A gap so vast the Andromeda Galaxy could pass right through it

benfell

Imperialism

Israel

Palestine


Fig. 1. Graphic by Roya News,[1] March 3, 2024, fair use.

A few issues ago, I remembered a book I had read long ago, that I haven’t a prayer of being able to locate and cite properly, that explained that the underdog in asymmetric warfare wins when the colonizer commits some outrage that turns public opinion overwhelmingly against it. Of all the outrages Israel has committed in its war on Gaza, I would not have picked an attack on a World Central Kitchen convoy[2] to be the one. Honestly, I wouldn’t even have guessed.

But I’m beginning to suspect—and indeed, if we’re to believe a Wall Street Journal report—this might be it;[3] at the very least, I think this prefigures a crisis and a shift that will inevitably come. The discrepancy between western rhetoric on getting aid to Gazan civilians and western support for Israel’s genocide[4] is clearly drawing more attention because of it and a lot of western policies that enable that genocide simply don’t withstand any kind of scrutiny whatsoever.

At some point, it has to be embarrassing:

[John] Kirby added that the State Department has so far “not found any incidents where the Israelis have violated international humanitarian law,” a legal designation that could cause the United States to block military exports to the country.[5]

Except that we know this is a bald-faced lie.[6] The Joe Biden administration is simply in denial of the evidence it has. And an awful lot of people have noticed this.

At this point, the discrepancy between what Biden and other western leaders say about Israeli atrocities and what they do is so vast, the Andromeda galaxy could pass right through it. This is simply not a tenable position and the only way it can last is if something else comes along to divert public opinion, which would, in other circumstances, be an entirely reasonable if entirely lamentable expectation. But Israel keeps committing these outrages, trapping western leaders in a very embarrassing position.

This issue ain’t going away. Western politicians can’t fudge, simply because Binyamin Netanyahu won’t allow them to. They need to get on the right side of it.

Maegan Vazquez, “Michigan lawmaker says Gaza should be approached ‘like Nagasaki and Hiroshima,’” Washington Post, March 31, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/30/michigan-lawmaker-gaza-hiroshima/

Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef, “U.S. and Israel’s ‘Unprecedented’ Intelligence Sharing Draws Criticism,” Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-and-israels-unprecedented-intelligence-sharing-draws-criticism-a85979b4

William Booth and Lorenzo Tugnoli, “Inside the ruins of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital,” Washington Post, April 1, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/01/gaza-al-shifa-hospital-israel/

Times of Israel, “Israel acknowledges killing 7 aid charity workers in ‘tragic, unintentional’ airstrike,” April 2, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-promises-probe-as-slain-aid-workers-home-countries-demand-explanation/

Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden rebukes Israel over aid workers, but his Gaza policy is unchanged,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/03/biden-world-central-kitchen-tough-statement-israel-policy/

Hafiz Rashid, “‘Unacceptable’: White House Cancels Event as Biden Struggles on Gaza,” New Republic, April 3, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180409/white-house-cancels-event-gaza-outcry

Haroon Siddique, Eleni Courea, and Patrick Wintour, “Former supreme court judges say UK arming Israel breaches international law,” Guardian, April 3, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/former-supreme-court-judges-say-uk-arming-israel-breaches-international-law

Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s ‘unintentional’ strike on aid workers stirs global outrage,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/03/israel-strike-world-central-kitchen-aid-workers-global-outrage/

Trinidad Deiros Bronte, “The unpunished deaths of other civilians question Israel’s willingness to clarify the attack on WCK,” El País, April 4, 2024, https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-04-04/the-unpunished-deaths-of-other-civilians-question-israels-willingness-to-clarify-the-attack-on-wck.html

Michael R. Gordon and Nancy A. Youssef, “Biden Urges Immediate Gaza Cease-Fire in Call With Israel’s Netanyahu,” Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-netanyahu-set-to-talk-as-gaza-aid-worker-deaths-add-to-pressure-on-israel-9dee3793

Jacob Magid, “Senior Israeli official warns of growing ‘shoot first, ask later’ culture in IDF,” Times of Israel, April 4, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-israeli-official-warns-of-growing-shoot-first-ask-later-culture-in-idf/

Adam Taylor, “Biden’s ‘red line’ on Gaza is nowhere to be found,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/04/biden-wck-world-central-kitchen-israel-policy-change/

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump
Coup attempt

2024

Fig. 1. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,[7] fair use.

Former White House attorney Ty Cobb predicted Wednesday that the 11th Circuit Court could ultimately decide to remove Judge Aileen Cannon from the case involving former President Trump’s mishandling of classified documents at his estate in Florida.

In an interview on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront,” the former Trump administration official pointed to special counsel Jack Smith’s most recent filing and said he thinks it makes clear that Smith could take the case up to the 11th Circuit if Cannon does not rule promptly.

