The Middle East Thread

Biden supports it too, so bipartisan they say.

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At a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, James Risch, its top Republican, asked whether Mr Blinken would support legislation to address the ICC “sticking its nose in the business of countries that have an independent, legitimate, democratic judicial system”.

Hell’s bells. Who wrote this? Liz Truss? So amateur, given the gravity of the charges.

I feel like the Democrats are about to get cornered into a position they really don’t want to be anywhere near. Just deserts.

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Yeah, but it was always going to be like this. Biden is a rather religious man and deeply believes in Zionism as liberation ideology for jews and a just cause, like most of his generation in the West.
https://x.com/brhodes/status/1793092888022396962

The indigenous people are either forgotten, or ignored because a) they lost wars or b) they refused to accept what many in the West thought of as a “good deal” for them (Camp David etc.).

Israel is such an Albatross for the US really. They are wrecking the Rule of Law, the so called Liberal Order, making way for autocracies and agressive empires.

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Reports now appearing that an Egyptian intelligence officer changed the terms of the deal and torpedoed the last ceasefire negotiation.

:exploding_head::face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

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Ireland, Norway and Spain recognise Palestine as independent state | World News | Sky News

May 28. Belgium :belgium:, Malta :malta:, and Slovenia :slovenia: are likely to join too.

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The more this goes on, the more I ask myself this too. In the longer term, what gain is there for the US to unconditionally support such an unhinged country? Will there be questions asked?

If I was in their shoes, I’d rather look at Egypt as a solid ally, a far more interesting country in terms of strategic positioning, and potentially a stronger ally than an artificially blown up Israel. But right now, they are in danger of alienating this country because of their unconditional and rather stupid support for all these crimes being committed.

More importantly, how can they not see that they’d be far better off in the long term by supporting a change of regime in Israel, and a return to some common sense? Right now, Israel are more and more an albatross around their neck indeed.

But, thinking about it, maybe they are comfortable with the idea of putting aside their long-held talk around the rule of law they aren’t respecting anyway, becoming an autocratic and agressive empire themselves, and standing by it? Looking at their most recent reactions and threats towards the ICC, that’s certainly how it looks like.

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Language and approach has evolved, but I don’t think sentiment has.

US still uses overt pressures and soft power to push values. Allegations of election interference and supporting regime changes persist. From economic sanctions to conditional aid (to spread free market access)

The US likes portrays itself as the beacon of democracy and punishes those that don’t align. How many times have we heard that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and we must therefore defend it. Each year the US spends $2bn on democracy promotion

From supporting protests to cyber and disinformation warefare . These actions reflects a continuation of strategic efforts to influence global political landscapes, often justified by the US. in terms of promoting democracy, human rights, and stability.

However, when it is subjectively used (and blind eye turned to allies). It becomes evident as simply serving geopolitical interests.

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Yes, they did. Israel wasn’t lying when they said the terms had changed, but they have so low credibility now that much of what they publically say is ignored. Particularly the terms on first batch of hostages being dead or alive was secretly changed by Egyptian intelligence services.
Its become very obvious for some time now that Egypt is trying to cover up exactly how close they are to Hamas regarding supplying them and so on.

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They would be fools to rely on the unstable Autocracy which is Egypt imo. That would be going from very bad to even somehow something worse. My opinion anyway.

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Didn’t know that about Egypt thanks for sharing.

Bad to worse is an inevitable evolution here.

Yeah, they aren’t precisely stable at the moment. Then again, Israel are far from being stable themselves. In fact, they have always been a powder keg, and now even more so, with the lunatics in charge there.

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I am expecting a floodgate of further recognitions now.

Its hard to escape the fact that Israel’s disproportionate responses have crystallised an initiative to recognise Palestine as a lawful State, the exact inverse of what they intended.

Any money on Israel making a challenge in the ICC

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One Sinai warlord/businessman has extorted millions (reportedly, $100m) from Palestinians trying to get out of Gaza. He has paid Intelligence and Military officials handsomely too. Quite natural for an autocratic junta that they have many dirty laundries to hide.

Egypt is a key US ally already. That’s why you don’t heard bad things about them. It’s been under military rule since early 1980. Presently, its economy has tanked after decades of corruption and nepotism.

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The Israeli military has approved permission for Israelis to return to three former West Bank settlements they had been banned from entering since an evacuation ordered in 2005, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.

The three settlements, Sa-nur, Ganim and Kadim, are located near the Palestinian cities of Jenin and Nablus, both of which are strongholds of armed militant groups in the northern West Bank, reports Reuters.

Are they out of their freaking mind???

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" When the ICC and its lead prosecutor, Khan, issued an arrest warrant for Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine in 2023, there were hosannas on both sides of the aisle. Biden declared the ICC arrest warrant for Putin “makes a very strong point,” adding that “he’s clearly committed war crimes.” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina praised the court’s decision, saying, The decision by the ICC to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin is a giant step in the right direction for the international community. It is more than justified by the evidence.”

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/21/opinions/icc-arrest-warrants-israel-hamas-netanyahu-bergen/index.html

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What other move do they have, turn around? Its tragic but I feared that they would go all out. May as well get done for a sheep as a lamb.

The situation is gone. I mean anything wildly devastating for global peace could occur. By this I mean if Israel dont stop, someone will hit them very hard militarily. If Israel are wild and headless now, imagine after that?!

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https://x.com/Faytuks/status/1793302490131099902

It’s been edited to not show dead bodies.

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Israeli administration aiding the extremists? No way :rofl:

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