Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 1. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[1] fair use.
If you have any lingering doubt about a prevailing bias in favor of Zionism, it’s more than a bit disturbing that a possible war crime committed by the Israeli Defense Force that was reported in the Telegraph a week ago[2] is only now drawing reaction. And apparently, this humiliation of Palestinian prisoners is by no means an isolated incident.[3] Any argument that the U.S. government, having backed Israel against United Nations votes for a ceasefire,[4] is not complicit in these crimes may be tough to make:
The events of the past week should obliterate any doubt that the war against the Palestinians of Gaza is a joint U.S.–Israeli operation. On Friday, as the Biden administration stood alone among the nations of the world in vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was busy circumventing congressional review to ram through approval of an “emergency” sale of 13,000 tank rounds to Israel. . . .
Over the past two months, Benjamin Netanyahu has argued, including on U.S. news channels, “Our war is your war.” In retrospect, this wasn’t a plea to the White House. Netanyahu was stating a fact. From the moment President Joe Biden spoke to his “great, great friend” Netanyahu on October 7, in the immediate aftermath of the deadly Hamas-led raids into Israel, the U.S. has not just supplied Israel with additional weapons and intelligence support, it has also offered crucial political cover for the scorched-earth campaign to annihilate Gaza as a Palestinian territory. It is irrelevant what words of concern and caution have flowed from the mouths of administration officials when all of their actions have been aimed at increasing the death and destruction.[5]
Guardian, “US highlights ‘gap’ in Israel’s commitment to protect civilians in Gaza,” December 7, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/08/us-israel-hamas-war-gaza-civilian-protection-anthony-blinken
Nataliya Vasilyeva, “IDF strip Palestinian men and parade them through square once used by Hamas,” Telegraph, December 7, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/07/palestinian-men-stripped-to-underwear-gaza-idf/
Ron Kampeas, “US officials deny pressing Israel for a war ‘deadline,’ but differences between the two are emerging,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 8, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2023/12/08/united-states/us-officials-deny-pressing-israel-for-a-war-deadline-but-differences-between-the-two-are-emerging
Edith M. Lederer, “US vetoes UN resolution backed by many nations demanding immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza,” Associated Press, December 9, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-un-resolution-ceasefire-humanitarian-6d3bfd31d6c25168e828274d96b85cf8
Times of Israel, “National security adviser indicates war against Hezbollah likely once Hamas is defeated,” December 9, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/national-security-adviser-indicates-war-against-hezbollah-likely-after-defeat-of-hamas/
Rory Jones et al., “The Hamas Leader Who Studied Israel’s Psyche—and Is Betting His Life on What He Learned,” Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-yahya-sinwar-israel-palestinian-hostages-6407dc41
Jeremy Scahill, “This Is Not a War Against Hamas,” Intercept, December 11, 2023, https://theintercept.com/2023/12/11/israel-hamas-war-civilians-biden/
David S. Cloud, and Summer Sai, “Israel’s Netanyahu Rejects U.S. Plan for Postwar Gaza,” Washington Post, December 12, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israels-netanyahu-rejects-u-s-plan-for-post-war-gaza-d60fc0c3
Caitlin Hu, “UN General Assembly votes to demand immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” CNN, December 12, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/middleeast/ceasefire-vote-gaza-israel-un-intl/index.html
John Hudson and Yasmeen Abutaleb, “Biden shows deep empathy with Israelis. Some feel it’s missing for Gazans,” Washington Post, December 12, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/12/12/biden-empathy-lacking-palestinians/
Kevin Liptak and Jeremy Diamond, “Biden tells donors Israel is losing support, Netanyahu must change his government,” CNN, December 12, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/politics/biden-israel-losing-support-netanyahu/index.html
Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s Gaza war raises fears of a Palestinian exodus into Egypt,” Washington Post, December 12, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/12/12/gaza-displacement-egypt-palestine-israel-flee-rafah/
Nancy A. Youssef et al., “Israel Begins Pumping Seawater Into Hamas’s Gaza Tunnels,” Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-hamas-war-pumping-seawater-gaza-tunnels-2ed3b3f2
Kareem Fahim et al., “Images of stripped and humiliated Palestinians draw condemnation,” Washington Post, December 13, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/13/gaza-palestinian-detainee-photos-israel/
Dov Lieber, “Israel’s Netanyahu Bets Political Survival on Opposing a Palestinian State,” Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israels-netanyahu-bets-political-survival-on-opposing-a-palestinian-state-9e78790f
Jacob Magid, “Biden: ‘Indiscriminate’ bombing costing Israel support, Netanyahu ‘has to change,’” Times of Israel, December 13, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-indiscriminate-bombing-costs-israel-support-netanyahu-has-to-change/
Times of Israel, “Poll shows soaring Palestinian support for Hamas; 72% back October 7 atrocities,” December 13, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-shows-soaring-support-for-hamas-in-west-bank-as-90-say-abbas-should-resign/
Nancy A. Youssef and Vivian Salama, “U.S. Blocks Shipment of Rifles to Israel Over Concerns of West Bank Settler Violence,” Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-blocks-shipment-of-rifles-to-israel-over-concerns-of-west-bank-settler-violence-9764c87d
Russia
Ukraine
Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[6] fair use.
