Washington and European governments are cheerleading Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. The failure to intervene to halt the carnage threatens to ignite violence throughout the region.
Your opening paragraph explains why veterans are at 57% higher risk of suicide than those who haven't served, and 125K+ veterans have died by suicide since 2001. Who can live with what they are ordered to do to other human beings.
Especially when you come to realize that all you may have accomplished well and all you have endured was all for nothing...I was suicidal after leaving the Army for that reason, but I'm still here today, after realizing that, while all I know how to be is a soldier because I grew up into adulthood being that, and knowing that I can still do SSG Spencer really well (!), I do have a purpose in this life, to be active for better things for my own life as well as for others...and I still am engaged in that at the age of 70 because I came to believe if we, the people speak up and act for better things, we can make them happen. While I have not been successful at everything, I have been a part of some very good results over time, and that is what keeps me going...
Agreed, Debra! I've counselled Vietnam Vets and thereby learned that I would rather be the victim than the sinner. These soldiers struggle for decades about murdering children, pregnant women and so on. It's against the laws of nature and they become fatally tarnished deep in their souls.
Yes and US soldiers are left with discreditable secrets of things they have done so to orders and the madness if war. Shame. Guilt and so on. No wonder so many suicide.
Senators are buying MORE armaments stocks thanks to the latest Palestine/Israel war.
War, what it is good for? Lockhead, Boeing, Raytheon, Halliburton.
The US sells billions to the Saudis in armaments every year. We have so much in common with them! Castrating gays, importing slaves, stoning raped children....no wait. 15 of 19 terrorists in 9/11 were Saudis.
It's more than a little obvious is it not? Went to a rally in support of Palestinians today...one little girl in traditional dress kept crossing the street with other supporters when the walk sign came on......she was carrying a little sign that said "NO MORE CHILDREN COMING HOME IN BODY BAGS" a dreadful world we live in.
I actually for the first time in your reports felt some emotion.
We here in France are fighting the establishment. We are supposed to be quiet..meanwhile Macron has called out the Army to disperse us BUT France will always fight.
I am a daughter of British Colonialism in Sri Lanka and to my knowledge never understood why white people were in my land!
As it is I feel sick and unsupported EVEN though Macron seems to think he has eyes everywhere which he does not.
I hear American conservatives insist that the French government isn't aggressive enough to suit them and that this shows that somehow they are really on the Palestinian side.
As to how much aggression will satisfy them? Europeans can never be slavish enough, but their leaders sure try.
Finster, then. I would have been happier is you had deepened your original statement for all of us instead of giving a grammar lesson which I can benefit from too.
What is startling is to see how the Israeli people have displaced Palestinians from their homeland with the destruction of orchards and theft of water for new Jewish settlements. 95% of the land has been taken by the new Jewish colonizers whose approach is not different from that of other colonial powers over past centuries. Small wonder that those controlling the American Empire and those in the UK who dream of regaining past glories are so intent on supplying the Israeli people with weapons of mass destruction to enable their crimes against the Palestinian men, women, and children.
The media corporations that serve the elites have also been complicit with their censorship of the news to prevent Americans from learning the true extend of Israeli genocide and ethnic cleansing.
I believe the point of the counterattack is to create more chaos and death. Victory over Hamas is not the goal - chaos and confusion is. Netanyahu I believe is in league with the globalists and hopes to achieve what they cannot do directly, create the global crisis they feel they need to establish their New World Order -- the technocratic fascist alliance of banks, corporations, governments, and NGO's that will enslave the entire world. They will most likely fail eventually, but not before they orchestrate the murder of thousands or millions more innocent people.
Yes. Corporate Inc. clandestinely channeling through the criminal Netanyaho, and all former and current colonial powers and the USA corporatized government. Death, Profit, Power, what's yours is mine so shut up.
I really appreciate your effort in writing this piece, Chris! I am so disturbed and angry at the carnage already in Gaza, with constant promises of Israeli government psychopaths to make it much worse...it's so painful! I'm at the edge of violence sometimes, though still in control, but the powerlessness is driving me nuts! Thank you for letting me see one more sane voice to continue believing in people and love...
