( Michelle Goldberg of NYT writes that Israeli extremist Government wants the Gazans to be sent to neighboring countries. Israel is creating condition in Gaza that will make it inhabitable and relocating them may look line Humanitarian thing to do. There is every indication that Biden Administration Knows it. f. sheikh)

“Pro-Israel Democrats want to back a war to remove Hamas from Gaza. But increasingly, it looks as if America is underwriting a war to remove Gazans from Gaza. Experts in international law can debate whether the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza can be classified as genocidal, as South Africa is claiming at the International Court of Justice, or as some lesser type of war crime. But whatever you want to call attempts to “thin out” Gaza’s population — as the Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom described an alleged Netanyahu proposal — the United States is implicated in them.

By acting as if Ben-Gvir and Smotrich can be hived off from the government in which they serve, U.S. policymakers are fostering denial about the character of Netanyahu’s rule. Joe Biden often speaks of his 1973 meeting with Golda Meir, then the prime minister, and like many American Zionists, his view of Israel sometimes seems stuck in that era.

If you grew up in a liberal Zionist household, as I did, you’ve probably heard this (possibly apocryphal) Meir quote: “When peace comes we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons.” There’s much to criticize in this sentiment — its self-regard, the way it positions Israel as the victim even when it’s doing the killing; still, it at least suggests a tortured ambivalence about meting out violence. But this attitude, which Israelis sometimes call “shooting and crying,” is now as obsolete as Meir’s Zionist socialism, at least among Israel’s leaders.”

Opinion | America Must Face Up to Israel’s Extremism – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

posted by f.sheikh

India’s economy is booming. Stock prices are through the roof, among the best performing in the world. The government’s investment in airports, bridges and roads, and clean-energy infrastructure is visible almost everywhere. India’s total output, or gross domestic product, is expected to increase 6 percent this year — faster than the United States or China.

But there’s a hitch: Investment by Indian companies is not keeping pace. The money that companies put into the future of their businesses, for things like new machines and factories, is stagnant. As a fraction of India’s economy, it is shrinking. And while money is flying into India’s stock markets, long-term investment from overseas has been declining.

Green and red lights are flashing at the same time. At some point soon, the government will need to reduce its extraordinary spending, which could weigh on the economy if private sector money doesn’t pick up.

The biggest wild card is whether India can grab a significant share of global business from China. The highest-profile example is Apple, the $3 trillion megacompany, which is slowly moving some of its supply chain away from China. Its pricey iPhone has barely 5 percent of the Indian market. But currently about 7 percent of the world’s iPhones are made in India — and JPMorgan Chase has estimated that Apple intends to get that to 25 percent by 2025. At that point, all kinds of things become possible for India.

“We should keep our minds open,” Mr. Subramanian said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/02/business/india-economy-foreign-direct-investment.html

posted by f.sheikh

“And yet there are a few recurring subthemes that bubble up when you talk with the professionals and with the younger voters themselves. These insights won’t crack the turnout code. Or necessarily save Mr. Biden’s presidency. But they do shed light on some of the more amorphous reasons younger Americans are so hard to turn out — and can maybe even point a way forward.”

“The No. 1 rule when you’re talking about young people: They may be progressive, but they are not Democrats,” warned Joshua Ulibarri, a partner with the Democratic polling firm Lake Research Partners. “They don’t turn out for parties.”

“Younger voters also are less inclined to turn out simply because they like a candidate’s personality. Now and then, one comes along who inspires them (think Barack Obama) or, alternatively, outrages them enough to make them turn out in protest (think Donald Trump). But more often they are driven by issues that speak to their lives, their core values or, ideally, both.”

My comment posted in NYT on above article;

FS | NY
It is a mistake to blame the Youngs if they are turned off by Biden and Democratic party. The Youngs do not want to hand over their future to Biden, as it is about future and not past. Gaza war is self-inflicted wounds which Biden could have avoided by supporting Israel and at the same time giving voice to Palestinian’s rights. as every President has done, and not going well beyond what was required and making it our war. Despite mounting deaths of thousands of children in Gaza, which angered Youngs, Biden is still sending weapons to Israel without notifying even congress. It is not just Youngs, but many Americans are also questioning our unconditional support of Israel and want to know what are our national interests that require us to risk our values, sense of justice, and credibility in the world to give unconditional support to Israel despite mounting Gazan deaths and keeping Palestinians occupied and oppressed.

Full article

posted by f.sheikh

Today New York Times posted article by its most celebrated and senior foreign affairs columnist, Mr. Thomas Friedman, “What Is Happening to Our World”.

Worth reading following excerpts from the article.

“I referred to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as our first true world war, and why I feel that Hamas’s war with Israel is in some ways our second true world war.”

“I began thinking about this a few weeks ago, when I flew to Dubai to attend the United Nations climate summit. If you’ve never been there, the Dubai airport has some of the longest concourses in the world. And when my Emirates flight landed, we parked close to one end of the B concourse — so when I looked out the window, I saw lined up in a perfectly symmetrical row some 15 Emirates long-haul passenger jets, stretching far into the distance. And the thought occurred to me: What is the essential ingredient that Dubai has and Gaza lacks? Because both began, in one sense, as the convergence of sand and seawater at crucial intersections of the world.”

“It’s not oil — oil plays only a small role in Dubai’s diversified economy today. And it’s not democracy. Dubai is not a democracy and does not aspire to be one. But people are flocking to live here now from all over the world — its population of more than 3.5 million has surged since the outbreak of Covid. Why? The short answer is visionary leadership.”

“Compare that with Gaza, where the role models today are Hamas martyrs in its endless war with Israel.”

Mr. Friedman who poses himself as friend of Palestinians, is comparing Dubai’s progress with Gaza and implying that they could have progressed like Dubai if it was not for Hamas. He is implying that violent occupation of Gaza is not any hinderance to their progress, they are as free as citizens of Dubai. What a bizarre comparison and advocacy from a friend of Palestinians.

There is no Hamas in West Bank and more than 200 innocent Palestinians get killed every year by extremist settlers and security forces with their houses destroyed and farms ransacked. Palestinians are treated like animals.

Mr. Friedman writes that Gaza war is “our second true world war.” Really? Mr. Biden impulsively rushed to embrace Netanyahu and made it our war, and Biden is going to pay price for it in 2024. But what are our national interests in this war that makes it “our war”, except AIPAC say so, and which is costing thousands of innocent Palestinian lives, our values, our sense of justice, our credibility, and our standing in the world?

The strangest aspect of the article by Mr. Friedman is that Editors of NYT did not question it, because it was from Thomas Friedman, and posted it.