Sunday, 30 August 2020 5:57 PM
The US government is “paralyzed between the House of Representatives and the Senate on the one hand, and the White House and the House of Representatives on the other hand,” according to an African American journalist in Detroit. And, there’s “a very political war that’s going on inside the United States.”
Abayomi Azikiwe, editor at the Pan-African News Wire, made the remark during a phone interview with Press TV on Sunday while commenting on a tweet by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Iran’s foreign minister has said that the “all options on the table” threat, which has been a hallmark of the US policy toward other countries, is now being used against citizens of the US itself, expressing hope that this would serve as a “wake-up call” for the Americans.
Zarif made the remarks in reaction to statements by acting US Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf who told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that “all options continue to be on the table” to end violent protests in Portland, Oregon, including sending in federal law enforcement assistance.
He described Washington’s frequently-used “all options on the table” threat as a “staple” of the country’s foreign policy, which “simply means the law of the jungle: disregard for a fundamental principle of int’l law: Non-Use of Force.”
Azikiwe said that “this is indicative of the US policies over the last several months. The Trump administration has sent federal law enforcement agents into the urban areas where there have been demonstrations against police violence and vigilante violence against African Americans and other people.”
“So, therefore, it’s not surprising that they would make this threat because they’re already carrying it out. And we see the results of it in regard to the green light that has been given to law enforcement agencies all over the United States to crack down on the demonstrations. We saw what happened in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where two people were killed by a 17-year-old white vigilante who was from another state. Also, we saw in Portland someone killed last evening,” he stated.
“During the course of the mass demonstrations and rebellion since the police execution of George Floyd on May 25, there have been well over 30 people killed as a direct result of the unrest. So I think they recognize what is at stake,” he added.
“The Trump administration is doing everything it can to suppress voter turnout in November. They’re also trying to drive the protesters off the street. And at the same time to ignore the great public health crisis that exists in the country, the worst of over a century. And we have over 180,000 people who have died from COVID-19, several million cases. And the education sector, public health, and services are in deep crisis,” he said.
“So, people have to organize on their own, they have to mobilize to ensure that further civil rights and human rights by the United States,” the analyst said.
“The government is paralyzed between the House of Representatives and the Senate on the one hand, and the White House and the House of Representatives on the other hand. So this is a very political war that’s going on inside the United States and the outcome of it will portend much, not only for the US domestic policy but also foreign policy as well because the domestic policy is reflected in the foreign policy,” he noted.
“So if you have an aggressive domestic program to crack down on dissent that is going to be projected as well on a global scale,” he concluded.
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Green Bay, WI August 13, 2020
