Global

A furore has erupted in North America over reports that Russia will expand its armed forces of 1.32 million by a new 180,000 men. This will bring Russia close to China’s armed forces of about 2 million active soldiers. The pro-war right in the US and Europe are trumpeting this increase as a prelude to a coming East-West war. ‘The Reds are Coming’ goes the old Cold War chorus. We heard the same canard during WWII when clever British propaganda convinced most people that Hitler’s Germany was determined to conquer the world. In truth, Germany was trying to restore its pre-World War I borders. Such was also the case with Stalin’s Soviet Union. Both imperial nations were torn apart after 1918 by the rapacious French and British imperialists, abetted by the Americans. Germany was panicked into entering World War I in 1914 because it believed it was about to be attacked in a two-front war by France, Britain and Russia. Big numbers scare people. Russia may have what seems a large army today, but it is a vast nation of 17 million square kilometers with over 12 different time zones stretching from Eastern Europe to the frozen Barents Sea.

Prior to October 7, Hamas has repeatedly warned Israel not to evict Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah’s neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, attack worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, torture and abuse Palestinian prisoners, or bomb civilian targets in Gaza. Israel ignored the warning and bombed a 15-story residential building in Gaza, which is home to dozens of families and tens of local international media offices. Immediately, Hamas responded by showering most of the Israeli cities with homemade rockets, forcing Israelis to live in bomb shelters and shutting down Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. By Mahmoud El-YoussephSeptember 14, 2024 For VP Kamala Harris, people with short memories and/or people not in the known, since 2007, Israel has kept Gaza under an illegal and inhumane military siege, counting calorie intake for Palestinians, and permitting the water in Gaza to become undrinkable, thereby creating a humanitarian crisis widely condemned by the international community. Ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has always been Israeli policy.

Republicans in the US Senate have been urging the White House to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles that can strike deep into Russia. Such is the madness of pro-war sentiment. America’s lackluster Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, has apparently confirmed that Washington plans to shortly deliver such strategic weapons to Ukraine. This week, Britain’s new prime minister arrived in Washington to discuss more strategic arms for Ukraine. One is vividly reminded of the mobs of idiots who thronged Paris train stations in August 1914, screaming ‘on to Berlin.’ As a British historian aptly noted, `if patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels, then war is the first platform of fools.’ US-supplied long-range missiles are the last step between what was a border conflict and all-out war that will very likely go nuclear. Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that he reduced conventional forces to divert funds to Russia’s stunted civilian economy. Nuclear weapons, said President Putin, will be used to replace conventional forces if Russia is attacked. We must take him at his word.