Why am I unsurprised to read Charlie Sykes’ Bulwark newsletter this morning and find that the same damn people who screamed and yelled and jumped up and down after 9/11 and said "You're with us or the terrorists" are doing it again. Even someone who I think is smarter than that - like Ben Wittes - is telling everyone to shut up. Of his seven points of things not to say this week, six are entirely valid. But the seventh - don't tell Israel what to do - is completely invalid.
Interesting you brought up Sykes' piece in the Bulwark this morning, and I agree with your point about telling Israel what to do, or rather what *not* to do. Whether or not that will happen in any meaningful way is pretty much anyone's guess at this point, I think.
As to the folks mentioned in the piece who're now jumping up and down like a bunch of trained monkeys about a subject I've no doubt they know precious little - if anything at all - about, one's response I found particularly egregious. And no, it wasn't Donald Trump's. His words have all pretty much become meaningless to me in that they are all egregious in some way or another. Rather it was one of Trump's sycophantic, supposed primary *challengers*. To wit...
RE: Senator(!) Tim Scott..."The truth is though, Joe Biden funded these attacks on Israel. America's weakness is blood in the water for bad actors... This is the Biden $6 billion ransom payment at work."
Well, Senator, if you think America is perceived as being, or actually is *weak*, you might ask yourself why, exactly, that is. Why does the House of Representatives have no speaker? Why has military readiness been diminished by blocked promotions in the Senate? Why does a particular party spend more time and energy fighting a culture war than seeing to it that this nation is adequately prepared for war itself and is ready, willing and able to support our friends and allies with assistance when war comes to their lands, and by helping to protect them only enhance our own protection in the long run?
And why, please tell me, while blood is pooling on the ground from the citizens of an ally as a result of a barbaric terrorist attack much akin to one we suffered ourselves in the not-too-distant past, is it still yours and so many members of your party's now innate and reflexive response to stand up and lie, obfuscate and fabricate complete distortions of the truth, continuing your modus operandi of the past years in nearly all matters of any import to this country's health and well-being as a free, strong and functioning democracy?
How 'bout it, Senator?
Actually, never mind. If you or any of your fellow liars were to actually answer those questions truthfully, I fear your hearts would all stop dead from the shock of your own ears hearing the truth come out of your own mouths. And there are more than enough dead bodies dropping already.
Mr. Scott is not alone in the blame game - Ms.Haley is signing on there too. I have no doubt that will be the next rant from every one of the Repubs. - whoever & wherever they may be.
Well done. To answer your rhetorical question, it's all they have. The Republicans last national platform was "we're going to support the failed insurrectionist" and they're still running on it.
Tim Scott will never be POTUS. He's barely tolerated by the GOP. We can be thankful for that, but he's already done what was expected, blamed it on Biden, which is elixir to the wingers even though that money has not yet been transferred, nor will it go directly to Iran but will be monitored by a third party in its use for humanitarian purposes. Scott is an idiot.
fully in agreement, and fascinating that there are Israeli politicians who are in agreement, while so many Americans just shriek about the terrorism as if it happened in a vacuum.
It has occurred to me that one of the problems of the far right in Israel is in fact a commitment to "Manifest Destiny." We all know how THAT worked out for those whose own destiny got in the way. Do we want to see that again? Do we think that pulverizing all Palestinians is going to make Jordan or other surrounding countries feel all warm and cozy towards Israel? State-enforced terrorism against civilians may give people pause, but it won't stop the continued hatred. As Langston Hughes wonders, what happens to a dream deferred. Will it do many dreadful things--or will it explode?
The UN was able to calm down, if not completely stop, the atrocities in the Balkans in the 90's. I don't see them stepping up today. Is it just because they are incredibly weaker than they were before the US started lie-based wars in countries that had nothing to do with the attack (Iraq) or at most allowed training camps for foreign nationals--rather like northern Idaho has had training camps for hate groups or the whole south has become a training camp for oppression of their citizens.
If Bibi was given warning of an attack and waved it off, a-la Bush the Lesser in August, 2001, or, as suggested elsewhere, Hamas played possum and caught Israel off-guard, either way, it is not a good look for Netanyahu, let alone Biden. As I've written earlier, on here and over at The Shebeen, The Incalculable Stupidity Of People On TV, combined with the miner birds in Congress, have all fallen in line. They are saying we gave Iran $6 billion and they gave it to Hamas!!! Bullshit. That we don't have ambassadors to Israel, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries at the moment, courtesy of Senator Aqua Buddha (aka Rand Paul) is having the same effect as Sen. Two-State Tuberville's hissy fit holding up military promotions because abortion is equally disconcerting because we don't have a CNO at the moment, either. Schumer needs to get the stick jammed up his ass out and tell both to drop it. There is no Speaker, nor will there be for the near future and the clown show continues.
