Senator Edward Markey: Laser Marking Crippling Sanctions on Ethiopia!

Edward Markey is one of those immortal creatures in the putrefied swamp of beltway Washington politics.

Markey was the U.S. representative for Massachusetts’s 7th congressional district from 1976 to 2013, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

For well over 4 decades, as the Washington swamp drained time and again, Markey survived with crocodilian tenacity and resilience.

Markey palms himself off as the global defender, champion and crusader of human rights.

Markey will sniff out human rights crisis anywhere in the world and do his signature grandstanding.

On his Senate website, Markey boasts he

has made it a priority to ensure that the United States acts as a leader in human rights. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Markey has made it a priority to ensure that the United States acts as a leader in human rights and impose enforceable sanctions on violators.

True to form, on March 18, 2022, Markey tweeted his support for legislation that would impose crippling sanctions on Ethiopia in an effort to restore the terrorist TPLF to power.

As the violence and unrest continues in Ethiopia, I’m signing on to the Ethiopia Peace and Democracy Promotion Act of 2021 to help pave a path to peace, democracy, and stability. The people of Ethiopia should not experience another day of violence and destruction.

The violence and unrest Markey was talking about was unleashed solely by the terrorist TPLF, which Markey has coddled since November 2020.

His reference to “paving a path to peace, democracy, and stability” code phrase for returning Ethiopia under the iron fist of the terrorist TPLF.

Markey is proudly announcing his signing of S.3199 (and indirectly endorsing the nearly identical House version HR 6600”).

S.3199 provides for the unleashing of coordinated multilateral sanctions to destroy Ethiopia:

The United States shall immediately suspend all security assistance being provided to the Government of Ethiopia.

It further mandates the US Secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce to sanction Ethiopia by

engaging with members of the United Nations Security Council, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union, the African Union, and any other relevant actors to achieve a coordinated imposition of multilateral sanctions on Ethiopia.

In other words, S.3199 would impose paralyzing, crippling and the mother of all sanctions on Ethiopia.

The not-so-hidden aims of S.3199 are three-fold:

1) Force the Ethiopian government to negotiate with the terrorist TPLF by creating false equivalency between a terrorist organization and the democratically elected government of Ethiopia.

2) Use negotiations as a Trojan Horse of attrition to sap the energy, attention and resources of the Ethiopian government with the ultimate aim of restoring the terrorist TPLF to power, and if that fails,

3) Dismantle Ethiopia by orchestrating ethnic and religious warfare, making Ethiopia the Libya/Syria of Northeast Africa.

Markey has been a mouthpiece and defender of the terrorist TPLF since November 5, 2020, two days after that terrorist organization launched a devastating attack on the Ethiopian Northern Command.

On November 5, 2020, one day after the terrorist TPLF attacked the Ethiopian Northern Command and triggered the current humanitarian disaster, Markey tweeted:,

I’m deeply concerned about reports of fighting between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and Ethiopia’s National Defense Forces in the Tigray region. All efforts must be made to protect civilians, end the violence and restore communications in the area.

It was not “fighting” but a full blown insurrectionary terrorist attack that had taken place!

In his usual grandstanding manner, Markey opened his mouth without even verifying his information with the State Department .

Had Markey bothered to cursorily look at what the State Department had to say, he would have found out that the U.S. government had already condemned the TPLF terrorist attack.

On November 4, 2020, the day after the TPLF terrorist attack and a day before Markey tweeted, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had made the U.S. position clear:

The United States is deeply concerned by reports that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front carried out attacks on Ethiopian National Defense Force bases in Ethiopia’s Tigray region on November 3… The United States stands with the people of Ethiopia and will work with all who are committed to peace, prosperity, democracy, and the rule of law.

Pompeo and the Trump administration were demonstrably principled and unequivocal. The US stands with the people and government of Ethiopia.

On November 15, 2020, US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Tibor Nagy tweeted,

The United States strongly condemns the TPLF’s unjustifiable attacks against Eritrea on November 14 and its efforts to internationalize the conflict in Tigray.

Instead of fact checking, lazy Markey, as usual, strutted on the human rights stage and showboated his human rights crusade!

Markey continued to showboat his human rights credentials without minimal due diligence to discovering facts.

