But keep in mind, Sanders just voted NO on the Senate supplemental aid bill (because of aid to Israel even though Biden's new National Security Memorandum would have prevented delivery of that aid.)
But keep in mind, Sanders just voted NO on the Senate supplemental aid bill (because of aid to Israel even though Biden's new National Security Memorandum would have prevented delivery of that aid.)
I was a Bernie delegate in 2016. He knew that the supplemental aid bill would pass in the Senate, so he could vote his conscience about Israel. In the same way, he didn't need to say anything about Ukraine since lots of others were weighing in.
This notion of 'vote your conscience' as putting yourself first is a misreading/misrepresentation of conscience. Conscience is what helps us put the greater good above our own predilections. Sanders was pandering to purity test extremists in his base. In voting No to the bill, Sanders voted No to the democratic process by which consensus was achieved. In that he was no better than right wing extremists. And he did nothing to help Palestinians.
The bottom line is that Sanders has long been a voice of opposition to Putin and a supporter of Ukraine. Simultaneously, he has long been a voice of reasonable, accurate and moral opposition to the oh-so-many wars we have supported/engaged in over the years. He has always stood in righteous opposition to the nascent fascism within the Netanyahu/Fanatical Zionist coalition that currently governs the once democratic State of Israel.
It appears to me that he was balancing as best he could in this vote.
And let us all be honest with ourselves----The horrific death of that monument to courage named Alexi Navalny, should call on all of us to vigorously renew our support for Ukraine.
Yet it cannot blind us to the greater slaughter of thousands of Palestinian people at the hands of another fanatical government that puts ego and twisted religiosity over people. And it is that government that is funded and armed by American taxpayers.
Biden's direction to UN Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield to yet again veto a cease fire resolution is a direct imprimatur to the ongoing slaughter of many.
This is a shameful day in our history, without doubt.
The US vetoed Algeria's call for a ceasefire because it said nothing about the hostages and because it would negatively impact ongoing negotiations. You do not mention that the Biden administration has put forward the draft of a proposal which calls for a ceasefire and release of the hostages. Such a proposal - backed up by Biden's increasingly public criticism of the Netanyahu regime, calls for a ceasefire, snd pressure to not attack Rafah - has a better chance of actually helping. Biden is up against those who cry antisemitism ar any criticism of Israeli policy and those who cry genocide at any support of Israel. And Biden is doing this in context of a racist right wing religious extremist Israeli regime which for four years enjoyed full support for its worst abuses - by the racist right wing religious extremist Trump regime. Netanyahu is hoping he can split American voters and use them to help elect Trump again.
The hostages' lives are second only to those of the Palestinians, in the mind of Netanyahu. And more importantly, a cease fire would clearly and obviously assist in the preservation of the lives of the hostages, while the ongoing genocidal bombardment by the IDF renders their fate more and more dire.
Biden is indeed attempting to balance angels and devils on an increasingly narrow pinhead. Yet his obstinate failure to grasp the obvious fact that it is the Israeli position that is the most immediate and most dangerous to a better tomorrow is crippling him.
Those who cry "anti-semitism" at any criticism of Israel are idiots.
Those who cry "genocide" at any support of Israel are as well. Yet, genocide is obviously, clearly, and objectively being perpetuated against the people of Gaza, by the American funded fanatical/fascistic government of Israel under Bibi Netanyahu. Facts are facts.
Please remember, the Israeli government "ordered" the Gazans to evacuate from the north to the south, in order to survive in the face of their initial retributive attack in the wake of October 7th. The entire purpose of that exercise was, at its most beneficially construed, to save Palestinian lives, while Hamas was attacked.
For months now, this pretext has been revealed. The IDF and the Israeli government under the horrific war criminal Bibi Netanyahu has gathered the survivors of his ongoing slaughter into a narrow, Dunkirk-esque corridor, yet one with no rescue from major powers, and is now preparing to invade the southernmost city within Gaza.
An Ugandan journalist once wrote of Bosnia 'people don't stop killing each other until they weary of blood running through the streets.' Neither Hamas nor the Netanyahu regime is weary enough. This is when diplomacy steps in. It is not accomplished by fiat.
It is simple to call both sides idiots in a comments section. It is simplistic to think one sided moral outrage and unilateral demands can stop the belligerents.
That Ugandan journalist was fairly spot on. Yet your seeming "both sides-ism" is not. And yes, diplomacy is most certainly called for here, and of the highest order. I feel that the diplomatic efforts engaged in by the Biden Administration are worthwhile, yet unduly limited by a wholly inappropriate refusal to rein in the overwhelmingly more powerful combatant, the State of Israel.
