Latest news with #militaryintervention
Washington Post
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
US governors are divided along party lines about military troops deployed to protests
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling President Donald Trump's military intervention at protests over federal immigration policy in Los Angeles an assault on democracy and has sued to try to stop it. Meanwhile, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is putting the National Guard on standby in areas in his state where demonstrations are planned.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
California governor says 'democracy is under assault' by Trump as feds intervene in LA protests
LOS ANGELES — Calling President Donald Trump a threat to the American way of life, Gov. Gavin Newsom depicted the federal military intervention in Los Angeles as the onset of a much broader effort by Trump to overturn political and cultural norms at the heart of the nation's democracy. In a speech Tuesday evening, the potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate said the arrival of National Guard and Marine troops in the city at Trump's direction was not simply about quelling protests that followed a series of immigration raids by federal authorities. Instead, he said, it was part of a calculated 'war' intended to upend the foundations of society and concentrate power in the White House.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘The language of authoritarianism': how Trump and allies cast LA as a lawless city needing military intervention
Donald Trump and his allies turned to a familiar script over the weekend, casting the sprawling city of Los Angeles in shades of fire and brimstone, a hub of dangerous lawlessness that required urgent military intervention in order to be contained. 'Looking really bad in L.A.,' Trump posted on Truth Social in the very early hours of Monday morning. 'BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!' But contrary to the Trump administration's characterization of an entire city in tumult, the demonstrations were actually confined to very small areas and life generally went on as usual across much of the city. Protests began on Friday outside the federal building in downtown LA following reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents were conducting raids nearby. The protests later spread to the cities of Paramount and Compton in response to reported and rumored raids there too, and demonstrators faced off with local and state authorities armed with less-lethal munitions and tear gas. By Sunday, despite objections from local officials, Trump made the unusual move of asserting control over California's national guard and deployed 300 soldiers to support Ice (nearly 2,000 troops were mobilized in total). As a pretext to this action, the Trump administration had characterized the protests as a broader threat to the nation. On X, White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, called Los Angeles 'occupied territory'. 'We've been saying for years this is a fight to save civilization. Anyone with eyes can see that now.' 'A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals,' Trump posted on Truth Social. 'Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations – But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve.' FBI director, Kash Patel, wrote on X that LA was 'under siege by marauding criminals'. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a history professor at New York University and scholar on fascist and authoritarian movements, says the rhetoric coming from the Trump administration is 'an authoritarian trick'. 'You create a sense of existential fear that social anarchy is spreading, that criminal gangs are taking over. This is the language of authoritarianism all over the world,' said Ben-Ghiat. 'What is the only recourse to violent mobs and agitators? Using all the force of the state. Thus we have the vision of the national guard, armed to the teeth. It's like a war zone. That's on purpose, it's habituating Americans to see those armed forces as being in combat on the streets of American cities.' Ben-Ghiat pointed specifically to a post on X by defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. 'The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil,' Hegseth wrote. 'A dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK.' Ben-Ghiat said Hegseth employed 'the classic authoritarian thing, of setting up an excuse, which is that the internal enemy, illegal criminal aliens, is working together with an external enemy, the cartels and foreign terrorists, and using that to go after a third party, of protesters, regular people, who came out to show solidarity'. In his post, Hegseth added that active duty marines at Camp Pendleton were on 'high alert' and would also be mobilized 'if violence continues. On Monday, the Pentagon said it had mobilized approximately 700 marines. CNN reported that the government was still ironing out 'rules of engagement' for encountering protesters. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion The protests turned violent when federal immigration authorities used flash bang grenades and tear gas against demonstrators, per reporting in the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times. Over the weekend, fiery and chaotic scenes played out in downtown LA, Compton and Paramount. Dozens of people were arrested for an array of crimes, including an alleged tossing of a molotov cocktail towards Iceofficers. Protesters shut down a freeway, several self-driving vehicles were torched and dumpsters were set alight, and there were scattered reports of looting. Still, as mayor Karen Bass noted on CNN on Monday, on 'a few streets downtown, it looks horrible', but there was 'not citywide civil unrest'. Local officials said that the addition of troops, who were seen standing shoulder to shoulder on Sunday holding wooden bats, long guns and shields, to the already fraught situation only made things worse. Bass described the decision to involve the national guard as a 'chaotic escalation',; Governor Gavin Newsom called it 'inflammatory'. Newsom said on Monday that he will sue the Trump administration; attorney general Rob Bonta later previewed that lawsuit by telling the public that the Trump administration 'trampled' on the states sovereignty by bypassing the Newsom. 