First. Most protesters do not know that after the 2006 election 2 members of fatah were executed by hamas. 2nd us steel does not have the money to make improvements to its operstion so next stop is liquidation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syuD4KJekao&t=305s This is a great diplomatic move by biden if true,as biden offers up the hamas central command in gaza, for a stop of the rafah attack......it would give bibi a victory he can give to the israel people, and equally hamstring hamas at the same time...who would miss this hamas leadership at the cost of saving innocent palestinian lives for sure...but if true, it really puts a decision to what are Bibi's mains aims for this war? is it to break hamas leadership to give themselfs a win, or is it the devastation of last city in gaza, and the major culling of the Palestinian people.....Bibi has a decision to make, on what he thinks is the best option, and how israel will be known? :(
Where are the pro Ukrainian protests? Seems to me these pro Palestinian protests are highly organized. Spontaneous on many campuses with the same flags, tents, head scarves, etc. Just a coincidence?
And where were all the protestors when Bashar al-Assad, with the help of the Russians, was slaughtering 100s of 1000s of Syrians? Just seems like Hamas has the best social media influencer campaign that draws in lots of naïve gullible college kids..
Because this is in the news and it's big! It's a conflict and an injustice that's been going on decades and the world is sick of it. It's not hard to work out why it's gotten traction.
Biden has two problems. One, he is not well liked and never has been. In '88, his first run flamed out when he was exposed as a plagiarist. In'08, he got 1% of the vote in several primaries, with his high water mark 3% in his home state. In '20, he was 4th in Iowa and 5th in NH. Clyburn picked him off the scrap heap in SC. He won because he wasn't Trump. Two, he's 81 and looks and acts old. He's got obvious mental and physical issues. Who thinks he could ever complete a second term? This is why his favorability is stuck at 39% and going nowhere,
Remember the good old days when having a mistress or plagiarism could end your campaign? When lying about getting a blow job in the Oval Office could get you impeached?
You are right but if he wins in 2024 it will be because he isn't Donald Trump again.
If voters can't tolerate an old geezer who acts like he's 81 (because he IS 81) and choose a criminally corrupt and certifiably crazy 78 year old conman the that is democracy and that is what America deserves.
There's nothing wrong with Biden. But there is a shitload wrong with the American electorate.
While I agree generally with Biden's foreign policy, his tendency to hedge, first with Ukraine (don't get too aggressive with Russia) and now with Israel (no bombing but we'll help you defend yourself), undercuts its effectiveness. In order for Ukraine and Israel to win in the battlefield and then at the negotiating table, they must be aggressive. They will not win by just playing defense. Nor will Russia, Iran and Iranian proxy forces be deterred if US aid comes so heavily conditioned.
Well I don't want a President who immediately goes in to a situation without some consideration and analysis. I'm no military expert, but seems Hamas does need to be defeated for Israel's safety. Apparently Hamas hides in these tunnels. The question is do you deal with that by destroying everything above ground? By the way we and our allies did that in Germany and Japan. But what were the alternatives?
Someone in the Biden campaign needs to explain eventually that trump *will do nothing at all* for the Palestinian people. No humanitarian aid. No help to secure a single inch of soil of their own anywhere on earth. Trump will support and enable Netanyahu to remain in power. He will continue to betray them, as he did in 2017. The pro-Palestinian protesters have to reckon with the fact that in this close election, no vote or a third-party vote is a vote for trump.
You could say the same thing about the ordinary citizens of Russia, China, and many other totalitarian countries. So, do Russian citizens bear no responsibility if "their government" attacks other countries? Is it immoral for Ukraine to bomb Russian cities, because Russian citizens have no rights? The war in Gaza certainly presents a dilemma, but giving its citizens a free pass for all actions of their own government can't be the right answer.
