By Walt Zlotow
US political leaders’ statements touting US as the beacon of democracy, humanitarianism, fair play, decency on the world stage ring hollow to anyone with an iota of moral clarity.
The day after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, Israel embarked on grotesque genocide of Gaza’s 2,300,000 Palestinians crammed into the world’s largest open air prison controlled by Israel. Two years on, a ceasefire may finally occur, blocking Israel’s lust to kill or expel every remaining Palestinian to bring Gaza into Greater Israel.
The carnage is immense and horrifying. Over 67,000 Palestinians dead, the remaining 2,200,000 suffering starvation and degraded health. All schools and universities gone. All medical facilities gone. All life sustaining infrastructure gone.
Israel could not have conducted their genocidal rampage without the complete support of the United States.
The Democratic Biden administration and the Republican Trump administration, in the only policy they agreed upon, gifted Israel with over $20 billion in weaponry to wipe Palestinians off the Gaza map. The US joined Israel in seeking African and Middle East countries to take in the Palestinians not killed. The US repeatedly voted against UN General Assembly resolutions condemning the genocide; even using their veto to prevent UN Security Council anti-genocide resolutions. The US remains one of only 35 UN members, out of 193, refusing to recognize a Palestinian state.
US media imposed a near complete blackout on the genocide. But enough truth of its horrors got through to turn the American electorate against it. Instead of heeding voters, the President and Congress heeded the Israel Lobby and kept on voting for more billions to obliterate Gaza.
If the shooting stops today, Palestinians will continue dying for days, weeks, months from malnutrition and disease.
It took just under 250 years for America to shatter every principle of freedom, democracy, self-determination it claims to honor. If the degraded American Experiment manages to survive another 250 years, even another thousand years, it likely cannot do more damage to its promise to humankind that it’s done in this its 250th year.
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL
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“..It took just under 250 years for America to shatter every principle of freedom, democracy, self-determination it claims to honor…”
The degradation of what was to become USA commenced with the landing of the “Mayflower”. Notions of racial superiority, exclusive religious practices, mal-treatment of indigenous populations, theft of land and degradation of natural resources created the process of dismantling the dream of “freedom”. Back then pioneers created “frontier wars” – today politicians create “for ever wars”.
October 7 , 2023 was not the start of the Gazan conflict, the starting date was 1948, there has been varying levels of conflict ever since. The main protagonist in this sordid affair is America, without it’s backing and dollars would never have dragged on for so long. To think Trump sought the peace prize !!!
Good comments both, Mediocrates & jonangel, in addition to Walt Zlotow’s lead essay.
Ironies abound. Mao Zedong, in August 1927, said that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun”; in spite of nearly a century of American opposition to, fear of, and paranoia about the existence of Communist/Socialist political systems, the Americans have deeply embraced Mao’s dictum and utilised it repeatedly in their endeavours to assert control over not only other countries but their own people.
To call the American power mongers (amongst others in that blighted land), barbarians is to speak truth to the circumstances. Laurie Anderson nails it, again.
Just a tiny bit of imagination. Enjoyed the Laurie Anderson..
It’s not just the US that has exposed its lack of moral authority, it’s the West, with the exception of Ireland, Norway, Spain, and the people of Italy (not its government.)
Whatever skerick of moral authority Australia had left after Howard/Labor’s Pacific solution to refugees, and the duopoly’s duplicity in exasperating climate change, was thrown away with its enabling of this depraved, imperial-colonialist genocide.
Labor has been supplying weapons to Israel, and cloaking that in semantics and secrecy. Labor voted against a Bandt amendment calling on Israel to stop the bombing. Labor has suppressed dissent. Labor just recently signed a new contract with an Israeli weapons company, Elbit, to go with the hundreds of millions worth of contracts it already had with this company. Labor continually pushes Israel’s lies – that this started with Oct 7th, that Israel is the victim of a bloodthirsty Hamas, that Israeli hostages matter but Palestinians prisoners don’t, that Palestinians are driven by hatred, that Israel and the West should decide who governs the Palestinians. Labor has never condemned Israel’s actions, Labor has not even recognized this as a genocide, Labor has passed laws restricting protests against this genocide based on hoaxes (that they knew were hoaxes), Labor has condemned the deaths of any Israeli citizen but has failed to condemn Israel’s daily killing of tens of Palestinian, or for its starvation of millions of Palestinians, Labor failed to condemn piracy and the kidnapping of Australian citizens.
Albanese even stood up in parliament and falsely, maliciously claimed Palestinians teach their children hatred.
Marjorie Taylor-Greene has called this what it is, a genocide, and called for a cessation of sending Israel arms. When Marjorie Taylor-Greene can make you look bad, you have to be downright evil.
Our MSM has been no better. If it wasn’t cheerleading a genocide, then it was tainting its reporting through omission or using biased language.
Labor has its hands smothered in imperialistic-colonial genecide, Australians should never forget that. Australia no longer has worldwide moral authority because of the duopoly’s racism and indifference to suffering.
Yes, Gonggongche, the hyposrisy has been suffocating. The thing hs been monstrous, as you take in the detail. I’d love to know how the US and Israel got Australia into this wall-to-evil.
I had a relative good childhood, so it does mean some thing, all the pictures of the blown-up kids.
How was I so lucky, when so many good people are just enmiserated, in Gaza.
We threw away a Mandate from Heaven on a pack of sinister lies.
Yes, Paul, we were born lucky in many ways. I was born at a time which meant I never was faced with war personally, had plenty of avenues to employment, and buying a house was a big commitment, but not a life-long commitment or an impossible dream.
