Tag: perpetual war

White House: Economy ‘Exceptionally’ Good and People Like Their Finances, But Don’t Feel Confident Due to COVID, War

On Monday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” White House National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard reacted to negative poll numbers on the economy by stating that “the economy is performing exceptionally well” but “people have been through a very challenging few years between the pandemic, and then the oil price spikes associated with Russia’s war. It’s going to take a while for them to feel really confident,” and most people “feel like their personal finances are better now than they were before.”

Co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin said, “Speak to this, though, because I think there [are] a lot of folks who have been waking up to headlines of poll results over the weekend, as it relates to Bidenomics versus, frankly, Trumponomics and where he stands — the president that is — compared to where…the former president stands in terms of how people are thinking about the economy and how, frankly, unhappy they remain about the economy.”

Brainard responded, “Look, if I look around the world, I don’t think there’s a leader out there who wouldn’t rather have the economic record that President Biden has today. We have been growing, 3% over the past year. We’ve had unemployment down below 4% for 21 months in a row. Real incomes are growing. Wealth — this is remarkable — wealth is up 37% for the median household since before the pandemic. And we’re growing faster and have lower inflation than any other advanced economy in the world. So, the statistics, I think, are very strong. Now, people have been through a very challenging few years between the pandemic, and then the oil price spikes associated with Russia’s war. It’s going to take a while for them to feel really confident, but if you look at surveys, 70% of Americans feel like their personal finances are better now than they were before. We’ve still got to work on kitchen table economics, there are still a lot of Americans sitting around their kitchen tables with costs of medicine, pharmaceuticals that are still too high, and we’re working on that.”

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Netanyahu says Israel will have ‘overall security responsibility’ in Gaza after war

Israel will keep control over Gaza indefinitely after its war against Hamas ends, Benjamin Netanyahu has stated, saying his country will take “overall security responsibility” for the territory.

One month after Hamas’s attack killed 1,400 people, the Israeli prime minister also said he would consider hour-long “tactical little pauses” in fighting to allow the entry of aid or the exit of hostages from the Gaza Strip, but again rejected calls for a ceasefire.

Asked who should “govern” Gaza after fighting ends, Netanyahu told ABC News in an interview broadcast on Monday night: “Those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas.”

He added: “Israel will for an indefinite period … have the overall security responsibility [in Gaza] because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have that security responsibility.”

His comments offered the clearest indication yet that Israel plans to keep a tight grip over the territory that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians.

The United Nations and other world bodies, including the EU, consider Gaza as occupied – despite Israel withdrawing its forces from inside the strip in 2005 – as it has maintained effective control over the small territory by land, sea and air.

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U.S. diplomats slam Israel policy in leaked memo

State Department staffers offered a blistering critique of the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in a dissent memo obtained by POLITICO, arguing that, among other things, the U.S. should be willing to publicly criticize the Israelis.

The message suggests a growing loss of confidence among U.S. diplomats in President Joe Biden’s approach to the Middle East crisis. It reflects the sentiments of many U.S. diplomats, especially at mid-level and lower ranks, according to conversations with several department staffers as well as other reports. If such internal disagreements intensify, it could make it harder for the Biden administration to craft policy toward the region.

The memo has two key requests: that the U.S. support a ceasefire, and that it balance its private and public messaging toward Israel, including airing criticisms of Israeli military tactics and treatment of Palestinians that the U.S. generally prefers to keep private.

The gap between America’s private and public messaging “contributes to regional public perceptions that the United States is a biased and dishonest actor, which at best does not advance, and at worst harms, U.S. interests worldwide,” the document states.

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Leak shows ex-Trump ambassador to Israel threatening NYU over Palestine protests

A letter sent to NYU leadership claims the school is “no longer a safe space for Jewish students” while demanding policies that would shatter free speech on campus. The letter was signed by David Friedman, Trump’s rabidly pro-settlement ambassador to Israel, as well as dozens of Jewish American alumni apparently afflicted with a particularly severe version of main character syndrome.

The letter demands that NYU ramp up security for Jewish students and add mandatory coursework on the issue of “in line with universal values, fact-based critical thinking, and civil discourse.”

Read the leaked letter, “A Message from the NYU Jewish community,” here.

Additionally, the letter demands that NYU create a position “dedicated to combating anti-Semitism.” The school already maintains no fewer than 15 positions dedicated to promoting “Global Inclusion, Diversity, and Strategic Innovation.”

