Politics/History Archives

Some Bright Spots

For anyone with a functioning intellect, a sense of America’s stumbling, start-and-stop forward momentum, and a conscience, last week was yet another depressing episode in the Trump/Republican determined march backward. The EPA writing its own death warrant? Business as usual these days.

Yet we shouldn’t miss promising developments when they occur. The first of these was the emergence of Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the NYC Democratic Party’s mayoral primary, and his likely victory in this fall’s election. Ignore the party label—Mamdani is a Democratic Socialist, and his win reflects the growing influence of socialist voters nationwide, especially among the young.

This is a good thing. If you doubt that, then you have to question the importance of Social Security and Medicare in your own life. Socialist influence was instrumental in making both programs a reality, and if you’re like most Americans, you wouldn’t want to be without them. In fact, socialist ideas and actions have a long and interesting history in the United States, and the Democratic Socialists of America are enjoying new growth and support as Trump continues to wipe out our past progress. There is still hope, and DSA will be instrumental in realizing it.

Another promising development: last week, French President Emmanuel Macron endorsed a Palestinian state. He is the first head of state among the “Group of 7” to do so. We hope the UK’s Keir Starmer soon joins him.

Macron became fed up with America’s continued blind support of Israel as the ongoing genocide’s atrocities keep growing. Over 1,000 people shot dead since May as they trekked to the misbegotten Israel-U.S. food delivery sites. Starvation in Gaza growing by the day, as a deliberate policy. Netanyahu’s far-right government proposing the expulsion of all Palestinians, so Gaza can be turned into a luxury resort.

Thank God for Macron’s intellect, his sense of history, and his conscience. Israel’s war crimes must be stopped. The new French support for a Palestinian state won’t accomplish this alone, but it is an important step forward. It is also a step very much in tune with DSA’s anti-Zionist stance.

Mamdani hasn’t been elected yet and Israel is still a massive violator of fundamental human rights, but it’s still possible to find bright spots now and then.

Murderous Idiocy

Have a quick look at the video still below. In it, you will see that President Trump’s mouth is open (this is generally true of almost every photo or video in which the man appears) and, to Trump’s right, Vice President Vance assuming a studied, statesman-like pose. On Trump’s left appear the comedy team of Rubio and Hegseth: Li’l Marco assumes his rightful place behind our Supreme Leader while displacing Whiskey Leaks to the perimeter.

Trump, Vance, Rubio & Hegseth. Video still: C-SPAN. — Video still: C-SPAN.

Why were these important U.S. officials in front of the camera?

They were there to announce that the United States had bombed Iran’s nuclear sites in the middle of the night, just as war criminal Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu had urged them to do.

Not to worry, though. According to a post from Trump, “A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!”

The more important BOMBS in question were GBU-57s, or Massive Ordnance Penetrators, which weigh 30,000 pounds each. They were used to attack Iran’s subterranean Fordo (according to the Times) or Fordow (according to the Guardian) nuclear enrichment facility, and delivered by B-2 stealth bombers. Either 12 or 14 BOMBS were dropped.

Whatever the number, our Commander in Chief assured us that “Fordow is gone.”

This morning, Pete Hegseth, a.k.a. the Pentagon Princess and looking sharp in a tatt-concealing navy suit, held a news briefing of his own to reaffirm Trump’s steam of superlatives. All of Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites were obliterated, he said, and the attacks were “an incredible and overwhelming success.” BTW, the strikes were codenamed Operation Midnight Hammer. Gotta love our military nomenclature.

Pete Hegseth. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images. — Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.

That Hammer might have missed some nails, though. After Hegseth spoke, top Pentagon officials said that it was too soon to say whether Iran still retains some nuclear ability.

Many commentators believe the American attacks will likely lead to seriously adverse consequences for the world at large, regardless of the BOMBS’ efficacy. Check this out, for example.

Once more, I must ask you not to worry unduly. In the conclusion of his Saturday night address to the nation, Donald Trump had this to say:

“And I want to just thank everybody and in particular, God, I want to just say we love you, God, and we love our great military, protect them. God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel, and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you.”

We’ll conclude with the optimistic image below, from Dr. Strangelove: it shows Slim Pickens enthusiastically riding his BOMB to earth, completely confident in the blessings it will bestow. God was no doubt pleased.

Slim Pickens riding the bomb. Film still: Wikimedia Commons. — Film still: Wikimedia Commons.

Why Is This Happening?

Many of us have been stunned into silence the first part of this year, as Trump’s new administration rolls toward implementing the authoritarian U.S. government that had been predicted. We’re warned almost daily not to be complacent, not to be the frog in the pot of boiling water. Yet the majority of us continue to go about our daily lives, trying to suppress the great unease we now feel.