Good that you have such control of your feelings. I'm fully traumatized by the current events in Palestine and the understanding of how degenerate our human species have become.
Yet again, thank you, Chris, for bearing witness to the insanity of our times and for speaking, and feeling, the truth of horrors in our past and horrors in the present. The sad and awful truth is that Israel was born out of Palestinian blood and theft of Palestinian land, and no nation born in such a way can ever be at peace. It is tragic and horrifying that Jews, who themselves have suffered appalling, inhuman outrages, should be the ones to use murder and savagery to found Israel and to expand its borders. America is another prime example of a nation built on slaughter, land theft, lies and duplicity - it, too, will never be at peace. So many other nations have been built in the same way. As our planet collapses we see the true colors of so many people and so many nations. Biden is a war-lover and so, too, are many, many other so-called leaders of nations who eagerly follow Biden's blood-lust bidding. Led by America, nations around the world are throwing aside reason, compassion, truth and fairness, and going full tilt into a blood-filled nightmare.
I am in France and we are being ORDERED not to support/demonstrate for Palestinians.
I can tell you without doubt this is going to make the French come out in droves. We are used to being in the streets fighting. Macron is losing his mind because the right wing facist Le Pen is doing well so he is going further right.
It takes guts to speak truth to power - especially in these times. Chris, thank you for writing this in the interest of peace, truth, love. Your friend, Dan Berrigan would be proud of you.
Thanks, Chris. There is one aspect that is completely missing from the media coverage. Just like with 9/11, Israel is now doing exactly what Hamas wanted. The idea was to convince the entire Arab-speaking world that the Global North does not view them as humans. The "universal" human rights apparently only apply to the people of the former colonial powers. IDF is now willingly complying with their demands.
And - Hamas was invented and supported for years by -- the “beloved Bibi” - see recent article by Sy Hersh in Sub-stack.
Seymour Hersh – Oct. 12, 2023 – Netanyahu is Finished -- The Bibi doctrine—his belief that he could control Hamas—compromised Israeli security and has now begat a bloody war
Hamas was created and financed for years by “our beloved” Bibi, who believed that Arafat’s secular PLO was a more serious enemy. Hamas was also rejecting a two-state solution -- just like Bibi and his extremists who together with US sabotaged a two-state solution for decades.
Let me be clear Boris. As far as I'm concerned the Israelis are a bunch of viscous bastards. If you go over to Scott Ritter's substack you'll see a write up by one of the Israelis involved in simply wiping out and entire arab village of some 5,000 souls in the '48 war. Non-combatants all. Clearly the Israelis didn't learn any humanity from the holocaust, they only learned how to be like the Nazis that were murdering them.
I don't have to do that, Boris. I would just think of my friends, John, Charlie, Rich and others. I've always thought of Jews as just people, mostly very likable. You'll note, I said Israelis, not Jews.
Boris Petrov, that was then, and even Rabin was not blameless in his hatred. Things have changed in Israel since then. Read "Goliath" by Max Blumenthal to have a more updated view of the awful Israel of one decade ago. Surely there is still good normal people in organisations like B'tselem that are arduously working for democracy. I'm including their website so perhaps you can also help them with donations.
I have and read Max incredible book. Generalization against all Izraelis is as repulsive as against Eskimos or Palestinians -- just totally unacceptable !!!
This piece reminds and often mirrors a piece written in 1948 by Hannah Arendt. Arendt talked about the dangers of a unanimity of opinion. From Tel Aviv to DC the wolves of war are baying for blood and destruction in Gaza; Hedges is standing opposed to that doomed idea. Hedges will be ignored, dismissed, you'll never see him on television, but, like Arendt, history will confirm the principles he defends.
The entire saga of Palestine since the creation of a Jewish state in the region has been one of atrocity. And it doesn't take a ph.d. to understand it. I am deeply ashamed of the leaders of the west, and more than a bit terrified by what it means about us........and the world we seem eager to create.....once ideological partisanship becomes so second nature, that we condone any wars against any supposed enemies.........our western elites see fit to designate.
