A departure from George Washington's advice not to interfere in foreign affairs?
Rand Paul has just announced he cosponsored S.Res. 226, a resolution condemning the attacks against Israel by Hamas terrorists, and reaffirming the United States’ commitment to "our ally Israel. "
“Every sovereign nation should be allowed to defend themselves. We know that Hamas is firing rockets into Israel, generally at civilians, and Israel should be able to defend its citizens,” said Rand. “Having visited Israel, I know they do live in fear, fear of daily attacks, and the decision for a cease-fire ultimately has to be made by Israel based on their security needs. This resolution reaffirms the United States’ support of our allied nation in their decision in rightfully responding to imminent threats by a terrorist group.”
This legislation was introduced by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and is also cosponsored by 30 other Senators.
You can read S.Res. 226, here.
Got to pay your dues before you can grab the brass ring.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me sick when any politician, but esp. Rand, refers to Israel as an "ally. We have no formal agreement with them respecting that. They subvert our elections, run our foreign policy,spy on us, and God knows what else. All these craven politicos fear the next election and the wrath of the Israeli lobby.
ReplyDeleteYep
DeleteDitto here. The labels "ally" and "enemy" are trotted out all too often and misapplied during times of peace. And all this anthropomorphizing of nations as if they're people or monolithic, single entities, really bothers me, e.g. "The U.S. has to stand-up to that bully, Palestine, and defend Israel!"
Delete"A departure from George Washington's advice not to interfere in foreign affairs?"
ReplyDeleteIf it involves a bill that explicitly favors one nation over another, then yes.
That being said, the Arabs are the aggressors, here, attacking Israel from areas with civilian buildings.
We also recently heard of the Zarif-Gate audio leak (Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif), where it was revealed that Iran's military runs the country. So much for the idea that Iran could only want nuclear power and not nuclear weapons.
(Not looking good for the Scott Horton's of the world, as far as understanding the Israel-Islamist conflict.)
Ron Paul is right that we should end sanctions - but not because Iran is no threat. End the sanctions because its consistent with liberty and because liberty better affords people the means to defend themselves from backwards people.
Also, some time ago, Robert Wenzel wrote about a murder spree by some Islamist at a gay bar. In it, he offered that he knew some friends of his that he thought would never act like this, and that he thought that the attacker was actually a closet gay guy.
Turns out his ex-wife explicitly rejected the notion that he was gay, so what it really looks like is what we should have come to expect of all Islamists - the willingness to take years casing and crafting a plan of attack on a target and play the friend while doing so.
*THAT's* what was really happening at that gay bar - just like before 9/11. He wasn't gay, he was hanging around casing the joint.
So, really, Islamists are willing to look normal until they aren't.
Maybe Islamists can be swayed by the American-eaque profit motive to just live a peaceful life and make a profit. Staying out of other countries' business would certainly help with that.
But the fact is that Israel is constantly a target of attacks by Islamic nations, and Israel is not the agressor.
Go back to at least before the British moved the Jews there who then proceeded to supplant the then current inhabitants of Palestine.
DeleteHasbara troll.
Delete"... then proceeded to supplant the then current inhabitants of Palestine."
DeleteThen go back before the Ottoman Empire, of which so-called Palestine was a part, and you find the Jews.
The Ottoman Empire ended, right? As a member of the Ottoman Empire, so-called Palestine ended with it, right?
Game over for the Palestine argument. (If you're not going to argue for the return of the Ottoman Empire, then you don't also get to argue for the return of so-called Palestine.)
Also, it turns out that, while Jewish refugees were accepted into other nations (as well as Israel, of course), Arab refugees are discriminated against by other Arab countries.
The reason is to foment anger against Israel by Arab refugees, and that's even though Israel *has* offered a two-state solution to Arabs, and the Arabs have continually refused the offer:
(The last couple times I posted links [about paper gold], my comments were not accepted. I'll try something different.)
