By SJ Otto
For most of the last 30 years, foreign policy in US Congress and the
presidency has been treated less of a series of foreign policy issues and more
of a set of religious tracts—policies that absolutely have not been debated or
discussed in any way, shape or form. Unlike the days of Ronald Reagan when that
president was challenged for his meddling in Central America, no one from
either party, Democrat or Republican, have dared to challenge US imperialism.
The generals have run our foreign policy and they have not had any challenges
to their designs for world conquest and control—until now.
A number of new members of congress now challenge foreign policy
edicts, including the really big one, criticism of Israel. That has been done
by Representative Ilhan Omar. The Minnesota Democrat was accused of anti-Semitism after asserting that the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, was buying lawmakers.
As I posted earlier
this month: Anyone in Congress, who criticizes Israel in any way shape or
form, is labeled anti-Semitic. There are those who support a boycott of Israel
for its treatment of Palestinians. Supporting that position is being labeled
anti-Semitic. It should come down to a position of freedom of speech. Democrats
and Republicans can label anyone anti-Semitic for just criticizing or
suggesting a boycott of Israel. There are lots of reasons for opposing Israel
and those reasons have nothing to do with being against Jews. For years people have
been debating the Palestinian issue all across the nation and in schools and
colleges. But in Congress all those in office treat the nation of Israel as a
sacred cow. That nation practices a form of Apartheid. Its people have been electing
fascist like war mongers who seem to be OK with endless war against their
neighbors and constant persecution of the Palestinian and other Arabs. But
Congress listens to Jewish groups that insist that Jews need Israel as a
homeland and anyone who dares criticize that sacred cow is anti-Semitic, hating
Jews.
The Fox News article, that accused Omar of being anti-Semitic also accused her
of having had “attended a travel delegation to a South American country
sponsored by a radical anti-American and anti-Israel organization that
supports countries opposed to the U.S. and calls for the return of Guantanamo
Naval Base to Cuba.”
That “anti-American” group is called Witness for Peace. Fox made the
accusation that group “opposed America’s actions in South America aimed at
stopping the spread of communism.” It
sounds as if Witness for Peace is some kind of front for communism, but it isn’t.
It is actually a religious oriented group that tried to stop Reagan and other US
right-wing leaders of supporting right-wing murder squads and other acts of
violence against legal protesters in various Latin American countries. Other conservative news outlets have shared
this exaggerated news story, such as Flipboard.
The big news story today is in Venezuela. As with Israel, to not
support the US policy of absolute control of the Latin American governments is
something no one is supposed to question, that is not in the mainstream press
and not in Congress. The military establishment has decided that Nicolas Maduro
is a socialist tyrant and to disagree with that is the equivalent of an act of
treason. Again Fox News:
“She also grabbed headlines after first accusing the U.S.
government of leading a coup against Venezuelan socialist tyrant Nicolas Maduro
and then attempting to grill Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration's new special
envoy for Venezuela.”
She is not the only member of Congress who has opposed the anti-Maduro bandwagon.
Politico
reports that Bernie Sanders has also been Critical of the US meddling in
Venezuela and much of his condemnation is from his own party, the Democrats:
“Florida Democrats are denouncing Democratic presidential candidate
Bernie Sanders for refusing to call Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro a
dictator — a politically explosive issue in the nation’s biggest swing state.
Sanders also would not say whether he considered Venezuela’s
assembly leader, Juan Guaidó, as the nation’s interim president, which is the
position of the United States and a majority of Latin American countries European
countries.”
Imperialism in Latin America is a Sacred Tenet. Both parties have gone along with blatant
meddling in the affairs of Latin America. All of Latin America is treated as if
it the entire continent is just one big colony. Sovereignty means nothing to
the members of either US party. There is absolutely no respect for any kind of
debate on this issue. The military complex has decided that Maduro is a
dictator and he must go.
There is a positive side to this. With more minority people getting
elected, there are more people holding office who can, and will, challenge our
imperialistic foreign policy. We have Sanders and Omar, along with Rashida
Tlaib, the freshman representative from Michigan, who was also critical of
Israel.
We hear such clap trap from such publications as The
Atlantic:
“AIPAC’s influence, which does not include payments to
politicians, is only a small part of why the U.S.-Israel alliance is almost
universally supported in Congress. Her comments, and the backlash they
provoked, show how fractured the American debate over Israel has become. Omar
is the new face of anti-Israel criticism on the left, and yet her use of
anti-Semitic tropes undermines her credibility.”
In other words, it is implied that such people as her are just ignorant and hateful.
We also have Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who is challenging the greatest pillar
in US conservative politics and that is capitalism itself. One thing we have to
do is to support these new politicians as much as possible. Send them cards of encouragement.
Donate to their campaigns. This is the first time in decades that we have had
people in congress who are actually debating the issues that the right-wing and
centrist politicians have avoided. This could be our time to shine. Let’s not
miss this opportunity.
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