Richard Spencer, an urban warfare expert, described it as the most targeted war he'd seen due to Hamas embedding itself within and under the civilian population), Israel's actions against Hezbollah have been precise, focusing almost exclusively on eliminating terrorists and destroying their weapons. Now, the U.S. and other Western nations must build on Israel’s success and take decisive action against Iran by destroying their ballistic missile, drone, and nuclear weapons facilities, ridding the world of one of its most malevolent regimes.
Over 300,000 dead Palestinian men, women and children, and it seems you're not bothered. And dropping 86 or so massive US bombs on Beirut to take out Nasrallah is "precise" is it?
It does not help one's argument to fabricate numbers.
You are only confirming the suggested hypothesis about the decline of the Jewish ethnicity and its elites.
There are certainly worse regimes than Iran, and no one has an obligation to sort out your mess for you.
Wall Street Journal is reporting Iran is about launch missiles at Israel. I would have preferred just humiliating Hezbollah but if a war has to be fought, now is probably as good a time as any.
I guess you would have no problem with your children being sent to fight and die for Israel. I guess not since you believe it’s okay to drop bombs on babies and children. You are really pathetic if you want to bomb Iran. But you listen to all the propaganda about the resistance fighters.
What else can one do when dealing with those who would kidnap and kill babies? That is Hamas; not Hezbollah or Iran. I struggle with the issue of appropriate response in the same way that I would with a person across town who would do such a thing.
I have no idea what the right strategy is to deal with Iran nor does anyone else. All I know is that I would like to see them stop arming groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. I would like for them to stop working on development of nuclear weapons.
In the meantime, I support delivery of precision and specialized munitions that prevent deaths of Israeli and Palestinian civilians. I have to defer to those with more expertise than me in making such decisions but I know civilization depends on my being willing to sacrifice my life and the life of my children in certain circumstances. It is not a circumstance that I have no familiarity with although I am lucky enough to not be an expert.
The killing of babies and the raping of women were all lies told by Israel and by the West, mainly the USA. Perhaps you think it’s okay to send your son or daughter to fight for Israel, an apartheid, genocidal state who makes war with its neighbors instead of working to live in peace. The resistance fighters are not the ones bombing hospitals, homes, orphanages, apartments, schools, mosques, churches; a child calling for help to an ambulance crew who when they came to rescue her her and the two ambulance workers were murdered in cold blood by the IOF(the evidence is irrefutable btw)and then the West keeps saying these civilians are being used as human shields by the Resistance, all bs btw. If I had a son or daughter, which I don’t, he or she would not be sent to the middle east to fight/die for Israel, oil, war profiteers, globalists etc., not if I could help it. I would fight tooth and nail any military personnel who tried to draft any child of mine to be sent to any of these imperialist wars that slaughter women & children. The US needs to get out of the middle east ASAP, if only to keep our troops from being sitting targets.😢☮️🇵🇸
I’m sure it is exaggerated but surely you would not deny that they took children and at least one baby as hostages. I can see a mistake being made by civilians accompanying Hamas but if so, a mistake such as that is easily corrected but was not. There is also no denying that Hamas is shooting rockets into Israeli civiliant territory. Hezbollah behavior has been more in-line with norms but once again, there is no denying that 60,000 Israeli’s have been away from home for a year now. I have problems with some things Israel has done but overall pretty impressive and the lies from Hamas are blatantly obvious.
Again, it has been documented that the Hannibal Directive was used on October 7, 2023 whereby the IDF killed(not all) a good many of their own people to keep them from being taken, the little girl who was burned alive was the victim of an Israeli tank that fired on her, but Israel lied and said Hamas did it just like they lied about Hamas beheading babies and mass rapes. All of this was proven not to be true. I don’t condone taking hostages ever, but when a people are mistreated, have been tortured, put in prisons without due process; when parents have their children taken away from them and thrown in jail and left there for months at a time without due process, pregnant women forced to give birth at Israeli checkpoints, young men being tortured in prisons in the most horrific ways, the amount of food, water, electricity etc. monitored by Israel, what in the hell do you expect to happen??? And to top that off, the Nova dance/concert was just outside the walls of Gaza or pretty close. Imagine having a party right outside an open air prison/concentration camp, doesn’t seem right to me. Why are people like yourself still defending Israel after a year of genocide????
It did.
Perhaps this is the justification the US is looking for to finally do the job against Iran that they should have done years ago to stop this dangerous regime.
Nuts.
It was China that led Iran and Saudi Arabia to diplomatic reconciliation and to BRICS. And it is Russia that Iran supports.
So shouldn't we cause WWIII for Israel's interests?
It seems like Joe Biden could have nipped the Israeli brutalization of the Palestinians in Gaza in the bud immediately after 10/7/23 and prevented it from happening in the first place.
Now that it’s spinning out of control, what’s most likely to happen is everyone’s worst nightmare. Like so many of the other things you’ve commented on, it all could have been largely avoided.
It's not the weapons industry, multinational oil companies, wall street, billionaire sharks (the Colonial Empire's) et al. worst nightmare. Just keep your eye over the next weeks on who's raking in vast profits at whatever cost to any country or living being. What we are witnessing in horror is intentional and was never something these entities chose to avoid. Iran's oil reserves may well be the prize being sought. The 3rd largest reserves in the world.