Look up the following videos by Danny Ayalon (Former Israeli Ambassador to the US) on YouTube:
- The Truth About the Refugees: Israel Palestinian Conflict
- Israel Palestinian Conflict: The Truth About the Peace Process
Israel continually evicts Palestinians from their homes, stealing yet more land for settlements and assassinates their leaders. And then when Hamas puts their foot down and retaliates they are the aggressor?
DeleteImagine the Taliban took over Ohio, kicked out the Americans and started assassinating American politicians. Would you call the American military the aggressor if they did something about that?
The shameless double standard is absurd. Aggression doesn't count if it's Israeli, they always start the story in the middle.
"Israel continually evicts Palestinians from their homes, stealing yet more land for settlements and assassinates their leaders."
DeleteNo, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was created *before* Israel "occupied" Gaza and the West Bank, and it was created to wipe existing Israel off the face of the map.
Both Gaza and the West Bank have been such effective areas from which to attack Israel that Israel had to take them over in order to protect themselves (This is where we get the idea that Gaza and the West Bank represent "defensible borders" to Israel).
So, yes, Arabs have always been the agressors.
Anybody that uses the language of the Neocons i.e. "Islamist". Is totally discredited.
DeleteNext you'll probably pull out the old you're "anti-semitic" canard. Straight from the cultural marxist playbook.
Fact is the Israeli government has exterminated 5 million Palestinians, since the 1948 invasion, and take over. Ref: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine: Pappe.
Zionism is nothing more than another authoritarian flavor of statism, and imperialism. It's support in the US lies in the false doctrine of dispensationalism, which is engrained in our poisoned culture. All the BS about rapture and whatnot.
Unsurprisingly, nearly all fundamentalist Christian churches. Largely complied with the lockdown orders. Of course got their thirty pieces of Silver via the PPP bribery, and theft. They always do.
For Rand it's always one step forward, two steps back. The neocons like the communists will always turn on you in the end. Trotsky like.
"Anybody that uses the language of the Neocons i.e. "Islamist". Is totally discredited."
DeleteI use "Islamist" so that people don't say "not all arabs are muslims, you racist".
At any rate, you're welcome to not listen to someone that uses it. No logical person would, though, since it's the substance that counts, not the style.
"Next you'll probably pull out the old you're "anti-semitic" canard. Straight from the cultural marxist playbook."
Since I don't have a problem with other people holding whatever views they want, I consistently, then, don't have a problem with racist beliefs - including anti-semitism - so long as they don't violate the NAP.
Go ahead and refuse to sell your goods to Jews. It's your property.
"Zionism is nothing more than another authoritarian flavor of statism, and imperialism. It's support in the US lies in the false doctrine of dispensationalism, which is engrained in our poisoned culture. All the BS about rapture and whatnot."
If it requires a nation, as a nation, to favor one country over another, then yes, it's imperialism.
Again, though, consistent with belief in the right to believe whatever you want, it's not Zionism for individuals to hold the belief that the Jews are the victims of Islamist agression.
"Unsurprisingly, nearly all fundamentalist Christian churches. Largely complied with the lockdown orders."
Yeah, that was shameful. America is done. Unfortunately Americans will have to learn the hard and genocidal way that socialism doesn't work, Islam is not a religion of peace, and that Israel was the victim of the middle-east violence this whole time.
If we are consistent in our libertarianism, though, we'll accept that you don't need a country to *be* libertarian. Economics is all about individuals persuing their own ends, and thereby imputing value to the things that satisfy those ends.
Here we go again. Iran has the largest Jewish population in the ME at over 100,000. And according to your MSM sources they are aligned with Hamas. Admittedly, a Jew in Iran doesn't quite have the same rights as a Shiite Persian. (I believe they pay extra taxes, and can't run for public office) But they aren't victims of democide. As per the fantasies of the neocons, and people that use their language.
DeleteMost radical Islamic orgs. Have been funded by western intelligence agencies for well over a century now. Those are the "Islamists" you are crowing about.
Islam at least accepts that Jesus was a prophet. Judaism does not. In many ways that religion is closer to Christianity than Judaism is.