Like you said, not everyone was lucky. The ‘sin’ of the Palestinians was simply being unlucky to be born in a land that the Zionists wanted for themselves. I read in many sources that the Zionists chose Palestine to steal out of a list of many countries, including Australia – I got lucky again.
What the internet has shown is that we were being brainwashed. We were brainwashed about the USA, Israel, capitalism, Russia, China and, dare I steal from Denis, monetary sovereignty. You may not have been conned, but at a young age I was sucked right in.
jonangel, communal violence in Palestine actually got roaring in the late twenties/early thirties, settlers and Palestinians even then clashed.
Much of the resentment from Palestinians, came with the selling off of their homes or farms to overseas “investors” and with consequences, the situation turned violent..
Correct Gonggongche, and for what it’s worth, we are looking at our own version of Trump in Albanese, by stealth none the less and claiming to be one of the many, not by a bloody long shot.
Not satisfied with the damage of Climate Change, demonizing the Greens, bastardizing negative gearing and housing for the sake of greed, undermining NACC and refusing to remove the current problem, refusing to undertake policy work to revise taxation across the board amongst many other wasteful ‘sins’ we now have issues regarding FOI, and it’s not freedom of information by any stretch of imagination.
https://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2025/10/12/pm-anthony-albanese-defames-former-senator-rex-patrick-to-deflect-scrutiny-on-new-foi-laws/
And Australia swallowed the myth hook, line and sinker.
Well said Heather, and thanks for the heads up on Shane Dowling’s article.
I’ve only been able to get through the first bit of those videos and already Albanese may have misled parliament.
“Closing observations
Section 34 of the Cth FOI Act should be repealed
The Commonwealth Cabinet Handbook should be amended so that the description of a document as a Cabinet document is no longer itself justification for maintaining the confidentiality of the document. The amendment should make clear that confidentiality should only be maintained over any Cabinet documents or parts of Cabinet documents where it is reasonably justified for an identifiable public interest reason.” (Royal commission into Robodebt report)
Albanese lies like most people take breaths, he has a really nasty vindictive streak, he’s a phoney and often shows a total lack of empathy. Is that a sociopath?
Alegra Spender’s question was an excellent question, already puts her ahead of any Labor backbencher when it comes to serving Australia as a whole.
Labor is desperately trying to hide everything it is doing from the public, so what might have brought on this scurrulous mendacious attack? If not an accumulation of things, maybe its that Rex Patrick reported how Labor knows what the cost of storing the UK’s and US’s nuclear sub waste (it won’t be our waste, we won’t get any subs) will be. It’s going to be an enormous cost. This exercise in throwing away Australia’s money on AUKUS is going to be way, way, way more than $368 billion. And their not telling us in who’s backyard it will be stored.
Thanks again Heather, I finally got through the first video (slow internet connection) and that was an evil use of innuendo and coward’s castle to smear both Spender and Patrick.
Albanese said he models himself on Bob Hawke, but if you ignore what he says and look at what he does, it looks like he’s modelled himself on Morrison and Howard. There are disturbing similarities to Trump though; dishonesty, vindictiveness towards opponents, penchant for smearing opponents, nestling up to corporate elites, and a lack of empathy.
Was his treatment of Sen. Fatima Paymen because she broke caucus solidarity or because she wasn’t LOYAL to him?
Both Gonggongche,Albanese is a creature of Labor factions,staying in complete control of the factions, staying in government at any cost,and revealing himself to be just another self centered arsehole..regardless of his insulting mouthings.And he is surrounded by far too many of like mind.
The good of the country?Forget it.
Heather, my bad, you were talking about his actions and I veered onto his character.
Albanese’s Labor has cheerled and legislated to oppress student activism at universities.
Albanese’s Labor doesn’t need to attack the media, they use the Coalition’s drip feed method to control the MSM.
Albanese’s Labor doesn’t need to bring out some national guard, they use the Minns, Allen and Cook police states to oppress dissent and opponents.
Albanese’s Labor hand over money to corporates like how to vote cards.
Albanese’s Labor doesn’t need to gut and instal puppets in our Federal police and spy agencies, they’re already sufficiently ‘useful’.
Albanese’s Labor is already deporting people to Nauru, whose next?
Still a way to go but, before I’d say as bad as the Trump administration, but disturbing trends in plain sight.
Heather, my bad, you were talking about his actions and I veered onto his character.
Albanese’s Labor has cheerled and legislated to oppress student activism at universities.
Albanese’s Labor doesn’t need to attack the media, they use the Coalition’s drip feed method to control the MSM.
Albanese’s Labor doesn’t need to bring out some national guard, they use the Minns, Allen and Cook police states to oppress dissent and opponents.
Albanese’s Labor hand over money to corporates like how to vote cards.
Albanese’s Labor doesn’t need to gut and instal puppets in our Federal police and spy agencies, they’re already sufficiently ‘useful’.
Albanese’s Labor is already deporting people to Nauru, whose next?
Still a way to go but, before I’d say as bad as the Trump administration, but disturbing trends in plain sight.
Hi Harry, I suspect you’re right, but would add that they are neoliberal extremists and serve corporations, not the Australian people. They govern by changing the window dressing on issues to keep themselves in power, whilst maintaining and strengthening corporate hold over Australia.
I’m concerned, or as they would say about children being starved to death, deeply concerned, that their neoliberal extremism is sleepwalking us towards authoritarianism, whether that’s the aim or not.
Sorry Paul, but the Palestinians disquiet comes from the creation of the state of Israel on their land. Palestinians were forced off their land to make way for European refugees!! As a result there has been conflict ever since.