Trump's revolving stance on vaccines is unsurprisingly transactional. He seemingly "flipped" from charitably vax-skeptical to enthusiastic proponent during the development of the Operation Warp Speed vaccines because he was told that the vaccines would be the fastest way to get society back to "normal" and thought there was a chance that shots would start going into arms before the election and he could use it to proclaim that he and his Trump vax (why not brand it?) saved the world. He Alone Did It. But when it became increasingly evident that the public wouldn't start getting shots in arms until after the election, one that was also becoming likely that he would lose as well, did he switch back to vaccine skepticism. The last move is the most heinous because there was an internal calculation made by Trump that if he was not going to be President anymore he wanted the fewest amount of people vaccinated as possible so as to maximize the amount of sickness and death which could be laid at the feet of his successor, despite the fact that this would disproportionately affect his own supporters. That Trump himself got vaxxed in private just underscores this hypocrisy. I have no doubt that had he won the election he would have turned on a dime, again, and started hugging the vaccine hypodermic even harder than he hugged (assaulted?) that poor flag at CPAC.
Selber says "we are all—every American—responsible for the wars fought in our names." If that principal is applied in Gaza, then every Gazan is responsible for the actions of Hamas. Ironically, even though the Hamas leaders are pleased to see ordinary Gazans starve and die, as it will provide them with new recruits, and line their pockets with a significant portion of the bounty that the western world will send to Gaza after the fighting has stopped. Historically, when wars are started with an unprovoked violent and deadly attack (think Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, or Russia's invasion of Ukraine), the world has concurred with Selber's statement, but most seem to apply a different set of rules related to Gaza's attack on Israel. Is that warranted, or is something more sinister at play?
We have democratic control over the actions of the US government. The vast majority of residents of Gaza have no influence over Hamas. 70 percent of Gazans were not alive when the last Democratic election was held in Gaza.
I’m not getting “The Morning Shots” newsletter in my Substack feed. At least for the last several days. I have to go through my email to find the newsletter. Is anyone else experiencing this?
Thanks for mentioning this. I've stopped receiving it *in my email.* It's not in my "Junk" folder. It's just stopped coming. I have to come to the site each day to read it. Same goes for "Overtime" and all other Bulwark newsletters I once received. I'll drop a line to Jim Swift and will call attention to this exchange.
I said I'd pass this along to Jim Swift, whom I've corresponded with in the past, but I can't find the previous communication and am not sure how to contact him beyond the generic Overtime email. I'll probably give that a shot.
I agree with the piece, but the Israelis may need more convincing that the U.S. isn't abandoning them.
What confounds me is why the U.N. and Biden administration oppose any and all evacuation of the Palestinian people out of the war zone. They either believe such displacement would be "ethnic cleansing" or they fear that such charges would be made. Never mind that would save tens of thousands of Palestinian lives, protect aid workers, ensure aid did not go to Hamas, liberate the people from Hamas, and allow Israel to fulfill its objective to disable Hamas. This is utterly galling to me.
I don't know if Biden put any pressure on Egypt or Jordan. I don't know if such pressure would have worked. I don't know if Gazans could have been safely transported to the West Bank.
I know there's no easy solution, but that seems to me to be the only solution. Get these people out of the goddamned war zone.
I am old enough to remember Trump bragging about Operation Warp Speed. Anyone can find videos of it on the internet. Hence, his current switch to anti-vax is particularly rich, even for him.
“And by the other way, he said the other night that vaccines are fine,”
Will, did you accidently add that first "other" or did trump really say "And by the other way"?
I watched the video, and didn't hear him say that - but the vid was obviously quite heavily edited, especially when he was trying to get to the end of long sentences. I wondered if you'd seen something un-edited, and this was further evidence of his obvious dysphasia.
Migs, I understand ultimately there must be a political solution, but in Gaza Israel has no partner in peace.
