I accuse President Barack Obama of Destroying Western Interests in the Middle East, Helping Destabilize the Region, and Putting Millions of Lives in Jeopardy
Think of how outrageous my headline is:
Destroying Western Interests in the Middle East, Helping Destabilize the Region, and Putting Millions of Lives in Jeopardy
Do you think that’s extremist, crazy, can’t be true because you’re not seeing that stuff in the New York Times? You must be a right-wing Republican, you say?
No, just a serious Middle East analyst.
The tenth anniversary of September 11, almost three years after Obama’s election, is a suitable time to confront this issue honestly and fully. So consider fairly and honestly the list of points below.
Egypt: Obama supported a revolution overthrowing a U.S. ally — rather than a smooth transition replacing the dictator and instituting some reform without dropping the entire regime — disregarding State Department advice and not even consulting with Jordan, Israel, or Saudi Arabia! He also unilaterally announced his readiness to see the Muslim Brotherhood in power. His analysts denied that the Brotherhood is a radical, anti-American Islamist organization that supports terrorism. The resulting dangerous crisis, including Egypt becoming a new type of Iran, is now clear to all.
Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process: By distancing himself from Israel, removing all pressure from the Palestinians, unilaterally proposing a freeze of Israeli construction on settlements, and repeatedly messing up the effort to restart negotiations, Obama made the peace process situation worse. His failure to handle properly the Palestinian UN unilateral independence bid has put U.S. policy in a terrible mess, with an American veto leading to large-scale anti-Americanism and probable violence both by Palestinians against Israel and by Muslims against the United States.
Israel: The damage the Obama administration did to Israel was not in bilateral relations or even in the “peace process,” but by its role in the deterioration of the regional situation to a dangerous extent. As a result, the two most powerful regional powers that had decent relations with Israel — Egypt and Turkey — turned around 180 degrees; Hamas’ rule was entrenched in the Gaza Strip; and Hizballah’s rule was entrenched in Lebanon. That’s four of Israel’s “neighbors” that became effectively hostile while the Obama administration didn’t even notice. As the level of threat rose, U.S. political-diplomatic support for Israel declined.
Turkey: As Turkey continued to move toward being a repressive Islamist state allied with revolutionary Islamism, the U.S. government didn’t notice. Farcically, it promoted the ”Turkish model” and made Turkey its mediator over Syria’s future!
Lebanon: As Lebanon fell under Syria-Iran-Hizballah control, the Obama administration did nothing. It failed to support the moderates and so they surrendered.
Syria: The administration pursued the ridiculously doomed effort to pull Syria away from Iran and engaged it even as Damascus escalated its support for terrorism, aggression toward Lebanon, killing Americans in Iraq, and then repressing its own people.
Gaza: The administration gave Hamas indirect aid, made no serious effort to overthrow a radical, anti-American, genocidal-oriented regime, and pressed Israel to reduce sanctions to a minimum. This ensured the survival and strengthening of a pro-terrorist revolutionary Islamist state on the Mediterranean.
Y, if there’s one thing that’s consistent about the Obama policies in the Middle East, it’s that he does the wrong thing at the wrong time for the wrong reason. It’s hard to imagine someone making a bigger mess of things if they were trying to do so intentionally. The average person in the street could have done better. And it’s not over; what is going to do about the quandry he’s made for himself regarding Palestinian statehood? Another lose-lose for Obama, and unfortunately, us.
The actions of Obama and his administration are intentional. Obama’s political mentors are Frank Marshall and Saul Alinsky; his Democratic party midwives are William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn; and his spiritual mentor is the Rev Wright. In other words, he was raised and nurtured within confines of the far-Left. Based on what I know of the far-Left, Obama has two goals with respect to the Middle East: 1) the destruction of all American influence and 2) the destruction of all regimes, particularly Israel, that are allied, friendly, or helpful to America. Fortunately for America and Western civilization, political realities at home and abroad greatly hamper how fast his Administration can move.
I don’t think that you can link Obama’s radical associates to his policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is more a reflection of those “moderates” who hold to moral equivalence and believe that neutral mediators can resolve any conflict. I wrote about some of that here: http://clarespark.com/2009/09/11/oil-politics-and-obamas-view-of-israeli-history/.
And for a blog on how “mediators” view their tasks, see http://clarespark.com/2010/11/06/moderate-men-falling-down/. That was the hope of the UN Mediators in 1948-49, except that Bernadotte and then Bunche were under the thumbs of the U.S. State Department and the U.K. that desperately attempted to hold on to the Negev for military bases. The diplomacy of this period is not well known, and only J. C. Hurewitz attempted to bring the British influence to light, but that was years later. At the time, the Nation magazine was hot on their trail.
Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are. Birds of a feather flock together. Ayers, Wright, Emmanuel, Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Biden, all
antisocial personalities. Sparks is absolutely wrong, even with data banks filled to overflowing. Click on Antisocial Personality and see, please, that Obama meets ALL the diagnostic criteria; not just the “any three” required for certification as a psychopath.
The frightening implication is that our electorate is psychopathic. In which case, emigration is a viable recourse.
You may be onto something there. Since Obama first appeared at the DNC convention many have been looking for his true motives and agenda, which he well obfuscates.
Perhaps he is after the core of Western society by eroding the traditional Judeo-Christian values in a 3rd world anarchy through narcisstic incompetence. He became a rock-star to the media who help him through their death-wish motivations, and a large leverage of Judeo-Christian guilt. As a hard core secular-progressive, values of morality and religion has to be mocked and eliminated with the libertine anything goes philosophy. The generation X rock star has to smash his guitar and burn down the house to win the final applause.
We firmly believe that what Obama does and says is on purpose.
It is by NO means unintentional…
I agree he does everything that he can to destroy this nation. Check this out and see what fits. It will make your hair curl.
HIGH CRIMES, SEDITION, TREASON ETC.
DEFINITIONS.
TYRANT
IN COMMON USAGE, THE WORD “TYRANT” CARRIES CONNOTATIONS OF A HARSH AND CRUEL RULER WHO PLACES HIS OR HER OWN INTERESTS OR THE INTERESTS OF A SMALL OLIGARCHY OVER THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE GENERAL POPULATION, WHICH THE TYRANT GOVERNS OR CONTROLS.
TREASON
• Violation of allegiance toward one’s country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one’s country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.
• A betrayal of trust or confidence.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/treason#ixzz1QsLrbdUd
ORAN’S DICTIONARY OF THE LAW (1983) DEFINES TREASON AS “…[A]…CITIZEN’S ACTIONS TO HELP A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT OVERTHROW, MAKE WAR AGAINST, OR SERIOUSLY INJURE THE [PARENT NATION].” IN MANY NATIONS, IT IS ALSO OFTEN CONSIDERED TREASON TO ATTEMPT OR CONSPIRE TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT, EVEN IF NO FOREIGN COUNTRY IS AIDED OR INVOLVED BY SUCH AN ENDEAVOUR.
SEDITION IN LAW, SEDITION IS OVERT CONDUCT, SUCH AS SPEECH AND ORGANIZATION, THAT IS DEEMED BY THE LEGAL AUTHORITY TO TEND TOWARD INSURRECTION AGAINST THE ESTABLISHED ORDER. SEDITION OFTEN INCLUDES SUBVERSION OF A CONSTITUTION AND INCITEMENT OF DISCONTENT (OR RESISTANCE) TO LAWFUL AUTHORITY. SEDITION MAY INCLUDE ANY COMMOTION, THOUGH NOT AIMED AT DIRECT AND OPEN VIOLENCE AGAINST THE LAWS. SEDITIOUS WORDS IN WRITING ARE SEDITIOUS LIBEL. A SEDITIONIST IS ONE WHO ENGAGES IN OR PROMOTES THE INTERESTS OF SEDITION.
High crimes and misdemeanors is a phrase from Section 4 of Article Two of the United States Constitution: “The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
“High” in the legal parlance of the 18th century means “against the State”. A high crime is one which seeks the overthrow of the country, which gives aid or comfort to its enemies, or which injures the country to the profit of an individual or group. In democracies and similar societies it also includes crimes which attempt to alter the outcome of elections.
An alien who is present in a country (which is foreign to him/her) unlawfully or without the country’s authorization is known as an illegal alien of that country.[2] An illegal alien commonly refers to a foreign national who resides in another country unlawfully, either by entering that country at a place other than a designated port-of-entry or as result of the expiration of a non-immigrant visa. An enemy alien is an alien who is a national of an enemy country.
Malfeasance the performance by a public official of an act that is legally unjustified, harmful, or contrary to law; wrongdoing (used especially of an act in violation of a public trust).
Nonfeasance is to ignore and take no indicated action – neglect. Misfeasance is to take inappropriate action or give intentionally incorrect advice. Malfeasance is hostile, aggressive action taken to injure the client’s interests.
Example: A company hires a catering company to provide drinks and food for a retirement party. If the catering company doesn’t show up, it’s considered nonfeasance. If the catering company shows up but only provides drinks (and not the food, which was also paid for), it’s considered misfeasance. If the catering company accepts a bribe from its client’s competitor to undercook the meat, thereby giving those present food poisoning, it’s considered malfeasance.
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is a saboteur.
The RICO Act focuses specifically on racketeering, and it allows for the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they ordered others to do or assisted them, closing a perceived loophole that allowed someone who told a man to, for example, murder, to be exempt from the trial because they did not actually do it.
