(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . House votes 414-2 on Turkey earthquake resolution. Guess who the two 'no' votes were [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-28 The resolution includes a number of nonbinding opinions: 1.) It “mourns the horrific loss of life in Turkiye and Syria.” 2.) It “expresses its deep condolences to the families of the many earthquake victims.” So far you would have to be an incredible piece of crap to vote against this, right? Continuing on: 3.) It “applauds the heroic work of humanitarian aid and rescue workers on the ground to save lives and provide care for victims,” going on to name a list of such groups. 4.) and 5.) It applauds the U.S. government, other governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the Turkish and Syrian civilians who “have selflessly volunteered to assist with response to the devastating aftermath.” Yes, Greene and Massie voted against all of this. 6.) It “urges the international community to support heroic disaster response efforts in Turkiye and Syria, including those by the Syrian Civil Defense, the White Helmets.” 7.) It “condemns efforts by the Assad regime to cynically exploit the disaster to evade international pressure and accountability, including by preventing the United Nations from providing assistance through multiple border crossings between Turkiye and Syria.” Hmm … interesting. Is this what Greene and Massie have a problem with? Points 8 through 12 of the resolution call on the Biden administration to make diplomatic efforts to open border crossings between Turkey and Syria, call for international disaster relief assistance in northern Syria, call for the Biden administration to simultaneously support the Syrian people and ensure that U.S. aid does not go to the Assad regime, and “welcomes the Republic of Turkiye’s continuing support to Syrian refugees in Turkiye and in northwestern Syria.” There are two possibilities here—both of which could be at play. One is that Greene and Massie don’t mourn the tens of thousands of victims of this earthquake and don’t want to applaud rescue and humanitarian efforts. I wouldn’t put it past them to believe that Congress should not be taking the time to mourn deaths of Turkish and Syrian people. The other is that Greene and Massie do not want to condemn an authoritarian dictator’s ongoing brutalization of the people of his country. They stand with Bashar al-Assad here. As an additional wrinkle, the resolution notes that “the Russian Federation and People’s Republic of China have used their veto power at the United Nations Security Council to restrict the number of United Nations-authorized border crossings between Turkiye and Syria from four to just one—Bab al-Hawa.” So Greene and Massie also ally themselves here with Russia and China’s efforts to restrict border crossings in support of Assad. As bad a person as you would have to be to vote against a generic statement of mourning for the loss of life and admiration for heroic efforts to save lives, it’s not any better to vote against condemning a dictator for trying to prevent international assistance to political opponents affected by a natural disaster. We see once again that natural disasters are also political events. In Turkey, lax enforcement of building codes contributed to the loss of life. In Syria, buildings were more prone to collapse because they had been weakened by years of bombings. Sources say the Assad regime even bombed an area affected by the earthquake soon after it struck. And the international response to a disaster is always political, in its assessments of who is worthy of how much help and what governments are trusted with relief efforts. Virtually everyone in the House just voted that Assad is not only not trusted with relief efforts but is attempting to block them and that the U.S. government must use diplomatic means to push back on that attempt. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie disagreed. They are with the dictator here. RELATED STORIES: Massive housing project collapsed after Turkey's President Erdogan bragged about skimping on safety D.C. ‘antiwar’ rally will mostly be a platform for far-right conspiracism, pro-Putin propaganda [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/28/2155464/-House-votes-414-2-on-Turkey-earthquake-resolution-Guess-who-the-two-were Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/