The letter goes on to demand that NYU disband clubs that “utilize hate speech to promote violence and endorse terrorism” and pursue the criminal prosecution of students who “deface property and/or use hate speech in the name of terrorism.” It offers no definition of hate speech, however. The assumption seems to be that strong language denouncing Israel’s violent assault on Gaza, or supporting the Palestinian armed struggle, should be treated as equivalent to verbal threats, and even physical violence, against Jews.

While providing no evidence or documentation of open support for terrorism amongst the student body, the letter alludes to Student Bar Association president Ryna Workman, who authored an op-ed in the body’s weekly newsletter blaming the Israeli state policy of apartheid for inspiring the events of October 7. Workman was promptly canceled for her speech, losing not only her position as president of the Student Bar Association, but a job offer that had previously been extended to her. 

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‘It Feels Like the New McCarthyism’: How the Israel-Hamas War Is Redefining the Limits of Free Speech

War between Israel and Hamas has sparked extensive (mostly) online activism about the conflict — and led to a rash of firings or other workplace discipline from employers concerned about their employees’ views of the conflict.

Artforum’s top editor David Velasco was fired by his publisher, Penske Media, after posting an open letter on the site calling for a cease-fire and suggesting Israel is responsible for the beginning of a genocide; Michael Eisen was removed as editor-in-chief of the science journal eLife after retweeting a satirical article critical of Israel; and Maha Dakhil, a top executive at the Hollywood talent firm Creative Artists Agency, stepped back from leadership roles after reposting an Instagram story that implied Israel was committing genocide. That’s in addition to multiple law students who had job offers revoked after publicly criticizing Israeli actions. The statements range from expressions of sympathy for Palestinians to strident anti-Israel criticisms that seem to minimize Israeli loss of life.

The situation is making Genevieve Lakier, a professor of law at the University of Chicago whose work is focused on the changing meaning of freedom of speech in the United States, very nervous.

“It feels like the new McCarthyism,” said Lakier, who’s one of the leading legal scholars on matters of free speech.

So far, most of the firings appear to have been for expressing pro-Palestinian views — the U.S.-based advocacy organization Palestine Legal reports that they’ve responded to over 260 cases of people’s “livelihoods or careers” being targeted. But the fact that these firings have been due in large part to social media posts and the widespread broadcasting of personal political beliefs means that the trend may not stay on one issue or one side of a dispute for long; Lakier says that we are watching the relationship between free expression and employment shift in real time.

Currently, regulations concerning speech and private employment oscillate wildly from state to state — about half of states have no protections for private employees who express political beliefs, while others have laws that vary in terms of scope. Many of the employment laws that do exist find their roots in the 19th century and are little use in navigating the 21st century workplace. Meanwhile, ideas about protected speech are constantly shifting in the culture: After 9/11, for example, the war on terror brought with it new examinations into what kind of speech promulgates terrorism. More recently, debates over “cancel culture” on campuses and in the workplace have brought up similar questions of what speech is permissible — and when consequences are justified.

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US to Transfer $320 Million in Precision Bombs to Israel

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the Biden administration is planning a $320 million transfer of precision-guided bombs to Israel, a show of support for the Israeli onslaught despite the growing civilian death toll.

The report said the administration notified congressional leaders on October 31 that it intended to transfer Spice Family Gliding Bomb Assemblies, precision-guided air-to-surface munitions that can be fired by Israeli warplanes.

The bombs will be transferred from weapons manufacturer Rafael USA to its Israeli parent company, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. It’s unclear what funds will be used for the transfer.

Israel receives $3.8 billion in annual military aid from the US, and the Biden administration is looking to provide another $14 billion to support the Gaza campaign. In the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, the US began immediately shipping new military equipment to Israel.

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Space becomes new theater of war: Israel shoots down a ballistic missile that was traveling 62 miles ABOVE Earth

Space has become the new theater of war after Israel  shot down a rocket soaring ‘outside of Earth’s atmosphere.’

The Israel Defense (IDF) revealed last week that its Arrow missile defense system took down an ‘aerial threat’ allegedly fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

While details are sparse, the accepted boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space is 62 miles above the surface, known as the Kármán line.

