That was surprisingly informative for a Politico article.
Also, I feel like even if Israel stops doing genocide, withdraws from Gaza, and pays reconstruction and reparations (admittedly a fantasy of restitutive action), they should still be on big bomb timeout for a while. They’ve shown they can’t be trusted with their use.
I hear you, but this article makes clear in a way that no others have that the decision to put them in time out must be made by Congress, not Biden. Most of the transfers he’s “approving” throughout this war, were mandated years ago.
I never said this was a thing Biden alone needed to do, so I’m not sure why you’re acting like I did.
That said, there are lots of steps along the way where an administration can hold or reject transfers. We have various requirements and regulations and choices that reside in the executive well after “Congress approves X funding”. The whole reason this article even exists is because Biden put a stop to a transfer that had already been “approved” by Congress years ago. State Department approval also means a possible result is “State Department rejection”.
State Department approval also means a possible result is “State Department rejection”.
Did you notice that he said it would be illegal to send bombs to them if they’re being used on civilians? That’s because rejection because they “can’t be trusted” isn’t a thing that can happen. It must be a violation of the statue that was passed to mandate the shipment, or some other law. His DoD needs rock solid legal grounds to refuse a Congressional mandate, and the clearest reason to disobey statue is to show that it requires that you violate some other law.
What exactly do you think is the difference here? They used US weapons on civilians and now we won’t supply more for some time because this violation means they’re likely to be used on civilians again.
Whatever you think you’re doing here is not helpful to Biden. You’re preemptively arguing that Biden’s current pause isn’t actually something he can do and implying it will fail because the rules say only Congress can make decisions. Neither of which is true. You seem like you’re just taking guesses about how things work rather than having any concrete knowledge to back up your declarative statements about what’s possible (most arms laws are simply money-pots to be managed by the executive in consultation with our ally). The executive has incredibly broad powers to stop arms transfers based on whether they’re for “legitimate self-defense” (not defined), which is why Republicans are trying to take that ability away.
and what’s the alternative? bibi needs trump to be elected to survive, it’s ridiculous to crucify biden when it appears there’s genuine action to reign in Israel.
How is this comment relevant to anything that’s been said anywhere here? No one has crucified Biden anywhere in this comment thread.
I swear people are just running on scripts here and aren’t reading the comments to figure out if their script is applicable. First “Biden can’t do anything, it’s all Congress” when Biden wasn’t even being told to do anything and he currently IS doing something, then “what’s the alternative, don’t be critical of Biden” when again, no one has been critical of Biden.
I thought I was agreeing with you. maybe not. Not sure what’s accomplished with ‘biden genocide’ some are attempting to hang on him when, as i said, it appears there’s genuine action to reign in Israel, and trump would never do that. that crowd - not you - flummox me because they literally can’t see the result of their actions and I suspect their motivations. Israel is not just Bibi, but until he can be decoupled from the command infrastructure I think a pause is justified.
Will congress act? Yeah, not really confident.
Idk why people shit on Politico so much lol
They were acquired by Axel Springer SE a few years back. Axel Springer has a noted far-right bias.
Once approved by the administration and Congress, these weapons will likely take months or even years before they are produced and delivered
Thanks, I was indeed confused.
Nope, not confused. I think it’s pretty clear: he’s continuing business as usual while speaking stern words hoping that will salvage his reelection campaign.
You’re not wrong. That’s basically what this article amounts to. They held up one tiny shipment while continuing the sale of other weapons and expediting past sales, sending billions more than they held up. It let’s them say they did something in headlines or press conferences without really doing anything substantive.
