this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023
67 points (89.4% liked)

politics

18828 readers
4622 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
  2. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  3. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  4. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
  5. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  6. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

As Israel escalates its attacks on Gaza, the State Department is discouraging diplomats working on Middle East issues from making public statements suggesting the U.S. wants to see less violence, according to internal emails viewed by HuffPost.

In messages circulated on Friday, State Department staff wrote that high-level officials do not want press materials to include three specific phrases: “de-escalation/ceasefire,” “end to violence/bloodshed” and “restoring calm.”

The revelation provides a stunning signal about the Biden administration’s reluctance to push for Israeli restraint as the close U.S. partner expands the offensive it launched after Hamas ― which rules Gaza ― attacked Israeli communities on Oct. 7.

top 10 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago

Absolutely ghoulish. But I suppose, if you’re on board with apartheid and genocide, propaganda is an easy step.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Geopolitics at work, as ugly as it is. Diplomacy and Peace are all but impossible at this point, unless a miracle or three happens.

**Hamas is too ingrained and supported in Palestine to stop attacking Israel.

Israel too much in a blood rage and conquest to stop their assault on Palestine.**

Calling for calm or the end of the violence will hardly stop or improve anything, and more than likely show how ineffective America is. Let alone aggravating all sides.

So......they stay quiet and see how things play out whilst managing things the best they can. Biden has called to help civilians, so at least there's that.

I don't see this ending unless all of Palestine or Israel is gone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Solid take, hadn't thought of that. Talk of “de-escalation/ceasefire,” “end to violence/bloodshed” and “restoring calm”, is utterly useless, for the reasons you outlined.

Talking like that is a lose/lose proposition. What's to gain? Might as well STFU, do your best, see how it goes.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

It's lose/lose unless you consider the humanitarian outcome to have value. Which is kind of the main thing, isn't it?

Israel is emboldened by U.S. support. Materially, ideologically. I forget the figure for annual U.S. military aid to Israel but if I recall it's 20-30 billion. The U.S. government has probably the single greatest influence on Israel, so frankly they bear great responsibility for the outcome here.

Frankly, this memo is disgusting. And it would have been virtually unchanged in a GOP administration, save that we wouldn't even have the single word Biden said in defense of Palestinians. It's just a glimpse into the bizarre preoccupation the U.S. government has in remaining complicit in perpetuating this conflict, in favor of the Israeli side.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The funding certainly matters (even though it mostly goes back to US corporations), but this isn't talking about the funding.

This is talking about saying useless words and watering down the influence of the US. It's nice to say "deescalation" and "end of bloodshed", but unless those words are likely to happen, it's worse than nothing. It means when and if there IS ever a chance for peace, we'll have spent years calling wolf.

This is simply "don't say useless platitudes".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I don't think so, they'd be free to use them if they aligned with their goals.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

There is one condition that will only delay this. Giving up the hostages will buy time for Hamas. But, you are on point it seems to me.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

OFC not. The US backs Israel even when they're committing war crimes. Controlling "the Muslim problem" in the region was always the point of the US backing Israel... Not that it's right. The US does fucked up things ... rather often.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

It was never about the “Muslim problem” either. It’s about destabilizing the region to exploit it for oil. If (say) Mosaddegh had not been assassinated to allow British (and American) oil companies to keep drilling for oil, Iran’s successful rejection of the west might have led to other mostly secular and socialist leaders taking power in the Arab world, and generally rejecting western power.