Nor is America the only place witnessing the ascendancy of the far right. It is a worldwide phenomenon now, and it frequently seems there is no stopping it from growing even more pronounced.

Why is this happening?

Disaster Nationalism by Richard Seymour, book cover. — The best explanation to date for Trump’s rise and the appeal of “strong men” around the world.

The Northern Irish writer Richard Seymour provides the best set of answers we’ve yet seen in his book Disaster Nationalism.

And what is disaster nationalism? According to our search engine’s AI assistant, “Disaster nationalism refers to a political phenomenon where far-right movements exploit crises, such as environmental disasters or economic turmoil, to promote nationalist agendas and rally support. This concept highlights how these movements thrive on societal fears and insecurities, often offering a sense of identity and belonging in times of chaos.”

That is a high-level view, and also something of an understatement. Disaster Nationalism is an adroit manipulation of the resentment and anger that everyone feels from time to time—it can harness the latent fascist tendencies lurking within many citizens, and it is doing so at an alarming rate today.

Seymour is a strong writer and his exegesis is compelling. If you’re concerned about what’s happening today, in America and around the world, you should read this book.

Please note: this will be the last Writeside.com-issued newsletter for the foreseeable future. As an experiment, Writeside is transitioning to Substack. Our newsletter will continue to appear there, and will continue to be free, albeit with occasional paid options. We hope you’ll join us.

End-Stage America

Recently, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reset the Doomsday Clock. It is now 89 seconds until midnight. We are, in the opinion of these scientists, closer than ever to the end of human civilization.

It’s not just nuclear weapons that determine this estimate—climate change, bioterrorism and artificial intelligence play major roles as well. Suffice it to say the future does not look bright.

The Doomsday Clock. Source: the bulletin.org.

Science and scientists are not in vogue in today’s dumbed-down and duplicitous America, but that hardly matters. Nothing lasts forever, and the United States certainly won’t.

America’s unwinding has been visible for a long time now. George Packer’s The Unwinding was published in 2013, and there were many warning signs prior to that. Over the last 12 years, the country’s disintegration has accelerated rapidly. Donald Trump has been elected twice.

Today’s U.S. citizens are more widely divergent in their beliefs and their acuity than ever. Half of all households, maybe somewhat more, own no books. The American educational system has been in serious decline for years, as have students’ reading abilities.

Red states are growing much faster than blue states, and they are rich in resentment and vindictiveness toward the blue elites (i.e., ordinary people who have a college education and a conscience). Now the far right has assumed power.

“Assumed” is the right word, because Trump & Co. are not limiting themselves to constitutionally authorized authority. Elon Musk, the adolescent genius elected by no one, has assembled a callow wrecking crew to dismantle entire U.S. government agencies, and as of now no one is stopping him.

The Democratic Party, as has been widely noted, doesn’t have a clue. Their attempts to protect the crumbling, fumbling Biden were disastrous, and their attempts to organize and communicate have failed as well. Even if, against the odds, they managed to retake the White House in four years, it wouldn’t matter. The country’s divide is not going away and the far right has seized, and will retain, the upper hand.

If you want to keep the best of America, and American Democracy, then try to do so. Do whatever you can. But keep your eyes wide open, and watch your back. Things are not likely to get better.

Today’s Israel Should Not Exist

At least, not in its present form.

Before we go any further, please note that this post is most definitely not antisemitic. We have many Jewish friends, both here in the U.S. and overseas, and we treasure them. We salute Jewish achievements in the sciences and the arts, particularly those in literature and music. We would like all Jewish people to live in peace, unthreatened and in harmony with others everywhere. Sadly, though, this does not seem possible.

Antisemitism is very real, of course, and it—especially its horrendous manifestation in the Holocaust—underlies Israel’s foundation. It is also why well-meaning people continue to believe in and support Israel, even today. Yet we would argue that supporting Israel at the close of 2024 is in itself antisemitic. Israel today is antithetical to true Jewish values, and to any value system that incorporates empathy and fair treatment of others. A country run by criminals, and war criminals at that? Its current government and military policies are a blight on the Jewish people. Israel has become a criminal enterprise which imposes apartheid on many of its citizens and war crimes and genocide on the Palestinians within its territory. In the latter part of this year, the American-funded IDF has expanded its genocidal campaign to Lebanon and Syria as well.