'This was not inevitable,' Bonta said of the demonstrations that built over the weekend following immigration raids across Los Angeles, adding: 'There was no risk of rebellion, no threat of foreign invasion. No, inability for the federal government to enforce federal laws.' The inclusion of the national guard functioned as a show of force against a powerful blue state that Trump – and his allies – have cast as an existential threat to the rest of America, in part on account of its 'sanctuary status', meaning local officials don't cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. 'Simply put, the government of the State of California aided, abetted and conspired to facilitate the invasion of the United States,' Stephen Miller wrote on X. As Trump and his allies fomented chaos on the streets, Maga-world personalities and some Republican officials added to the mayhem by sharing misinformation online. Senator Ted Cruz and Infowars's Alex Jones reshared a video, originally posted by conservative commentator James Woods, of a burning LAPD car during a protest in 2020, claiming it was from the current LA unrest. Prominent accounts also shared a video from last year of a flash mob attack on a convenience store clerk, claiming that violent protesters were currently assaulting a small business owner. An account called US Homeland Security News, which has almost 400,000 followers, posted an image of a stack of bricks with the caption: 'Alert: Soros funded organizations have ordered hundreds of pallets of bricks to be placed near ICE facilities to be used by Democrat militants against ICE agents and staff!! It's Civil War!!' The image, which was also used to spread false information about Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, was taken from a building supply company in Malaysia. Trump has also repeatedly suggested that some of the individuals involved in the protest were 'paid', invoking a popular rightwing conspiracy about dark money bankrolling liberal causes. This, too, is another tactic out of the authoritarian playbook, according to Ben-Ghiat. 'If there are any protests against the autocrat, you have to discredit them by saying they are crisis actors, they are foreign infiltrators,' Ben-Ghiat said. 'You have to discredit them in the public eye.' Officials in LA are bracing for further protests. The Los Angeles police department received back-up from at least a dozen police forces in southern California, according to the Los Angeles Times. California's attorney general, Rob Bonta, said on Monday that he thinks it's 'highly likely' that all 2,000 of the national guard soldiers who were mobilized will be deployed to LA. The weekend's unrest also casts a potential shadow over Trump's military parade slated for this Thursday in Washington DC. Opponents of that event are organizing protests across the US under the banner of 'No Kings'.
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Military intervention must be used to stop the genocide in Gaza
On 20 May, the secretary-general for humanitarian affairs at the United Nations stated that 14,000 babies would be dead unless the blockade was lifted immediately. The day before, the former Knesset member Moshe Feiglin said: 'Every child in Gaza is the enemy.' And now, world leaders in the UK and France threaten vague 'concrete actions' if Israel 'does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid'. But undefined 'concrete actions' are woefully insufficient. To those leaders I say: Gaza's children cannot eat statements. Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, declared last week: 'We are destroying everything in Gaza, the world isn't stopping us.' So let's say what must be said, without apology: military intervention to defend Gaza is not only justified – it is required. It is humanitarian. It is overdue. Israel must be stopped. A no-fly zone must be set up around Gaza to prevent further aerial bombing; and a coalition of willing states should come together to form a corridor to 1) end Israel's colonial mechanism that is set to take 65% of Gaza's land and 2) allow for the immediate dispersal of humanitarian aid. Military intervention should not merely be aimed at pausing the killing – it should be used to protect Palestinians' right to exist as a people, with dignity, sovereignty and full unconditional control over their land and futures. The latest UN announcement about the risk to Gazan babies follows others from the Israeli prime minister's office that make Israel's intention to destroy Gaza unmistakably clear. On the recommendation of the Israeli army, they said they would allow in a 'basic amount of food' to the south of Gaza – but not out of mercy, not to save lives. The stated reason: to prevent famine from undermining the coming ground invasion, to clear space for 'intense fighting'. In other words, aid would be permitted only to fuel further ethnic cleansing. Food not as relief, but as relocation. Nutrition as a tool for displacement. Netanyahu claimed that international pressure, including from pro-Israel Republican senators and the White House, required the appearance of humanitarian intervention. 