The Horror and the Shame for what is happening, about to happen is overwhelming. Is our entire civilization no more than the thin veil obscuring the leering face of the tyrant? Is there no one with the power to enforce the Geneva Conventions and demand that Israel cease its genocidal revenge tactics??
Can't think of one......American exceptionality at work I suppose. Feel terribly sad for the Americans who aspire to being good people...though its not that much better in Canada.
As this has unfolded, my mind has repeatedly returned to War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.
I sometimes wonder: if this book was standard reading in education, might some of these things unfold differently, or at least make a difference with respect to collective opinions and popular support.
I know that your work has helped me to see more clearly and understand with greater perspective.
Your opening paragraph explains why veterans are at 57% higher risk of suicide than those who haven't served, and 125K+ veterans have died by suicide since 2001. Who can live with what they are ordered to do to other human beings.
Especially when you come to realize that all you may have accomplished well and all you have endured was all for nothing...I was suicidal after leaving the Army for that reason, but I'm still here today, after realizing that, while all I know how to be is a soldier because I grew up into adulthood being that, and knowing that I can still do SSG Spencer really well (!), I do have a purpose in this life, to be active for better things for my own life as well as for others...and I still am engaged in that at the age of 70 because I came to believe if we, the people speak up and act for better things, we can make them happen. While I have not been successful at everything, I have been a part of some very good results over time, and that is what keeps me going...
I'm glad you decided to stay!
Good that you used the evil you were taught, but used it for other things.
Good that you got wise. Too many humans keep on doubling down.
Thanks!
Well done.
Not sure if I had been in a War I would have wanted to come out alive.
Agreed, Debra! I've counselled Vietnam Vets and thereby learned that I would rather be the victim than the sinner. These soldiers struggle for decades about murdering children, pregnant women and so on. It's against the laws of nature and they become fatally tarnished deep in their souls.
But the killing machine that is the Amerikan Empire goes on.....though generally be proxy if at all possible.
Yes and US soldiers are left with discreditable secrets of things they have done so to orders and the madness if war. Shame. Guilt and so on. No wonder so many suicide.
Running an imperial empire has always been a dirty business....but too profitable for the few to renounce.
Senators are buying MORE armaments stocks thanks to the latest Palestine/Israel war.
War, what it is good for? Lockhead, Boeing, Raytheon, Halliburton.
The US sells billions to the Saudis in armaments every year. We have so much in common with them! Castrating gays, importing slaves, stoning raped children....no wait. 15 of 19 terrorists in 9/11 were Saudis.
Hey, why is the US in bed with the Saudis?
That's right: profit!
It's more than a little obvious is it not? Went to a rally in support of Palestinians today...one little girl in traditional dress kept crossing the street with other supporters when the walk sign came on......she was carrying a little sign that said "NO MORE CHILDREN COMING HOME IN BODY BAGS" a dreadful world we live in.
They aren't supposed to live to tell.
Chris thanks for this.
I actually for the first time in your reports felt some emotion.
We here in France are fighting the establishment. We are supposed to be quiet..meanwhile Macron has called out the Army to disperse us BUT France will always fight.
I am a daughter of British Colonialism in Sri Lanka and to my knowledge never understood why white people were in my land!
As it is I feel sick and unsupported EVEN though Macron seems to think he has eyes everywhere which he does not.
The 'left' has been annihilated.
I fear hate.
I hear American conservatives insist that the French government isn't aggressive enough to suit them and that this shows that somehow they are really on the Palestinian side.
As to how much aggression will satisfy them? Europeans can never be slavish enough, but their leaders sure try.
Can you speak English Feral? I would like to understand what you are saying?
Hilarious. Meanwhile "Feral" is an adjective, not a noun.
Finster, then. I would have been happier is you had deepened your original statement for all of us instead of giving a grammar lesson which I can benefit from too.
It might take more than an English course for you.