Amnesty International concluded, after a nine-month study, that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

The Nakba of 1948, when many Palestinians were forced from their land and/or murdered for it, provided a preview of what was to come. Yet the death of some six million Jews in World War II was still uppermost in world leaders’ minds and it was generally believed the Jewish people deserved a haven, a safe refuge to help atone for all they had suffered. Israel was not established in the most ethical or humane manner, but there was a need for a Jewish homeland, it was felt.

In hindsight, this was obviously the wrong approach. How many peace talks have there been? How many proposed two-state solutions? How many wars? The Zionist project has led to where we are today.

A further effect of Israel’s steady descent into the monster state it is today has been the complicity it has imposed on its supporters, the U.S. foremost among them. Joe Biden’s legacy will be forever smeared by his total embrace of Israel’s actions, much more so than by his inept loss of political power.

Even at this writing, though, strong criticism of Israel is censored or downplayed. Students voicing their consciences are punished. Mainstream media are mostly silent. To the extent Israel’s atrocities are reported, they are muted to a point where they become background noise. Israel bombed a hospital/refugee camp today, and X people were killed. Ho-hum. The story is buried deep within a section or quickly mouthed in one sentence during broadcasts. “Settlers” murder Palestinians with impunity in the West Bank, and that seems to go completely unreported.

Just today (December 20), the New York Times reported on yet another Israeli bombing on a hospital in northern Gaza. The headline was “‘We Just Want Mercy’: A Gaza Hospital Pleads for a Respite.” Fair enough, as far as it goes. But the story was nowhere to be found on the paper’s home page. It’s become old news, you see.

Kamal Adwan Hospital this month. Credit: Agence France-Press—Getty Images.

America’s involvement with and complicity in Israel’s inhuman behavior will only grow stronger with the incoming administration. This will harm both countries, and many others in the world as well. After all, neither nation is particularly stable these days.

The atrocities Israel continues to perpetrate will eventually lead to its destruction, regardless of how long this may take. Decent Israel citizens should be planning now to seek improved lives elsewhere. Given current circumstances in the United States, there may be better options than here.

No Good Outcome

The dreaded 2024 U.S. Presidential Election is nearly upon us, and many Americans report heightened anxiety. U.S. voters are right to be anxious, but perhaps not for the reasons they think.

There is a widespread narrative that casts this election as a battle between authoritarianism on the one hand, and democracy on the other. That is a superficial, black-and-white fairy tale that bears little resemblance to the truth. It would have you believe that, if the Democrats can manage to win, America will be saved and reason will prevail.

But consider: the country is intractably divided, almost 50-50. The election will not change that. Voters are divided largely on the basis of educational attainment, and the U.S. educational system has performed poorly in recent decades (hence the divide). The election will not change that, either.

Consider, too, that the world is becoming an increasingly dangerous place. Vicious, genocidal campaigns are occurring in the Mideast and Africa, and they are simply background noise in the West. Climate change is accelerating more rapidly than anticipated, and the powers that be ignore that, too. Will the 2024 election change either of those realities? Will it result in a more equitable and peaceful human society, even in the United States?

Of course not.

In this context, why should one even bother to vote?

The answer to that question summons the old hope vs. despair argument—i.e., you can either give up, or you can try to make things better in some small way.

One could argue that, over the course of millennia, humanity has made gradual advances and improvements.

One could also argue the opposite.

If you believe in incremental progress, then you should vote for Kamala Harris and the Democrats. Such a vote is less likely to result in immediate chaos or increase human rights violations and/or climate disasters. (Although all of these certainly remain possible.)

Just realize that your vote, and the election, will improve nothing by themselves. Change for the better will remain up to those willing to undertake it, after the votes have been cast.

A Sick Relationship

The anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel is rapidly approaching, so this seems an appropriate time to take stock of what, if anything, has changed in the never-ending Mideast horror show. The answer, unfortunately, is not much.

After October 7, there was a rightful condemnation of Hamas for the savagery and scale of its attacks on Israel citizens, and for the taking of Israeli hostages. Some 1,200 Israelis were killed, and around 250 were taken hostage. While some Arab and Muslim-majority countries (and some American college students) blamed Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories as the root cause of the attack, most global observers described the Hamas attack as terrorism.

Enemies of peace—U.S. & Israeli burning flags. — Enemies of peace. Source: independent.co.uk.

Almost immediately, though, Israel returned to the lopsided violence it has displayed from the time of the Nakba. Roughly 41,000 Palestinians have been killed to date, of whom nearly 18,000 were women and children. The actual number is probably higher. These people, mostly innocent civilians, were not just killed, they were killed with a vengeance—2,000-lb. bombs dropped on hospitals and shelters, in a campaign of indiscriminate destruction which has virtually leveled the entire Gazan infrastructure. And now the contagion of Israeli violence has spread to the West Bank, where “settlers” are murdering Palestinians with impunity. It is an old, old story: brutal force prevails. And it is a story in which Americans are strongly complicit.

