Planet of the Apes

We see in a photograph a small group of Israelis partying on a hillside overlooking Gaza. They smile, enjoying the fireworks show in the distance, as scores of Palestinian civilians are murdered from the air. I'm not blaming Israel for these happy folk. They don't represent Israel, and they could be from any country. In fact, a ground offensive that will kill more Palestinian children is about to start, and this deadly over-reaction to the murder of a few Israelis has the full support of our President. Obama is a man who tries to model his behavior on Abraham Lincoln, for god's sake. I worked for Obama's election. 

On television I see the editor of THE NATION discussing the shooting down of a passenger plane over Ukraine by someone using complex Russian technology. Her fervent advice is that we find ways to appease Putin, a neo-Fascist dictator, she admits, clear-eyed, and of course a victim. When have we ever treated a Fascist fairly?  Now the Russian Fascists are under verbal attack with only China's oligarchy and America's Teaparty Left defending them. The editor calls on us to give Putin what he wants, appease him in the name of "common sense." We need him, she reminds us.

As Russia and Ukraine and Hamas and Israel kill civilians over a few bits of land, the sky begins to swell with heat. The water rises. We pay little attention, fixed on stealing fruit from one another.