“I think that Jack Smith — I think the filing today makes it plain that she has to rule, and if she doesn’t rule under either scenario, they’ll be in a position to take her up to the 11th Circuit. And I think the 11th Circuit will likely take her off the case,” Cobb said.[8]

I can only imagine that if we actually got a real judge on this case, Donald Trump would be in very, very, very deep trouble. I’m guessing that’s why Aileen Cannon ruled the way she did, saying that “the [Presidential Records Act] ‘does not provide a pre-trial basis to dismiss’ either the mishandling charges or the related obstruction charges against Trump.”[9] I’ve yet to see informed reaction to Cannon’s decision, but what I see in the Washington Post account of her ruling[10] doesn’t seem terribly coherent.

Hafiz Rashid, “Another One Bites the Dust: Trump 2020 Lawyer Officially Disbarred,” New Republic, April 2, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180365/eastman-trump-2020-lawyer-disbarred

Heather Cox Richardson, “April 2, 2024,” Letters from an American, April 3, 2024, https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-2-2024

Sarah Fortinsky, “Ty Cobb says 11th Circuit may remove judge from Trump documents case,” Hill, April 3, 2024, https://thehill.com/homenews/4573686-ty-cobb-says-11th-circuit-may-remove-judge-from-trump-documents-case/

Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein, “Judge Cannon shoots down Trump’s presidential records act claim,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/04/cannon-trump-jack-smith-presidential-records-act/

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh


Fig. 1. The confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, with the “Golden Triangle” and downtown Pittsburgh. Photograph by author, October 15, 2023.

Photographs show the 10th Street Bypass deeply underwater[11] and I gather it’s the same story with the Parkway by the Monongahela Wharf.[12]

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Large swaths of the Pittsburgh region remain under water as scope of Western Pa. flooding comes into focus,” April 4, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/weather-news/2024/04/04/pittsburgh-flooding-updates/stories/202404040056

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Photos: Pittsburgh region flooded after days of heavy rain,” April 4, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/weather-news/2024/04/04/photos-pittsburgh-region-flood-heavy-rain/stories/202404040074

  1. [1]Roya News, “Exposé reveals list of essential aid items banned by ‘Israel’ from entry into Gaza,” March 10, 2024, https://en.royanews.tv/news/49795/2024-03-03↩
  2. [2]Times of Israel, “Israel acknowledges killing 7 aid charity workers in ‘tragic, unintentional’ airstrike,” April 2, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-promises-probe-as-slain-aid-workers-home-countries-demand-explanation/↩
  3. [3]Michael R. Gordon and Nancy A. Youssef, “Biden Urges Immediate Gaza Cease-Fire in Call With Israel’s Netanyahu,” Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-netanyahu-set-to-talk-as-gaza-aid-worker-deaths-add-to-pressure-on-israel-9dee3793↩
  4. [4]Trinidad Deiros Bronte, “The unpunished deaths of other civilians question Israel’s willingness to clarify the attack on WCK,” El País, April 4, 2024, https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-04-04/the-unpunished-deaths-of-other-civilians-question-israels-willingness-to-clarify-the-attack-on-wck.html; Jacob Magid, “Senior Israeli official warns of growing ‘shoot first, ask later’ culture in IDF,” Times of Israel, April 4, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-israeli-official-warns-of-growing-shoot-first-ask-later-culture-in-idf/; Adam Taylor, “Biden’s ‘red line’ on Gaza is nowhere to be found,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/04/biden-wck-world-central-kitchen-israel-policy-change/↩
  5. [5]Adam Taylor, “Biden’s ‘red line’ on Gaza is nowhere to be found,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/04/biden-wck-world-central-kitchen-israel-policy-change/↩
  6. [6]Julian Borger, “State department official’s resignation highlights rifts over US Gaza policy,” Guardian, March 27, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/27/state-department-resignation-gaza-biden-policy↩
  7. [7]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon↩
  8. [8]Sarah Fortinsky, “Ty Cobb says 11th Circuit may remove judge from Trump documents case,” Hill, April 3, 2024, https://thehill.com/homenews/4573686-ty-cobb-says-11th-circuit-may-remove-judge-from-trump-documents-case/↩
  9. [9]Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein, “Judge Cannon shoots down Trump’s presidential records act claim,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/04/cannon-trump-jack-smith-presidential-records-act/↩
  10. [10]Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein, “Judge Cannon shoots down Trump’s presidential records act claim,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/04/cannon-trump-jack-smith-presidential-records-act/↩
  11. [11]Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Photos: Pittsburgh region flooded after days of heavy rain,” April 4, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/weather-news/2024/04/04/photos-pittsburgh-region-flood-heavy-rain/stories/202404040074↩
  12. [12]Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Large swaths of the Pittsburgh region remain under water as scope of Western Pa. flooding comes into focus,” April 4, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/weather-news/2024/04/04/pittsburgh-flooding-updates/stories/202404040056↩

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