…I rest my case…
Yes, and the US is already providing food NOW.
It’s already been done and is continuing to happen.
Listen to the advice of the US generals that were trying to keep them from making the same mistakes that the US made in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So is a lot of other countries + UNWFP, NGOs and others, when they are not blocked from getting it in to Gaza by any number of conflicting interests and bombing. Airdrops were stared by Jordan and is now done by several countries, incl. the US.
Yes several governments got together with EU to plan a sea corridor, but it took a group of volunteers to get started NOW.
It is GOOD that the US is now actively engaged in the relief work in Gaza, not just supplying weapons, protection and veto for Israel.
Scoop: Inside José Andrés’ risky mission to get food to Gaza
José Andrés unloads food packages from a World Central Kitchen truck in Kherson, Ukraine, in 2022. Photo: Efrem Lukatsky/AP
Source: https://www.axios.com/2024/03/08/jose-andres-gaza-aid-mission
What possible GOOD can come from the US getting itself in a bind by supporting both sides of a conflict in the Middle East?
WTH does 40 years ago have to do with it? The US response has been pretty predictable. Ya do remember Mog in '93? After 19 Rangers got killed, POTUS pulled the troops out. Then most recently, 13 Marines got blown up at ABBEY GATE, and the US didn’t do squat.
It will be very interesting to see what ships activate to load the INLS for the RRDF that will be the temp port in Gaza. I guess at least a week to activate/stage/ load the INLS and another two weeks to get it to Cyprus to stage.
I wonder if Beach Group or any other unit has ever put the Roll On Roll Off Discharge Facility together without touching the sand? I don’t see how this gets put together without Navy, Army and USMC putting boots on the beach.
If MPS-1 hadn’t been broken up more than 10 years ago the assets could have been on scene in a week or less.
It’s possible that USMC units currently involved in exercises in Northern Europe could head that way.
The attack bonus is 1500 bucks for incoming rounds, just saying.
I fear that Hamas will attack American troops delivering aid to Gaza because killing Americans is much more important to them than feeding civilian Gazans.
Hamas has already been happy to sacrifice 30,000 Gazans to rape and kill a few hundred Israelis and take a few hundred more Israelis hostage.
How many more will Hamas be willing to sacrifice to kill some Americans?
I further fear that after American troops are killed, Biden won’t do much about it, except abandon the floating dock aid effort, giving Hamas a big win, and demonstrating that the US is just a nosy and noisy paper tiger of little consequence.
That some Palistinian babies MAY get to live a little longer is good.
If that also tells Israel and your other allies that the US is NOT aiding or agreeing in them using food as a weapon, that is also good.
I was hoping that the world had got passed the stage where starving babies for political gain was acceptable.
Yes.
What could possibly go wrong with US troops setting up a landing dock on a Gazan beach? Hamas will leap at the opportunity to engage in target practice. Based on past history, the US kneejerk reaction will be a quick and chaotic withdrawal, leaving the equipment behind as a parting gift to Hamas.
With a pious expression, Biden will read a statement from a teleprompter expressing deep regret over the loss of the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives for democracy and blame the fiasco on his political opponents.
Business as usual.
The Aid ship is still in Larnaca:
She appeared to be on the move within the port on Sunday morning, but that was apprently “false alarm”.
There are a lot of conflicts closer to home that we are taking a hands off approach to, and no one seems to care. Hati has is currently going though something somehwere between a civil war and a prison coup, where gangs have taken control of the capital, prisons and airport, keeping the (sketchy at best) president out of the country on his return from trying to recieve foreign aid in Kenya. The president’s goal was to get Kenyan police officers to reinforce the overwhelmed and outgunned local police. The US’s response has been “yikes that sucks” despite the fact this will directly impact the US with a wave of refugees clinging to anything that floats.
Similarly Ecuador is in a state of internal armed conflict, however long term military deployment is going to bankrupt the country, and the US sent 93 million and a get well soon card. But to be fair we did try to buy their soviet weapons systems to send to Ukraine, but russia shot that down by threatening to ban banana imports.
Perhaps if the Haitian communites in the US were better at mobilizing politicaly, and a majority of Americans didn’t mistake them as african Americans who talk funny; or if a majority of Americans didnt assume everyone who spoke spanish was mexican, and the Ecuadorians were better at mobilizing, we would be sending them landing crafts instead. They need the aid as well.
