AMERICA has allies while its enemies have proxies; America’s allies have governments that must be supported while its enemies have regimes that must be changed. And right now, in the midst of their jointly conducted genocide, America and Israel have decided, in their infinite wisdom, that this is a ripe time to change the face of the Middle East. Again.

The plan for Gaza has been clear for some time: it involves starving and terrorising the remaining population of Gaza into fleeing their homes and making way for Jewish settlements and a permanent Israeli military evacuation.

But there are plans afoot for Lebanon, too, where both Israel and US feel that the Israeli attack is a perfect opportunity to degrade Hezbollah, while also changing the country’s political landscape. They’re not exactly making a secret of it: in October, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel took a break from his regular genocide apologia to tell reporters that America’s “goal is to get the government and country of Lebanon to a place where it is out of the stranglehold of Hezbollah”.

To achieve that end, the US tasked Amos Hochstein, the US special envoy to the region and a former IDF soldier, to press Lebanon to immediately hold elections despite........

© Dawn