I wish your cynicism was unfounded, but I’m afraid that most of what you have to say is true. The sad fact is that even those who are most likely to profit from these unfortunate circumstances might eventually have to pay a heavy price. A price they didn’t bargain for.
And this is yet another reason as to why my “course” is relevant.
As my wise old mother says “it’s nicer to be nice”…
WHY many Israelis (like Netanyahu, his War Cabinet and others) ARE mentally insane, even when they give an appearance of normality?
Brainwashed for millennia to get convinced that:
1) God "chose" them...
That is what gives them that sense of "superiority":
What kind of "god" would choose ONE people among thousands others ??? An absurd, irrational concept.
2) God "gave them" the whole of Palestine... Because it was written in a book.
Where are the deeds ???...
This is why they want to force the Palestinians out of their millennial lands and they have brutally, forcefully occupied 87% of the land assigned by the United Nations to the Palestinians when the UN created the State of Israel.
3) Their wicked "God" ORDERED them to exterminate the AMALEKITES (current Palestinians).
This explains WHY Netanyahu (brainwashed with hatred to the Palestinians) refuses any kind of ceasefire, Peace Agreement, much less the worldwide, agreed Two States Solution, even by the United States.
Bible, 1 Samuel 15:3:
"Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and WOMEN, CHILDREN and INFANTS..." ...
What kind of "god" would ORDER to KILL children, infants and women ???
Only a wicked one.
Bible, Deutoronomy 25:19:
"Therefore it shall be, when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies all around, in the Land which the LORD your God is giving you as an "inheritance to possess", that YOU SHALL BLOT OUT the remembrance of Amalekites (current Palestinians) from under heaven..."
An IMMORAL "god".
Tuesday's rocket attack on Israel from Iran was massive, with a couple of hundred ballistic missiles. However, no one was injured, according to Israeli authorities.
The reason is Israel's advanced defense systems - and good help from one of the USA's newest missiles, on board two American ships.
- The Americans have two destroyers near Israel now: the USS Cole, which was hit by a suicide attack in Aden in 2003, and the USS Bulkeley. The two operate together, and the USS Bulkeley is equipped with interceptor missiles of the SM-3 type. These missiles are specially designed to take down ballistic missiles already in the mid-phase, when they are at the top of their trajectory, says naval captain Tor Ivar Strømmen at the Naval Academy to VG.
This missile is new this year. The first time it was used was in April, also against Iranian missiles on their way to Israel. Strommen guesses that the US's two warships accounted for around 10% of the missiles that were shot down on Tuesday evening.
Not all of the Iranian missiles were shot down by the Israeli Defense Forces or the United States. It was deliberate, believes Strømmen. The Israeli defense system is very advanced, and assesses whether the rocket will hit a place that poses no danger to people. In such cases, the system allows the Iranian missile to fall to the ground without intercepting it. Iran claims it fired 220 missiles. Israel says the number was 180. Several videos published of the attack showed several rockets hitting the ground. Strømmen estimates that around 40-50 rockets hit the ground.
- It looks spectacular and dangerous. But to a large extent these were Iranian missiles that were not intercepted because they were not considered to do much damage, explains Strømmen. A ballistic missile is far more demanding to shoot down than cruise missiles and drones, explains Haga. They go in high lanes and have great speed when they plunge towards the goal.
- Then you need missiles with large engines that can reach high, quickly. The American SM-3 is designed to hit the target by going on a collision course. This requires very precise sensors and exceptional maneuverability, since you have to hit a "needle" that comes at mach 6.
Mearsheimer and similar people live well off from the attention they get and they get more money to appear on conferences and seminars. A well known Finnish researcher told me they do and say these things so they get invitations from states and statesmen. Then they get invited to China and Russia or Hungary. If they criticize them then the money faucet dries as well.
The ability to do things like that is extremely expensive and not necessarily sustainable over decades from a technological perspective.
I do not know where the Palestinians in Gaza, Hezbollah and Iran stand on living in peace with Israel but it appears they remain committed which is a very good argument for continuing and expanding the war in my opinion. I would not pretend to know what is best but I wish Mearsheimer would admit that he does not know either.
Thank you, Sir
As nearly 200 ballistic missiles, including a hypersonic missile, rained down on Israel in an unprecedented attack, the time to act is now.
No more mindless calls for ceasefire, de-escalation, or compromising with terrorists. No more appeasement of Iran.
And no more talk of regime change in Israel (yes, Schumer, we’re looking at you).
The time has come for regime change in Tehran.
This is the same Iran that took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days, funds terrorist groups across the globe, supplies missiles and drones to Russia, and chants Death to Israel and Death to America.
What better way to mark October 7, the anniversary of one of the most horrific attacks in modern history, than to strike the country behind it and take out their ballistic missile, drone, and nuclear weapons factories.
The United States must defend the American-led world order and Western civilization by standing with Israel to dismantle the Ayatollah’s despotic regime and its global spread of terrorism.
This is all included in my “course”. We would be doing ourselves a big favor if we and our top leaders and diplomats followed the basic suggestions and set of vibes which are presented in my course.
In addition to what John Mearsheimer has recommended, the vibe and tact that Howard Zinn conveyed in his 2006 lecture at MIT is what the US should be actively trying to follow.