A timely message from Mike Luckovich, who as I write this is likely hunkered down in Georgia as Helene passes over.
There’s probably some kind of wisecrack available about how, if Trump is elected, he’ll protect us by diverting hurricanes with his magic Sharpie, but the more serious point is that NOAA was born out of the disastrous 1900 hurricane that killed some 8,000 people in Galveston.
The notion that Trump and his cabal want to save money and eliminate it is an example of their astonishing lack of perspective.
There have, however, already been far more deaths in Gaza this year than occurred in Galveston in 1900, and now, as Jordanian cartoonist Mahmoud Rifai (Cartoon Movement) points out, the attacks have spread to Lebanon.
We need to be focused on the upcoming election here, but, at the moment, the world’s attention is on another leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, who, as Martyn Turner points out, is in defiance of the US, France and Britain specifically and the UN in general, in his continued attacks on his neighbors.
It is a sticky situation because the Western nations remain willing to arm Israel in order to allow it to fend off nations which seek to destroy it, but they are now under pressure from the rest of the world to stop giving Netanyahu materiel with which his attacks on Hamas and Hezbollah seem to cause more deaths among journalists, aid workers and civilians — including children — than among actual terrorists.
As Yemenese cartoonist Kamal Sharaf (Cartoon Movement) suggests, and other cartoons at that site confirm, many in the world blame the US for continuing to arm Israel as it continues attacks on Gaza and now on Lebanon, and this is one of the more gentle admonitions.
Ben Jennings suggests that Netanyahu is blind to the deaths and dedicated to continuing his policy, despite getting nowhere.
Patrick Chappatte puts it more in terms of a conflict between Netanyahu and Biden, which seems a fair way of framing it, given that the US is Israel’s greatest single ally, and also that Netanyahu is operating largely as a one-man government, with limited support from a coalition government and a public that has demonstrated in the streets against the ongoing attacks.
And Peter Brookes notes the conflict between Biden’s call for peace at the United Nations and Netanyahu’s refusal to accept a ceasefire proposal. Brookes goes beyond Netanyahu’s desire to cling to power, pointing out that the International Criminal Court in the Hague has issued a warrant for his arrest for war crimes in Gaza.
Matt Wuerker (Politico) brings the conflict back to the United States, pointing out that Netanyahu would get a blank check from Trump but would face opposition from Harris, suggesting that he may decide to ramp up things in order to influence our elections in his favor.
It seems unlikely that the conflict could actually rise to the level of World War III in that short a time, but Wuerker makes a solid point in his observation that the media seems more interested in polls and contributions than in analyzing either candidate’s policy positions.
Juxtaposition of the Day
The whole world is indeed watching, and Australian Matt Golding and American Gary Markstein come up with similar looks at the seemingly endless cycle of attacks and responses in the region.
Robert Ariail offers an unclear message based on this passage from the Torah:
Anyone who kills an animal shall make restitution for it, life for life. Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered.” Leviticus 24:18-20
The same law appears in Deuteronomy and Exodus, as well in Sharia law, and goes back to Hammurabi, predating them all.
The unclarity is that the rule does not demand such punishment. Rather, it is a limitation in order to avoid the cycle of ascending violence Golding and Markstein suggest.
As the Quran expresses the moral principle
In the Torah We prescribed for them a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, an equal wound for a wound: if anyone forgoes this out of charity, it will serve as atonement for his bad deeds. Those who do not judge according to what God has revealed are doing grave wrong. —?Al-Ma’ida Qur??n, 5:45
Jesus quoted the law as well, but went further than the Quran in directing people to forego vengeance:
You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. — Matthew 5:38-48
We can’t reasonably expect Jews and Muslims to live by Christian teachings, though it would be nice if more Christians did.
Still, the rule in all three traditions, as well as in the original Babylonian culture, is intended to limit retribution rather than to demand it, which brings us to
Juxtaposition of the Day #2
Another view from Australia and the US, but from different perspectives as well as nations.
Le Lievre sees the impending threats from the point of view of Muslim civilians, without specifying whether they are Gazans or Lebanese (though it’s worth pointing out that about a third of Lebanese are Christian).
Danziger pictures the conflict somewhat after the fact, emphasizing the lack of proportionality, the taking of more than an eye for an eye and a life for a life, and also suggesting the ongoing nature of the attacks.
Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is Heaven’s part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.
— Wm. Butler Yeats
Actually, theologists see the ius talionis (‘eye for eye’) as a form of moderation. What you are looking for, in order to understand Netanyahu, is Genesis 4:24 – If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.
As I understand it, the main reason the reich wing wants to eliminate NOAA is due to its recognition that climate change is real and our nation should be accounting for it in our forecasts and preparations. Because it is a well-known fact that, when confronted with danger, sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling “LALALALALA” will keep you safe.
I believe they also can’t stand a gov’t providing a service that has value and no one is making a profit. Capturing the information currently provided for free by NOAA and funneling it to a friendly (bribe-providing) private enterprise who would then resell it to the public at market rates — “sorry, hurricane path prediction is only available to our platinum-level customers!” — would be a lucrative enterprise (cf the way that pandemic stockpiles were auctioned off via private enterprise even though they had already been paid for once by the taxpayers).
While Brookes may have had the ICC in mind it seems more likely that Bibi’s fear is instead of his ongoing prosecution in Israeli courts, delayed in deference to his position as prime minister.
Yes.
Other politicians have taken notice of this tactic…or vice versa.
On June 12 Ynet reported that 800 Acres in the North were on fire from as a result of a barrage of missiles and rockets from Hezbollah. People had to flee their homes, and sensitive ecological areas are endangered. And the thing is, it’s been constant. But it is largely unreported in the western press, because, I guess, it’s not newsworthy when Israel is attacked by rockets. So when the Pagers blow up, and the walkie talkies explode, and the Israeli response begins in earnest, it looks to us like Big Bad Bibi is attacking those poor little terrorists for – with apologies to Greg Billingsley – No Good Reason.
Leaving aside her more recent anti-trans turn, this animation from Nina Paley always pops into my head when pondering the situation of revenge for revenge. https://blog.ninapaley.com/2012/10/01/this-land-is-mine/