A retired American officer asked, in an article on “The Nation” website, if the United States and Israel defend mass killing in Gaza, and even describe it as a positive thing - the defeat of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) - then what hope can the human race cling to survive this annihilation of planet Earth?

Retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and professor of history, William Astor, describes his country as addicted to wars, killing, and violence, and has a tremendous willingness for more, pointing to wars and excessive preparations for them everywhere in the United States, where the government spends more on its army than the next ten countries combined, even though most of them From the allies.

He added that American "defense" spending is currently approaching a trillion dollars, adding that they - the Americans - need treatment to confront their addiction, but he adds that their leaders see no reason to change their ways when it comes to war and preparing for future conflicts.

Simple examples

He cited examples, which he said were simple, to demonstrate that America's leaders are unable to change their ways. He said that President Joe Biden, who swore before the Easter holiday this year, that the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza had destroyed him personally. His administration insisted that the Security Council resolution The international call for a ceasefire in Gaza was “non-binding,” and it followed that up by shipping 1,800 bombs, each weighing 2,000 pounds, and other weapons to Israel, supposed to be used in Gaza.

However, Astor says, the Biden administration refuses to see the slightest contradiction in such a position, even though its people - from Biden to his chief diplomat, Antony Blinken - admit that they are disturbed and even shocked by the devastation their bombs are causing in Gaza, as if no one knew that Israel would use them. It will kill or injure more than 100,000 Palestinians, and will turn large parts of Gaza into rubble.

The worst Machiavellianism

Astor went on to say that in this horrific scene of genocide in Gaza, America's leaders have embraced the worst of Machiavelli, preferring to be feared rather than loved, putting power first and principles last.

He added that former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was deeply involved in the destruction of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, would have blushed at their full support for the war and their arms sales.

The writer pointed out that dividing the world into armed camps based on fear seems to be a fundamental matter in the foreign policies of the United States, and it is a reality that now resonates in domestic politics as well, as the Democratic and Republican parties outdo each other in preparing to wage wars, as if everything were in the world of America is war.

No common issues

The writer believes that, with the exception of an attack on Earth by aliens, it is difficult to imagine that the United States today would adopt common issues with “enemies” such as China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia, which should unite us all as human beings.

He wonders: “If the Earth, the health of our planet, and all forms of life on it do not unite us, then what crime would be worse and more heinous, not only against humanity, but against life itself at the level of the universe, if America’s leaders were not willing to abandon their addiction to wars?”

The writer believed that the genocide taking place in Gaza today may foretell the future of this planet, noting that the only superpower in the world, which is considered a beacon of freedom, rejects the United Nations Security Council resolutions to stop the killing as “non-binding.”

Lessons of Nazi genocide

What is even stranger than that - according to the writer - is that Israel, which was founded after the Nazi genocide committed during World War II, and whose people said that “it will never happen again,” is now working to kill, starve, and displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the name of “just revenge” in response to the attack launched by Hamas on the seventh of last October.

Astor went on to confirm his idea by drawing attention to a 25-year-old young man who imagined a better future, even when he protested in the most extreme ways against the genocide in Gaza, namely pilot Aaron Bushnell, who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington last February. He sacrificed his life in public, but America's "leaders" responded by ignoring his sacrifices and sending more bombs to Israel.

Because history has taught us that destruction is much easier than construction - as the writer says - and that killing is much easier than preserving life, we can conclude that when states make genocide or ecocide possible and defensible, this means that their leaders are moral monsters, and it is easy Imagine the fate of the world if we chose to follow the monsters.

Source: American press + Aljazeera