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| Given the devastating effects of this war, first in Ukraine but also, through sanctions, on the world economy and the risks of famine that they entail, it seems obvious that the first task of any diplomat and political leader should be to end this war. The problem is that there are at least two ways of considering how this will end and they are irreconcilable. The first, which until recently was the view of the U.S. government, which is the view of the Ukrainian government, European Greens, and the majority of our media, is that the Russian invasion is illegitimate, unprovoked, and must simply be repelled: Ukraine must regain all of its territory, including Crimea (which has been attached to Russia since 2014). The other, supported by individuals as different as Chomsky, the Pope, Lula in Brazil, and Kissinger, is that a negotiated solution is inevitable, which in practice means Ukraine giving up territories such as Crimea and Donbass and presumably other regions, as well as agreeing to the neutrality of that country. |
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| President Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday, kicking off his short tour of the Middle East. In remarks made after his plane landed, the president said the connection between Israelis and Americans is "bone deep" and voiced his staunch support for the Jewish state. "The connection between the Israeli people and the American people is bone deep. It's bone-deep," Biden said at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. The president added that he believes the US relationship with Israel "is deeper and stronger, in my view, than it's ever been." The president voiced his support for a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. "We'll discuss my continued support - even though I know it's not in the near-term - a two-state solution," he said. |
| President Joe Biden is off to the Middle East. He apparently plans to welcome Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - ole "Slice 'n Dice," when it comes to journalistic critics - in from the cold. The president is abandoning the pretense that human rights motivate his administration. Of course, this should come as no surprise. Campaign promises rarely last much beyond election day. Candidates collect votes from hapless citizens, only to announce after winning that their commitments are impossible to keep. So it has been with treating Mideast royal dictatorships as the criminal regimes they are. President Donald Trump set the standard for shamelessly catering to Saudi whims. So ostentatious was his subservience that some suspected mercenary objectives, perhaps hoping to build a Trump Tower in Riyadh after leaving office or collect future investments for his son-in-law Jared Kushner. The more mundane explanation may be that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia brilliantly played to Trump's vanities while the Israelis convinced him that Riyadh was a necessary ally against Iran. Whatever the reason, there was no Saudi crime the Trump administration would not aid, abet, and cover-up. |
| | The US on Tuesday announced it was sending $1.7 billion in new aid to fund the Ukrainian government that is meant to pay Ukrainian healthcare workers and support other "essential services." The funds are coming from the US Treasury Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and are being pulled from the $40 billion Ukraine aid bill President Biden signed into law back in May. Also on Tuesday, the EU approved a new Ukraine aid package for 1 billion euros ($1 billion) in loans. The 1 billion is the first payment that's part of an EU plan to provide Ukraine with 9 billion euros in financial assistance. |
| Yes, Afghanistan went down the drain and Washington's global war on terror ended (more or less) in disaster 20 years after it began. But the urge to militarize the planet? Not a chance in an American world where, as TomDispatch regular William Hartung lays out in striking detail today, the Pentagon and the military-industrial complex plan to continue ruling the roost in Washington for time eternal. So, war, what is it good for? Absolutely something! In that sense, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a horror of the first order, has been anything but bad for the Pentagon. Just in case you hadn't noticed, three decades after the old Cold War ended, with a distinct helping hand from Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Biden administration has been playing its part admirably in ramping up this country's newest version of the old Cold War into an ever more militarized set of confrontations. |
| By William D. Hartung and Tom Engelhardt |
| Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan embark on their next excellent adventure later this week with President Joe Biden this time to the Middle East, with Israel the first stop. There is not the slightest pretense that the visitors will reproach their Israeli hosts on Israel's Apartheid regime. Nor does anyone expect President Biden to tell the Israelis they can no longer get away with murdering U.S. citizens. Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, shot by an Israeli soldier on May 11, comes to mind; also 23-year-old volunteer Rachel Corrie (crushed under an Israeli bulldozer on March 16, 2003), and the 34 seamen killed on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967. That the Israelis are given carte blanche - that they think they can get away with murder - should be no secret, whoever happens to be president in Washington. Just before President Barack Obama picked Biden to be his running mate, Biden crowed, "I am a Zionist. You dont have to be a Jew to be a Zionist." |
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