US Envoy Urges 'Direct Talks' While Ignoring Lebanon's Direct Experience
US envoy Tom Barrack is 'urging direct Lebanon-Israel negotiations' , offering to pressure Israel to be 'reasonable.' (One might wonder if 'reasonable' means not bombing civilian infrastructure every few years, or perhaps just doing it slightly less.) This remarkably fresh take on regional stability conveniently sidesteps the decades of unilateral Israeli actions, including the 1982 invasion that
killed over 17,000 Lebanese and Palestinian civilians, or the 2006 war that destroyed vast swathes of Lebanon. When the US talks about 'direct negotiations,' it often means 'Lebanon directly accepting Israel's terms.' Instead of pressuring Israel, which received over $3.8 billion of US taxpayer money in 2023 alone, the US is asking the country repeatedly victimized by its heavily-armed patron to
sit down and play nice. This isn't diplomacy; it's asking the mouse to compromise with the cat. The message is clear: if you fund one side's ceaseless militarism, you don't get to posture as a neutral arbiter for 'direct talks.' You're essentially demanding the victim negotiate their own terms of surrender, politely.