Emmanuel Macron: Hope or Fear

Somehow, the grisly hacking to pieces of Jamal Khashoggi has worked together for some good.  It’s no surprise though, it took in-group blood to ignite the flame necessary to get the Senate vote we saw on 12/13.

In a truly historic move, the US Senate voted for the first time to remove troops from anywhere on the planet using the War Powers Act.  Albeit a tacit consent that the campaign is a horribly unjust one, the vote signals more to the Saudi’s then to the global community about American hegemony.

It took two completely toxic personalities, Donald Trump and Mohammed bin Salman, to get the senate to move.   And with the protest votes by anti-Trump senators and fellow republicans like Rand Paul, the passage was still largely symbolic, as the house will likely do nothing with it.

If it did pass, it would require the removal of all troops not actively combating Islamic terrorism, so, ostensibly very few.  The refueling of Saudi planes ended last month.

It’s exciting that 56 senators voted to remove any troops from a foreign country though, and that there was a majority who rebuked a presidential administrations war powers.  How that benefits the Yemeni’s tangibly remains to be seen.  It’s just too bad it took the killing of Khashoggi and the radioactive Trump to have this tiny victory.

Alas, so it goes with the empire: blood in, blood out.