It is simple to call both sides idiots in a comments section. My doing so rhetorically in response to your initial use of the term is just that.
My moral outrage is not one sided, as I condemn Hamas for its barbaric attack on October 7th quite roundly. Yet 30,000 dead Palestinians later, with more in the offing, all while their fellows who somehow survive are being ethnically cleansed seems to be an obvious indicator that only one side deserves the bulk of the moral outrage here.
As for stopping the belligerents, I wish I had an answer in my back pocket. In the absence of same, I would suggest that as always, politics is about power and its exercise. The balance of power between the combatants is overwhelmingly tilted to Israel, yet they obviously will not stop until Gaza is reduced to a sort of Carthaginian rubble.
The great power supporting Israel, US, continues to provide the aggressor with weaponry, and continues to thwart strong peace making diplomacy by its most tawdry exercise of its veto power at the UN.
We could stop this by voting for the cease fire under the UN charter, and plugging the pipeline of arms to the IDF save for defensive ones. Yet, here we are
And one reason they are cornered, other than their unending insistence on terrorism against Israel, is that no other 'allied' nation will take them in. Such natural allies won't even defend them. Only distant, terrorist Iran cares to help them, with weapons and money but no troops. And that assistance is for the explicit purpose of destroying Israel and, if they're lucky, distracting the United States from Ukraine, an outcome that will allow Putin to accomplish all of his goals in europe and give Trump a gaudy hotel in Moscow, which is a good deal from Trump's point of view. But of course Trump is too moronic to see any threat from Iran OR Russia.
Most immediately, the Netanyahu regime must be reined in (after 4 years of Trump absolutely free rein.) It will take international consensus to get there. I wish Sanders had tested Biden's National Security Memorandum, by voting for the supplemental aid bill and then demanding immediate enforcement of Memorandum which would prevent delivery to the Netanyahu regime.
Palestine has had bad friends. Israel has had bad friends. Encouraging and justifying their worst behavior. And here we are.
There seems to now be consensus among nations that this must stop. Despite some significant missteps - the Biden administration is going further than any US administration has gone in privately and publicly criticizing Israeli policy and the head of Israeli government. This is an important precedent to accelerate and build on.
You are either obtuse to a level hitherto unobserved, or far worse.
To insist that thousands of human beings who happen to be Palestinian are "cornered" as you say with glee, is due to their "unending insistence on terrorism against Israel" is a defamation writ large.
You seem to purposefully misread Burnham's cri de coeur and his analysis.
Jewish religious extremism is no better than any other religious extremism. The unprecedented political success of Jewish extremists lead directly to the Netanyahu regime's unprecedented intelligence failure. And to the crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli intelligence and military heads have warned of this for decades.
I do not see how I am misreading Mr. Burnham's allegations, which are much more "j'accuse" than they are a "cri de coer".
Yes, religious extremism is neither better nor worse because it is practiced by one of the three desert religions. And yes, the connection between Israeli extremists and Netanyahu's unprecedented failure is noteworthy. I would not necessarily call it an intelligence failure because warnings were provided, but ignored by Netanyahu's government.
I am not sure what you refer to by "crimes in Gaza and the West Bank".
You have conveniently forgotten the twisted religiosity of the enemies of Israel. Nothing in Judaism compares to that. Another Chomsky-esque false equivalancy.
You know better than to post this type of bullshit response. The twisted religiosity that you speak of is buried as deeply in the maladjusted hearts of the fanatical Zionists empowered by Netanyahu, as it is within Hamas.
And please do not continue to both conflate my perspective with that of Noam Chomsky, although we are both right on this issue and you are not only wrong, but egregiously so.
Chomsky is a sham. Do not fall for his stateless communism disguised as anarcho-syndicalism. The people of Israel are as opposed to Netanyahu's minority fanatics as you and I are.
The people you paint as "purity test extremists" happen to be the majority of American citizens whom poll after poll shows that Americans do not want to support genocide or support a party that requires championing genocide as a litmus test of loyalty. That "greater good" you speak of is a pandering of the party operatives to Netanyahu and AIPAC money. It does not represent democracy or the will of citizens. To call it even "representative democracy" is sophistry.
I've caucused for Bernie.
But keep in mind, Sanders just voted NO on the Senate supplemental aid bill (because of aid to Israel even though Biden's new National Security Memorandum would have prevented delivery of that aid.)
