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Monday, December 03, 2012

Ron Paul’s Middle East Delusion

In an op-ed at Counterpunch.org last week, former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul addressed what he calls “the tragic-comedy of US foreign policy” and explained “How to End the Gaza Tragedy.” The real tragicomedy is that Paul continues to cling to his dangerously naïve foreign policy perspective.

In his article, Paul asserts his usual stance that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will never end as long as the United States continues to support Israel. He quotes journalist Glenn Greenwald, who wrote that “For years now, US financial, military and diplomatic support of Israel has been the central enabling force driving this endless conflict.” Like Greenwald, Paul doesn’t hold Palestinian terrorists accountable for initiating and perpetuating the violence; he only paints a picture of American and Israeli collusion to oppress Palestinians in what Paul calls the “Gaza tragedy.”

Of the most recent Middle East conflagration, Paul writes in his op-ed that “it feels like 2009 all over again, which is the last time this kind of violence broke out in Gaza.” Note the convenient passivity of that phrasing, “violence broke out,” which enables Paul to avoid placing responsibility where it belongs. That violence wasn’t a nonhuman natural phenomenon like a thunderstorm; it didn’t just spontaneously “break out.” That violence, like the more recent one, was the result of relentless rocket attacks and terrorist activity by Palestinians, which necessitated a too-patient Israel to move in and put a stop to it. But that doesn’t fit Paul’s anti-Israel narrative.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yeah...our involvement in the middle east has worked out aces lol. We reap what we sow. Imagine if a foreign power kept inserting itself in your country, overthrowing your leaders, killing not only tyrants, but innocent civilians. And we're supposed to be liked? gtf outta here. We've screwed around for a century in the middle east because of black gold. What has it gotten us? Nothing. Our foreign policy is a joke, and the whole world knows it.