Loose Tabs [Draft File]
This is a safe space for collecting items that may eventually go into
a Loose Tabs post.
This is an occasional collection of newsworthy links and comments,
much less systematic than what I attempted in my late
Speaking of Which posts. The new name comes from my extensive
use of browser tabs. When I get around to cleaning up, I often find
tabs opened to old articles I might want to comment on and/or refer
back to. So
these posts are mostly
housecleaning, but may also serve as a very limited but persistent
record of what 20+ years ago I started calling "the end of the American
empire" and nowadays feels more like "the end of civilization." I
collect these bits in a
draft file, and flush them
out when periodically. My previous one appeared ? days ago, on
August 17.
I'm trying a new experiment here with select
bits of text highlighted with a background
color, for emphasis a bit more subtle than bold or
ALL CAPS. (I saw this on Medium. I started with their greenish
color [#bbdbba] and lightened it a bit [#dbfbda].) I'll try to
use it sparingly.
Topical Stories
Sometimes stuff happens, and it dominates the news/opinion cycle
for a few days or possibly several weeks. We might as well lead with
it, because it's where attention is most concentrated. But eventually
these stories will fold into the broader, more persistent thmes of
the following section.
Major Threads
Israel: Worse than ever, but main news story as been "Trump's
Peace Plan," which (without much research yet, I can safely say)
doesn't show much understanding of "peace" or "plan," and is probably
just a deniable, insincere feint by Netanyahu. Still, it's hard to
imagine Israel accepting any measure of peace without strongarming
by the US, so hopeful people are tempted to read more into this
than is warranted. Many articles scattered below. I'll try to sum
them up later.
Michael Arria [10-17]:
As support for Israel drops, the mainstream media is becoming even
more Zionist: "Support for Israel is plummeting among the US
public, but Zionism dominates mainstream media more than ever.
Several recent high-profile lexamples show the staggering disconnect
between the media establishment and its viewers."
Avrum Burg: Former speaker of the Knesset, still
trying to keep something he believes in:
Qassam Muaddi [10-24]:
Trump's push to uphold Gaza ceasefire is creating a political crisis
in Israel. Starts with a Vance quote about Israel not being a
"vassal state," but the bigger revelation is that Trump seems to be
breaking free of the notion that the US is a vassal state of Israel.
Much of Netanyahu's credibility within Israel is based on the belief
that he possesses magical power to manipulate American politicians,
and that belief starts to fade when he slips. The subordination of
American interests to Israeli whims really took hold under Clinton,
and reached its apogee with Biden, but mostly depended on American
indifference to consequences, which genocide is making it harder to
sustain. And as Netanyahu slips, Israel is not lacking for others
who would like to take his place, whispering sweet nothings into the
ears of Americans while keeping a steady course. Robert Gottlieb [10-25]:
From Apartheid to Democracy - a 'blueprint' for a different future
in Israel-Palestine: A review of a book by Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man
and Sarah Leah Wilson,
From Apartheid to Democracy: A Blueprint for Peace in
Israel-Palestine, which "describes in granular detail the
conditions for dismantling apartheid in Israel-Palestine." While
I'm happy to see people inside Israel thinking along these lines,
I have to ask what world they think they are living in? Democracy
has always been a struggle between interest groups to establish a
mutually satisfactory division of power. It has sometimes expanded
to incorporate previously excluded groups, but mostly because an
established insider group thought that expansion might give them
more leverage, but it's never been done simply because it seemed
like a good idea. Yet that seems to be the pitch here:
Thus, the Blueprint places the onus on the State of Israel —
as the state exercising effective control over all peoples in
Israel, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza — to meet its
international legal obligations by ending its crimes and respecting
the rights of all people under its rule. Only once Palestinians
have political, civic, and human rights equal to Israeli Jews
living in the Territory will Palestinians and Israelis be able
to democratically determine what political structures and outcomes
best server their collective, national, political, ethnic, and
religious interests. The Blueprint is not a plan for achieving
national self-determination; it is a plan to create the conditions
under which achieving self-determination and deciding political
issues of governance are possible.