What is startling is to see how the Israeli people have displaced Palestinians from their homeland with the destruction of orchards and theft of water for new Jewish settlements. 95% of the land has been taken by the new Jewish colonizers whose approach is not different from that of other colonial powers over past centuries. Small wonder that those controlling the American Empire and those in the UK who dream of regaining past glories are so intent on supplying the Israeli people with weapons of mass destruction to enable their crimes against the Palestinian men, women, and children.
The media corporations that serve the elites have also been complicit with their censorship of the news to prevent Americans from learning the true extend of Israeli genocide and ethnic cleansing.
https://theanalysis.news/the-making-of-norman-finkelstein-reality-asserts-itself-pt-7-8/
Absolutely 100% correct.
I believe the point of the counterattack is to create more chaos and death. Victory over Hamas is not the goal - chaos and confusion is. Netanyahu I believe is in league with the globalists and hopes to achieve what they cannot do directly, create the global crisis they feel they need to establish their New World Order -- the technocratic fascist alliance of banks, corporations, governments, and NGO's that will enslave the entire world. They will most likely fail eventually, but not before they orchestrate the murder of thousands or millions more innocent people.
AND to take people's minds off the dysfunction of the US Govt.
Yes. Corporate Inc. clandestinely channeling through the criminal Netanyaho, and all former and current colonial powers and the USA corporatized government. Death, Profit, Power, what's yours is mine so shut up.
I really appreciate your effort in writing this piece, Chris! I am so disturbed and angry at the carnage already in Gaza, with constant promises of Israeli government psychopaths to make it much worse...it's so painful! I'm at the edge of violence sometimes, though still in control, but the powerlessness is driving me nuts! Thank you for letting me see one more sane voice to continue believing in people and love...
Yes I feel the same. I will NOT resort to violence. I will not resort to violence. Going to bed to read my book!
Good that you have such control of your feelings. I'm fully traumatized by the current events in Palestine and the understanding of how degenerate our human species have become.
I am traumatized. What I said above has nothing to do with whether I am traumatized or not.
Yet again, thank you, Chris, for bearing witness to the insanity of our times and for speaking, and feeling, the truth of horrors in our past and horrors in the present. The sad and awful truth is that Israel was born out of Palestinian blood and theft of Palestinian land, and no nation born in such a way can ever be at peace. It is tragic and horrifying that Jews, who themselves have suffered appalling, inhuman outrages, should be the ones to use murder and savagery to found Israel and to expand its borders. America is another prime example of a nation built on slaughter, land theft, lies and duplicity - it, too, will never be at peace. So many other nations have been built in the same way. As our planet collapses we see the true colors of so many people and so many nations. Biden is a war-lover and so, too, are many, many other so-called leaders of nations who eagerly follow Biden's blood-lust bidding. Led by America, nations around the world are throwing aside reason, compassion, truth and fairness, and going full tilt into a blood-filled nightmare.
Well said.
I am in France and we are being ORDERED not to support/demonstrate for Palestinians.
I can tell you without doubt this is going to make the French come out in droves. We are used to being in the streets fighting. Macron is losing his mind because the right wing facist Le Pen is doing well so he is going further right.
It takes guts to speak truth to power - especially in these times. Chris, thank you for writing this in the interest of peace, truth, love. Your friend, Dan Berrigan would be proud of you.
We are the beasts.
We are The Evil Empire.
Thanks, Chris. There is one aspect that is completely missing from the media coverage. Just like with 9/11, Israel is now doing exactly what Hamas wanted. The idea was to convince the entire Arab-speaking world that the Global North does not view them as humans. The "universal" human rights apparently only apply to the people of the former colonial powers. IDF is now willingly complying with their demands.
Hatred, fear, and rage are no basis for a policy.
Hamas didn't need to convince any body that the Global North hate them. They have experienced our hatred for centuries.
And - Hamas was invented and supported for years by -- the “beloved Bibi” - see recent article by Sy Hersh in Sub-stack.