In a joint letter to Special Envoy Jeffrey Feltman (a/k/a TPLFeltman) dated April 29, 2021, Markey stated:

We encourage you to use all diplomatic tools available to ensure that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed fulfills his commitments to provide unfettered humanitarian access to the region, to secure the withdrawal of Eritrean and non-state troops from Tigray, to allow independent investigations into human rights violations, and to hold perpetrators accountable.

By “diplomatic tools” Markey and Co., meant threats of sanctions and other punitive actions, and nothing else.

Indeed, before travelling to the Horn, TPLFeltman fired a hot across the bow with stunning accusations, “Authoritarian leaders in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia draw closer at the expense of the wider collective.”

Are insults, invectives and vilifications diplomatic tools?

“Authoritarian” is a kinder, gentler word for “dictator.”

U.S. officials use “authoritarian” to demonize and ostracize leaders that do not kowtow to them.

Feltman’s mission was doomed before he even set foot in the Horn of Africa.

On June 11, 2021, Markey tweeted,

The UN has declared a man-made famine in Ethiopia. I implore @POTUS and our G7 allies to pressure the Abiy government to seek a ceasefire and facilitate access immediately. Millions of lives are at stake. Deliberate starvation of innocent civilians is a war crime.

Markey was simply parroting damned lies about famine perpetuated by USAID boss Samantha Power and UN operatives.

I have extensively documented how the US and other Western countries have weaponized lies and disinformation on famine in their propaganda campaign to demonize Ethiopia and effect regime change.

On June 11, 2021, Markey tweeted,

I reiterate my call for a ceasefire and unfettered humanitarian access to the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Violence committed against civilians by Ethiopian, Eritrean, and TPLF forces is horrific and must stop. The Abiy government has a responsibility to protect its own people.

But when “the Abiy government” undertook actions to enforce law and order, hypocrite Markey and his crew cried out bloody genocide and war crimes.

On June 29, 2021, Markey tweeted,

The situation in Ethiopia is quickly evolving. It’s critical that we use this moment to urge all sides to agree on a sustained ceasefire and allow the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian assistance. The UN Security Council must back efforts to bring peace in Tigray.

Markey was not interested in “peace in Tigray”. His strategy was to use the UN Security Council to impose crippling sanctions on Ethiopia, an effort the Biden administration undertook a dozen time unsuccessfully.

On March 18, 2022, Markey tweeted he would sign the sanctions bill against Ethiopia.

Marky’s crippling sanctions are hidden in a Trojan Horse of mumbo jumbo calling for “peace, democracy, and stability.”

The Ethiopia Peace and Democracy Promotion Act of 2021 is the Trojan Horse to restore the TPLF to power.

Truth be told, Markey is a whacky politician on the lunatic fringe of the democrat party.

Markey is all talk and little action. He is a windbag with little to show for his decades of service as a lawmaker.

Paraphrasing the lyrics of the Godfather of Soul James Brown:

Edward Markey is like a dull knife/ Just ain’t cutting
Just talking loud (about human rights)/ Then saying (doing) nothing.

Markey likes to blow smoke, stage smoke and mirrors show and conceal his incompetence and indifference by throwing up smoke.

Let us review the evidence.

Markey the global human rights crusader/local pretender

Markey brags on his Twitter page he is “fighting for the families and future of Massachusetts.”

Is he really?

Does totally abandoning the families and future of Massachusetts count as “fighting”?

The evidence shows Markey is fighting for everybody except the families and future of Massachusetts.

Markey is a self-appointed self-righteous human rights crusader in the service of Obama/Biden New World Order (OB/NWO) and is prepared to plunge a lance in the heart of any country that does not conform to the radical neoliberal agenda of the OB/NWO.

Markey brags about advocating human rights for Rohingya people in “Burma”, the Uyghurs and Hong Kong in China, the peoples of Cambodia, Ethiopia, Philippines and on and on.

Yet, Markey proudly voted for the disastrous war in Iraq which resulted in the deaths, maiming and dislocation of millions.

Like his predecessor John Kerry, Markey “was for the Iraq war before he was against it.”

Markey later said he made a “mistake” when he voted for President George Bush’s decision to go to war with Iraq in 2003.

Markey copped out claiming he was “conned into it by people who told him that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was hiding a cache of weapons of mass destruction.”

Was Markey also conned by Susan Rice into believing that the terrorist TPLF is not a terrorist organization?

Lazy Markey would rather jump his twitter gun than get his facts right!

Anyway…

Who champions the cause of human rights of the people of Massachusetts as Markey showboats himself as a champion of global human rights?

What is Markey’s human rights record in America?