So for you to say that the 2 billion or so that practice Islam are blood thirsty repressives. Is nothing more than neocon propaganda. And I don't care what you call yourself.
The first order for any intellectual libertarian is to seek the truth, and live up the NAP.
A stateless world take on many forms, with countless "power centers" as Mr Wenzel likes to call them. All of them voluntary, one hopes.
Until that time though. I can only take care of me and my own. And call them like I see them. And I find it rich indeed that you call the only nuclear power (sans Pakistan) in the ME a victim. (ask the survivors of the USS Liberty how much of a victim the regime in Tel aviv is) Sounds like same BS the USG and their state media says, when they can't get their way, in some far flung corner of the globe.
"Admittedly, a Jew in Iran doesn't quite have the same rights as a Shiite Persian. (I believe they pay extra taxes, and can't run for public office) But they aren't victims of democide."
DeleteThe "extra taxes" they pay are called the Jizya, and it's the price they pay to not be murdered:
Quran (9:29) - "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."
Whereas Muslims in Israel can pretty much do what they want.
"Most radical Islamic orgs. Have been funded by western intelligence agencies for well over a century now. Those are the "Islamists" you are crowing about."
Very true. America, as a country, should leave everyone else alone. Israel and Arabs are not our concern.
Are you sure you're using the word "neocon" correctly?
"Islam at least accepts that Jesus was a prophet. Judaism does not. In many ways that religion is closer to Christianity than Judaism is."
Not sure how you can believe that when Christianity is at least *derived* from Judaism. Jews can reject Jesus as a prophet all they want. That doesn't affect Christianity. (Pretty hard to follow Judaism without a temple to make daily animal sacrifices ...)
"So for you to say that the 2 billion or so that practice Islam are blood thirsty repressives. Is nothing more than neocon propaganda."
Well, nine of them were used to take out 3,000 of us. And all you have to do is look at history to know that Israel is *always* defending itself against Muslims.
So, there doesn't have to be 2 billion Muslims actively rushing Israel's borders for Muslims to be a *constant* threat to Israel.
"And I find it rich indeed that you call the only nuclear power (sans Pakistan) in the ME a victim. (ask the survivors of the USS Liberty how much of a victim the regime in Tel aviv is)"
First of all, that first bit about being a nuclear power is just like when people criticize the U.S. for being the only country to actually attack another country with nuclear weapons.
In the case of the U.S., while it's true that the nuclear bombings were unnecessary - because Japan had already offered surrender, with the Emperor to remain in charge, and because the U.S. had provoked Japan into making some sort of attack (which turned out to be Pearl Harbor), *IT IS ALSO TRUE* that Germany wanted to use those weapons on their enemies.
The U.S. just got to it first.
In the case of Israel, they are nuclear - again - because everyone around them wants them wiped off the face of the map.
And yes, as I understand it, Israelis straight up attacked Americans on the USS Liberty, which was clearly marked as US. It appears, though, that attempts were made to get the Liberty to back away from the area because it was not clear that the Israelis understood their intentions.
Not good at all. Let's just stay out of other countries' affairs and trade freely with individuals from both countries.
Well ... Rand pretty much permanently lost me here! Turns out he is just another talking head tool like everyone else around him.
ReplyDeleteOppression by those who have been also oppressed is a double offense against the rest of the species.
Just another instance of one Mafia gang writ-large, siding with another Mafia gang writ-large, and against another Mafia gang writ-large.
ReplyDeleteNobody should be helping anybody...no aid or hand-outs to anybody or anything either---no foreign aid to countries, no welfare to individuals in this country, no corporate subsidies, period.
The Zionists chose that lonely, arid, beleaguered tract of land as their Jewish State, now let them defend it and their decision...their "Fort Apache." If they were smart, they would've purchased or leased a more defendable location for Israel---like Puerto Rico, or American Samoa, or Guam. Or maybe a similarly arid, desolate spot, in Nevada, right next to Las Vegas.
But they made their decision, now let them live with it.
