Since the start of the brutal campaign in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Israel’s military operations will eradicate the militant group Hamas. The Biden administration has backed that assertion, in both rhetoric and policy. Five months into that campaign, it is less believable today than it has ever been.
A standoff between Ecuador and Russia over a proposed arms transfer to Ukraine last month foreshadows how global competition among great powers may play out in Latin America moving forward. If the region doesn’t learn from the episode, it will find itself vulnerable to much larger forms of economic coercion over the coming decade.
Recent contradictory statements from U.S. and Israeli officials highlight how the two sides are working at cross purposes over the war in Gaza, but also illustrate Washington’s seeming inability to restrain a key ally. And yet, the Biden administration has appeared to go out of its way to give Israel diplomatic cover for the war.