The Prince’s white blindspot

Surprised by war in civilized Europe.

Israeli warplanes attacked hundreds of towers and civilian 'targets' in the Gaza Strip. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)

USA Today reported that a photo that went viral about a high-rise in the Ukraine being hit by Russian bombing turned out to be a high-rise from the Gaza Strip, demolished by the Israeli Air Force in May 2021. A few days before that, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister complained to the Israeli ambassador in Kiev that “you’re treating us like Gaza”; he was furious that Israel did not condemn the Russian invasion and was only interested in evicting Israeli citizens from the state (Haaretz, February 17, 2022). It was a mixture of reference to the Ukrainian evacuation of Ukrainian spouses of Palestinian men from the Gaza Strip in May 2021, as well as a reminder to Israel of the Ukrainian president’s full support for Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip in that month. — Navigating our Humanity: Ilan Pappé on the Four Lessons from Ukraine

I’m horrified and angered by images and news reports of the bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol. I’m just as horrified by the images of the Israeli bombings of hospitals and civilian neighborhoods in Gaza and Beirut and by the Saudis in Yemen.

Every story of death and destruction in Ukraine brings more calls in the west for direct military intervention and for flooding Ukraine with more arms. Do they really think that there’s a military solution to this conflict? The danger is that this proxy war for position will spin out of control and increase the threat of all-out war in Europe and even a nuclear conflagration.

It’s time for the global peace movement as well as UN members to demand a negotiated agreement to end the fighting with a guarantee of autonomy and neutrality for Ukraine as well as Russian security from NATO expansion. That’s the only way to end the threat of destruction and economic collapse in both countries.

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It’s stunning how some liberals, who only a few years ago under Trump, were decrying the war in Ukraine and the threat of nazism there, are now sounding like neocon chicken hawks, discrediting the ongoing peace talks and calling for all-out war.

Case in point: Rep.Ro Khanna, who back then was a progressive anti-war voice in Congress, has now lined up behind the cold warriors.

Then…

And now…

I mean, I was concerned about providing lethal aid before the war started, because I didn’t want us to be unnecessarily provocative, but, now that Putin has taken on this war, I’m open to what the administration may propose, and standing up for Ukraine… So, we are still the world’s superpower, and history teaches us that we have to care about the violation of territorial sovereignty in Europe and stand firm against it. — Interview in Foreign Policy

Or this from liberal media talking head and former Chicago Public Schools administrator Jill Wine-Banks…

Jill Wine-Banks @JillWineBanks

@McFaul I wish there were a legal or diplomatic solution, but the UN, NATO, The Hague cannot stop Putin's war crimes (killing civilians, etc). Only guns & planes in the hands of the brave Ukrainians will stop Putin and save worldwide democracies, including ours, from his future attacks.

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It was very sweet of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to bring trays of chocolate and granola bars to the volunteers and the Ukrainian Cultural Center in London who were filling lorries (trucks) with aid to support the humanitarian relief effort following the Russian invasion.

The problem was that someone was bound to ask His Royal Highness Prince William, about the war. Without much thought, William, 39, blurted out:

Everyone is horrified by what they are seeing. The news every day, it's almost unfathomable to actually witness it, to see it. For our generation, it's very alien to see this in Europe. We're all right behind you.”

I’m doubting that the prince speaks for his whole generation, as he claims.

His comparison received a barrage of criticism online, but the journalist who filed the original story later retracted any reference to Africa or Asia and as you might expect, made no mention of Palestine or Yemen where horrific bombings of civilian populations have become routine.

I felt obliged to remind the prince that…

Mike Klonsky @mikeklonsky

Your Royal Highness, you may not have realized this, but both world wars were fought in "civilized Europe" as was the war that's been going on in Ukraine now since 2014 with 14 thousands dead.

I might have added that the term “ethnic cleansing” was coined in Europe and the rape and plunder of Africa and Asia were also crimes of civilized Europeans and Americans.

The Prince, of course, comes by his white blindspot and his feelings of uselessness honestly, having been born into the parasitic royal family and raised up and taught in the elite cloisters of Wetherby School and Eton College.

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