Worse, Sanders said nothing about Ukraine
I was a Bernie delegate in 2016. He knew that the supplemental aid bill would pass in the Senate, so he could vote his conscience about Israel. In the same way, he didn't need to say anything about Ukraine since lots of others were weighing in.
This notion of 'vote your conscience' as putting yourself first is a misreading/misrepresentation of conscience. Conscience is what helps us put the greater good above our own predilections. Sanders was pandering to purity test extremists in his base. In voting No to the bill, Sanders voted No to the democratic process by which consensus was achieved. In that he was no better than right wing extremists. And he did nothing to help Palestinians.
The bottom line is that Sanders has long been a voice of opposition to Putin and a supporter of Ukraine. Simultaneously, he has long been a voice of reasonable, accurate and moral opposition to the oh-so-many wars we have supported/engaged in over the years. He has always stood in righteous opposition to the nascent fascism within the Netanyahu/Fanatical Zionist coalition that currently governs the once democratic State of Israel.
It appears to me that he was balancing as best he could in this vote.
And let us all be honest with ourselves----The horrific death of that monument to courage named Alexi Navalny, should call on all of us to vigorously renew our support for Ukraine.
Yet it cannot blind us to the greater slaughter of thousands of Palestinian people at the hands of another fanatical government that puts ego and twisted religiosity over people. And it is that government that is funded and armed by American taxpayers.
Biden's direction to UN Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield to yet again veto a cease fire resolution is a direct imprimatur to the ongoing slaughter of many.
This is a shameful day in our history, without doubt.
The US vetoed Algeria's call for a ceasefire because it said nothing about the hostages and because it would negatively impact ongoing negotiations. You do not mention that the Biden administration has put forward the draft of a proposal which calls for a ceasefire and release of the hostages. Such a proposal - backed up by Biden's increasingly public criticism of the Netanyahu regime, calls for a ceasefire, snd pressure to not attack Rafah - has a better chance of actually helping. Biden is up against those who cry antisemitism ar any criticism of Israeli policy and those who cry genocide at any support of Israel. And Biden is doing this in context of a racist right wing religious extremist Israeli regime which for four years enjoyed full support for its worst abuses - by the racist right wing religious extremist Trump regime. Netanyahu is hoping he can split American voters and use them to help elect Trump again.
What?!?
The hostages' lives are second only to those of the Palestinians, in the mind of Netanyahu. And more importantly, a cease fire would clearly and obviously assist in the preservation of the lives of the hostages, while the ongoing genocidal bombardment by the IDF renders their fate more and more dire.
Biden is indeed attempting to balance angels and devils on an increasingly narrow pinhead. Yet his obstinate failure to grasp the obvious fact that it is the Israeli position that is the most immediate and most dangerous to a better tomorrow is crippling him.
Those who cry "anti-semitism" at any criticism of Israel are idiots.
Those who cry "genocide" at any support of Israel are as well. Yet, genocide is obviously, clearly, and objectively being perpetuated against the people of Gaza, by the American funded fanatical/fascistic government of Israel under Bibi Netanyahu. Facts are facts.
Please remember, the Israeli government "ordered" the Gazans to evacuate from the north to the south, in order to survive in the face of their initial retributive attack in the wake of October 7th. The entire purpose of that exercise was, at its most beneficially construed, to save Palestinian lives, while Hamas was attacked.
For months now, this pretext has been revealed. The IDF and the Israeli government under the horrific war criminal Bibi Netanyahu has gathered the survivors of his ongoing slaughter into a narrow, Dunkirk-esque corridor, yet one with no rescue from major powers, and is now preparing to invade the southernmost city within Gaza.
An Ugandan journalist once wrote of Bosnia 'people don't stop killing each other until they weary of blood running through the streets.' Neither Hamas nor the Netanyahu regime is weary enough. This is when diplomacy steps in. It is not accomplished by fiat.
It is simple to call both sides idiots in a comments section. It is simplistic to think one sided moral outrage and unilateral demands can stop the belligerents.
That Ugandan journalist was fairly spot on. Yet your seeming "both sides-ism" is not. And yes, diplomacy is most certainly called for here, and of the highest order. I feel that the diplomatic efforts engaged in by the Biden Administration are worthwhile, yet unduly limited by a wholly inappropriate refusal to rein in the overwhelmingly more powerful combatant, the State of Israel.
It is simple to call both sides idiots in a comments section. My doing so rhetorically in response to your initial use of the term is just that.
