Perhaps it's my biased hearing, but Jake Sullivan, the president's National Security Advisor, seems positively ebullient that the U.S. will be sending cluster bombs to Ukraine. He's in his element, somehow.
Sullivan, notably, is one of the chief purveyors of the Russia collusion hoax. He smeared Trump, and he also lied to Congress about Michael Flynn, whose job he now holds after helping to push him out of it.
No one ever asks Sullivan about that -- or why anything he says about Russia should be considered credible, since he lied about Russia so egregiously, and simply for political gain, in the past.
He has, however, been asked about cluster bombs. The justification keeps changing: first we were told it would help the Ukrainian offensive; now it is a "bridge" because artillery shells are out.
The latter point is really significant: the Ukrainians no longer have ordinary shells, and nor do we. Sullivan says that far-more-deadly (to civilians) cluster munitions are a stopgap "bridge" in the meantime.
As to objections by the UK and others, Sullivan has tried, several times, to minimize these, describing them as a process of checking the legal boxes for signatories to the Oslo treaty banning the bombs.
What happened to the promises of diplomacy? What's the prospect of using these munitions -- a weapon of last resort -- to achieve any kind of battlefield success that translates into diplomatic gains?
I'm not opposed to cluster bombs in certain situations. I just think that there is no real prospect of getting past the stalemate in eastern Ukraine, and it's time to get the sides talking, not just shooting.
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
