{"id":44365,"date":"2023-10-20T06:31:45","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=44365"},"modified":"2023-10-20T06:31:45","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:31:45","slug":"bidens-trigger-treats-for-ukraine-and-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2023\/10\/20\/bidens-trigger-treats-for-ukraine-and-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden’s Trigger Treats for Ukraine and Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views<\/a> with the author\u2019s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n

In an address to the nation from the Oval Office last night<\/a>, President Biden promised more trigger treats* for Ukraine and Israel: at least $60 billion for Ukraine and at least $10 billion for Israel in an \u201caid\u201d package that may reach $100 billion.<\/p>\n

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President Biden urges Americans to send more weaponry overseas so America\u2019s allies can kill more evildoers. Trigger treats!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Biden repeated several tired cliches about America. That we\u2019re the essential nation, the indispensable one, and also the arsenal of democracy. But maybe what we\u2019re really truly \u201cessential\u201d for is guns and more guns, war and more war?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Biden assured us that sending scores of billions in weaponry was good for America: that those artillery shells and so on that shred Russian and Palestinian bodies are made right here in the USA. They\u2019re job-creators, not body-manglers! Rejoice as America adds more jobs by providing more guns and ammo to Ukraine and Israel.<\/p>\n

Biden, like so many in the Pentagon and the U.S. military, resorted to business-speak, explaining that this massive package of \u201caid\u201d was an \u201cinvestment\u201d in national security that will pay Americans \u201cdividends\u201d down the road. Actually, all this weaponry will be bought the real American Way, with deficit spending, and the \u201cdividends\u201d will most certainly be more death and destruction and possibly even World War III.<\/p>\n

Biden apparently sees only one course for both Ukraine and Israel: total military victory over their opponents. There was no mention of diplomacy, of ceasefires, of negotiation, of compromise. The only way out is through a massive number of dead, full stop.<\/p>\n

Biden, who has a bad habit of pointing at the camera, and therefore America, for emphasis, did implore us not to give into hate in its various forms, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Yet it\u2019s not easy to square an anti-hate message with $100 billion in mostly military aid so that Israel and Ukraine can squash and kill all the evildoers in their midst.<\/p>\n

Biden, in sum, had a very grim message for America, and therefore for the world, one that embraced war and more killing as \u201cessential\u201d and \u201cindispensable\u201d because that\u2019s the only course one can take when confronted by \u201cpure, unadulterated evil.\u201d And, anyway, war creates good-paying jobs in America. Trigger treats for all!<\/p>\n

*I took the idea of \u201ctrigger treats\u201d from a local gun shop that is displaying a sign for Halloween that reads \u201cNo tricks just trigger treats.\u201d<\/p>\n

William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author\u2019s permission. In an address to the nation from the Oval Office last night, President Biden promised more trigger treats* for Ukraine and Israel: at least $60 billion for Ukraine and at least $10 billion for Israel in an \u201caid\u201d package that may reach $100 billion. President Biden urges […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-44365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":"The Exceptional Nation Promises More Bullets, Bombs, Guns, and Missiles"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44365"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44370,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44365\/revisions\/44370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44365"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=44365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}