Proxy war

At the conclusion of a good, long, contextual article on the current war on Lebanon -- "as much a US as an Israeli war" -- Phyllis Bennis remarks:

At the end of the day this is a moment we must acknowledge and come to terms with a great sadness. What does it say about the state of our nation that our top officials have abandoned diplomacy with such certitude? That they are building a culture that welcomes unimaginable violence? That they are using their military and economic power around the globe to kill, dispossess, impoverish, and disempower people, isolating the US people from the world by taking our nation to war and standing as an unaccountable Colossus astride the entire world? That they have abandoned international law in favor of the law of empire? What does it say about us, as a people?

I think it's best that we don't try and answer that last question. Too many unpleasant thoughts might force themselves to the surface.