James P Rubin [10-27]:
The only thing that can keep the peace in Gaza: Author is credited
as "a senior adviser to two secretaries of state, Anthony Blinken and
Madeleine Albright," which suggests that the only thing he's qualified
to do is to write New York Times op-eds. He proves his cluelessness
here by focusing on the "international force for Gaza," which he sees
as necessary to fill "the growing security vacuum in Gaza." At every
step on the way, he puts Israel's phony security complaints ahead of
aiding Palestinians. Israel has always been a source of disruption in
Gaza, never of stability. Their removal is itself a step toward order,
which can be augmented by an ample and unfettered aid program. Granted
that the supply lines need a degree of security to prevent looting,
but the better they work, the less trouble they'll elicit. Rubin's
claim to fame here seems to be that he's spent a lot of time talking
to Tony Blair about this. Blair is pretty high up on the list of
people no honest Palestinian can trust in. Rubin's earned a spot on
that list as well. Vivian Yee [10-27]:
US assessment of Israeli shooting of journalist divided American
officials: "A US colonel has gone public with his concern that
official findings about the 2022 killing of a Palestinian American
reporter were soft-pedaled to appease Israel." The journalist, you
may recall, was Shireen Abu Akleh. The Biden administration "found
no reason to believe this was intentional," and attributed it to
"tragic circumstances." Abdaljawad Omar [10-27]:
Israel seeks redemption in the Gaza ruins: "Throughout the Gaza
war, Israel has d ebated what to call it. The military says 'October
7 War,' while Netanyahu wants 'War of Redemption.' What's clear is
that Israel believes it can only resolve its ongoing cycle of crisis
through genocidal violence." Notes that name chosen for the military
operation was originally "Swords of Iron" (derived from "Iron Wall":
"the fantasy of unbreakable security through permanent domination"),
but that's hard to distinguish from every other exercise in collective
punishment inflicted on Gaza since 2006. The military preference "fixes
the war to a date of trauma, as if to anchor the nation's moral position
in the moment of its own suffering," which is to say that they see one
day's violent outburst as justifying everything that came after, the
details hardly worth mentioning. But that at least treats the war as
a collective national experience. Netanyahu's "War of Redemption" is
his way of saying that the war (by which we mean genocide) simply proves
that he and his political faction were right all along. This makes it
a war to dominate Israel as much as it is a war to destroy Palestine.
Adrienne Lynett/Mira Nablusi [10-26]:
From the margins to the mainstream: how the Gaza genocide transformed
US public opinion: "Two years into the Gaza genocide, public opinion
on Israel, Palestine, and US policy has undergone a profound shift. A
close examination of poll data shows Palestine is no longer a niche
issue but one with real electoral consequences." Which might matter in
a real democracy, but in a nation where politics is controlled by the
donor class, Israel still exercises inordinate influence. Still, as
long as Israel remains a niche issue — something a few people
feel strongly about, but which most people can ignore — I doubt
that shifting opinion polls will have much effect. But it's impossible
to be a credible leftist without taking a stand against genocide and
apartheid. And Democrats need the left more than ever, because they
need to provide a credible, committed, trustworthy opposition to the
Trump right.
Russia/Ukraine:
Trump Regime: Practically every day I run across disturbing,
often shocking stories of various misdeeds proposed and quite often
implemented by the Trump Administration -- which in its bare embrace
of executive authority we might start referring to as the Regime.
Collecting them together declutters everything else, and emphasizes
the pattern of intense and possibly insane politicization of everything.
Pieces on the administration.
Donald Trump (Himself): As for Il Duce, we need a separate
bin for stories on his personal peccadillos -- which often seem
like mere diversions, although as with true madness, it can still
be difficult sorting serious incidents from more fanciful ones.
Democrats:
Republicans: A late addition, back by popular demand,
because it isn't just Trump, we also have to deal with the moral
swamp he crawled out of:
Miscellaneous Pieces
The following articles are more/less in order published, although
some authors have collected pieces, and some entries have related
articles underneath.
Henry Farrell [10-16]:
China has copied America's grab for semiconductor power: "Six
theses about the consequences." Mostly that the adversarial
relationship between the US and China can easily get much worse.
Or, as the last line puts it: "The risks of unanticipated and
mutually compounding fuck-ups are very, very high."
Some notable deaths: Mostly from the New York Times listings.
Last time I did such a trawl was on
July 20, so we'll look that far back (although some names have
appeared since):
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