<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div>Please vote in the poll.</div><div><br></div><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/4/13/2091771/-If-the-Russian-War-on-Ukraine-is-Genocide-the-Saudi-War-on-Yemen-is-Genocide" target="_blank">https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/4/13/2091771/-If-the-Russian-War-on-Ukraine-is-Genocide-the-Saudi-War-on-Yemen-is-Genocide</a><div><br></div><div><b><font size="4"><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/4/13/2091771/-If-the-Russian-War-on-Ukraine-is-Genocide-the-Saudi-War-on-Yemen-is-Genocide" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;color:rgb(60,55,54);text-decoration:none;font-family:"Open Sans Condensed";letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px" target="_blank">If the Russian War on Ukraine is “Genocide,” the Saudi War on Yemen is “Genocide”</a></font></b></div><div><b><font size="4"><br></font></b></div><div><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">President Biden has crossed a rhetorical Rubicon in describing the illegal actions of Putin and his “Willing Executioners” in Ukraine as “genocide.”</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">We can debate, if we want, whether President Biden’s description was “technically accurate.” We can debate, if we want, whether that was a good idea that was in “U.S. national interests,” whatever those are. We can debate, if we want, if this was yet another<span> </span><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">so-called </em>“Biden gaffe.”</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">But there ain’t no debatin’ which side of this rhetorical Rubicon President Biden is standing on now on Russia-Ukraine. He’s standing on the “genocide” side.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">All this, of course, begs a crucial “Jeopardy Daily Double” question about U.S. democracy, the Rule of Law, and U.S. policy in the Middle East.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">If the last month of Russia’s war on Ukraine was “genocide,” then<span> </span><strong style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px"><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">by what moral calculus </em></strong><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px"></em>was the last seven years of U.S.-enabled, deliberate Saudi regime-imposed famine in Yemen not “genocide”?</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">Now, of course, some Blob Establishment Concern Troll might try to claim that “deliberate Saudi-imposed famine in Yemen” is rhetorically excessive, beyond the pale. But if they did try to do that, then we could protect ourselves with an Impeccably-Credentialed Blob Establishment Validator. We could pull Marshall McLuhan from behind the movie poster in<span> </span><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">Annie Hall</em>.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">On May 17, 2017,<span> </span><strong style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy</strong><span> </span>made the following statement on the Senate floor:</p><blockquote style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:20px 0px;padding:30px 60px;font-size:14.85714054107666px;border:none;width:660px;line-height:1.7142855rem;background-color:rgb(247,247,247);color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px 0px"><a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4670011/user-clip-murphy-young-yemen-murphy-saudis-deliberately-create-famine-yemen" title="" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(153,107,61)" target="_blank">"The Saudis are deliberately trying to create a famine inside Yemen in order to essentially starve the Yemenis to the negotiating table.”</a></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">Note that this was not Ilhan Omar, Dennis Kucinich, Ron Dellums, Mike Gravel, Wayne Morse, Walter Jones, Justin Amash, or Ron Paul. This was not the<span> </span><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">People’s Daily World</em>,<span> </span><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">Socialist Worker</em>,<span> </span><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">In These Times</em>,<span> </span><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">Jacobin</em>,<span> </span><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">The Nation, Antiwar.com,<span> </span></em>or<span> </span><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">The American Conservative</em>. This was <strong style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px"><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">Chris Murphy</em></strong>. He’s universally considered “Serious” by the “Serious” Blob Establishment on U.S. foreign policy. He’s a member in good standing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was on the “short list” to become President Biden’s Secretary of State.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">But perhaps some Blob Establishment Concern Troll might try to claim: “Well, that was on May 17, 2017. That’s Ancient History.<span> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg30ino19Zc" title="" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(153,107,61)" target="_blank">Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who.</a>” </p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">But if they did try to claim that, it would just beg<span> </span><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px"><strong style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">yet another </strong></em>“Jeopardy Daily Double” question about U.S. democracy, the Rule of Law, and U.S. policy in the Middle East.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">Suppose that this statement was true on May 17, 2017, when Democratic Senator and SFRC member in good standing Chris Murphy said it on the Senate floor. Suppose that it is not true today.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">On<span> </span><strong style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px"><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">exactly which day</em></strong><span> </span>did it stop being true? Surely not on January 20, 2021, the day that President Biden was inaugurated as POTUS. Surely not even a Blob Establishment Concern Troll would try to claim that.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">So let’s assume that this was all true then and remains all true today. Is there anything we can do about it? If there’s nothing we can do about it, what’s the point? “At this point, what difference does it make?” We are all American Pragmatists now. We are all realists now. “Politics is the art of the possible.” It’s not enough to be right. We need to have a “theory of change.”</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">But there<span> </span><strong style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px"><em style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px">IS</em></strong><span> </span>something we can do about this. We can pass the<span> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/USProgressives/status/1507432639392845833" title="" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(153,107,61)" target="_blank">Yemen War Powers Resolution</a> now, and shut down unconstitutional U.S. participation in the Saudi regime-imposed famine in Yemen for good.</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">This is not pie in the sky. Congress has passed a Yemen War Powers Resolution before. In our corner right now, we have Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Progressive Caucus. We have Peter DeFazio, chair of the House Transportation Committee. We have @RoKhanna, who<span> </span><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/4/9/2091026/-Yemen-Champ-RoKhanna-Bashes-NAFTA-in-IL-He-Running-for-POTUS" title="" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(153,107,61)" target="_blank">some people claim might be the One</a>. We have some Constitution-loyal House Republicans. And we have Uncle Bernie. What’s the excuse for inaction from the DC Beltway Excuse Factory now?</p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(60,55,54);font-family:"Open Sans";font-size:14.85714054107666px;letter-spacing:0.11607883870601654px">Fulfill the promise of the Democratic Platform:<span> </span><a href="https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/renewing-american-leadership/" title="" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(153,107,61)" target="_blank">“Democrats will end support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen and help bring the war to an end.”</a> Pass the<span> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/USProgressives/status/1507432639392845833" title="" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:0px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(153,107,61)" target="_blank">Yemen War Powers Resolution</a><span> </span>now!</p><div><br></div></div></div>
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