RICO is codified as Chapter 96 of Title 18 of the United States Code, 18 U.S.C. § 1961–1968. While its original use was to prosecute the Mafia as well as others who were actively engaged in organized crime, its application has been more widespread.
It has been speculated that the name and acronym were selected in a sly reference to the movie Little Caesar, which featured a notorious gangster named Rico.
It’s all deliberate. None of it is an accident.
Washington DC is aswarm with Muslim Brotherhood moles.
We can’t win, or even survive, unless we root them out.
Obama policies in the Middle East, have done the right things at the right times for establishing much of the Middle East and Northern Africa as an islamic caliphate under Tehran’s control.
When you quit thinking like a pro-democracy westerner and start thinking like a mullah you would see this.
The tragedy is that Obama does not see his limitations and mistakes. He still believes his sycophantic MSM, that he is the greatest mind that ever walked in the White House.
You are oh so right! Obama, in his insufferable arrogance, really does believe that he is doing a great job, in fact, the greatest job possible. He really sees himself as knowing everything there is to know about everything and is unable to see himself as ever being mistaken.
And Obama takes no prisoners, if anyone dares to criticize or dispute with him, he figuratively pillories them and tries to destroy them.
Just look at how badly and negatively Obama reacts to Congressional opposition to his grandiose and impractical economic plans.
I glance Rubin to get read on Likud state of mind. Rubin never misses a chance to poke a jab at “Arabs’” incapacity for self criticism. Of the countless articles he has penned, never has he once mentioned Israel as a determining factor for the Israel’s foreign policy. He did not once mention the names Netanyahu or Lieberman. So are we to assume that Israeli government has no control over the foreign policy of Israel? Obama sets Israeli policy? Likud’s (Rubin’s) reading of the strategic landscape is outmoded. It is no longer cold war. Supporting unpopular tyrants to stabilize the region is no longer possible. That is like cutting your face in spite of your nose. Arab revolts are genuine and irreversible. Whether these countries will evolve towards some sort of democracy depends very much on the regional countries, not “outsiders”. Outside interference is not wanted and would be very counter productive. One would have hoped that Rubin would have learned from the Iraqi disaster which he had been an ardent advocate of it. The war in Iraq has eroded any credibility for US intervention. Now, US has to restore credibility and make up for the lost ground. It is true that US has a security commitment Israel. But if it wants be super power, it also needs Muslim allies. Almost all the coutries in the region have adjusted their positions, with the exception of Israel.
You are mistaken. Rubin mentioned several times in his articles that he ran for office with a left-wing Israeli party and was against the Iraq adventure. Also, he keeps writing that the US needs the right Muslim allies, and so far has failed to support them. Overall, maybe you should read a columnist a bit more before making these types of assumptions.
Rubin is a member of a left of center party in Israel.
For all too many on the brainwashed left, just saying Likud or conservative is enough to wipe someone off the face of the earth or at least their opinions from the arena of rational discourse kind of like the way Stalin attempted to airbrush his opponents out of history.
“But if it wants be super power, it also needs Muslim allies. Almost all the coutries in the region have adjusted their positions, with the exception of Israel.”
It does NOT need what is not there. There are NO Muslim allies. That all countries in the region have “adjusted” their policies must be your idea of a joke. Really? What countries? What policies? I believe that the Israelis have a good idea of what is good for them and they pursue their interests. As long as Obama shows ambivalence towards Israel, that country needs to batten its hatches, keep their heads down and prepare to defend themselves.
So in a nutshell, your Obama ME scorecard reads as follows:
Clearcut Failures: 9
Disastrous Policies & Practices: 6
Definite Wins: 1 (but of course the real credit must go to Seal Team 6 et al)
Reckless endangerment is, frankly, the understatement of the century.
But Obama is the greatest mind ever, for some reason the universe simply refuses to come up to his standards. That’s no reason not to re-elect him.
Unfortunately, 44% of the electorate apparently feels this way.
Mr. Rubin,
I’d like to make an objection vis-a-vis your argument on US ignorance to changing Turkish politics which uses a more “conservative” rhetoric.
First of all, claiming Turkey to “move toward being a repressive Islamist state allied with revolutionary Islamism” is a mere exaggeration. I’m curious on what signs en route you might have received to conclude as such. Yes, secular Turks pay some higher percentage taxes on alcohol, the use of headscarves (tied in a particular way, viewed as a signature of AKP supporters) is more conspicuous than ever, patronage favoring conservatives helps changing the status quo in economic pie, the decades-long ignorance in reaping economic gains through interaction\integration with the Islamic world is being amended, and the mighty power of army and judicial bodies (which allegedly acted as the last resort of secularism) declined. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, there are no steps taken to challenge the deeply-founded secularism in the country, and moreover such is not in AKP’s agenda in the wake of rewriting the existing nondemocratic constitution; party did not even pursue its big commitment to liberate the use of headscarves in public offices. In the light of these, I would have put the word “repressive/revolutionary Islamism” in reserve and look for a better matching word. Living in a textbook-style nonsecular political regime and calling yourself a political expert, you are expected to make the distinction.
