S R H Hashmi
READING the New York Times , November 9 issue, I came across a wonderful article by Frank Bruni, titled ‘The Joe Biden I Knew Has Been Humbled.’ And that reminded me of something. Ten-fifteen years back, I used to read on line various American newspapers and often commented on articles or news reports which appeared to be excessively pro-Israel/anti-Palestinian as well as those about US invasions, especially of Muslim states.
And I expressed my sentiments unreservedly but nevertheless, duly supported by arguments which would be acceptable to those who were willing to listen to reason. On one of my comments, I vaguely remember having received a rather offensive remark by, I think, Joe Biden, described as a Senator. And I wondered how someone in such a high position could come down so low and make such a remark. The only explanation for such behaviour could be that during that time, the survival and indeed progress of any aspiring candidate in American politics depended very much on ‘securing’ the support of strong and influential pro-Israel lobbies which provided generous financial and other support to aspiring candidates. As such, what the person did was quite normal then and human nature being what it is, many among us can manage to conjure up justification for the most inhuman acts of theirs. For example, religion Islam declares the killing of even one innocent person – of whatever religion – as the killing of the entire humanity. As such, the suicide bombers killing innocent persons of whatever religion, including the perpetrators of 9/11 could have no connection whatsoever with Islam and yet many such terrorists did terrible things ostensibly in the name of Islam.
I must point out here that the incident quoted above happened 10-15 years back, and I do not recollect the piece on which I commented or the contents of my comment, and whether the one making obnoxious remark was indeed Senator Joe Biden. So, if it was not him, I offer my profound apologies. But if this was actually him, I nevertheless have to admit that he seems to be a completely transformed person now as demonstrated clearly by his recent words and deeds, including picking up a non-white person as his Vice President. Frank Bruni considers the cause of Biden’s transformation to be his advancing years and the death of his son Beau in 2015. And this was another great tragedy after an earlier one; a car accident in 1972 in which Joe Biden’s first wife Neilia and one-year old daughter Naomi died while his four year old son Hunter and three-year old Beau were critically injured. Learning of these tragedies in Joe Biden’s life, my wife felt really sorry for him.
I would say that people all over the world – except Israel and its new-found friends – would have felt quite relieved over the end of Trump’s era. It is simply inconceivable that in this day and age, after its clear manifestations in various ways, someone would declare ‘climate change’ a hoax. And Trump not only did that but also took his country out of the Paris Agreement. Trump also opted out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action which China, France, Russia, United Kingdom United States plus Germany and the European Union had agreed with Iran after years of tough negotiations and which was considered to be about the best way to prevent Iran from developing nuclear arms. Trump tried even to persuade/pressure other countries to do the same, which they refused. And with his America-first approach, he nearly ruined NATO. And while nearly all US governments have been supportive of Israel, Trump crossed all limits and defying the whole world and even UN resolutions, accepted Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved US embassy there. In fact, Trump left all US Presidents behind in the service of Israel and made his staunchly pro-Israel, Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner his senior Advisor on the Middle East who has been instrumental in getting UAE, Bahrain and Sudan to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. While within USA, Trump exacerbated racial discrimination and by displaying non-seriousness about COVID-19, he impeded measures in controlling it.
Trump’s plus points were that he started no new war and also refused invasion of Iran despite extreme pressure from Israel and some Arab states, though he crippled Iran financially through sanctions. We know that US long-term policies towards the rest of the world remain very much the same, despite change of regime. Like, we know that the US will remain beholden to Israel. Also, it will continue to undermine international role of China, which it sees as a rival. And we know that during the last many decades, the desire to control the world, with Generals too fond of flexing their muscles and under pressure from big armament manufacturers, – who need a constant stream of wars to sell their products – the US has been waging needless, brutal wars, causing massive human suffering, with Muslim states being its recent targets. But a US President is not entirely powerless and can take independent action, more so when he is not looking for a second term. So, could we expect a transformed Joe Biden, who has faced so many tragedies in his own life, to feel for others and, as the new US President, try to recompense those who have lost their loved ones, their home and hearth, with fairly well-to-do persons turned into paupers as a result of needless US invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya and be fair to Palestinians. Also, it could be nice if instead of fighting China, the US cooperated with it and spread peace all around.
— The writer is senior political analyst based in Karachi.
