There were quite a lot of what Donald Trump might describe as “bad things” taking place in Washington over the past week, to include the worsening of relations with China shortly after what appeared to be an agreement had been reached over tariffs; the arrival at an apparent impasse in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program; and friction with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over possible initiatives relating to the genocide that is continuing in Gaza.
The pointless break with China, tweeted by Trump as follows: “The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!” will have potentially major consequences for the US economy. However, perhaps the most lethal cross-talking of the past week relates to Russia and Ukraine, where the demands by President Donald Trump to initiate a ceasefire have been met by a Russian reiteration of its redline national security imperatives to include no Ukrainian entry into NATO, acceptance that Crimea is part of Russia, and either autonomy or incorporation into Russia of the Russian ethnic oblasts in the eastern part of Ukraine.
This has led to a considerable cooling in the bilateral relationship between Moscow and Washington and it also suggests that Trump’s apparent desire to disengage from Ukraine has now taken on a Neoconnish tone with the United States presuming that it must be the accepted hegemon which by rights should be calling the shots on what might come next. And Trump is not above issuing ill-advised new personal threats against Russian President Vladimir Putin whom he described as “absolutely crazy,” as well as a warning that even stronger Treasury Department sanctions targeting Russia are being considered. He angrily tweeted “What Vladimir Putin does not realize is that, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!” Trump’s son Donald Jr also threw into the mix a bit of Memorial Day context that well illustrates the vacuousness of the foreign policy thinking in the White House. Trump Jr, who apparently is being considered by some a possible candidate to succeed his father, tweeted on Trump Sr’s inane observation with his own take on the situation: “As we drove past the rows of white grave markers [at Arlington Cemetery], in the gravity of the moment…I also thought of…all the sacrifices we’d have to make—giving up a huge chunk of our business and all international deals.”
I don’t recall that either Trump ever put himself in harm’s way by serving in the US military. So much for sacrifices. Unfortunately, the clueless President Trump is also being backed up by some Europeans who, for reasons that are largely incomprehensible, seem to want to go to war with Russia. Germany has recently decided share their military technology to help Ukraine develop and build long range missiles that some believe might have to be initially operated and targeted by German military personnel, which Putin has said will be considered an act of war on the part of Berlin. He has suggested that he would respond to any attack on or near Moscow using those missiles fired from Ukraine with a counter-strike on the German capital. Some observers are warning that World War 3 could be a result of that kind of tit-for-tat.
The situation with Iran and Israel also seems to be on the verge of erupting into something much worse, possibly to include a regional escalation that could literally explode. If one can make a judgement based on the ranting by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as interpreted by many in the Israeli media, it would seem that Israel is preparing to interfere with US-Iranian talks by attacking so-called nuclear and military targets in Iran with the expectation that the US will be drawn into the conflict with little resistance from Trump, who in turn is being pressured by a large majority in Congress that is keen on “protecting” Israel. The Congressional demand is particularly ironic as it is Israel that is now and always been the aggressor throughout its region. It is also the lone nuclear power, with nutcases like Zionist Congressman Randy Fine of Florida already calling for “nuking” Gaza in the wake of the recent killing of the two Israeli Embassy officials in Washington.
Fine is only one of the many voices raised in unison to permit Israel to carry out hideous crimes that would not be acceptable if they were initiated by any other country. The Israel Lobby in the US has the power to silence nearly all dissent, as one might note from the Trump law enforcement’s full scale attack on protesters, mostly students. Those protesting have been demonstrating against the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people, something which Netanyahu and his ghastly array of murderer-associates do not even make any effort to conceal.
Deportations of foreign students who are appalled by what Israel is doing has been the policy, but more recently it has been expanded to include denying visas to many other students requiring the papers to study in the US. The State Department, which issues the documents, has been tasked with demanding access to potential students’ social media so they can be checked for undesirable content. Now that China is no longer considered a friend, Chinese students are being particularly investigated due to concerns that they might be spies stealing American industrial secrets.
The list of undesirable students is inevitably top heavy with any who have demonstrated against Israel or any who have supported attempts to “boycott, divest from or sanction” (BDS) Israel and its activities. Trump and his staff have repeatedly indicated that the objective is to get rid of foreign students who engage in “antisemitism, pro-Hamas support, or hatred of the United States” and his Administration has now demanded from Harvard and other colleges and universities records that identify all foreign students in the US on education visas to include information on what countries they come from. That means that not all countries will be regarded as equal under the new guidelines.
The witch hunt on foreign students will no doubt grow as there is little within the US government system but for some toothless muttering from the judiciary that would attempt to stop it. Interestingly, however, the way the war on demonstrators is being pursued supports the views of an increasing number of Americans who have negative views of Israel not only because of its war crimes but also due to its virtual control of many aspects of US foreign and national security policy. If Israel persists in its killing of babies that anger will grow, particularly if the United States is dragged into greater killing in Iran, Yemen and Palestine as an accomplice to the slaughter and as the protector of Israel after it does its dirty work. Indeed, Trump is fully on board to removing the Palestinians from what was once Palestine and Netanyahu totally endorses that agenda.
And the special status of the Israelis vis-à-vis the US government and media will become more and more evident as efforts are made to engage in a massive cover-up to protect the Israelis that pretends that the going to war is really in the national interest of the United States. That will mean fixing things so Israel suffers no damage from the consequences of its own actions. An interesting recent article described the plight of Israeli students at Harvard, who are currently subject to the same scrutiny as their fellow foreign nationals at the university, all of whom will reportedly lose their State Department student visas due to the college’s alleged failure to comply with White House demands. There are a reported 160 such students, a considerable portion of which consists of former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, which means that they may have been party to the actual war crimes and human rights violations that are the source of the world’s negative perception of the Jewish state. Surely, the Trump Administration will jump in to protect these wonderful human beings so I rather suspect that there will soon be legislation that exempts Israeli students in the US from the consequences that the other foreign students are currently confronting. You can bet on it!
And so we have another week in Washington, full of bombast and misrepresentation of facts as the world crumbles around it. Only three years and five more months to go until the next presidential election! If we make it that far!
Reprinted with permission from Unz Review.