IDF said the Arrow intercepted a surface-to-surface missile in the Red Sea fired towards its territory after the rocket traveled nearly 1,000 miles from Yemen.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed it was the third attack the group had launched at Israel and vowed there would be more to come until ‘Israeli aggression’ stopped, referring to the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

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Far-right minister: Nuking Gaza is an option, population should ‘go to Ireland or deserts’

A minister from the extremist Otzma Yehudit party says one of Israel’s options in the war in Gaza is to drop a nuclear bomb on the Strip.

Asked in an interview with Radio Kol Berama whether he was suggesting that some kind of nuclear bomb might be dropped on the enclave, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu says “That’s one way.”

Eliyahu, of Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right party, is not part of the security cabinet which is involved in the wartime decision-making, nor does he hold sway over the war cabinet directing the war against the Hamas terror group.

Eliyahu also voices his objection during the interview to allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying “we wouldn’t hand the Nazis humanitarian aid,” and charging that “there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza.”

He backs retaking the Strip’s territory and restoring the settlements there. Asked about the fate of the Palestinian population, he says: “They can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves.”

He says the northern Strip has no right to exist, adding that anyone waving a Palestinian or Hamas flag “shouldn’t continue living on the face of the earth.”

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U.S., European officials broach topic of peace negotiations with Ukraine, sources say

U.S. and European officials have begun quietly talking to the Ukrainian government about what possible peace negotiations with Russia might entail to end the war, according to one current senior U.S. official and one former senior U.S. official familiar with the discussions.

The conversations have included very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal, the officials said. Some of the talks, which officials described as delicate, took place last month during a meeting of representatives from more than 50 nations supporting Ukraine, including NATO members, known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the officials said.

The discussions are an acknowledgment of the dynamics militarily on the ground in Ukraine and politically in the U.S. and Europe, officials said.

They began amid concerns among U.S. and European officials that the war has reached a stalemate and about the ability to continue providing aid to Ukraine, officials said. Biden administration officials also are worried that Ukraine is running out of forces, while Russia has a seemingly endless supply, officials said. Ukraine is also struggling with recruiting and has recently seen public protests about some of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s open-ended conscription requirements.

And there is unease in the U.S. government with how much less public attention the war in Ukraine has garnered since the Israel-Hamas war began nearly a month ago, the officials said. Officials fear that shift could make securing additional aid for Kyiv more difficult. 

Some U.S. military officials have privately begun using the term “stalemate” to describe the current battle in Ukraine, with some saying it may come down to which side can maintain a military force the longest. Neither side is making large strides on the battlefield, which some U.S. officials now describe as a war of inches. Officials also have privately said Ukraine likely only has until the end of the year or shortly thereafter before more urgent discussions about peace negotiations should begin. U.S. officials have shared their views on such a timeline with European allies, officials said.

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Media’s In-House Critics to Reporters: Quit Quoting Palestinians About Civilian Deaths

The devastating explosion at a Gaza hospital on October 17 provoked soul-searching in US corporate media—over the willingness of press outlets to quote Gaza officials who attributed the calamity to an Israeli airstrike.

“News Outlets Backtrack on Gaza Blast After Relying on Hamas as Key Source,” NPR (10/24/23) reported. “The initial coverage of a deadly blast at a Gaza hospital last week offers a fresh reminder of how hard it can be to get the news right—and what happens when it goes awry,” wrote NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik.

“How the Media Got the Hospital Explosion Wrong” was the headline of an Atlantic article by Yascha Mounk (10/23/23), which asserted:

As more details about the blast emerged, the initial claims so credulously repeated by the world’s leading news outlets came to look untenable….

The cause of the tragedy, it appears, is the opposite of what news outlets around the world first reported. Rather than having been an Israeli attack on civilians, the balance of evidence suggests that it was a result of terrorists’ disregard for the lives of the people on whose behalf they claim to be fighting.

The New York Times (10/23/23) offered an editorial mea culpa, saying its initial coverage “relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified.”

(What seems to be the New York Times‘ first mention of the blast—posted on its live feed on the “Israel/Hamas War” at 4:41 pm EDT on October 17—was headed “Hundreds Die in an Explosion at a Gaza Hospital, Setting Off Exchanges of Blame.” The first paragraph concluded, “The authorities blamed an Israeli airstrike, but the assertion was disputed by the Israel Defense Forces, which blamed an errant rocket fired by an armed Palestinian faction.” By 7:32 that evening, the feed was headed, “Israelis and Palestinians Blame Each Other for Blast at Gaza Hospital That Killed Hundreds.”)

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