Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.
Last night, the U.S. bombed another country, Yemen, in the name of the “rules-based order.” Yemen has been striking shipping as a form of protest against the ongoing Israeli genocide-in-slow-motion in Gaza. It always looks good when the U.S. uses its military to enable mass murder elsewhere. I’m sure the “peace bombs” we dropped will bring stability to the region.
The U.S. military bombs and launches Tomahawk missiles as its answer to everything. Meanwhile, our dynamic commander in chief, Joe Biden, launched a new front in this war of terror without Congressional authorization, an impeachable offense. But of course most in Congress will salute him for taking “decisive” action by bombing yet another poor country with brown-skinned Muslim people living in it. Perhaps Biden is counting on being a “wartime president” as a way to eke out a narrow victory in November.
In Gaza, incremental genocide continues with at least 23,000 Palestinians dead and another 60,000 wounded, the majority being women and children. The Israeli government is poisoning the land and water of Gaza, blasting buildings into rubble, and starving the Palestinians while still claiming to be the victims of the war. Antony Blinken, America’s diplomat-in-chief, says the war will end when Hamas offers its unconditional surrender. After which, what, exactly? Israel will rebuild Gaza and embrace Palestinians as brothers and sisters?
In Ukraine, the war continues to be stalemated as Ukraine waits for another $65 billion or so in aid from the Biden administration. Which brings me to this story from The Boston Globe this morning:
More than $1 billion worth of shoulder-fired missiles, drones, and night-vision goggles that the United States has sent to Ukraine have not been properly tracked by US officials, a new Pentagon report concluded, raising concerns they could be stolen or smuggled at a time when Congress is debating whether to send more military aid to Ukraine.
Over the last two years, the U.S. has flooded Ukraine with weaponry, producing a stalemated war and a healthy black market in stolen arms. The next step should be obvious: persist in the same folly by sending Ukraine even more weapons. Again, the argument is made that it’s all Russia’s fault and that, if Putin wants the war to end, he should basically surrender by withdrawing all Russian troops from the territory he has seized.
There you have it. The annihilation of Gaza will stop when Hamas totally surrenders and the war in Ukraine will stop when Russia totally surrenders, otherwise the U.S. must keep sending more than $100 billion in weaponry and aid to the “democracies” of Israel and Ukraine in their righteous battles against evil. Yes, that really is the position of Biden and Blinken.
Finally, a reader sent along this important article on how the U.S. is funding these wars and in fact the entire war on terror: by deficit spending. Call it “the ghost budget.” America’s national debt has ballooned to $34 trillion mainly due to the disastrous war on terror (roughly $8 trillion), colossal Pentagon budgets, and gargantuan bailouts of banks and corporations due to financial and Covid crises, real or constructed. Vast wealth continues to flow upwards in America as Biden’s “everyday people” struggle. Whether for Biden or Trump, the answer to the debt is always more tax breaks for the rich in the name of “stimulating” growth. Those tax breaks, of course, only drive the national debt up further, but never mind that.
What’s coming is a concerted attack on social security and Medicare/Medicaid in the name of fiscal responsibility. As the comedian George Carlin predicted: They’re coming for your social security. And they’ll get it, he added. Which is consistent with what Joe Biden has said in the past about the need to cut social security as well as health and veterans’ benefits.
Happy Friday, everyone.
William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views.
In the past, Joe Biden has called Social Security and Medicare “sacred cows”. Been consistent about that for nearly 45 years. He lies about it, but will not give a straight answer as to his support.
He has wanted to cut it for all of his time in the senate, if that is what you mean.
I’m paraphrasing Aaron Maté: “Yemen is actually conducting a Humanitarian Intervention to stop Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.”
Title should be “ Bombing Another Country on the behalf of another country “
Eventually, America will manage bombing every nation on Earth at least once.
They may be a quarter of the way there.
Joe Biden hopes this will get him re-elected. He is oblivious to the fact the protesters voices keep getting louder and clearer. They will not vote for him.
Zelensky is feeling down because the world is more focused on the war in the ME than the war in Ukraine. Both of the wars should end but Biden will let it last longer than the Energizer Bunny.
SURE Biden send all our money to that guy in Ukraine, Just print more money, until it bucks almost worthless son every little nothing house costs more than a million… You just go Genocide Joe…..!!!!!!
Profligate spending paid for with fabricated fake fiat ‘money’ (sic) is stupid. Spending it on unnecessary aggressive imperial wars is stupid, spending it on socialist Ponzi scams that make dependent drones on the government dole of the public is stupid, spending it to subsidize genocide by a foreign nation is the epitome of stupid. The State is stupid and everything it does is stupid and evil and the evil will only end when the State does and it appears to be hell-bent on self-destruction. Good riddance, and the sooner, the better.