Tuesday 16 April 2024

Biden and Netanyahu's Good Cop Bad Cop Routine

Genocide Joe and Nazi Yahoo are playing good cop bad cop, following the insane Iranian missile attack on Israel that was itself deliberately provoked by the Zionist state bombing the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, using US F-35 jets and bombs, and which undoubtedly was undertaken with prior US approval, and certainly led to no condemnation of it by either the US or European imperialism.

The Zionist state provoked the attack, because it has been seeking, for the last six months, at least, to spread the current conflict, on a wider basis, into, at least, Lebanon and Syria, and parts of Iraq, where US and UK, and other EU forces remain stationed, some of which took part in shooting down the Iranian missiles whilst still over those countries. The Zionist state, has been hammered in public relations terms, across the globe, over the last six months. It has been seen to be committing genocide in Gaza, and has been stepping up its pogroms against Palestinians in the West Bank. During all that time, Genocide Joe, along with Starnak in Britain, and the political representatives of EU imperialism, have continued to stand shoulder to shoulder with it, continuing and increasing arms shipments to it, and wholesaling the ridiculous, and blatant lies that the Zionists have been retailing.

These other imperialist powers are, thereby, tarred with the same genocide brush that their client Zionist state is tarred with, and rightly so. At the end of the day, of course, that will make no difference to the policies of those imperialist powers, any more than it makes any difference to the Zionist regime. The idea that these states policies are determined by elections and the votes of their people, let alone by public opinion, is a delusion. That does not mean that they are immune to it either, or that they do not seek to minimise any such odium, by providing themselves with cover for their barbarous acts. That is why, as in WWI and WWII, for example, they looked to provide themselves with justifications for their imperialist adventures, defending “Poor Little Belgium”, in World War I, and fighting fascism in World War II, for instance. Hence all of the grotesque lies purveyed about October 7th, about babies being beheaded, mass organised rape and so on, as though the actual horror of that day was not enough of itself. Hence, also the need to provoke Iran into its attack, so as to provide the basis for another escalation and extension of the war.

The US is not going to stop providing weapons to the Zionist state, and nor are most of the European imperialist states, whether the ICJ rules that genocide has been committed or not. Quite clearly genocide has, and continues to be committed by the Zionist state. The pictures of emaciated children, even being provided by western doctors, show that Gaza has become the Zionists' Belsen, achieved in just six months of industrial scale bombing, and starvation, following years of isolating and destroying Gaza, which it turned into the world's largest open air concentration camp. Billions of people, across the globe, including in the West, have now seen what is happening, but they are powerless to do anything about it, short of a socialist revolution.

In the US, Biden, now, seems inevitably to be going to lose the elections in November, not just for himself but for Democrat senators and representatives. But, that will simply allow back the abominable Trump, and even more rabid set of Trumpists in the Congress, whose support for Zionism, and the genocide is even greater than that of Genocide Joe, and Holocaust Harris. In Britain, the Sunak half of the Starnak chimera is on its way out big style, but that only opens the door for the Starmer half of it, which is no less rabid in its support for Zionism, if not more so. It was Starmer that, at the start supported the war crimes and genocide of the Zionists, quite openly on TV, saying that they had a right to cut off food, water and energy to Gaza! The same can be said across Europe. Unfortunately, we do not have any socialist workers' parties that can provide a realistic alternative to them, which means that the imperialist states will continue to support the genocide and war crimes, and simply seek to cover their tracks, by blowing smoke in everyone's eyes by extending the war on a wider basis, into Lebanon, and so on, using Iran as the cover for doing so.

The western media, of course, point to the statements of Genocide Joe, of Sunak and others, in the days after the missile attack, to suggest that they are trying to pressure the Zionist state not to further escalate the war, in their response to the Iranian attack. Nonsense, it is simply a good cop, bad cop routine, as they try to provide themselves with PR cover, whilst giving Netanyahu the go ahead behind the scenes to extend the war, and divert the attention away from the continuing genocide in Gaza, and the increased pogroms against Palestinians in the West Bank.   And, of course, the Zionists need no encouragement for that.