Markey voted for the vicious 1994 crime bill which has resulted in the prolonged incarceration and dehumanization of hundreds of thousands of young African Americans nationally and in the State of Massachusetts.

Yes, the very crime bill Joe Biden proudly authored and justified in the video below.

Markey has never said he made a “mistake” by voting for Biden’s disastrous crime bill.

In April 2021, Markey issued a statement following the conviction of Derek Chauvin, the devil-incarnate murderer of George Floyd, proclaiming,

George Floyd’s life mattered, and today his family, friends and community got the justice they deserved. But today’s verdict does not bring him back, and it only begins to scratch the surface of what our country must do to atone for the shameful, racist policies that have denied and stripped Black Americans of their rights for generations.

But what did Markey do to pass S.3912 – “Justice in Policing Act of 2020”, the precursor to the HR 1280 “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021?

Not a doggone thing!

Markey gone AWOL on Massachusetts

As Markey proclaims himself to be the champion of global human rights, peace, democracy, who is minding the store in Massachusetts?

Who is protecting the rights of the people of Massachusetts from lack of housing, income inequality, discrimination, educational segregation, skyrocketing inflation, etc.?

As Prince Edward Markey in shining armor rode the globe on his white horse crusading for human rights, his own constituents in Massachusetts are suffering human rights violations.

A 2021 WBUR, a National Public Radio affiliate, survey showed, “The vast majority of Boston voters believe racism is a serious issue facing the city.”

Overall, “80 percent of Bostonians consider racism a significant problem.”

The findings also showed “44% of Black Boston voters and 33% of Hispanics had experienced discrimination over the past year, compared to 10% of white voters.”

What has Markey done to protect the human rights of people of color in Massachusetts from racist discrimination?

Not a doggone thing!

A 2020 Harvard Law School study presented in a 103-page report entitled, “Racial Disparities in the Massachusetts Criminal System” found:

Black and Latinx people charged with drug offenses and weapons offenses are more likely to be incarcerated and receive longer incarceration sentences than White people charged with similar offenses. This difference persists after controlling for charge severity and additional factors. Black and Latinx people charged with offenses carrying mandatory minimum sentences are substantially more likely to be incarcerated and receive longer sentences than White people facing charges carrying mandatory minimum incarceration sentences.

What has Markey done to protect the human rights of people of color in Massachusetts from racial disparities (due process/equal protection of the laws) in the justice system?

Not a doggone thing!

Some of the “most dangerous cities” in America are in Massachusetts.

But bleeding-heart white liberal Markey would rather talk about “violence and destruction” in Ethiopia than do something to ensure public safety in in his backyard of Worcester, New Bedford and Brockton!

The Boston Globe in 2020 issued a damning report on educational segregation in Massachusetts:

Black and Latino isolation is surging. In the last decade alone, the number of ‘intensely segregated’ nonwhite schools in Massachusetts — that is, schools with at least 90 percent students of color — has grown by more than a third, from 143 to 192, according to a recent report by researchers at the Beyond Test Scores Project and the Center for Education and Civil Rights. That’s tens of thousands of children learning in racially isolated environments.

What has Markey done to secure the civil rights of students of color to an equal education in Massachusetts by improving access and smashing the iron gates of segregation?

Not a doggone thing!

Massachusetts has a population almost 8 million.

The poverty rate for people of color in Massachusetts is dismal.

The number of Black or African American children below 200% poverty is 60,000.

The number of Hispanic or Latino children below 200% poverty is 131,000.

The percentage of working families under 200% of the poverty line in Massachusetts is 20.9% (that is more than one in five residents of Massachusetts).

The extreme poverty rate in Massachusetts is 6%.

Food insecurity (a euphemism for starvation) in Massachusetts is 8.2%.

Recent data show there were 17,975 homeless people in Massachusetts.

There are 248,200 households in Massachusetts who spend more than 50% of their income on housing.

The overall poverty rate in Massachusetts shows the following: White 6.5%; Black 17.8%; Hispanic 19.2%; Asian 10.7; American Indian 36.5%

What has Markey done to help these the least of his constituents?

Not a doggone thing!

Markey’s malarkey of legislation

Edward Markey has introduced/sponsored hundreds of malarkey legislation to help everybody in the world EXCEPT the people and state of Massachusetts.

How many of his bills have passed!?

Behold the evidence!

Markey sponsored 129 bills in the 117th Congress (2021-22).