I have not seen a single instagram story about the bloodshed in Hati and Ecuador (except that news station that was taken over by the cartel) but damn do we hear every stomach growl from the Palestinian children. I don’t know who is running PR for Palestine, but kudos to them, even if it probably does have antisemitic roots .
The Monroe Doctrine seems to have slipped from the public conscious…if it is still taught as part of a HS American History course.
Sorry if to be reminded of “starving Palistinian children” offend you:
Unfortunately it is the reality that another few thousand of them is facing a slow and painful death if they have to waite for Israel to succeed in their “deadly illusion of eradiicating Hamas”:
Yes, helping Haiti and Equadore is important, but should not be a reason to “downgrad” the suffering in Gaza. Why not do both? Nobody ecpect US should carry the burdon alone, nor are they:
In both Haiti and Equador gangs plays a big role in the present situation.
In Equadore especially, drug traffiicking and this man, is at the root of the problem:
Adolfo Macías Villamar is the leader of the feared Los Choneros gang.
Source: How Ecuador descended into gang violence
After 50 years of the “War on Drugs” it may be time to accept that the solution is not trying to erradicating the source, but to tread the reason for the demand in rich contries.
The new syntetic drugs are not making that easier:
It’s not just a matter of being reminded of the war crimes being committed in Palestine, It’s about keeping situational awareness in a world where every major government is attempting to manipulate public sentiment. From the US Army using hot e-girls to recruit soldiers, to Russians posting memes on Facebook to elect Trump, you’ve got to admit, such a coordinated response to this humanitarian tragedy specifically should be sending up red flags. There are so many flare ups with huge humanitarian needs all around the world, and most of them don’t stir up emotion like this, where were the protests in the streets for Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020? If it wasn’t my taste for obscure Tik Toks, I would have missed that one entirely.
A major coordinated social media campaign forcing the Whitehouse to decide between backing their long term allies, or giving humanitarian aid amidst the realities of war, (during an election year) is a fantastic story that will draw attention and support away from other pressing matters. Can we think of any major country that has a history of psyops, with a specialty in social media astroturfing, that can benefit here? Perhaps a country that has been ramping up their war time economy, while the west twiddles their thumbs? The situation in Israel has been a major setback for Ukraine, who is running out of ammunition with Europe falling short of their goals for sending ammunition, while Russia has been able to regain footing and establish logistical support and push Ukraine to retreat.
If you pay attention to the big picture, every continent has it’s own shitshow going on like the Isreal-Palastine conflict. The well polished social media coverage of Palestine just doesn’t sit right with me. It smells like manipulation and exploitation.
What I’m getting at, is a lack of action is what the US does most of the time. Or maybe we even send aid and no one pays attention. We could do less, but because of a large “grass roots” pro palatine movement in the US, there is media coverage, and now the US are the bad guys.
Is there a European country colonizing somewhere in the americas we haven’t heard about?
Ah, ha! Someone paid attention (once upon a time).
I best clarify my original intent…if things need fixing “around home”, perhaps it is best to deal with that, rather than cavort over the horizon when others are considerably closer. Debate rages about Monroe in modern times, but given the world stage, time/money can, perhaps, be put to better use nearby. Gaza is a mess; has been since '48, it likely won’t get better in the short term. Not saying we shouldn’t do something, but the something will likely end up contributing to a bigger mess.
Haiti? Another ongoing issue and a tragedy. When a nation can’t protect it’s own citizens, the spiralling chaos of lawlessness will get ugly. But, HOW does any nation (or group of nations) really fix the problem? Money? Armed intervention? Plane loads of good-intentioned aid workers? What happens when they are kidnapped/injured/killed? Where does the “We need to help” end?
Smacking aggressors around is a perceived solution that alienates the smackee and causes a long, slow simmer of resentment. Before instant news and social media, aggressive response to bad actors was filtered through an often friendly press. Those days are over.
Did you catch the war there last year? FYI The Armanians lost!! :
Yes there are enough ongoing conflicts in the world to worry about and right now the one in Gaza got the world’s attention.
Who cares about what is going on in Ukraine, DRC, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Haiti, Equador, just to mention some of the worst places at the moment?
It would be nice if the world’s public could even remember, let alone care about all those places, and try to resolve at least SOME of those conflicts.
At the moment the attention is on Gaza, so let us try to alleviate some of the suffereing there while people still care.
The underlying “Israel - Palestine problem” has existed for nearly 80 years and will not be solved as long as the same stubborn people govern on both sides.
The “Oslo accords” was the nearest we have been to get peace in the “Holy Land”, but that was effectively killed by those who don’t want peace.