Into the valley of death sailed the 10,000, aboard aircraft carriers Ford and Eisenhower – sitting ducks for swarming drones & other weaponry not dreamed of by those who made short work of the Charge of the Light Brigade. Perhaps Blinken/Nuland/Austin want that? Or are just dumb?
What’s become of US intelligence?: Larry Johnson & I. Major flare-up expected in Red Sea & Persian Gulf. Is Secretary Austin briefed on what to expect if US bombs Yemen? Have intel analysts become mere targeteers? Should baby be thrown out with bathwater?
UNZOOMED and free at last! Ray was asked to lecture in person at Hofstra w/wrap-up on Russia-Ukraine. (The video and Q&A were chopped up by some gremlin, but it’s all there.) Do not miss Professor Eisenberg’s insights on actual history of NATO (at min 23).
North Korea Sunday tested a highly sophisticated ICBM that can reach all of US. Surprise: It’s from Russia! Intel analysts know this; White House apparently not ready to acknowledge it. Also cameos of Biden and Nat’l Intel Director driveling about Ukraine.
Ray compares harebrained thinking that got US stuck in Ukraine with US stuck in Vietnam: Russia taking over Europe (2023); Russia making all those “dominos” fall in Southeast Asia (1967).
http://www.unz.org/Pub/ProblemsCommunism-1967may-00064
LEAKS forced LBJ to quit. LEAKS NEEDED NOW.
https://raymcgovern.com/2023/04/13/dan-ellsberg-honored-with-sam-adams-award-for-integrity/
One reason it’s highly dangerous: What do Biden & Netanyahu have in common? Prison, if Biden loses in Ukraine or Bibi loses in Gaza. Kremlin thinks Bibi is “crazy like a fox”; Biden just “crazy”. But both have nukes, can play Samson. Ray w Garland Nixon.
US aid for Ukraine? Biden changes trope from “AS LONG AS IT TAKES” to “AS LONG AS WE CAN”. Will media take note of the difference? Sending LTG Antonio Aguto to advise military in Kyiv won’t turn tide; seems more a case of palliative care for Zelensky et al
On Crosstalk w/ Ramzy Baroud and Lionel, Ray recalls Brent Scowcroft telling Financial Times (Oct 14 04) that Israel’s PM Sharon “had President GWBush wrapped around his little finger, mesmerized”; video shows Netanyahu smirking “80% US support is “absurd”
https://rumble.com/v41ddzz-crosstalk-witnessing-genocide.html
By Ray McGovern
Alon Pinkas, former Consul General in NY, minces no words in an article in Haaretz
Netanyahu Must Be Politically Destroyed, or Israel Will Go Down With Him
One of the greatest myths about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is that he’s an astute statesman. His foreign policies regarding Iran, the United States, Hamas and in other crucial areas suggest the exact opposite
That Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasn’t resigned yet is an affront to decency. That not one member of his governing coalition of sycophants hasn’t demanded that he do so – or done so themselves – is scientific proof that invertebrates can form a government. It is a sad group profile in cowardice.
Netanyahu’s casual refusal to even consider the possibility is a cynical repudiation of integrity, and a callous disregard for the fundamental tenets of accountability and responsibility. More than anything, it is an insult to the Israeli public’s intelligence. This nation deserves better. His arrogant, smirking promise that “all will be investigated after the war” is a typical yet no less revolting lie meant to stall, delay and deceive.
I know I’ve written this several times already, as did many others, but it bears repeating. It is like Cato the Elder said in the Roman Senate prior to the Third Punic War in the second century B.C.E.: Carthago delenda est (Carthage must be destroyed) – an abridged version of a sentence he used at the end of all his speeches.
Yes, we know that accountability and responsibility are alien terms to the Israeli premier. They have been alien to him all his political life, so no surprise there. Yes, we know that it’s not in his political DNA. Yes, we know it’s driven not just by character but by a toxic cocktail of his political vulnerabilities, the ongoing corruption trial and his delusions of grandeur that he is some historical figure placed by providence to save Israel and Western civilization from Islamo-fascism, and can’t be bothered with earthly notions of failure and accountability.
Yes, we know he has no core ethics and values, and no moral compass, otherwise he would not have stood for election four times between 2019 and 2021 under criminal indictments. Yet still it is worth reiterating: Netanyahu Delenda est. Netanyahu must be politically destroyed, otherwise Israel will go down with him.
