Standing on the arch of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Kamala Harris said she felt compelled to begin her remarks by addressing the deteriorating humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
“People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane. And our common humanity compels us to act,” the vice-president said, then stated: “Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire.” Loud, sustained applause followed, before she added, after a pause: “For at least six weeks.”
[Excerpted from The Guardian: Harris is reaching Democrats where Biden isn’t – on abortion and Gaza]As I asserted previously, this entire drama is really a farce: The United States, without whose support an Israeli administration is more akin to an incapacitated entity, is refusing to listen to any advice from Washington, DC! And that too relating to a situation where thousands are being killed in an acutely deliberate manner!
Unfortunately, it’s obvious the Netanyahu government has concluded that Washington will do nothing but be verbose—and they should just go their merry way. In this attitude, the initial response of the US administration after the October 7 Hamas attack has lots to do with shaping it: it was over the top.
And thus the most powerful nation in the universe has scaled down its request to a “pause” of “six weeks.” Astounding, at the very least, when judged against the nonstop carnage of large numbers of unarmed women and children. While simultaneously sending food aid by aircraft making it another comical situation: as Israeli bombers rain death, western aircraft rain food palettes.
(Here I’d prefer to highlight a few points for the sake of clarity: I’ve always supported Joe Biden to lead the nation after the shambles that the Trump administration had left in their wake. President Biden’s achievements since then in rectifying and advancing on numerous fronts have proven that our confidence in him was always correct, just as it is now despite some stumbles and hiccups.
Contrarily, the self-aggrandizing Republicans, the red-hatted braindead morons of the cult under the leadership of their Chief Mentor can never be acceptable. They all are incompetent and are therefore vastly interested in an autocratic system which, they believe, will make it easier to hold onto all powers for as long as they wish.)
While I’ve the opportunity I might as well underscore another factor. This administration has always emphasized that human rights and democracy form the cornerstone of its beliefs in governance here and all around the world. Tragically, that too has suffered since in many countries anti-democratic and plundering elements, who are frenetically looting national resources, have been favored to the grave detriment of those nations.
In these conditions what can be deduced from the words of officials in Washington, DC is that in certain areas they’ve had to consider the geopolitical factors while making regional decisions. Some of those decisions are, prima facie, dreadfully myopic that will ultimately not help the saner and truly patriotic elements or the principles of democracy in those regions. Many in fact are merely following the playbook as written by Vladimir Putin.
*The writer is was a media professional as an editor and copywriter for 50 years. He is currently a political commentator living in the United States.
March 19, 2024
The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of Aequitas Review.