Almost every 25-30 years, since its creation, the Zionist state has used some war to extend its territory. Its stated goal is to create a Zionist state on the biblical lands, from the river to the sea. As is always the case, religion or some other superficial cover is given for such ambition, which are, in fact, driven by more mundane economic interests. The Zionists need to create a much larger state, for the simple reasons that every imperialist state has been led to expand its territory, to create much larger single markets, in the age of imperialism. Indeed, more than that. The Iranian attack, if it had any useful purpose, showed just where the interests and allegiances of the neighbouring bourgeois Arab states reside. They joined in with US and European imperialism, in tracking and shooting down the Iranian missiles, just as they have failed to provide any effective aid to the Palestinians over the last 6 months, even leaving it to South Africa to haul the Zionists in front of the ICJ!

Those bourgeois Arab states, such as Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states, are all themselves clients of US and EU imperialism, even if some have seen the way the global winds are blowing, and have started to hedge their bets by cosying up to China. As they embark on their own process of industrialisation and modernisation, they too, as with the states in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, recognise the reality that the day of the nation state is long gone, and that it is necessary to form much larger politico-economic blocs, single markets, and ever closer political union. Indeed, the US had been promoting such a process, encouraging a normalisation of relations between Israel, and these states. The road block for them has been the Palestinians, and that became obvious after October 7th. Not included in that scenario, of course, is Iran, or its own clients in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. An extension of the war into Lebanon – US and European imperialism has already extended it partially into Yemen, in their direct attacks on the Houthis – into Syria, and Iraq, if not, immediately, into Iran, is fundamental to that process.

In the short term, the use of US and European imperialism, standing behind the Zionist regime, to isolate and cow the Iranians, whilst further expansion into Lebanon, and Syria is pursued, may be enough. On that basis, a stabilization of the Zionist regime, will enable the normalization of relations between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states. Either way, the idea that US imperialism is seriously seeking to restrain the Zionist state, is nonsense. It has had six months to do that, and has continually done the opposite.

There is, then, a logical dissonance in the view presented by Peter Beinart, here. He criticises Biden for his actions over the last six months, but, then, naively, applauds him for his actions in relation to the Iranian attack. Yes, of course, socialists do not want to see Israeli citizens hurt or killed, as a result of the Iranian missile strike, but the best way to have prevented that, for Biden, would have been to not have been supplying the Zionist regime with its high tech weapons, not to have been simply repeating ad nauseum the lies put out by the Zionist state, to have condemned from the start its genocide and other war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, and to have condemned the Zionist bombing of the Iranian Embassy. US imperialism, and its European subordinates did none of that, for the reasons set out above, and yet Beinart seems incapable of drawing the line between the two, and arriving at the inevitable conclusion.

Beinart does the same thing elsewhere in his presentation. He concludes,

“Again, I support US military aid to Israel that allows it to shoot down rockets that would kill Israelis with Iron Dome or the Arrow System, as happened just in the last 24 hours, but not unconditional US support for reckless offensive Israeli military actions that lead to the potential for regional war. What I hope is that the Biden administration is now learning its lesson just as it seems to be opening the door to conditioning US military aid on Israel’s reckless behaviour in Gaza, that it will do the same vis-à-vis Israel’s behaviour vis-à-vis Iran.”

This is facile. It makes a false distinction between defensive and offensive weapons. Any martial artist will tell you there is no difference between offence and defence, indeed, any football coach will tell you that the best form of defence is offence. What is the point of the Iron Dome and so on, just as with the US “Star Wars” programmes? It is to provide the shield against any response from those that you have yourself attacked? Just think of the use of "the turtle" by Roman centurions.  That is precisely what the Zionist regime does as it continually attacks Palestinians in Gaza, for example. It has, now, simply enabled it to extend that principle into directly attacking Iran, just as it has previously attacked Syria, Lebanon and Iraq directly.

There was nothing “reckless” in the Zionists attack on the Iranian Embassy; it was a deliberately aimed act of provocation, supported by the US and European imperialism, with the specific intent of soliciting an Iranian military response, which, then, distracts from the imperialist backed genocide in Gaza, the pogroms against Palestinians in the West Bank, and provides the pretext for a wider regional war, in which the US and European imperialists will play a larger, direct role, and the Zionist state will annex additional territory, as has been its modus operandi from its inception.

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