(Americans, so far, have not been identified as complicit in the exploding pagers incident in Lebanon, a particularly sadistic example of Israeli belligerence.)

There is little doubt that Benjamin Netanyahu and his corrupt, right-wing government are guilty of numerous war crimes. Netanyahu is widely viewed as perpetuating the “war” (an inappropriate term for such a one-sided conflict) to avoid criminal prosecution, with no regard for Israeli hostages (or humanity in general) whatsoever. Regular Israeli citizens have repeatedly protested his government’s actions, to no avail. Netanyahu is doing what he is doing with American-supplied materiel and support, but this is not the only instance of the sick relationship between the two countries.

It is sickening to see Secretary of State Antony Blinken shuffling ineffectually back and forth, mouthing pieties about Israel’s right to self-defense and gently tapping Netanyahu’s wrist for various atrocities. It is sickening to see the elderly President Biden refusing to modify his support of Israel or significantly modify the American flow of weapons to the country, despite growing evidence of genocide in Gaza. And it is sickening to watch U.S. college students being arrested and punished for calling attention to that same genocide.

The U.S. presidential election occurs not long after the Oct. 7 anniversary. A Trump victory would only solidify America’s blind support of Israel. A Harris victory, though, might just tilt the relationship ever so slightly in the direction of justice.

The ultimate goal, as so many have said forever, is a two-state solution, where both nations are free and equal and Israel is no longer an apartheid state and an oppressor. That is the only way that Israel will ever be truly secure. This dream scenario seems as distant as ever, though. But that’s no reason why a new American president can’t nudge things toward the goal, by taking a firmer diplomatic stance with Israel and implementing a more rational policy of support, one which hinges on Israeli behavior.

An Image of Terminal Decline

As the United States prepares to celebrate Independence Day, the picture it presents to the world at large is not a good one. For that matter, the rest of the world isn’t looking so hot, either. The turn to the right, here and globally, seems inexorable.

The recent presidential “debate” is a stark example of how far this country has fallen. We’re offered two elderly white male candidates, one a convicted felon and congenital liar, the other an 81-year-old who could not complete his thoughts or sentences.

The catastrophic debate. Photo: Kenny Holston/The New York Times.

“I am worried about the image projected to the outside world,” Sergey Radchenko, a historian at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, was quoted as saying in the New York Times. “It is not an image of leadership. It is an image of terminal decline.”

France, Germany and the Netherlands, along with Italy, have also swung to the right, and thus have begun the process of dismantling societal safeguards that right-wing governments generally undertake. (The UK, thankfully, appears to be proceeding in the opposite direction.)

It’s well-known that the U.S. has been declining in terms of its citizens’ well-being relative to other nations. U.S. News & World Report, famous for its controversial college rankings, puts the United States at #23 in the world overall. The OECD* Better Life Index has us at #10 overall, but #33 (of 35) for social inequality, #28 (of 41) for voter turnout and #29 of 41 for life expectancy. Factor in our increasingly lax laws on the country’s 300 million+ guns and the Supreme Court’s determination that President Trump has absolute immunity for “official acts,” and our national situation is even worse than it looks.

As of this writing, President Biden is reportedly considering whether he should continue trying to persuade his party and the general public that he is an effective candidate, one who could handle the presidency for the next four years. The Times reports that if he concludes he cannot recover from his debate debacle, he could drop out of the race as soon as next week. That would raise new risks as a group of alternative candidates would grapple for the nomination at the Democratic National Convention. Nonetheless, it is probably the best course of action.

Even so, Trump seems likely to win in November. If he does, America’s outlook will be bleaker still.

* Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Genocide in Gaza

Where to begin? Let’s start with the oft-cited justification for the atrocities Israel has committed in Gaza since the Hamas attack of last October 7: “Israel has the right to defend itself.” What does that actually mean?

In practice, it seems to mean whatever the Israeli government says it should mean. It means well over 30,000 Gazan deaths so far (over 32,000, according to Al Jazeera), including a shocking number of children. It means indiscriminate bombing and reducing homes to rubble. It means mass displacement and it is beginning to mean starvation.

Yazan Kafarneh, 10, died of severe malnourishment on March 4. Photo: Hatem Ali/Associated Press.