All he has to do is get 4 of the 8 to vote for him. Given that "David Duke without the baggage" and Jungle Gym are both coming up short, they have to do something.
Wonder if the Manchurian Canteloupe could explain the failure of Israeli intelligence? Intelligence is hard enough to obtain if your allies are helping. It’s impossible if they’re actively working against you. Stolen classified documents...
OR - remember tfg's little party in the Oval Office with the Russians - with no American press - only the Russian press - which incidentally is how we found out the little bit we did. It was Israel's intelligence that he handed over, remember?
This is the first thing I thought of but Israel's intelligence being compromised doesn't explain their not twigging to Hamas' plans. The only way I can relate this to that would be the loss of Middle Eastern Human Assets after a list was shared in an oval office briefing.
TC must have got new glasses because his sight is clearer than ever.
It is silly, at best, to self censor on comments about Israel’s response, and actually a misplaced sense of what? friendship? condolences? And f we don’t say anything how can we say I told you so when Israel strikes out massively and finds the rest of the world shocked by their brutality and starts to isolate Israel all over again? Because that’s what’s going to happen no matter what we say. The current government has to go overboard to distract attention from their fawning mismanagement of the settlers playing cowboys and Indians. That government was playing to its base instead of watching out for the whole country. The parallels with Bush II are striking, and it’s going to end up the same.
Iraq was attacked after 9/11 because that's what Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Rumsfeld wanted to do. It was easier to go after Iraq than to attack Saudi Arabia, where most of the hijackers came from. My son in the army spent most of his 20 years in the military fighting the "war on terror."
I will probably be proven wrong but I hope not, I think that the sheer number of hostages in addition to their nationalities, is going to severly limit what the Israeli military is going to be able to do to Hamas. What they want to do, and what they can do may be two different things. All of that changes in an instant if Hezbollah decides now is the time to cut loose with their 10's of thousands of much more sophisticated rockets that can hit anything in Israel. Saturday's attack may have been the first stage designed to weaken the iron dome, we will know soon enough, if the rocket barrages start coming from Lebanon as well as Iran, Israel may well be in for an existential test, and the civilized world as well. Timing might not be right for China to take Taiwan but they might feel that it's now or never. If we get through the weekend without this escalating we well may have dodged a big one. If this doesn't scare the shit out of you, you aren't paying attention.
"... Netanyahu was warned that “something fierce will happen from Gaza” by the Director of the General Intelligence Directorate of Egypt, Abbas Kamel."
"DR. RICE: Steve, I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, ..."
and I'm glad you mentioned Bill Kristol. because of his involvement Neocon horseshit all his life, he hasn't been one of the allies I've ever felt very good about.
and I think you're right about the probable "responses" and, worse, the entirely predictable end result. it's a continuing American sin to refuse to learn anything at all from history, and it's something about which Israel should have been smarter...the long memory thing and all.
This attack by hamas might as well have been orchestrated by Netanyahu himself! His reaction is no more than the exact way he has been moving towards right along. Caught offguard? Maybe not.
This is the excuse he & his followers have been looking for.
Great job, my friend! I'm always very nervous to even THINK anything involving Israel, but you managed to be informative and fair. have i told you lately ......!!
Given the history of the Israel government with the Gaza strip and Netanyahu's previous actions over the years, and especially recently, I wish we would limit ourselves to generous humanitarian aid to all in the region. I'd direct my military aid to Ukraine and not take my eyes off Putin's right hand.
There's a reason this two year old opinion piece on the Israeli - Palestinian and Hamas situation practically sounds like it was recorded two days ago instead. The situation is perennial:
I really appreciate the writing you’re doing on this situation. Thank you.
Yes. I do too. Thank you TC.
Interesting you brought up Sykes' piece in the Bulwark this morning, and I agree with your point about telling Israel what to do, or rather what *not* to do. Whether or not that will happen in any meaningful way is pretty much anyone's guess at this point, I think.
As to the folks mentioned in the piece who're now jumping up and down like a bunch of trained monkeys about a subject I've no doubt they know precious little - if anything at all - about, one's response I found particularly egregious. And no, it wasn't Donald Trump's. His words have all pretty much become meaningless to me in that they are all egregious in some way or another. Rather it was one of Trump's sycophantic, supposed primary *challengers*. To wit...
