Israel’s inability to assemble a government is not easy to understand. America has been in deadlock since the 1970s, but that’s hardly surprising since (a) it’s not a democracy but a dysfunctional eighteenth-century republic lingering on well past its sell-by date; and (b) power is fragmented among a handful of political institutions that must align just so for anything to get done.
Cuba and Palestine do not have a great deal in common, other than that their citizens are innocent targets of Trump Washington’s spiteful malevolence. In the case of Cuba this has been exercised with varying degrees of effectiveness for sixty years, and the fandangos of the military-industrial complex have included an attempt to invade the country and several efforts to assassinate its leader.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week announced yet another radical shift in Washington’s policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, by way of saying that the United States “was accepting realities on the ground”.
What the mendacious and cynical Pompeo omits to add is that the Trump administration has been dramatically fueling the change in “realities” – specifically the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory and the demolition of Palestinian homes.
The Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, characterized Trump’s idea of buying Greenland as “absurd”. On a similar note, I would characterize Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’ – particularly the political component – as ‘super absurd’.
Five years after the colonial massacre unleashed by Israel on Gaza, known as Operation Protective Edge, Israeli politicians are still eyeing the enclave for ultimate destruction. Former IDF Chief and leader of the Blue and White Party, Benny Gantz, is promoting the same violent tactics that formed part of his earlier electoral campaign: invade Gaza and assassinate Hamas leaders if the conditions Israel demands are not accepted.
A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the Trump Deal of the century titled “The Deal of the Century: Two Con Men’s Job”, published by Strategic Culture Foundation on May 5th, 2019.
Yes, you can ‘judge a book by its cover’, especially if the ‘book’ is the ‘Deal of the Century’ and the ‘cover’ lauds two con men, Trump and Netanyahu. Furthermore, when two con men are involved, ‘Deal of the Century’ is likely more akin to ‘Theft of the Century’.
