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.
Bernie Sanders thinks he’s going to succeed in pressuring Joe Biden and other Democrats into doing more to support Palestinians:[2]
[The White House is] feeling more and more political pressure, trust me. They’re feeling it. I think Joe Biden is a very decent human being. I’ve known the president for many, many years. I know that he is extremely uncomfortable with what’s happening in Gaza. What his people also understand is that if they want to win this election, they’re going to have to listen to the Democratic base, which is quite broad. I’m not just talking about young people, I’m not just talking about progressives. And they’re going to have to be rethinking their policies and telling [Binyamin] Netanyahu that this will not continue.[3]
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Rory Jones and Dov Lieber, “Netanyahu Puts Political Survival Ahead of Tough Decisions on Gaza,” Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-puts-political-survival-ahead-of-tough-decisions-on-gaza-783cb8e6
Ed Pilkington, “Pro-Palestinian protests hound Biden, casting shadow on his re-election effort,” Guardian, January 31, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/31/biden-pro-palestine-protest-israel
Yasmeen Abutaleb and Karen DeYoung, “Biden imposes sanctions on Israeli West Bank settlers,” Washington Post, February 1, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/01/biden-signs-executive-order-sanctioning-west-bank-settlers/
Gabriel Debenedetti, “Bernie’s Pressure Campaign,” New York, February 1, 2024, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2024/02/bernie-sanders-israel-gaza-democrats-biden.html
Adam Taylor, “UNRWA funding pauses come amid uncertainty over Gaza aid future,” Washington Post, February 1, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/01/unrwa-funding-pause-united-nations-future-aid/
Russia
Ukraine
Fig. 2. “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,[4] fair use.
Gregorio Sorgi, Barbara Moens, and Elisa Braun, “EU approves €50B Ukraine aid as Viktor Orbán folds,” Politico, February 1, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-gets-eu-aid-as-orban-folds/
Polarization
George Monbiot, “King of the Extrinsics,” January 31, 2024, https://www.monbiot.com/2024/01/31/king-of-the-extrinsics/
Illiberalism
Hungary
Gregorio Sorgi, Barbara Moens, and Elisa Braun, “EU approves €50B Ukraine aid as Viktor Orbán folds,” Politico, February 1, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-gets-eu-aid-as-orban-folds/
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Century III Mall
Fig. 3. “The exterior of the closed Century III Mall taken from a drone . . . in West Mifflin.” Photograph by Benjamin B. Braun, May 11, 2023, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,[5] fair use.
It has taken an awful long time for local government in Allegheny County to get serious about Century III Mall. I appreciate that this is an expensive problem to solve and that property rights are involved. And I certainly get that government moves at a snail’s pace and that Century III Mall is far from the only example of blight in the county. I still don’t get why this has taken so long.
Neena Hagen, “Judge signs restraining order against absentee owners of Century III Mall,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 1, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2024/01/31/century-iii-restraining-order-moonbeam-capital-zappala/stories/202401310106
- [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]Gabriel Debenedetti, “Bernie’s Pressure Campaign,” New York, February 1, 2024, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2024/02/bernie-sanders-israel-gaza-democrats-biden.html↩
- [3]Bernie Sanders, quoted in Gabriel Debenedetti, “Bernie’s Pressure Campaign,” New York, February 1, 2024, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2024/02/bernie-sanders-israel-gaza-democrats-biden.html↩
- [4]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↩
- [5]Neena Hagen, “The fall of the Century: Once a retail shopping jewel, the West Mifflin mall has been left to rot,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 21, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2023/05/21/centuryiii-west-mifflin-mall-slag-heap-kaufmanns-sears-police-closed-crime/stories/202305210039↩