First. Most protesters do not know that after the 2006 election 2 members of fatah were executed by hamas. 2nd us steel does not have the money to make improvements to its operstion so next stop is liquidation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syuD4KJekao&t=305s This is a great diplomatic move by biden if true,as biden offers up the hamas central command in gaza, for a stop of the rafah attack......it would give bibi a victory he can give to the israel people, and equally hamstring hamas at the same time...who would miss this hamas leadership at the cost of saving innocent palestinian lives for sure...but if true, it really puts a decision to what are Bibi's mains aims for this war? is it to break hamas leadership to give themselfs a win, or is it the devastation of last city in gaza, and the major culling of the Palestinian people.....Bibi has a decision to make, on what he thinks is the best option, and how israel will be known? :(
https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-said-offering-intel-on-hamas-leaders-whereabouts-if-israel-drops-major-rafah-op/#:~:text=The%20Biden%20administration%20has%20reportedly,Gaza's%20southernmost%20city%20of%20Rafah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgEC5hcsTwM
Where are the pro Ukrainian protests? Seems to me these pro Palestinian protests are highly organized. Spontaneous on many campuses with the same flags, tents, head scarves, etc. Just a coincidence?
And where were all the protestors when Bashar al-Assad, with the help of the Russians, was slaughtering 100s of 1000s of Syrians? Just seems like Hamas has the best social media influencer campaign that draws in lots of naïve gullible college kids..
Because this is in the news and it's big! It's a conflict and an injustice that's been going on decades and the world is sick of it. It's not hard to work out why it's gotten traction.
I think this column from Tom Friedman is worth a read (gift link). It’s about Biden but primarily it’s about Israel.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/10/opinion/bidens-real-mistake-in-pausing-military-aid-to-israel.html?unlocked_article_code=1.rE0.7gh5.cUfVy7jdJ98G&smid=url-share
Biden has two problems. One, he is not well liked and never has been. In '88, his first run flamed out when he was exposed as a plagiarist. In'08, he got 1% of the vote in several primaries, with his high water mark 3% in his home state. In '20, he was 4th in Iowa and 5th in NH. Clyburn picked him off the scrap heap in SC. He won because he wasn't Trump. Two, he's 81 and looks and acts old. He's got obvious mental and physical issues. Who thinks he could ever complete a second term? This is why his favorability is stuck at 39% and going nowhere,
Old yes. But mental issues based on what? By the way FDR had significant physical issues.
Remember the good old days when having a mistress or plagiarism could end your campaign? When lying about getting a blow job in the Oval Office could get you impeached?
You are right but if he wins in 2024 it will be because he isn't Donald Trump again.
If voters can't tolerate an old geezer who acts like he's 81 (because he IS 81) and choose a criminally corrupt and certifiably crazy 78 year old conman the that is democracy and that is what America deserves.
There's nothing wrong with Biden. But there is a shitload wrong with the American electorate.
Great article, Will Selber.
While I agree generally with Biden's foreign policy, his tendency to hedge, first with Ukraine (don't get too aggressive with Russia) and now with Israel (no bombing but we'll help you defend yourself), undercuts its effectiveness. In order for Ukraine and Israel to win in the battlefield and then at the negotiating table, they must be aggressive. They will not win by just playing defense. Nor will Russia, Iran and Iranian proxy forces be deterred if US aid comes so heavily conditioned.
'
Well I don't want a President who immediately goes in to a situation without some consideration and analysis. I'm no military expert, but seems Hamas does need to be defeated for Israel's safety. Apparently Hamas hides in these tunnels. The question is do you deal with that by destroying everything above ground? By the way we and our allies did that in Germany and Japan. But what were the alternatives?
Someone in the Biden campaign needs to explain eventually that trump *will do nothing at all* for the Palestinian people. No humanitarian aid. No help to secure a single inch of soil of their own anywhere on earth. Trump will support and enable Netanyahu to remain in power. He will continue to betray them, as he did in 2017. The pro-Palestinian protesters have to reckon with the fact that in this close election, no vote or a third-party vote is a vote for trump.
The NY Times reported at the time trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem: "John O. Brennan, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said in a statement that Mr. Trump’s action was 'reckless' and would 'damage U.S. interests in the Middle East for years to come and will make the region more volatile.' ” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/world/middleeast/trump-jerusalem-israel-capital.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
Seven years later, turmoil has come.
You could say the same thing about the ordinary citizens of Russia, China, and many other totalitarian countries. So, do Russian citizens bear no responsibility if "their government" attacks other countries? Is it immoral for Ukraine to bomb Russian cities, because Russian citizens have no rights? The war in Gaza certainly presents a dilemma, but giving its citizens a free pass for all actions of their own government can't be the right answer.
