Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy❤
No. of Recommendations: 14
Jon Duffy, a retired Navy captain whose active duty career included command at sea and national security roles, writes in "Defense One" about last week's strike against a small vessel in the Caribbean, killing 11 people the Trump administration claims were drug traffickers:
For decades, the U.S. military and Coast Guard have intercepted drug shipments in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific under a careful legal framework: Coast Guard officers would tactically control Navy ships, invoke law enforcement authority, stop vessels, and detain crews for prosecution. The goal is not execution; it is interdiction within international law.
This week’s strike ripped up that framework. The people on board were not given the chance to surrender. No evidence was presented. No rules of engagement were cited. The administration claimed authority to kill on suspicion alone.
International law does not permit such action. A vessel in international waters is not a lawful target simply because officials say so. Contending that narcotics pose a long-term danger to Americans is at best a weak policy argument, not a legal justification for force. Unless this boat posed an imminent threat of attack—which no one has claimed—blowing it out of the water is not self-defense. It is killing at sea. A government that ignores these distinctions is not fighting cartels. It is discarding the rule of law.With the Supreme Court’s ruling that presidents are immune from prosecution for “official acts,” experts warned this would give the commander-in-chief license to commit murder and the president ordered killings in international waters. The logic used -- redefine the threat, erase legal distinctions, and justify force as the first tool -- is the same logic being used to go after “criminals” in Chicago today or, one day, “radicals” in Atlanta.
Congress has turned its back, the court has given its permission, will the military now stand silent as it is misused or will those who serve remember their oath?
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2025/09/killing-s...
No. of Recommendations: 6
Meanwhile, the Israelis have attacked Qatar, a US ally, targeting the Hamas negotiating team that has been working to a negotiated end to the Gaza war.
Fortunately, Israel wears the same cloak of "exceptionalism" as the US, exempting them from any rules of civilized behavior.
/sarcasm
Israel targets Hamas leadership in military strikes on Qatar, officials sayhttps://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-t...Seems that "his nibs", and "Bibi" want that beachfront resort in Gaza, and they don't care how many Pals die.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 7
Seems that "his nibs", and "Bibi" want that beachfront resort in Gaza, and they don't care how many Pals die.
We seem to have outsourced our foreign plicy to Netanyahu and Putin, and anyone else willing to say nice things about Trump and slip him a “favor”.1
1 favor: otherwise known as “free speech”, formerly known by the archaic term “bribe”.
No. of Recommendations: 0
Bribes are people also.
Just like corporations are.
You enabled both of those things -- -one of them thanks to the SCOTUS :)
Stick to Garcia! Epstein! And whatever they tell you to do today.
No. of Recommendations: 1
rec!
I love love love the title.
the real sentiment behind it.
And it's happening!
Remember, the 2020s are the good ol days.
No. of Recommendations: 5
...and anyone else willing to say nice things about Trump and slip him a “favor”.1That must include the British PM.
In the UK, a group has formed, calling itself "Palestine Action", which resists UK complicity in Israel's actions in Gaza. The group has progressed from demonstrations to vandalism, like spraying red paint around, and non-violently obstructing the operations of UK companies that produce weapons for Israel.
For their non-violent activities, the UK government has named Palestine Action a terrorist group.
Now, anyone in the UK who peacefully demonstrates in support of Palestine Action's non-violent activities, is accused of supporting terrorism and tossed in jail.
Arrests at rally against Palestine Action ban rise to 890https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8rvly00440oThe one difference I see between Brits demonstrating against the ethnic cleansing in Gaza, and in the US, is the British police who haul them off to the clink and wearing police uniforms and not wearing masks.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 4
Meanwhile, the Israelis have attacked Qatar, a US ally, targeting the Hamas negotiating team that has been working to a negotiated end to the Gaza war.
Have they been negotiating in good faith? Or are they more acting like Oct 7 was a good start?
No. of Recommendations: 5
Have they been negotiating in good faith? Or are they more acting like Oct 7 was a good start?
Does it matter? The Israelis have been killing people all over the middle ease, without a care about collateral damage.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 3
Does it matter? The Israelis have been killing people all over the middle ease, without a care about collateral damage.
Were that true there wouldn't be a building left standing in Gaza.
Instead, they warn residents of where they're going to strike. If they were the monsters everyone says they are ironically the war would be over already.
No. of Recommendations: 13
Dope1:
Were that true there wouldn't be a building left standing in Gaza.According to the UN, approximately 92 per cent of all residential buildings in Gaza – around 436,000 homes – have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the conflict resulting in about 50 million tons of debris.
'Course that was back in April so, well, maybe they're closing in on 100%.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/04/1162491
No. of Recommendations: 4
Were that true there wouldn't be a building left standing in Gaza.Relief convoy, trying to bring humanitarian aid and building supplies to Gaza, in 2010. Attacked by Israeli forces, in international waters. 9 civilians killed and 30 wounded.
2010 Gaza flotilla raidhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Gaza_flotilla_r...May 2023: (the Hamas raid on Israel was in October 2023)
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel launched targeted airstrikes in densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing three senior commanders of the Islamic Jihad militant group in their homes and at least 10 civilians, https://www.npr.org/2023/05/09/1174946099/islamic-...August 2022: The Israelis got one militant, killed 7 others, and wounded 40 more.
Israel unleashed a wave of airstrikes in Gaza on Friday, killing at least eight people, including a senior militant, and wounding another 40, according to Palestinian officials. Israel said it was targeting the Islamic Jihad militant group in response to an “imminent threat” following the arrest of a senior militant in the occupied West Bank earlier this week.https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/05/israeli-s...That is how it's gone in the Gaza free fire zone for years. The Israelis target one car, with a militant in it, and wound a dozen or more passersby.
June 2006:
Israeli missile misses target, kills 2 Palestinians
In the second botched Israeli airstrike in Gaza in two days, two people were killed and 13 were wounded when a missile hit a house Wednesday, just hours after grieving and angry Palestinians buried three children killed in a previous attack.https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna13442052Steve
No. of Recommendations: 3
Relief convoy, trying to bring humanitarian aid and building supplies to Gaza, in 2010. Attacked by Israeli forces, in international waters. 9 civilians killed and 30 wounded.
That's 15 years ago.
How come they were letting in "relief columns" at all?
Israel launched targeted airstrikes in densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing three senior commanders of the Islamic Jihad militant group in their homes and at least 10 civilians,
Why wasn't it more? If they're the monsters people say they are, why wasn't this area carpet-bombed?
Let's contrast this to Palestinian terrorists who just shoot, bomb or knife people at random.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Seems that "his nibs", and "Bibi" want that beachfront resort in Gaza, and they don't care how many Pals die.
This has to be the most bizarre foreign policy twist I've seen in my life. Trump fellow visits and then next thing is 'get em all out', we want to develop resorts here - with a Trump Hotel and golf course.
No. of Recommendations: 5
Trump fellow visits and then next thing is 'get em all out', we want to develop resorts here - with a Trump Hotel and golf course.
The US has a long history of committing genocide against native peoples, because white people wanted the land the natives were on. But, of course, we can't talk about that now, because we would commit the crime of "woke". We are told we need to celebrate "exceptionalism", instead.
Steve
