March 30, 2018
Washington in Disarray
When facts change, opinions are slow to catch up. This applies to those who still look upon Washington – now in a state of disarray – as the messiah.
Washington’s word may not mean much, as it is willing to renege on international agreements and understandings vide climate control (under the December 2015 Paris Agreement, 195 countries agreed to set goals to reduce carbon emissions linked to global warming) and the Iran nuke deal (a 2015 agreement between Iran and 6 countries, plus the EU, under which Iran pledged nuclear curbs and agreed to monitoring in exchange for lifting of economic sanctions.)
On Trump’s December 6, 2017, decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the United States acted contrary to assurances it gave during the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference that Jerusalem’s status should be determined through multilateral negotiations. The liberal Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer was quiet on the Jerusalem move because of his well-established pro-Israeli proclivities.
It is illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention for a nation to conquer territory and move its own citizens into the territory it has occupied. Numerous UN Security Council resolutions, including resolution 242, call on Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. A July 9, 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice reaffirmed that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, concluding that construction of a wall and Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, are contrary to international law, and all UN members – including the United States – “are under an obligation not to recognize the illegal situation.”
Rex Tillerson’s omission of Israel on a February 2018 Mideast trip may have been one of the triggering points behind his unceremonious exit. He leaves behind a “hollowed out State Department,” according to CBS News of March 13, with 38 key ambassadors not yet appointed, 16 vacancies of Assistant Secretaries, and vacancies for all 6 Under Secretaries of State.
Fueling bigotry is a whipped up, anti-immigrant hate. Pointing to hypocrisy is “resistance genealogist” Jennifer Mendelsohn, who noted that White House adviser Steven Miller advocated that all immigrants be required to speak English, even as his own great-grandmother could not; and Congressman Steve King’s anti-immigrant declaration that “we can’t restore our civilization with someone else’s babies” ignored that his grandmother immigrated to the US as a four-year-old. (Washington Post, March 14, 2018).
Republicans succumb to the powerful NRA gun lobby, which has a persuasive sway over re-election prospects, while liberal Democrats become doormats before the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby, which has a make-or-break stranglehold on congressional fortunes.
Gina Haspel, Trump’s choice for CIA chief, ran the first detention and torture site in Thailand, according to a NYT editorial, a role that a Guardian Op-Ed commented “she even seemed to relish.”
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