On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden delivered his final speech to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) as president. The 81-year-old's remarks seemed to ignore the ongoing crises in Ukraine and the Middle East as he announced that the uniting principles between the US and the world include standing “firm against aggression.”
“We are also working to bring a greater measure of peace and stability to the Middle East. The world must not flinch from the horrors of October 7th. Any country — any country would have the right and responsibility to ensure that such an attack can never happen again,” Biden said in his speech.
The irony of what is likely to be Biden’s final political speech is marked by the fact that under his direction, the US has shown unrelenting support for Israel even while undermining the influence of the UN as well as the authority of international law regarding Israel’s relentless, violent attacks on Palestinians.
“This is [US] foreign policy. And the Biden administration, like the previous administration, talks out of both sides of its mouth; ‘oh, we want peace, we care about the people, but, we are going to stand by Israel no matter what.’ Provide whatever they need so they can continue their genocidal mission that's, you know, creating greater regional conflict,” said Dr. Margaret Flowers, an author and co-editor of Popular Resistance, who joined Sputnik's The Critical Hour on Wednesday. “I mean, this is US foreign policy, to be involved in the world, unfortunately, it's in nefarious and destructive ways.”
“...this administration, like the previous ones, has served the military industrial complex, the wealthy elites and he was not functioning as an effective leader for them because his incompetence, his age was showing through. So, of course, they need a new fresh face. That can be the face of US imperialism, of US racism, colonialism, militarism and I'm sure they sent him a very strong message; ‘time for you to go, bud. We need somebody else to be doing this work for us,’ and that's what he does,” the analyst added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “desperate to keep war simmering” so as to draw the US “closer and closer to him”, writes Craig Murray for Consortium News. The journalist noted that while Israel can continue to “assassinate, employ indiscriminate terrorism” and “bombard from the air”, it will not be able to destroy Hamas or Hezbollah, retrieve its hostages nor make Northern Israel safe again for its colonialist settlers.
“Netanyahu’s strategy of assassinations and deadly stunts appears to be an attempt to goad Hezbollah out of their own territory into a suicidal advance into Israel. But Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah is not falling for it,” Murray adds.
“I don't see how Israel is going to recover from this. The world has come together very clearly to say Israel is an illegal occupation, it needs to dismantle itself. As you said the economy is falling. They can't afford this war,” the analyst explained.
“...Lebanon has been bombing the northern region. The Haifa region. They've bombed air bases. I think just either today or yesterday they hit a Mossad headquarters near Tel Aviv. So, yeah, Israel is continuing to take, you know, a pretty big hit from this. What this is opening up and I think what's been so interesting watching this is that this new Axis of Resistance formed in recent years that includes Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen and they are now, because of this, over the past year have started working more closely together,” the analyst said.
The IDF is preparing for “all options in Lebanon” including a ground operation, a representative told Sputnik on Wednesday. The Israeli military may launch more large-scale strikes against Hezbollah targets as well.
It was also reported on Wednesday that US troops in Cyprus are developing various fallout plans including the possible evacuation of citizens from Lebanon if the hostilities there accelerate. Biden also warned on Wednesday that an “all-out war” in the Middle East is possible. The president said himself that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t doing enough to secure a ceasefire deal.
“And so, Israel is opening up a conflict that it's not going to be able to fight well, and it's going to really test the limits of what the US is willing to do. I mean we know now that the Pentagon is sending more troops to the region - that's concerning. But how far is the US really willing to go for Israel?” Flowers explained.
“Speaking of Biden, if he cared about stopping the war, it could not continue if the US stopped its aid to Israel. They could - Biden and Harris could stop this war tomorrow if they cut off the aid to it, and the military support that they're giving through our military," she added. "So, yeah, Israel is going to fall from this whether it continues to linger on for a little bit longer. It falters or it falls right away."