My moral outrage is not one sided, as I condemn Hamas for its barbaric attack on October 7th quite roundly. Yet 30,000 dead Palestinians later, with more in the offing, all while their fellows who somehow survive are being ethnically cleansed seems to be an obvious indicator that only one side deserves the bulk of the moral outrage here.
As for stopping the belligerents, I wish I had an answer in my back pocket. In the absence of same, I would suggest that as always, politics is about power and its exercise. The balance of power between the combatants is overwhelmingly tilted to Israel, yet they obviously will not stop until Gaza is reduced to a sort of Carthaginian rubble.
The great power supporting Israel, US, continues to provide the aggressor with weaponry, and continues to thwart strong peace making diplomacy by its most tawdry exercise of its veto power at the UN.
We could stop this by voting for the cease fire under the UN charter, and plugging the pipeline of arms to the IDF save for defensive ones. Yet, here we are
And one reason they are cornered, other than their unending insistence on terrorism against Israel, is that no other 'allied' nation will take them in. Such natural allies won't even defend them. Only distant, terrorist Iran cares to help them, with weapons and money but no troops. And that assistance is for the explicit purpose of destroying Israel and, if they're lucky, distracting the United States from Ukraine, an outcome that will allow Putin to accomplish all of his goals in europe and give Trump a gaudy hotel in Moscow, which is a good deal from Trump's point of view. But of course Trump is too moronic to see any threat from Iran OR Russia.
Yes. The plight of the Palestinians is complex.
Most immediately, the Netanyahu regime must be reined in (after 4 years of Trump absolutely free rein.) It will take international consensus to get there. I wish Sanders had tested Biden's National Security Memorandum, by voting for the supplemental aid bill and then demanding immediate enforcement of Memorandum which would prevent delivery to the Netanyahu regime.
Palestine has had bad friends. Israel has had bad friends. Encouraging and justifying their worst behavior. And here we are.
There seems to now be consensus among nations that this must stop. Despite some significant missteps - the Biden administration is going further than any US administration has gone in privately and publicly criticizing Israeli policy and the head of Israeli government. This is an important precedent to accelerate and build on.
You are either obtuse to a level hitherto unobserved, or far worse.
To insist that thousands of human beings who happen to be Palestinian are "cornered" as you say with glee, is due to their "unending insistence on terrorism against Israel" is a defamation writ large.
You seem to purposefully misread Burnham's cri de coeur and his analysis.
Jewish religious extremism is no better than any other religious extremism. The unprecedented political success of Jewish extremists lead directly to the Netanyahu regime's unprecedented intelligence failure. And to the crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli intelligence and military heads have warned of this for decades.
I do not see how I am misreading Mr. Burnham's allegations, which are much more "j'accuse" than they are a "cri de coer".
Yes, religious extremism is neither better nor worse because it is practiced by one of the three desert religions. And yes, the connection between Israeli extremists and Netanyahu's unprecedented failure is noteworthy. I would not necessarily call it an intelligence failure because warnings were provided, but ignored by Netanyahu's government.
I am not sure what you refer to by "crimes in Gaza and the West Bank".
Really? You dont know what these crimes are?
You have conveniently forgotten the twisted religiosity of the enemies of Israel. Nothing in Judaism compares to that. Another Chomsky-esque false equivalancy.
The religiosity of Jewish extremists is just as twisted as any other.
Mr. Burnham,
You know better than to post this type of bullshit response. The twisted religiosity that you speak of is buried as deeply in the maladjusted hearts of the fanatical Zionists empowered by Netanyahu, as it is within Hamas.
And please do not continue to both conflate my perspective with that of Noam Chomsky, although we are both right on this issue and you are not only wrong, but egregiously so.
Chomsky is a sham. Do not fall for his stateless communism disguised as anarcho-syndicalism. The people of Israel are as opposed to Netanyahu's minority fanatics as you and I are.
Chomsky has naught to do with any of this.
Oh, but he does!
The people you paint as "purity test extremists" happen to be the majority of American citizens whom poll after poll shows that Americans do not want to support genocide or support a party that requires championing genocide as a litmus test of loyalty. That "greater good" you speak of is a pandering of the party operatives to Netanyahu and AIPAC money. It does not represent democracy or the will of citizens. To call it even "representative democracy" is sophistry.
Polls do not ask is you want to support genocide or not.........those are your words??/
Sanders has made many strong statements supporting Ukraine, since Putin attacked.
Statements. But he voted against sending aid. Snd against the entire democratic process by which consensus was achieved.
I was an alternate delegate for Bernie.