Imperialism
United States
Yemen
Fig. 1. Satellite photograph by Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
There’s no two ways about it. Joe Biden fucked up. Badly:
At the center of the unrest in the Red Sea is the crisis in Gaza, which has been devastated by Israeli attacks since the October 7 offensive by Hamas. Though Israeli troops are carrying out the war that has killed more than 24,000 Palestinians, the U.S. is the patron and enabler. The Biden administration continues to offer unblinking financial and diplomatic support to Israel, despite mounting accusations against the U.S. of complicity in genocide.[1]
If this formulation doesn’t sound familiar, you really haven’t been paying attention:
The U.S. should consider that these actions in Gaza are enraging people throughout the region. The local perception is that when Palestinian blood was being shed the last three months, no one was bothered, but when the economic interests of the West were threatened, they immediately acted. This message fits right into Houthi rhetoric and is resonating very strongly in the region.[2]
How, seriously, do you refute that?
Ryan Grim, “Biden on Yemen Airstrikes: ‘Are They Stopping the Houthis? No. Are They Gonna Continue? Yes,’” Intercept, January 18, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/01/18/biden-yemen-houthi-airstrikes/
Iain Marlow, “US Presses Ahead With ‘Least Bad’ Option in Confronting Houthis,” Bloomberg, January 18, 2024, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-18/us-presses-ahead-with-least-bad-option-in-confronting-houthis
Murtaza Hussain, “The Houthis May Have Checkmated Biden in Red Sea Standoff,” Intercept, January 19, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/01/19/houthis-yemen-biden-airstrikes/
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,[3] fair use.
I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over the entire area west of [the river] Jordan — and this is irreconcilable with a Palestinian state. . . .
For 30 years, I have been very consistent, and I’m saying something very simple. This conflict is not about the lack of a state, a Palestinian state, but about the existence of a state, a Jewish state.[4]
This is what is often derided as zero-sum thinking: Any concession to our opponent comes at our expense. It is them or us.
There are times when zero-sum thinking is appropriate. When concessions are consistently too one-sided, it does indeed become clear that “compromise” means the other side wins. But in this case, it’s the Palestinians who have been making the concessions, not the Israelis, and so of course Palestinians have called for the elimination of the Israeli state—note that no matter how Zionists may style it, this is distinct from calling for the elimination of Jews and therefore distinct from genocide that Israel in fact wages on Palestinians.
Which should amount to another familiar formulation: Binyamin Netanyahu accuses his opponents of what he, himself actually does.
Henry Foy, “EU seeks ‘consequences’ for Israel over opposition to Palestinian statehood,” Financial Times, January 21, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/6b39f7cf-f6d6-4344-b1e8-a505616423ef
Owen Jones, “The west’s complete contempt for the lives of Palestinians will not be forgotten,” Guardian, January 21, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/21/palestinian-lives-gaza-politics-media
Summer Said, “U.S., Arab Allies Push Hostage-Release Plan Aimed at Ending Israel-Hamas War,” Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-pushes-hostage-release-plan-aimed-at-ending-gaza-war-d48b27e1
Ishaan Tharoor, “What Netanyahu sees from the river to the sea,” Washington Post, January 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/22/netanyahu-biden-two-state-solution-palestine-river-to-sea/
Times of Israel, “Most believe Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making mainly motivated by personal interest,” January 22, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-gives-national-unity-commanding-lead-over-likud-with-a-center-bloc-of-69-mks/
Illiberalism
Gilead
Migration
Ann E. Marimow and Nick Miroff, “Supreme Court clears way for border agents to remove Texas wire barrier,&rdquqo; Washington Post, January 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/22/supreme-court-texas-biden-border-razor-wire/
- [1]Murtaza Hussain, “The Houthis May Have Checkmated Biden in Red Sea Standoff,” Intercept, January 19, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/01/19/houthis-yemen-biden-airstrikes/↩
- [2]Hisham Al-Omeisy, quoted in Murtaza Hussain, “The Houthis May Have Checkmated Biden in Red Sea Standoff,” Intercept, January 19, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/01/19/houthis-yemen-biden-airstrikes/↩
- [3]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/↩
- [4]Binyamin Netanyahu, quoted in Ishaan Tharoor, “What Netanyahu sees from the river to the sea,” Washington Post, January 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/22/netanyahu-biden-two-state-solution-palestine-river-to-sea/↩