Douglas Busvine, “Sanctions aren’t working: How the West enables Russia’s war on Ukraine,” Politico, December 11, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-sanctions-western-companies-intel-huawei-amd-texas-instruments-ibm/
Ishaan Tharoor, “Ukraine’s Zelensky and Hungary’s Orban reflect a divided Washington,” Washington Post, December 12, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/12/zelensky-orban-hungary-ukraine-aid-eu-funding/
Jakob Hanke Vela, “Orbán names his price,” Politico, December 13, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/orban-names-his-price/
Emily Rauhala and Beatriz Ríos, “E.U. agrees to open membership talks for Ukraine,” Washington Post, December 14, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/14/ukraine-eu-summit-orban/
Illiberalism
Fig. 1. Photograph by Joachim F. Thurn, August 1991, Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F089030-0003, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.
Adam Taylor, “Javier Milei’s study of Judaism sets him apart from far-right leaders,” Washington Post, December 14, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/14/milei-judaism-torah-religion-argentina-israel-jewish/
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. Donald Trump booking photograph by Fulton County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office, August 24, 2023, via New York, August 25, 2023,[7] public domain.
This[8] is different from the immunity question that the Supreme Court may also be taking up:[9]
The supreme court’s eventual ruling in Fischer v United States will indicate whether the obstruction charge under section 1512 of title 18 of the US criminal code can be used against Trump, and could undercut the other general conspiracy charges brought against the former president by the special counsel, Jack Smith.
The court could also end up by extension invalidating many convictions against rioters involved in the January 6 Capitol attack. The obstruction statute has been the justice department’s primary weapon to hold accountable those involved in the violence of that day.[10]
Apparently, the Supreme Court has frowned upon broad interpretations of conspiracy statutes in the past,[11] so this looks like a real threat.
Chris Geidner, “Supreme Court takes first step toward quick review of Trump constitutional questions,” Law Dork, December 11, 2023, https://www.lawdork.com/p/supreme-court-first-step-toward-trump-review
Sam Levine, “Rudy Giuliani faces trial over defamation of 2020 election workers,” Guardian, December 11, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/11/rudy-giuliani-court-defamation-2020-election-workers
Hannah Rabinowitz and Devan Cole, “Special counsel goes directly to Supreme Court to resolve whether Trump has immunity from prosecution,” CNN, December 11, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/11/politics/special-counsel-trump-jack-smith/index.html
Spencer S. Hsu and Amy Gardner, “Georgia election worker describes harrowing threats in Giuliani defamation trial,” Washington Post, December 12, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/12/12/giuiliani-defamation-trial-election-workers-testify/
Hugo Lowell, “Trump’s defense in election interference case may get boost from US supreme court,” Guardian, December 13, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/13/supreme-court-trump-election-interference
Neoliberalism
Self-driving cars
Fig. 1. Photograph by Mark Doliner, August 1, 2012, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Gareth Vipers, “Tesla to Recall More Than Two Million Vehicles Over Autopilot Safety Concerns,” Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/tesla-recalls-more-than-two-million-vehicles-over-autopilot-safety-concerns-274eb6e6
Jeremy White, “Tesla Is Recalling Nearly All Vehicles Sold in US to Fix an Autopilot Fault,” Wired, December 13, 2023, https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-us-recall-autopilot-fault/
- [1]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [2]Nataliya Vasilyeva, “IDF strip Palestinian men and parade them through square once used by Hamas,” Telegraph, December 7, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/07/palestinian-men-stripped-to-underwear-gaza-idf/↩
- [3]Kareem Fahim et al., “Images of stripped and humiliated Palestinians draw condemnation,” Washington Post, December 13, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/13/gaza-palestinian-detainee-photos-israel/↩
- [4]Caitlin Hu, “UN General Assembly votes to demand immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” CNN, December 12, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/middleeast/ceasefire-vote-gaza-israel-un-intl/index.html; Edith M. Lederer, “US vetoes UN resolution backed by many nations demanding immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza,” Associated Press, December 9, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-un-resolution-ceasefire-humanitarian-6d3bfd31d6c25168e828274d96b85cf8↩
- [5]Jeremy Scahill, “This Is Not a War Against Hamas,” Intercept, December 11, 2023, https://theintercept.com/2023/12/11/israel-hamas-war-civilians-biden/↩
- [6]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
- [7]Margaret Hartmann and Nia Prater, “All the Mug Shots of Donald Trump and His Alleged Co-Conspirators,” New York, August 25, 2023, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-mug-shot-gallery.html↩
- [8]Hugo Lowell, “Trump’s defense in election interference case may get boost from US supreme court,” Guardian, December 13, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/13/supreme-court-trump-election-interference↩
- [9]Chris Geidner, “Supreme Court takes first step toward quick review of Trump constitutional questions,” Law Dork, December 11, 2023, https://www.lawdork.com/p/supreme-court-first-step-toward-trump-review; Hannah Rabinowitz and Devan Cole, “Special counsel goes directly to Supreme Court to resolve whether Trump has immunity from prosecution,” CNN, December 11, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/11/politics/special-counsel-trump-jack-smith/index.html↩
- [10]Hugo Lowell, “Trump’s defense in election interference case may get boost from US supreme court,” Guardian, December 13, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/13/supreme-court-trump-election-interference↩
- [11]Hugo Lowell, “Trump’s defense in election interference case may get boost from US supreme court,” Guardian, December 13, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/13/supreme-court-trump-election-interference↩