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May 20th, 2021
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One aspect of American exceptionalism is undoubtedly true. American policymakers believe that they have been anointed by heaven to rule the world. Just as God cares if a sparrow falls to earth, U.S. officials believe anything anyone does anywhere on the planet is a matter of Washington's concern. That is reflected in a foreign policy which essentially has turned the Monroe Doctrine into a global strategy: the US, and only the US, is entitled to intervene everywhere on earth.
Admittedly, the policy is not entirely consistent, with Uncle Sam sometimes implicitly delegating its authority. For instance, Washington cares little if, say, France sends its troops to Francophone Africa. Libya became a military mishmash involving several European and Middle Eastern allies, while Washington stuck with diplomacy. American officials did not object when Saudi Arabia used its military to bolster Bahrain's minority Sunni monarchy, crushing largely Shia pro-democracy protests; worse, the US actively aided Riyadh's murderous invasion of Yemen.
By Doug Bandow
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A report from The Washington Post revealed that the Biden administration approved a $735 million arms sale to Israel. Congress was officially notified of the sale on May 5th, less than one week before Israel began its latest bombing campaign in Gaza, which, so far, has taken the lives of over 200 Palestinians, including over 60 children.
A congressional aide told The Hill that the bulk of the $735 million deal is for Boeing-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which can convert unguided bombs into precision-guided munitions.
US arms sales and military aid to Israel are nothing new, but the bombing campaign in Gaza is drawing more attention to this deal. There's no chance Congress would move to block the sale, but some House Democrats are raising questions about leveraging such sales.
By Dave DeCamp
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As Israel continued its bombardment of Gaza on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "conquering" the besieged Gaza Strip is a possible option to achieve his goals.
"You can either conquer them - and that's always an open possibility - or you can deter them," Netanyahu said of Hamas during a speech at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv. "We are engaged right now in forceful deterrence, but I have to say, we are not ruling out anything."
A minister in Netanyahu's Likud party also discussed the idea of Israel conquering Gaza on Wednesday, something he said was an inevitability. "There will be no way to avoid one day temporarily taking over Gaza," Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Ynet on Wednesday. "That day has not arrived for all kinds of reasons. I think the day will come, if not now then in the coming year," he added.
By Dave DeCamp
In recent days the American embassy in Georgia has acknowledged recruiting students from what it calls the "occupied territories" of that nation, and not a day goes by without the U.S., NATO and the European Union demanding the independent republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in the Donbass and Crimea be returned to Ukraine. Those three regions, like the now independent nations referred to as Georgian land occupied by a foreign invader - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - are among as many as ten disputed territories in the former Soviet Union any one of which - if not all at the same time - could trigger a war. (As four already have: South Ossetia in 2008, Donetsk and Lugansk in 2014 and Nagorno-Karabakh last year.)
Last year Azerbaijan and Turkey, the second most powerful NATO member, invaded the minuscule state of Nagorno-Karabakh, ethnically Armenian but claimed by Azerbaijan because of a map drawn up during the Stalin years.
By Rick Rozoff
Netanyahu's own words, videotaped two decades ago, show his disdain for the malleability of former U.S. presidents. As it turns out, Netanyahu had good reason to hold them in contempt as he "maneuvered" around them to ensure unstinting American support for status-quo Israeli domination of the Palestinians.
How about now? Will he see President Biden as a wimp, with Biden's mealy-mouthed comment to Netanyahu earlier today that Biden "expects to see a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire" in Gaza
If past is precedent, Netanyahu's likely response will be a half-polite, "Joe, please take that and shove it and oh, by the way, I meant to thank you for your proposed sale of $735 million-worth of smart bombs a couple of weeks ago. It came at just the right time for me."
By Ray McGovern
President Biden requested a $753 billion military budget for the 2022 fiscal year, which would be the highest of all time. But this number is not enough for Republican hawks in Congress. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WI) said not increasing the budget by three to five percent would be a "red line" for Republicans. Bidens budget request would be about a 1.6 percent increase from 2021.
By Dave DeCamp
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