@Miro_Collas@palestine i watched this yesterday and keep on thinking of her, her little face crumpling up … 😭😭😭 she is just so sweet, like all children, and all that suffering is beyond awful. I wish Biden would watch this and then pick up the phone, like Reagan did. Not a sentence I ever thought i would write, but see this article @ariadne
shared earlier today
@Miro_Collas so true, and for someone who is so devoutly Catholic (in a good way, I think), who has experienced so much personal pain in his family, I really don't get it. But I have also read he is really into a belief in Fate, so perhaps he thinks this is all his fate, and he's fatalistic about it, as if his decisions or non-decisions are pre-destined somehow? I don't know, and ultimately the 'why' doesn't matter of what we do, or don't do, what matters is what we do or don't do. And in this glaringly obvious case of what the right thing to do is, Biden is doing the completely wrong thing. @pvonhellermannn@palestine
@ariadne@Miro_Collas@pvonhellermannn Biden is absolutely failing to use his influence and I don't think it's fatalism. Unfortunately I think he genuinely supports the Israeli government, and also is afraid of political backlash in the election. BUT we also can't underestimate how much the Israeli right thrives on their persecution complex, and the fact that Netanyahu knows this war is keeping him out of jail. So I really question whether Biden could stop this with a phone call. But FFS he should still try.
@jewishreader yes you're right I suppose, but why would he genuinely support the current Israeli government, other than for capitalist reasons? Well I guess I've answered my own question, kind of. Main point, Biden should try at nearly all costs to stop this, but he isn't, and pretty clearly he won't. Ultimately I hope this doesn't cause too many moral people to stay home in November (assuming Biden is still the presidential candidate then), allowing Trump to win, which would be an utter fiasco and the genuine beginning of the end of the US, or at least US democracy. @Miro_Collas@pvonhellermannn
@ariadne@Miro_Collas@pvonhellermannn My guess is he has the Leon Uris view of Israel from way back in the day, in which the Irish liberation struggle and early Zionism were linked. Ironic because of course Irish nationalists have long identified the Palestinian cause as their own. Also that he sees Israel as an important democratic [sic] ally in the Middle East. I don't think it's mercenary for him. He just happens to be wrong.
@jewishreader wow, I never thought of it that way, what you say makes total sense. I think you're right. And yes, I lived in NI ("The north of Ireland") for a while, and there are Palestinian flags on town squares everywhere there (in predominantly Catholic towns, of course), and have been for years. But then Biden's Irish roots are not from the north. Ugh. @Miro_Collas@pvonhellermannn
@ariadne@jewishreader@Miro_Collas@pvonhellermannn
It not just Biden. It is the neoliberal crowd that want to establish the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor through Gaza plus develop Gaza gas fields. The Palestinians are just in the way in their minds, like the natives of Turtle Island were in the way in the minds of 19th century America industrialists who wanted the transcontinental railroads and western expansion of business. Lincoln did not balk at the extermination of the natives. He celebrated it with the christening of the Thanksgiving holiday just after the barbaric Sand Hill massacre. Biden is no different. The empire is sacred to him. Period. Clearly he and his backers see anyone who opposes it as savages, terrorists or anti semites. Listen to him quoting Scripture after hugging the Israeli war criminal. The quotes: "American, shining city on the hill", "God bless our troops" still wins elections, when "human rights for all" doesn't. But it is not just him. It is the establishment behind him. The US is only going to be stopped if the world community stands up to it or by some miracle we stop electing war mongers.
@CalNativeLandscape that
is capitalism, and that is patriarchy. The two are inexorably intertwined. Until the planet is rid of both - and it must be both - the planet is doomed. And let's not forget that Biden delivered the eulogy at the utter racist Strom Thurmond's funeral. For me that was already unforgivable and disqualified him from holding the presidency, but then pretty much no one's been qualified to hold the US presidency for a very long time. @jewishreader@Miro_Collas@pvonhellermannn
@ariadne@jewishreader@Miro_Collas@pvonhellermannn
Great example. I forgot about that one. It's and old white boys club Biden belongs to. I think only fear of Trump keeps the Democratic party fine with the contradiction of American exceptionalism with its emphasis on patriarchal control of world politics versus appealing to workers and the oppressed.
@pvonhellermannn@Miro_Collas@palestine@ariadne So obviously she has every reason to cry, and the world should know that and why she has every reason to cry, but to be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely comfortable with the way the interviewer seems to be intent on making her upset (or on making sure she SHOWS her pain, let’s say). That’s how it feels to me, anyhow, having seen the full clip on another channel and with understanding of the questions in Arabic. Just a personal observation and obviously not to detract from the main message.