His responsibility for the October 7 debacle, the worst day in Israel’s history, has been and will increasingly be dealt with extensively. The same applies for his management of the war, which was hitched to his political survival.
However, there’s another aspect that deserves closer scrutiny: his foreign policy record. After all, here’s a man who built a career on the false premise of being an astute statesman, claiming even now that his experience is critical to winning the war. Even his harshest critics fell into that trap and, while castigating him politically, exhibited an inexplicable reverence for his foreign relations acumen against all evidence.
Let’s take a look at his record. There are seven fundamental and conceptual foreign policy mistakes he has made over the years.
First – and his claim to fame – Iran. His criticism of the Iran nuclear deal (aka the JCPOA) and his speech to the U.S. Congress in 2015 against President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden was accompanied by promises of “a better deal,” which he of course failed to deliver. He isolated Israel, effectively making Iran an Israeli issue in the eyes of the world.
Then, in 2018, he encouraged then-President Donald Trump to withdraw from the agreement, failing to come up with a substitute policy. The result: Iran has now, under his watch, enriched more uranium and accumulated more fissile material than ever before, practically making it a nuclear threshold state.
Second, his advocacy for a U.S. invasion of Iraq. In 2002, out of government, he appeared at a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives and explained that toppling Saddam Hussein would “reverberate” positively throughout the Middle East and contribute to stability and democratization. The result: the Islamic State.
Third, Hamas. His “strategy” of strengthening Hamas by allowing hundreds of millions of dollars to be funneled to it, in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority so as to prove that no political process is tenable, created a false impression in Israel that Hamas was deterred, was risk-averse and was busy with governing Gaza.
As for the Palestinians in general, for 14 years (excluding 18 months in 2021-2022 when he was not prime minister), he glaringly neglected, ignored and dismissed the Palestinian issue. Since forming his new government in December 2022, he has been committed to annexing large swaths of the West Bank. The result: October 7.
Fourth, Saudi Arabia. First he came up with a flawed theory that an Israeli-Saudi axis was the core of an Israeli-Sunni Muslim coalition against (Shi’ite) Iran. What happened next? A Saudi-Iranian rapprochement mediated by China. Then he rehashed and reintroduced an interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict, emphasizing that the Palestinians, contrary to what the world has believed for decades, are not really the center of the conflict. He thought he could forge peace agreements with Saudi Arabia while totally ignoring and marginalizing the Palestinians. The result: October 7.
Fifth, relations with the United States, Israel’s major ally. The United States provides Israel with $3.8 billion in military aid each year (over $150 billion in total over the years) and extends a vast diplomatic umbrella shielding Israel in international forums. Netanyahu, always meddling in and manipulating internal U.S. politics, has impressively managed to turn Israel into a wedge issue in Washington – in contrast to decades of sacrosanct bipartisanship.
He did so deliberately by aligning himself squarely with the Republicans, and particularly their evangelical Christian electoral base, and alienated Democrats. This led to frequent friction and animosity with Democratic presidents Clinton, Obama and Biden.
Furthermore, and most importantly, through the crude, authoritarian constitutional coup he launched in January, he has distanced himself from the “shared values” concept that underlines U.S.-Israeli relations. He has also distanced himself from President Biden, a trend exacerbated by his growing affinity for authoritarians like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, then-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and others. The result: Over half of Democratic voters are critical of Israel and Biden for his perceived unbalanced support of Israel during the war.
Sixth, Russia. At the UN Security Council on Friday, Russia accused Israel of “war crimes,” claiming Israel’s war strategy is “inhumane.” That’s rich coming from the country that barbarically invaded Ukraine and has been shelling and launching missiles relentlessly for almost two years. But let’s not forget that Netanyahu admires Putin and regards the relationship he so masterfully forged with him as being in “a different league,” as huge election campaign banners proclaimed in the 2019 election. He later refused to support Ukraine, a morally depraved and politically silly policy that, to be fair, started with the Naftali Bennett government. The result: Russia is a central part of the Iranian axis in the Middle East.
Seventh, China. A few months before the war began, Netanyahu claimed that he had been cordially invited to Beijing. The statement was followed by a senior source in the Prime Minister’s Office explaining that “this is a signal to Biden that Israel has other options,” against the background of Biden avoiding inviting him to the White House. The result: No China visit and a standoffish Chinese attitude toward the Gaza war.
Is this abysmal record in and of itself a justifiable reason for Netanyahu to resign? Undoubtedly. Will he? No. But when he’s politically indicted, these records should be prominent.