When desperate lies become foreign policy

On July 1, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended a ‘conversation’ at the Brookings Institution. In this ‘conversation’ he discussed US foreign policy, mainly in relation to the US/NATO-led war on Russia, the US strategic competition with China, as well as the US/Israeli genocidal war on Gaza and the Palestinian people.

What stood out most during this so-called ‘conversation’, was the amount of ridiculous and blatant lies the Empire’s Secretary of State felt inclined to regurgitate, and my focus here will be the lies pertaining to the US-led war on Gaza, as well as the supporting Lebanese Resistance front.

Gaza ceasefire talks

One of the first things that stands out when reviewing the questions, responses, and comments from moderator Suzanne Maloney, Blinken, or any of the attendees is that no one, not even once, bothered or even attempted to mention the number of Palestinian civilian casualties that had fallen as a result of the IOF’s indiscriminate and genocidal campaign against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, despite the number of Palestinian martyrs exceeding 38,000 and the number of those injured exceeding 87,000, not to mention the countless thousands lost under the rubble.

Of course, the very first thing the moderator points out when shifting the ‘conversation’ to the Middle East was the “horrific attacks that killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took another 250 Israelis hostage and dual nationals," failing to mention that multiple investigations and eyewitness testimonies have confirmed that the majority of these “civilian” casualties were killed by the IOF, that the majority of those killed by the Resistance were from the IOF’s infamous Gaza Division, that the majority of captives are from the IOF, and that the IOF’s genocidal campaign has killed ten-times more Israeli captives than it has managed to rescue.

That said, Blinken wastes no time and immediately begins lying when presented with the first question regarding Gaza, and his first big lie was falsely claiming that the entire world, including the Zionist entity, had welcomed and accepted US President Joe Biden’s “ceasefire plan”, and that the only party wasting time was the Palestinian Resistance group, Hamas, which was now trying to get more by going back on terms it had supposedly “already agreed to”:

“And so everyone came together in support with one exception, and that was Hamas, which came back with a – most charitably a “yes, but,” trying to impose new conditions, moving the line, actually coming back on positions it had already agreed to and trying to get more. So we’ve been in an intense effort with the Egyptians, with the ?ataris to see if we could close the gaps that Hamas created in not saying yes to a proposal that everyone, including the Israelis, had said yes to. And we’re working that almost literally as we speak.”

Now, anyone familiar with what has been taking place would remember that last May, the Palestinian Resistance accepted the Egyptian-?atari proposal, which CIA Director William Burns had a key role in drafting, while “Israel” rejected the proposal and opted instead to go ahead with its now failed invasion of Rafah. Additionally, those who are not completely disconnected from reality would recall that “Biden’s plan” was initially referred to as an “Israeli plan”, and that to date, the Zionist regime has not issued one official statement accepting it, on the contrary, there have been multiple statements issued by various occupation ministers rejecting it.

War with Hezbollah

Blinken’s second big lie was about the northern front of occupied Palestine and a potential war with the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, Hezbollah. Here, the US Secretary of State falsely claims that while the Zionist entity does not want war with Hezbollah, the IOF are “well prepared” for any potential war. He also falsely claims that Hezbollah does not want war because “Lebanon would be the leading victim” of such a war and that the Islamic Republic of Iran does not want war because it does not want to see Hezbollah “destroyed”:

“And I think you have a paradox in this moment, which is that at least in our judgment none of the main actors actually want a war. Israel doesn’t want a war, although Israelis may well be prepared to engage in one if necessary from their perspective to protect their interests, but they don’t want one. I don’t believe Hezbollah actually wants a war. Lebanon certainly doesn’t want a war because it would be the leading victim in such a war. And I don’t believe that Iran wants a war, in part because it wants to make sure that Hezbollah’s not destroyed and that it can hold onto Hezbollah as a card if it needs it, if it ever gets into a direct conflict with Israel. So on the one hand, no one actually wants a war. On the other hand, you have forces – momentum that may be leading in that direction and which we are determined to try to arrest. You have as you said, Suzanne, 60,000 or so Israelis who have been forced from their homes in northern Israel.”

Once again, anyone remotely familiar with what has been taking place on both the southern and northern fronts of occupied Palestine since last October will know that Blinken is blatantly lying. The Zionist entity set two main objectives for its war on Gaza, the first was the “destruction of Hamas” and the second was “rescuing the captives.” However, after almost nine months, the IOF have not only failed to achieve any of its objectives but has also suffered catastrophic losses during its confrontations with the Palestinian Resistance. So, the very idea that a broken and humiliated IOF, an IOF incapable of achieving anything in Gaza is somehow “prepared” for an all-out confrontation with Hezbollah, and that Hezbollah could be “destroyed” in such a confrontation, is farcical to say the very least.

Of course, Blinken already knows all this, which is why the US and its so-called partners have been sending representative after representative to Lebanon to try and talk to Hezbollah about ceasing its operations in South Lebanon. More importantly, Blinken knows very well that the Zionist entity not only stands no chance against Hezbollah but also stands no chance against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is why the US ordered those running the illegitimate entity to stand down and not respond after Iran’s Operation True Promise, which exposed how fragile and broken the Zionist entity is and how it is incapable of defending itself without US and Western support.

Final thoughts

While the act of US officials deliberately lying to the world is by no means something new, and therefore, not at all surprising, these lies from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are a true testament to how desperate the Americans have become in recent weeks. The Zionist entity is in turmoil, the IOF are being decimated in Gaza and have been unable to achieve any of their goals after nine months of fighting, the north of occupied Palestine effectively belongs to Hezbollah, with the IOF suffering heavy losses, tens of thousands of illegal settlers displaced and many others from all over the Zionist entity fleeing for Europe and the United States. In addition, the US Operation Prosperity Guardian has been a resounding failure, as the US and its so-called partners were unable to achieve any of the goals they set out to achieve, and all attempts to try and persuade the Lebanese, Yemeni and Iraqi Resistance movements to cease their operations in return for certain gains have also been met with failure.

So, given all these failures and absolutely no prospect of a US/Israeli victory, in any shape or form, it becomes evident that Blinken not only knows that he is lying, but also knows that his lies will not deceive the public for long?and that these lies are a desperate attempt to buy time. More importantly, Blinken’s lies serve as a clear sign of US desperation and a prime example of how, in the face of constant defeat, desperate lies become foreign policy.

The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al Mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.

This article was first published by Al Mayadeen English: https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/blog/when-desperate-lies-become-foreign-policy