Posted on: August 29, 2023 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

What the latest Libya debacle tells us about U.S. and Israeli indifference to Libyan lives

After Israel broke confidence by reporting secret talks with the Libyan foreign minister, the repercussions are still being felt in that troubled and divided country. While Israel acted shamefully, the lion’s share of the blame, as usual, belongs to the Biden administration. This piece at Mondoweiss looks at the context and just how despicable U.S. actions, as well as Israel’s and the Libyan leadership’s, were.

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Posted on: August 28, 2023 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

Mitchell on “Keeping Democracy Alive” with Burt Cohen

I sat down last week with Burt Cohen of “Keeping Democracy Alive” for an in-depth discussion of the developments in recent months in Israel and the US. Here’s the blurb for the show: “It’s been an exceptionally long and bloody stalemate. And with the far right anti-democracy government of Netanyahu turning its wrath on Jewish Israelis, and opinion in the US and the world showing real shift, our guest Mitchell…

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Posted on: August 24, 2023 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

The U.S. double standard on nuclear power is dangerous

Although Joe Biden’s pathetic and desperate effort at Israeli-Saudi normalization is almost certain to fail, the fact that he’s willing to even consider helping Saudi Arabia develop its own, independent nuclear enrichment program (something it is legally entitled to, but the US is by no means required to help with) reveals much about nuclear double standards and hubris in the region as well as how political theater and scaremongering, not…

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Posted on: August 21, 2023 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

2023: A turning point for Palestine in global politics

2023 has been an eventful year in Palestine. Unfortunately, “eventful in Palestine” generally means bloody, and there is no doubt that this has been a particularly bloody year. Yet there has been more in 2023, as we have seen profound shifts in the political realities in key areas. Nothing has changed immediately for Palestinians, or for their supporters in the United States and elsewhere. But the seeds for potentially fundamental…

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Posted on: August 10, 2023 Posted by: Mitchell Plitnick Comments: 0

AIPAC strikes back with the help of cooperative Democrats

Hakeem Jeffries just led a delegation of two dozen congressional Democrats to Israel, with a token stop in Ramallah just to tick the box that they’d been there. But Jeffries and his fellow travelers had plenty to say about Israel and their host, Benjamin Netanyahu. At a time when Israel is defiantly annexing the West Bank, massively increasing its already huge violence against Palestinians, dismantling even the democracy it reserves…

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