Seymour Hersh – Oct. 12, 2023 – Netanyahu is Finished -- The Bibi doctrine—his belief that he could control Hamas—compromised Israeli security and has now begat a bloody war
Hamas was created and financed for years by “our beloved” Bibi, who believed that Arafat’s secular PLO was a more serious enemy. Hamas was also rejecting a two-state solution -- just like Bibi and his extremists who together with US sabotaged a two-state solution for decades.
https://substack.com/inbox/post/137880462
Sy Hersh - The Plan to Wipe Out Hamas -- As refugees crowd the border with Egypt, Israel prepares to hit Gaza City with US-supplied bunker busters https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/the-plan-to-wipe-out-hamas?r=byea&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post (Oct 14)
Let me be clear Boris. As far as I'm concerned the Israelis are a bunch of viscous bastards. If you go over to Scott Ritter's substack you'll see a write up by one of the Israelis involved in simply wiping out and entire arab village of some 5,000 souls in the '48 war. Non-combatants all. Clearly the Israelis didn't learn any humanity from the holocaust, they only learned how to be like the Nazis that were murdering them.
As always - PLEASE - don't generalize.
There are many noble and normal Jews among us... - just think about giants like Max, Glenn, Aaron, Katie and so many other.
I don't have to do that, Boris. I would just think of my friends, John, Charlie, Rich and others. I've always thought of Jews as just people, mostly very likable. You'll note, I said Israelis, not Jews.
Half of Israelis voted for Rabin -- murdered by apartheid Bibi (of Kill Rabin "fame") propaganda. Once again -- don't generalize...
Boris Petrov, that was then, and even Rabin was not blameless in his hatred. Things have changed in Israel since then. Read "Goliath" by Max Blumenthal to have a more updated view of the awful Israel of one decade ago. Surely there is still good normal people in organisations like B'tselem that are arduously working for democracy. I'm including their website so perhaps you can also help them with donations.
https://www.btselem.org/
I have and read Max incredible book. Generalization against all Izraelis is as repulsive as against Eskimos or Palestinians -- just totally unacceptable !!!
J H, agreed.
It seems Amerikans can't spell the name of their warships properly. Surely that should be USS Rampage and USS Carnage?
Thanks. Made me laugh.
This piece reminds and often mirrors a piece written in 1948 by Hannah Arendt. Arendt talked about the dangers of a unanimity of opinion. From Tel Aviv to DC the wolves of war are baying for blood and destruction in Gaza; Hedges is standing opposed to that doomed idea. Hedges will be ignored, dismissed, you'll never see him on television, but, like Arendt, history will confirm the principles he defends.
The entire saga of Palestine since the creation of a Jewish state in the region has been one of atrocity. And it doesn't take a ph.d. to understand it. I am deeply ashamed of the leaders of the west, and more than a bit terrified by what it means about us........and the world we seem eager to create.....once ideological partisanship becomes so second nature, that we condone any wars against any supposed enemies.........our western elites see fit to designate.
The Horror and the Shame for what is happening, about to happen is overwhelming. Is our entire civilization no more than the thin veil obscuring the leering face of the tyrant? Is there no one with the power to enforce the Geneva Conventions and demand that Israel cease its genocidal revenge tactics??
When was the last time the US imperial apparatus adhered to the Geneva Conventions in a war zone?
Can't think of one......American exceptionality at work I suppose. Feel terribly sad for the Americans who aspire to being good people...though its not that much better in Canada.
As this has unfolded, my mind has repeatedly returned to War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.
I sometimes wonder: if this book was standard reading in education, might some of these things unfold differently, or at least make a difference with respect to collective opinions and popular support.
I know that your work has helped me to see more clearly and understand with greater perspective.
Thank you.
If "War is a Force...." were standard reading in education, they would be banning that one now too.
Specially in Florida
It also stops you seeing what is going on in your own Country?
I have been writing what is going on in my country!
Heartbreaking
Brilliant writing - humane, wise, exceptional views and personal history... you are a gift to
those of us who seek illuminating perspectives... Keep ON...