TODAY’S POLITICAL POTPOURRI

• Netanyahu is coming to Washington on Monday and will no doubt tell Trump that Iran is again trying to build a nuclear weapon. Bibi will kiss up Trump on behalf of another regime change effort in Iran.

• Jews are reconsidering Israel as a “safe haven” after Iran did enormous damage inside Israel where 33,000 rebuilding permits have been submitted to the government. On my first visit to the West Bank in 1981, I witnessed newly arrived colonialist settlers from New Jersey swaggering four- a breast down the sidewalks, challenging Palestinians to impede their passage. Now — and I refuse to mince words — some of these duel identity, moral monsters may be boarding flights for Newark.

• Prof. John Mearsheimer says “Israel is a giant moral albatross around the neck of the United States.” Israel recently dropped a bomb on an Internet cafe in Gaza and 50-100 starving Palestinians are murdered daily by the IDF at food distribution centers.

• The British Economist is reporting that shipments of US military equipment and shells to Iran have ended. The reason? The US has run out of weapons. Predictably, Ukrainian officials are claiming this is all Russian propaganda but the Pentagon told Trump that the cupboard is bare and only shipments approved by Biden remain in the pipeline. Daniel Davis reveals that Congress was informed of this situation back in March but either wasn’t listening or refused to believe it. The invariably reliable observer Alexander Mercouris suggests this is a “potentially momentous moment in modern history. The United States has hit upon limits as to what it can do in the world and yet the neocons have never shown any interest in this reality.” To put it bluntly, the US empire is overstretched. There are simply too many real and potential conflicts in too many places and the US priority now is confrontation with China. One consequence is that Trump must end US involvement in Ukraine while still trying to save face.

• At the recent NATO summit there was no talk about Ukraine. The Europeans are still pretending they’re players and Macron called Putin — the first time they’ve talked in three years. The readout indicates that Macron tried one last time obtain a ceasefire but Putin said that nothing had changed since 2022 and there was a need to get back to the causes of the war. I suspect that the crafty Macron was actually angling for better bilateral relations with Russia at the war’s end that would benefit France.

• Finally, on this July 4th I’m reminded of Martin Luther King’s 1967 speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence,”where he stated that the United States was the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” It pains me to say that 58 years later, King’s indictment remains valid. Must this remain the case?