I am not even remotely caught up. Look for more, later.
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.
There will be no Iftar celebration at the White House this year:[2]
The American Muslim community said very early on that it would be completely unacceptable for us to break bread with the very same White House that is enabling the Israeli government to starve and slaughter the Palestinian people in Gaza.[3]
The cancellation comes on the heels of better than expected results for a protest vote in Wisconsin’s Democratic presidential primary elections Tuesday. Voters who selected an “uninstructed” option on their ballot instead of voting for [Joe] Biden or Representative Dean Phillips (who has suspended his campaign) currently make up 8 percent of the results, or just over 48,000 votes, exceeding organizers’ goal of at least 20,000 votes, which was Biden’s margin of victory over Donald Trump in 2020.
Wisconsin’s results follow similar efforts in states across the country, which began with Michigan’s “uncommitted” movement, spearheaded by the state’s Arab and Muslim American communities. The results on Super Tuesday in March shattered expectations in the swing state, also exceeding Biden’s 2020 margin of victory.[4]
It would seem there are a few people who won’t vote for a war criminal, at least in the primaries. But I’m thinking something has to give—and soon.
First, there is the obvious issue that Joe Biden’s re-election may well hinge on getting Gaza right, somehow threading a needle between Zionist voters’ demands and the demands of, overwhelmingly, just about everyone else.[5] But as well, if it is illegal under international law for the United Kingdom to supply aid to Israel,[6] it follows—even if we ignore the administration’s own evidence[7]—that it is just as illegal for the U.S. to do so. And the law here simply follows a moral imperative. Biden’s policy is out of step both with international law and with international and domestic opinion.[8]
That’s very difficult ground for any politician to hold. The lesson for Republicans on abortion, which they refuse to heed, is really very similar. The question here will be whether Biden will be smarter than Donald Trump and how long it will take for him to be so.
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/
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/
Russia
Ukraine
Fig. 2. Historic Russian empire, from the New York Times, possibly March 6, 2014, fair use.[9]
Germany and Europe have a lot more riding on Ukraine’s survival than the U.S. does. For the Europeans, a Ukrainian defeat could be disastrous for the Continent’s security.
European leaders fear that if [Vladimir] Putin wins in Ukraine and [Donald] Trump returns to the presidency, countries like Latvia or Moldova might be next.
Discussing that prospect, a senior European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, recently told POLITICO and other media outlets: “These are the things that keep me up at night.”[10]
It’s worth remembering that, as I’ve long pointed out,[11] Vladimir Putin’s ambition almost certainly exceeds Ukraine.[12]
“There’s nothing that can help Ukraine now because there are no serious technologies able to compensate Ukraine for the large mass of troops Russia is likely to hurl at us. We don’t have those technologies, and the West doesn’t have them as well in sufficient numbers,” one of the [anonymous] top-ranking military sources told POLITICO.[13]
Will we finally take this seriously when Russian tanks are in Paris? Where’s the line?
Heather Cox Richardson, “April 2, 2024,” Letters from an American, April 3, 2024, https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-2-2024
Jamie Dettmer, “Ukraine is at great risk of its front lines collapsing,” Politico, April 3, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-great-risk-front-line-collapse-war-russia/
Illiberalism
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 3. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,[14] fair use.
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
Competitive authoritarian regime project
Fig. 4. President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Clarence Mitchell during signing ceremony of the voting rights act. Yoichi Okamoto, August 6, 1965, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Rick Perlstein, “Joe Lieberman Not Only Backed Bush’s War; He Also Helped Make Bush President,” American Prospect, April 3, 2024, https://prospect.org/politics/2024-04-03-joe-lieberman-helped-make-bush-president/
Heather Cox Richardson, “April 3, 2024,” Letters from an American, April 4, 2024, https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-3-2024
Neoliberalism
Democratic (neoliberal) Party
Fig. 5. “Well, for once they can’t blame me.” Photomechanical print, art by John S. Pughe, 1907, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
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Rick Perlstein, “Joe Lieberman Not Only Backed Bush’s War; He Also Helped Make Bush President,” American Prospect, April 3, 2024, https://prospect.org/politics/2024-04-03-joe-lieberman-helped-make-bush-president/
- [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]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↩
- [3]Edward Ahmed Mitchell, quoted in 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↩
- [4]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↩
- [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]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↩
- [7]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↩
- [8]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/↩
- [9]New York Times, “Ukraine Crisis in Maps,” n.d., http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/27/world/europe/ukraine-divisions-crimea.html↩
- [10]James Angelos, “Trump’s already back, America has ditched Ukraine. What does Europe do now?,” Politico, February 8, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/olaf-scholz-joe-biden-united-states-support-ukraine-trump-return/↩
- [11]David Benfell, “Where does Vladimir Putin stop?” Not Housebroken, November 16, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/03/04/where-does-vladimir-putin-stop/↩
- [12]Julian O’Shaughnessy, “I’m reconquering just like Peter the Great, insists Vladimir Putin,” Times, June 10, 2022, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/president-putin-creates-police-department-to-impose-martial-law-xqhlt79fn; Reuters, “Hailing Peter the Great, Putin draws parallel with mission to ‘return’ Russian lands,” June 9, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/hailing-peter-great-putin-draws-parallel-with-mission-return-russian-lands-2022-06-09/; Ishaan Tharoor, “Putin makes his imperial pretensions clear,” Washington Post, June 13, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/13/putin-imperial-russia-empire-ukraine/↩
- [13]Jamie Dettmer, “Ukraine is at great risk of its front lines collapsing,” Politico, April 3, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-great-risk-front-line-collapse-war-russia/↩
- [14]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↩