RE: Senator(!) Tim Scott..."The truth is though, Joe Biden funded these attacks on Israel. America's weakness is blood in the water for bad actors... This is the Biden $6 billion ransom payment at work."
Well, Senator, if you think America is perceived as being, or actually is *weak*, you might ask yourself why, exactly, that is. Why does the House of Representatives have no speaker? Why has military readiness been diminished by blocked promotions in the Senate? Why does a particular party spend more time and energy fighting a culture war than seeing to it that this nation is adequately prepared for war itself and is ready, willing and able to support our friends and allies with assistance when war comes to their lands, and by helping to protect them only enhance our own protection in the long run?
And why, please tell me, while blood is pooling on the ground from the citizens of an ally as a result of a barbaric terrorist attack much akin to one we suffered ourselves in the not-too-distant past, is it still yours and so many members of your party's now innate and reflexive response to stand up and lie, obfuscate and fabricate complete distortions of the truth, continuing your modus operandi of the past years in nearly all matters of any import to this country's health and well-being as a free, strong and functioning democracy?
How 'bout it, Senator?
Actually, never mind. If you or any of your fellow liars were to actually answer those questions truthfully, I fear your hearts would all stop dead from the shock of your own ears hearing the truth come out of your own mouths. And there are more than enough dead bodies dropping already.
The field slaves had a proper term for people like Senator Scott of South Carolina - it was two words, the first was "House..."
And your treatment of the Republicans is spot on.
You are better than the first sentence of this response.
Mr. Scott is not alone in the blame game - Ms.Haley is signing on there too. I have no doubt that will be the next rant from every one of the Repubs. - whoever & wherever they may be.
Well done. To answer your rhetorical question, it's all they have. The Republicans last national platform was "we're going to support the failed insurrectionist" and they're still running on it.
Tim Scott will never be POTUS. He's barely tolerated by the GOP. We can be thankful for that, but he's already done what was expected, blamed it on Biden, which is elixir to the wingers even though that money has not yet been transferred, nor will it go directly to Iran but will be monitored by a third party in its use for humanitarian purposes. Scott is an idiot.
Amen, amen, amen.
fully in agreement, and fascinating that there are Israeli politicians who are in agreement, while so many Americans just shriek about the terrorism as if it happened in a vacuum.
It has occurred to me that one of the problems of the far right in Israel is in fact a commitment to "Manifest Destiny." We all know how THAT worked out for those whose own destiny got in the way. Do we want to see that again? Do we think that pulverizing all Palestinians is going to make Jordan or other surrounding countries feel all warm and cozy towards Israel? State-enforced terrorism against civilians may give people pause, but it won't stop the continued hatred. As Langston Hughes wonders, what happens to a dream deferred. Will it do many dreadful things--or will it explode?
The UN was able to calm down, if not completely stop, the atrocities in the Balkans in the 90's. I don't see them stepping up today. Is it just because they are incredibly weaker than they were before the US started lie-based wars in countries that had nothing to do with the attack (Iraq) or at most allowed training camps for foreign nationals--rather like northern Idaho has had training camps for hate groups or the whole south has become a training camp for oppression of their citizens.
If Bibi was given warning of an attack and waved it off, a-la Bush the Lesser in August, 2001, or, as suggested elsewhere, Hamas played possum and caught Israel off-guard, either way, it is not a good look for Netanyahu, let alone Biden. As I've written earlier, on here and over at The Shebeen, The Incalculable Stupidity Of People On TV, combined with the miner birds in Congress, have all fallen in line. They are saying we gave Iran $6 billion and they gave it to Hamas!!! Bullshit. That we don't have ambassadors to Israel, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries at the moment, courtesy of Senator Aqua Buddha (aka Rand Paul) is having the same effect as Sen. Two-State Tuberville's hissy fit holding up military promotions because abortion is equally disconcerting because we don't have a CNO at the moment, either. Schumer needs to get the stick jammed up his ass out and tell both to drop it. There is no Speaker, nor will there be for the near future and the clown show continues.
Of course it continues. Did you really expect things to be different this time?
Life in the middle of a falling republic is "interesting" - and yes, it is a curse.
Tom, apparently the Rethugs are having sellers regret...https://carenawhite.medium.com/republicans-want-to-reinstate-mccarthy-as-speaker-of-the-house-da29a57dd8d3
All he has to do is get 4 of the 8 to vote for him. Given that "David Duke without the baggage" and Jungle Gym are both coming up short, they have to do something.