'Our best friends in the world – senators I know as strong supporters of Israel – have warned that they cannot support us if images of mass starvation emerge,' he said. Israel recognizes that their mass extermination can only continue as long as world leaders are able to forego any criticism for allowing starvation, they allow the world to absolve their guilt so long as Gazans can be bombed with quarter-full stomachs. But world leaders cannot claim ignorance now. After all, Netanyahu gave his Amalek speech on 28 October 2023, in which he said the 'entire people' of Gaza are 'an evil' and that Israel is 'committed to eradicating this evil from the world'. Intentions were always clear. It came days after the launch of Operation Gideon's Chariots, a military campaign named after a biblical flood. The leaflets dropped over Gaza showed parted waters swallowing buildings, the Star of David glowing like a weapon. A 'righteous conquest', they called it. This is not subtle. This is a manufactured to make genocide look like a holy war. It is genocide marketed as prophecy. And still, no western leader has intervened to stop this madness. But here we are. Counting the dead and then doubting them. Watching 61,700 people be exterminated while the world argues about food trucks. And still – still – they tell us that help is coming. That humanitarian aid is arriving. That the system is working. Let's be honest. Humanitarian aid is not arriving. Law is not arriving. The only thing arriving in Gaza is more bombs. We have tried the petitions. We have written the letters. We tried peaceful protests and encampments. We have submitted the evidence. We have watched the Geneva conventions recited like prayer, while their every clause is violated. We have waited for the ICC to act while the United States rushes more weapons to the border. We have watched food convoys bombed, aid workers executed, newborns starved. We are not unreasonable. We are simply not willing to die politely. Military intervention is not some imperial fantasy we borrow from the west. It is a mechanism built into the very structure of international law. Article I of the genocide convention requires states not only to punish genocide but to prevent it. The responsibility to protect doctrine (R2P), adopted in 2005 by every member of the United Nations, asserts that when a state is 'manifestly failing' to protect its population – or, as in our case, actively trying to destroy it – other states are obligated to intervene, not encouraged, obligated. And yes, there is precedent. In Kosovo, Nato intervened in 1999 after mass killings and the threat of further ethnic cleansing. In East Timor, a multinational force deployed to halt atrocities committed by militias supported by the Indonesian army. In Libya, security council resolution 1973 authorized military action 'to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack'. Each time, the world acknowledged that force was the only viable form of protection. That sovereignty could not shield slaughter. That delay meant graves. So why not now? Why not for Palestinians? Is it that our children starve too quietly? That our bodies do not make for good television? Is it because the bombs are labeled 'Made in America'? No one is asking for occupation. No one is asking for invasion in the name of oil, democracy or flags. We are asking for survival. We are asking for the same intervention that has been carried out for others when the death toll passed a certain threshold. Gaza is not asking to be exceptional. Gaza is asking not to be abandoned. Military intervention is not violence – it is what stops violence. It is not the failure of law – it is its fulfillment. And it is the last remaining form of aid Israel has not managed to bomb, blockade or twist into a weapon of war. Airdropping rice into craters is not aid. Aid is removing the cause of the starvation. Aid is opening the checkpoints, not filming them. Aid is armored vehicles securing corridors for ambulances that no longer have to lie about their destinations to avoid being blown apart. Aid is ending the killing – not watching it with subtitles. Because at some point, the diplomatic language stops sounding like caution and starts sounding like complicity. And if the people who write the laws will not enforce them, then we must conclude what Palestinians have always suspected: international law is an illusion and one not meant for us. Before October 2023, I never thought I would see a father carrying the parts of his son in a bag. I never thought I'd hear a child whisper from beneath rubble, her voice small, her terror enormous: 'Come get me.' I never thought I'd watch families burn in white tents outside bombed hospitals, or find toddlers swollen from hunger in the arms of mothers too weak to weep. I never thought I'd see doctors stitch wounds without anesthesia, perform amputations with kitchen knives, sterilize blades with cigarette lighters. I never thought I'd live through the genocide of my people was broadcast live – and still called 'complicated'. But if there is still a use for law, if there is still any value to the word humanitarian, then act like it. The last aid left is force. Gaza cannot wait any longer. Ahmad Ibsais is a first-generation Palestinian American, law student and poet who writes the newsletter State of Siege
Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
JD Vance: US will stay out of India-Pakistan conflict
Washington will not intervene in the military conflict raging between the neighbouring nuclear powers, India and Pakistan, because it is 'fundamentally none of our business', JD Vance has said. In an interview with Fox News, the US vice president said that the conflict, triggered by the massacre of 26 tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir last month, was 'none of America's business'. 'What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit,' he said. 'But we're not going to get involved in the middle of a war that's fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America's ability to control it.' His comments came as further deaths were reported after cross-border tit-for-tat exchanges between the countries, with each
