There's a small but important typo, Karen, at the end of the 7th paragraph: "... and no public Palestinian sympathy is outlawed." [either remove the word 'no' or replace 'outlawed' with 'permitted'].
Dr. Kwiatkowski, there is a very simple answer to your question, and I think you know the answer. Israel does not want peace. I have been following your work for a long time and am grateful for it.
karen, i disagree the presidency is 'more powerful' than the other branches. congress has control over budgeting. it can cancel any funding it likes. no exceptions. '... pursuant to the Necessary and Proper Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1), Congress clearly has the power to specify the objects, amounts, and timing of federal spending—even if there were no Appropriations Clause. If Congress could not limit the Executive’s withdrawing of funds from the Treasury, then the constitutional grants of power to Congress to raise taxes (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1) and to borrow money (Article 1, Section 9, Clause 2) would be for naught because the Executive could effectively compel taxing and borrowing by spending at will. Rather, the Appropriations Clause creates a legislative duty that Congress exercise control and assume responsibility over the federal fisc. Congress’s “power of the purse” is at the foundation of our Constitution’s separation of powers, a constitutionally mandated check on Executive power.' see https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles/article-i/clauses/756.
i assume that you know this. the truth is congress refuses to exercise this power, which is why tyrants like trump (and biden, obama, clinton, the bushes, reagan etc) get their way. trump is clearly gunning for iran in favor of israel, thus israel will, barring a miracle, get its way in the mid east indefinitely. no congress in my lifetime has used the budgeting power to stop a war save when dan ellsberg (a friend) published the pentagon papers, leading to an unprecedented public outcry to end war funding, which congress finally did (over 50% of americans opposed the war to that time and still no de-funding until ellsberg's papers). it took irrefutable pentagon documentation of the political murder of usa troops (and others) before congress got enough heat to de-fund.. it is looking like it will take the same kinds of whistle blowing (elite documentation) to preclude an iran war, which will in my view devolve to nuclear world war despite trump's clownish posturing otherwise.
it takes moral backbone to stand up to tyrants. we dont have much of that in congress, or in government generally. this will cost the world dearly under trump, and has for my lifetime. jimmy carter gave us some hope. his character and conscience were foundations for practical peace. nothing less will do in any government, foreign or domestic.
the israelis should be expelled from the usa and UN for gaza alone. no hope of that. usa support for that policy should come under the strictest moral and legal review and reform. no hope of that either - yet.
i remain hopeful that the best of our country, which we almost never see in the press, will find a basis to rise up against the madness. our children (and those everywhere) are depending on it. my friend and colleague international law professor dr. frank boyle just died; JAN 30..he was the gold standard for moral law, human rights and peace. without people like him in government, we can dither all we like about war and peace. mostly we should be looking in the mirror as dan ellsberg did. we can confront evil. and win. the will is simply lacking now. it will change, since it must, for humanity to survive. i realize you sound this theme often. good for you.
thank you for your columns which give me important things to consider every day (retired).
Kwiatkowski, as always, hits the nail firmly on the head. The biggest threat to the U.S. and its citizens is our government's blind support of the Apartheid State of Israel. Nothing else even comes close!
“Here’s what I don’t understand. Israel’s complex and integrated influence operations on the governments at all levels in the United States continue to post a fantastic return on investment. Billions and billions of US dollars flow to Israel annually. No objective analyst could state the case differently.
So why aren’t these billions and billions and even more billions bringing peace to Israel?”
Because peace would mean that the billions stop flowing…but I guess that I have a strong case of TDS. 😉
Genocide takes time. I guess they're hoping for peace and prosperity fifteen years from now. My own desire for Israel is ... something different than that.
There's a small but important typo, Karen, at the end of the 7th paragraph: "... and no public Palestinian sympathy is outlawed." [either remove the word 'no' or replace 'outlawed' with 'permitted'].
Fixed it -- it's been a bad week for typos!
Dr. Kwiatkowski, there is a very simple answer to your question, and I think you know the answer. Israel does not want peace. I have been following your work for a long time and am grateful for it.
karen, i disagree the presidency is 'more powerful' than the other branches. congress has control over budgeting. it can cancel any funding it likes. no exceptions. '... pursuant to the Necessary and Proper Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1), Congress clearly has the power to specify the objects, amounts, and timing of federal spending—even if there were no Appropriations Clause. If Congress could not limit the Executive’s withdrawing of funds from the Treasury, then the constitutional grants of power to Congress to raise taxes (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1) and to borrow money (Article 1, Section 9, Clause 2) would be for naught because the Executive could effectively compel taxing and borrowing by spending at will. Rather, the Appropriations Clause creates a legislative duty that Congress exercise control and assume responsibility over the federal fisc. Congress’s “power of the purse” is at the foundation of our Constitution’s separation of powers, a constitutionally mandated check on Executive power.' see https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles/article-i/clauses/756.
i assume that you know this. the truth is congress refuses to exercise this power, which is why tyrants like trump (and biden, obama, clinton, the bushes, reagan etc) get their way. trump is clearly gunning for iran in favor of israel, thus israel will, barring a miracle, get its way in the mid east indefinitely. no congress in my lifetime has used the budgeting power to stop a war save when dan ellsberg (a friend) published the pentagon papers, leading to an unprecedented public outcry to end war funding, which congress finally did (over 50% of americans opposed the war to that time and still no de-funding until ellsberg's papers). it took irrefutable pentagon documentation of the political murder of usa troops (and others) before congress got enough heat to de-fund.. it is looking like it will take the same kinds of whistle blowing (elite documentation) to preclude an iran war, which will in my view devolve to nuclear world war despite trump's clownish posturing otherwise.
it takes moral backbone to stand up to tyrants. we dont have much of that in congress, or in government generally. this will cost the world dearly under trump, and has for my lifetime. jimmy carter gave us some hope. his character and conscience were foundations for practical peace. nothing less will do in any government, foreign or domestic.
the israelis should be expelled from the usa and UN for gaza alone. no hope of that. usa support for that policy should come under the strictest moral and legal review and reform. no hope of that either - yet.
i remain hopeful that the best of our country, which we almost never see in the press, will find a basis to rise up against the madness. our children (and those everywhere) are depending on it. my friend and colleague international law professor dr. frank boyle just died; JAN 30..he was the gold standard for moral law, human rights and peace. without people like him in government, we can dither all we like about war and peace. mostly we should be looking in the mirror as dan ellsberg did. we can confront evil. and win. the will is simply lacking now. it will change, since it must, for humanity to survive. i realize you sound this theme often. good for you.
thank you for your columns which give me important things to consider every day (retired).
Kwiatkowski, as always, hits the nail firmly on the head. The biggest threat to the U.S. and its citizens is our government's blind support of the Apartheid State of Israel. Nothing else even comes close!
We'll see. Even Trump has to play some politics.
“Here’s what I don’t understand. Israel’s complex and integrated influence operations on the governments at all levels in the United States continue to post a fantastic return on investment. Billions and billions of US dollars flow to Israel annually. No objective analyst could state the case differently.
So why aren’t these billions and billions and even more billions bringing peace to Israel?”
Because peace would mean that the billions stop flowing…but I guess that I have a strong case of TDS. 😉
Genocide takes time. I guess they're hoping for peace and prosperity fifteen years from now. My own desire for Israel is ... something different than that.