Lots of food for thought here. Thank you.
Wonder if the Manchurian Canteloupe could explain the failure of Israeli intelligence? Intelligence is hard enough to obtain if your allies are helping. It’s impossible if they’re actively working against you. Stolen classified documents...
OR - remember tfg's little party in the Oval Office with the Russians - with no American press - only the Russian press - which incidentally is how we found out the little bit we did. It was Israel's intelligence that he handed over, remember?
This is the first thing I thought of but Israel's intelligence being compromised doesn't explain their not twigging to Hamas' plans. The only way I can relate this to that would be the loss of Middle Eastern Human Assets after a list was shared in an oval office briefing.
Yup - my first thought too! Possibly a good thing for Dems to share OUTLOUD!!!
I like it but I don’t understand it..
She's obviously talking about first Obama, and now Biden.
TC must have got new glasses because his sight is clearer than ever.
It is silly, at best, to self censor on comments about Israel’s response, and actually a misplaced sense of what? friendship? condolences? And f we don’t say anything how can we say I told you so when Israel strikes out massively and finds the rest of the world shocked by their brutality and starts to isolate Israel all over again? Because that’s what’s going to happen no matter what we say. The current government has to go overboard to distract attention from their fawning mismanagement of the settlers playing cowboys and Indians. That government was playing to its base instead of watching out for the whole country. The parallels with Bush II are striking, and it’s going to end up the same.
It's already headed that direction with speed picking up.
Iraq was attacked after 9/11 because that's what Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Rumsfeld wanted to do. It was easier to go after Iraq than to attack Saudi Arabia, where most of the hijackers came from. My son in the army spent most of his 20 years in the military fighting the "war on terror."
"the war on error."
hard to find any other kind
I will probably be proven wrong but I hope not, I think that the sheer number of hostages in addition to their nationalities, is going to severly limit what the Israeli military is going to be able to do to Hamas. What they want to do, and what they can do may be two different things. All of that changes in an instant if Hezbollah decides now is the time to cut loose with their 10's of thousands of much more sophisticated rockets that can hit anything in Israel. Saturday's attack may have been the first stage designed to weaken the iron dome, we will know soon enough, if the rocket barrages start coming from Lebanon as well as Iran, Israel may well be in for an existential test, and the civilized world as well. Timing might not be right for China to take Taiwan but they might feel that it's now or never. If we get through the weekend without this escalating we well may have dodged a big one. If this doesn't scare the shit out of you, you aren't paying attention.
They say history sometimes rhymes.
"... Netanyahu was warned that “something fierce will happen from Gaza” by the Director of the General Intelligence Directorate of Egypt, Abbas Kamel."
"DR. RICE: Steve, I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, ..."
The enemy is more creative than we imagined. People I knew who worked in the Middle East wrote them off as sand n****** Our "leaders" love their PR
really brilliant, Tom.
and I'm glad you mentioned Bill Kristol. because of his involvement Neocon horseshit all his life, he hasn't been one of the allies I've ever felt very good about.
and I think you're right about the probable "responses" and, worse, the entirely predictable end result. it's a continuing American sin to refuse to learn anything at all from history, and it's something about which Israel should have been smarter...the long memory thing and all.
Thank you TC. This brought many things into perspective for me.
This attack by hamas might as well have been orchestrated by Netanyahu himself! His reaction is no more than the exact way he has been moving towards right along. Caught offguard? Maybe not.
This is the excuse he & his followers have been looking for.
Interesting. I just read an article that said the very same thing.
Maybe thats what brought it to my mind!!!
I agree completely, TC.
Great job, my friend! I'm always very nervous to even THINK anything involving Israel, but you managed to be informative and fair. have i told you lately ......!!
I tend to credit the report of advance warning from Egypt and Netanyahu's dismissal at least in part because the analysis of motivation presented best by Seth Abramson in https://sethabramson.substack.com/p/as-israel-reels-from-mass-deaths?utm_campaign=email-post&r=3fufu&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email rings true to me.
Given the history of the Israel government with the Gaza strip and Netanyahu's previous actions over the years, and especially recently, I wish we would limit ourselves to generous humanitarian aid to all in the region. I'd direct my military aid to Ukraine and not take my eyes off Putin's right hand.
There's a reason this two year old opinion piece on the Israeli - Palestinian and Hamas situation practically sounds like it was recorded two days ago instead. The situation is perennial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INCXqWzH5vk