Many Western figures, in government and media alike, seem to accept this “anything goes” rationale as a logical extension of Israel’s “right to defend itself.” President Biden basically endorsed this stance after October 7, before his more recent cosmetic, slow-moving retreat. And David Brooks, a supposed compassionate conservative, exemplifies the tortured logic behind Israel’s supposed need to obliterate Gaza in the process of defeating Hamas in a recent column entitled, “What Would You Have Israel Do to Defend Itself?”

“So where are we?” Brooks asks. “I’m left with the tragic conclusion that there is no magical alternative military strategy.” The rest of the column duly notes Israeli discrimination against Palestinians and the need for a more equitable future (but without endorsing a two-state solution).

Let’s illustrate this thinking in blunt terms. Mr. Brooks, do you believe it was necessary for Israel to kill more than 32,000 people, including more than 13,000 children; to destroy more than half of Gaza’s homes (some 360,000, Al Jazeera estimates); to implement mass displacement and withhold shipments of aid to create starvation for use as a weapon, in order to defeat Hamas? Answer: yes (tragically).

More than half of Gazan homes have been destroyed. Photo: Mohammed Hajjar/AP.

By this same rationale, it was necessary for Hamas to attack Israel on October 7 and kill more than 1,100 Israelis in order to fight injustice, strike a blow for freedom and underscore the Palestinian cause. If you’ve been oppressed for more than 70 years, had your land stolen and your rights taken away, doesn’t the end justify the means? Many American college students believe exactly that, which is why the leaders of Harvard and Penn were deposed, after a self-righteous and hypocritical hearing in the House.

The truth, it should be obvious, is that no one has the “right” or the justification to murder innocents. Yet Israel and its defenders insist on precisely that right. At times, they employ the memory of the Holocaust or Shoah, to underscore their need to have this right. If you’d like to take a closer look at how the Holocaust is employed in service of Israel’s murderous policies, this article in the London Review of Books does just that.

South Africa has brought a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, arguing that Israel is committing genocide. Most Western countries will reject this claim, but it appears Ireland is about to file an argument in support of South Africa’s case.

We believe genocide is occurring in Gaza, and that Israel and its leaders have committed numerous war crimes. We also believe Israel’s current actions have provoked a spike in antisemitism worldwide and have imperiled the country’s future security.

Ideally, an ICJ verdict in support of the genocide charge would be a first step toward justice and, hopefully, change. But change remains unlikely, especially if the U.S. continues its unequivocal military and financial support of the rogue Israeli state.

Ceasefire Now!

This page has been silent for most of 2023. In part, this has been due to work on a sizable project. In larger part, though, our silence reflects a stunned reaction to the ever-growing cascade of dire news around the world. What to say? Where to even begin?

Now, however, with 2024 on the horizon, it’s time to speak out again. We could address Trump’s possible (likely?) return to the White House next year … the world’s pathetic efforts to combat climate change … the hopeless situation of gun violence in America. Instead, we’ll focus on the most conspicuous bit of bad news on our screens at the moment: the incredibly disproportionate and criminal violence Israel continues to inflict on civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Gaza destruction. — Bombing survivors. Image source: Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images.

Yes, Hamas did commit atrocities against Israeli citizens on October 7. Horrendous atrocities. There’s no argument there. The argument is against the scale of Israel’s response. As always, far more Palestinians have died than Israelis, thanks in part to America’s long-term, continuing military support. And the Palestinians who have died are overwhelmingly civilians (many of them children), not Oct. 7 attackers. When called out on this, Israelis have pointed to America’s own disproportionate sins, namely Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

We should specify that we do not believe our anti-Zionist stance is antisemitic, though Israel and right-wing U.S. supporters would claim that it is. Rather, our condemnation of Israel’s long-term behavior, and its atrocious behavior right now, is a straightforward matter of observation. In addition to the vast destruction and the indiscriminate killing Israel is currently perpetrating, officials in that country’s government have been outspoken in calling for the blood of the “human animals” they are murdering in Gaza. Within the far-right Israeli government, there is not even a pretense of concern over civilian deaths.

Both Amnesty International and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), two groups noted for trying to stop violence and bloodshed around the globe, are calling for an immediate ceasefire. That is but a minimal first step. It’s a contemptible shame that Western governments, including our own, lack the courage to support even that.

By the way, Amnesty International also notes, correctly, that Israel operates an apartheid state, and has done so for decades.

If any of the above resonates with you, write to your government officials. Do something to counter the blind, pro-Israel support dominating our government. Say something! Donate to Amnesty and MSF. And if you want to push Israel harder, consider supporting BDS. (Note that this last step may entail personal risk at some point.)