And BTW, I condemn any and all terrorism (indiscriminate violence against innocent people for political or religious gain), whether it's Arabs blowing-up Israelis, or Israelis shooting rockets into civilian areas of Gaza or the West Bank, or Americans blowing-up Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or US soldiers bayoneting and shooting civilians at the My Lai Massacre, or fire-bombing Dresden, and so on.
Could not said it better.
DeleteIt's so amusing to see American conservatives compete with each other to see who can virtue signal the most ill-informed loyalty to Israel. It's completely nonsensical. They're like 12 year old girls with Beatlemania trying to be the first to faint at the concert.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Conservatives: "Eminent Domaine and Affirmative Action are bad."
Israeli Government: ***Seizes land then gives it way based on race.***
American Conservatives: "This is the greatest thing ever and anyone who doesn't support it just hates Jews."
I do not understand why everyone approaches this subject by removing their brains before trying to think it through. No one actually really even tries to think it through, they're too busy sorting out what they think their loyalties are supposed to be and what they think they're supposed to say based on those loyalties. The Truth has to take a backseat.
It's really pathetic. The one thing Conservatism has going for it is its supposed insistence on objective moral truth, but all that shit goes right out the window when there's a Culture War to be fought. Hand wringing over Palestinian rights just sounds like something a smelly commie would do. Gross!
"Hand wringing over Palestinian rights just sounds like something a smelly commie would do. Gross!"
DeleteActually, it was communists and socialists that hated the Jews. Part of "The Jewish Problem" was that Jews were really good at making money off of their existing money - something that Marxists consider to be theft because, in their view, you're making money off of doing nothing.
Meaning that the Marxists didn't factor in time preferences into their worldview.
At any rate, please watch the following videos, in order, if you'll indulge me:
"Egypt "started the war" when it closed the Strait of Tiran in violation of the ceasefire. Under international law, that is a casus belli. ..."
[Refering to a quote from Begin]: "... The presenter is lying by omission again.
"Begin says here that Israel chose to attack Nasser even though they weren't sure Nasser was going to attack them.
"The problem is, after the presenter stops quoting him, he kept talking:
"[Quoting Begin]: This was a war of sel-defense in the noblest sense of the term. The government of national unity then established decided unanimously: We will take the initiative and attack the enemy, drive him back, and thus assure the security of Israel and the future of the nation."
So, closing the Strait of Tiran was a threat of violence, and responding to threats of violence with defensive violence counts as being consistent with the NAP.
Sorry, those videos are here (they are all short), with the last video going with the quotes of Belgin at the end of my last pose:
DeleteIsrael Palestinian Conflict: The Truth About the West Bank
YouTube video ID: XGYxLWUKwWo
The ACTUAL Truth About Palestine in response to Danny Ayalon
YouTube video ID: MBYkBqY1-LM
Rebuttal The Real Truth about Palestine
YouTube video ID: 5jjOOpEvMHA
The ACTUAL Truth about "Palestine"
YouTube video ID: OJbyfmbZ-f8
Fascinating. The Israelis stole a bunch of land, AND they have Some Story. Truly a unique development in the long history of people stealing. Please keep me posted.
Delete"Actually, it was communists and socialists that hated the Jews."
DeleteROTFLMAO. Absolutely. Marx, Trotsky and Lenin were notorious antisemites.
"Please keep me posted."
DeleteOK, I will. Turns out that one of those four stories was from a so-called "Palestinian".
Looks like *someone* doesn't want to consider other points of view.
"ROTFLMAO. Absolutely. Marx, Trotsky and Lenin were notorious antisemites."
DeleteAmerica rejected Jewish refugees, why?
Because we had sane officials in government then who realized these 'refugees' caused trouble wherever they went. Throughout history they have been expelled from over one hundred nations. Perhaps their own behavior is to blame rather than white racism.
DeleteThe British were always good at throwing a hand grenade into various regions in the world. I remember a Nigerian taxi driver explaining how their country was basically started by the British drawing up a huge region that included 20 different tribes who all disliked one another, then letting them all figure it out under their one government. "They (the British) really did a number on us," he said.
ReplyDelete