Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.
So, After clicking our ruby shoes 😉 We are back!
Interesting piece from the BBC– Included are the bits I find most informative-
Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon is about to end its second week, as Israel’s war has already entered its second year. Appeals for a ceasefire have increased following an air strike in Beirut on Thursday night, and the wounding on Friday, for the second day running, of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon by Israeli military fire.A new offensive is taking place in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, despite persistent calls for the conflict there to end. Israel’s allies are also urging restraint as the country prepares to retaliate against Iran, following last week’s ballistic missile attack.
The delay in Israel’s retaliation is interesting- Suggestive the US isn’t fully
on board, with the Israeli desire to strike nuclear facilities. -Or is the delay due to the fact that more preparation is needed? – Or, is the US election influencing these decisions. If the US appears to be all in with Israel the Dems will lose the election.
BBC continued..
Israel will continue to pursue its own path, and resist this (ceasefire) pressure, because of three factors: 7 October, Benjamin Netanyahu and the United States.
Brief refresher
It was in January 2020 when Iranian general Qassem Soleimani landed at Baghdad airport on a night-time flight from Damascus.
As Soleimani’s convoy left the airport, it was destroyed by missiles fired from a drone that killed him instantly.
Although Israel provided intelligence to help locate its arch-adversary, the drone belonged to the United States. The assassination order had been given by then US President Donald Trump, not Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At the time it was believed that Netanyahu, who praised the killing, was concerned that direct Israeli involvement could provoke a large-scale attack against Israel, either from Iran directly, or its proxies in Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories. Israel was fighting a shadow war with Iran, but each side was careful to keep the fighting within certain bounds, for fear of provoking the other into a larger-scale conflict.
So the US did Israel’s dirty work- same then as now- The difference is Netanyahu does appear to be more brazen in his actions. As if he is untouchable
Just over four years later, in April of this year, the same Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israeli jets to bomb a building in the Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, killing two Iranian generals amongst others.
Then in July, the Israeli prime minister authorised the assassination of Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s top military commander, in an air strike on Beirut
“You know, the perception of Israel around the world increasingly is that you’re a rogue state, a rogue actor,” President Biden is reported to have said.
Israel has been a rogue state for a very long time now- Allowed, more accurately aided and abetted, to take actions that would draw howls of protests from the imperial powers
Recall?
Bush responds to Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, Sept. 11, 1990
“Iraq will not be permitted to annex Kuwait,” Bush told the lawmakers in the presence of foreign diplomats, including the Iraqi ambassador. “And that’s not a threat, not a boast. It’s just the way it’s going to be.
“Out of these troubled times,” Bush went on to say, “… a new world order can emerge: a new era, freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice and more secure in the quest for peace.”
Above statement a giant stinking pile of manure
Bush also said: “Recent events have surely proven that there is no substitute for American leadership. In the face of tyranny, let no one doubt American credibility and reliability. Let no one doubt our staying power. We will stand by our friends.
And America has stood by it’s “friends” in Israel- I use the term friends loosely because Israel is an asset to America. It clearly has not yet become a liability. In politics and empire there are no friends. Only interests.
BBC
For a US administration pouring billions of dollars’ worth of weapons into Israel, Palestinian civilian deaths and suffering in Gaza have been deeply uncomfortable, and politically damaging for the administration. For America’s critics in the region, the apparent impotence of the superpower when it comes to influencing the largest recipient of US aid is baffling. “
Is it baffling? No. The US can cut off the aid to wield influence. The US chooses to continue on with it’s support- It’s not impotence. It’s collusion.
Even after US jets were involved in repelling Iranian attacks on Israel in April – a clear sign of how Israel’s security is underwritten by its larger ally
Netanyahu has learned from more than 20 years of experience that US pressure is something he can withstand, if not ignore.
Netanyahu knows that the US, particularly in an election year,
will not take action that forces him to divert from his chosen course
AIPAC money can aid in keeping the US obedient in an election year– that’s the admission.