Trump's revolving stance on vaccines is unsurprisingly transactional. He seemingly "flipped" from charitably vax-skeptical to enthusiastic proponent during the development of the Operation Warp Speed vaccines because he was told that the vaccines would be the fastest way to get society back to "normal" and thought there was a chance that shots would start going into arms before the election and he could use it to proclaim that he and his Trump vax (why not brand it?) saved the world. He Alone Did It. But when it became increasingly evident that the public wouldn't start getting shots in arms until after the election, one that was also becoming likely that he would lose as well, did he switch back to vaccine skepticism. The last move is the most heinous because there was an internal calculation made by Trump that if he was not going to be President anymore he wanted the fewest amount of people vaccinated as possible so as to maximize the amount of sickness and death which could be laid at the feet of his successor, despite the fact that this would disproportionately affect his own supporters. That Trump himself got vaxxed in private just underscores this hypocrisy. I have no doubt that had he won the election he would have turned on a dime, again, and started hugging the vaccine hypodermic even harder than he hugged (assaulted?) that poor flag at CPAC.
Selber says "we are all—every American—responsible for the wars fought in our names." If that principal is applied in Gaza, then every Gazan is responsible for the actions of Hamas. Ironically, even though the Hamas leaders are pleased to see ordinary Gazans starve and die, as it will provide them with new recruits, and line their pockets with a significant portion of the bounty that the western world will send to Gaza after the fighting has stopped. Historically, when wars are started with an unprovoked violent and deadly attack (think Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, or Russia's invasion of Ukraine), the world has concurred with Selber's statement, but most seem to apply a different set of rules related to Gaza's attack on Israel. Is that warranted, or is something more sinister at play?
Jew hatred. And we all know it.
We have democratic control over the actions of the US government. The vast majority of residents of Gaza have no influence over Hamas. 70 percent of Gazans were not alive when the last Democratic election was held in Gaza.
I’m not getting “The Morning Shots” newsletter in my Substack feed. At least for the last several days. I have to go through my email to find the newsletter. Is anyone else experiencing this?
Thanks for mentioning this. I've stopped receiving it *in my email.* It's not in my "Junk" folder. It's just stopped coming. I have to come to the site each day to read it. Same goes for "Overtime" and all other Bulwark newsletters I once received. I'll drop a line to Jim Swift and will call attention to this exchange.
fwiw, I still get the email but the "read in browser" option disappeared a couple of weeks ago. don't know if that's connected somehow.
I said I'd pass this along to Jim Swift, whom I've corresponded with in the past, but I can't find the previous communication and am not sure how to contact him beyond the generic Overtime email. I'll probably give that a shot.
Found him on Twitter - a platform I've stopped using. Glad it's still good for *something.*
I agree with the piece, but the Israelis may need more convincing that the U.S. isn't abandoning them.
What confounds me is why the U.N. and Biden administration oppose any and all evacuation of the Palestinian people out of the war zone. They either believe such displacement would be "ethnic cleansing" or they fear that such charges would be made. Never mind that would save tens of thousands of Palestinian lives, protect aid workers, ensure aid did not go to Hamas, liberate the people from Hamas, and allow Israel to fulfill its objective to disable Hamas. This is utterly galling to me.
I don't know if Biden put any pressure on Egypt or Jordan. I don't know if such pressure would have worked. I don't know if Gazans could have been safely transported to the West Bank.
I know there's no easy solution, but that seems to me to be the only solution. Get these people out of the goddamned war zone.
I am old enough to remember Trump bragging about Operation Warp Speed. Anyone can find videos of it on the internet. Hence, his current switch to anti-vax is particularly rich, even for him.
“And by the other way, he said the other night that vaccines are fine,”
Will, did you accidently add that first "other" or did trump really say "And by the other way"?
I watched the video, and didn't hear him say that - but the vid was obviously quite heavily edited, especially when he was trying to get to the end of long sentences. I wondered if you'd seen something un-edited, and this was further evidence of his obvious dysphasia.