Secondly, I believe that the US government is well aware of the “conservative” polities that the Turkish government has been implementing for a decade. I also do believe that they perceive the fast-changing regional dynamics upon which the rooted Israeli politics cannot cope with, hence are being very costly to back up. The Jewish lobby in both congress and the house are less potent in their political campaigns as US policy makers are yielding to real politics, which cannot rule out Turkey as a flourishing regional power (not only as a military phenomenon as solely used to be, but also as an economic force when the economic validity of EU is at stake). The way I address US attitude in the ongoing issues as intermediary is an attempt to heal the existing hunches that make it painful to walk with.
Regards,
Believing the US government is well aware of anything is delusional. So are the Turks hopes for regional hegemony. The Arabs are not the forgiving type and remember well the Ottoman rule. If they are stupid enough to take on Israel they’ll have a rude awakening.
Can Uz, you are like the frog being boiled by slowly raising the heat. Erdogan is moving Turkey toward being a repressive Islamist state allied with revolutionary Islamism. He has greatly reduced the power of army and judicial bodies which did act as the last resort of secularism. He is just doing these things slowly enough that you did not notice.
Let me paraphrase Erdogan, “Democracy is like a train. You ride it until you get to the stop you want to get off.” Draw your own conclusions about his radicalism.
Each day the list of Obama misdeeds is getting longer.
The latest one: While US is doing nothing in face of new Turkish naval aggression against Cyprus. Russia has dispatched its navy to the waters near Cyprus to get ahead of the Turks.
For the first time since WWII, the Russians are now in the posture of the good guys defending a small country in face of big bully aggression.
Also….There’s a huge amount of Offshore Russian money in Cyprus. The Russian’s are happy with the status quo and don’t want any trouble.
“Egypt becoming a new type of Iran”. There is one crucial difference, Egypt is flat broke and without substantial outside funding will soon be starving. This deprives them of one of the tools Iran uses to calm the population. While this presents it’s own dangers to stability I suspect it’s beggar status will limit it’s regional influence. How many days can it’s army fight a major campaign without resupply?
To this comprehensive list, I would add failure to support Iranian protests back in 2009.
Yes. An excellent, but horrific, summary.
I don’t blame you, as a responsible writer/blogger, to refrain from speculating on his motives, but I, as a mere commentor feel obliged to say that it just isn’t possible to believe that these abysmal actions have come from collosal stupidity — and I must conclude that they have all been deliberate.
My fear, regarding the Middle East (as well as domestically) is what will be done during a lame-duck period, when election is no longer at issue, and complete disregard and disrespect of American voters (as he has already amply displayed) — or of anything but his own Will will have free reign.
I agree with you completely! The pattern began to emerge when Obama stood silent for 9 days during the Iranian student uprising. It has continued. He has turned on those regimes who had consistently shown favor toward Israel and worked with the United States. He called for their overthrow while remaining virtually mute for thuggish Islamic theocracies like Syria. He is enabling and emboldening our enemies and neutralizing our former friends. His agenda seems clear to me. He is a Muslim and is advancing the cause of his brothers. A Caliphate is being created from Africa across the Middle East. We have a traitor in the White House and the Muslims have infiltrated this government as well and are exerting influence over our policies. They are everywhere.
Regarding your criticism of US focus on the Iranian riots: You may recall the media DID zoom in on the most important political event in Iran since the 1978 overthrow of the Shah. However, a new and more important event overshadowed this. An event which even yesterday was in the news: The incomparable Michael Jackson passed over from this realm to the spiritual one and even serious political news commentators had to abandon their opinions on war and revolution to describe the shattered Michael Jackson fans and the vacuum left in the popular culture by his departure to another plane of existence. I remember serious political commentators and their bemused sounding voices giving in to a tidal wave of essential Michael Jackson Death information which told us of Michael’s troubled childhood in Indiana, etc. How he revolutionized pop music and dance, and was the breakthrough Black performer on MTV, that is until he turned White. So you see, untill Bibbi and Barak have a “Dance-Off” and “bust a few moves” in the lobby of the United Nations, any corn-ball stories about “World Peace”, and bombing Germany into the Stone Age will continue to be small potatoes. When Mahmood turns up at a press conference wearing “tap-Sandals”, and “out-taps” the president of the US, the whole middle east will be in flames. Something to think about isn’t it?
on 9.20.11 Debkafile reported,”The Obama administration recently opened a backdoor channel to Tehran, trusting that Iran would be more approachable for cooperation on knotty Middle East issues after missing its footing in the Arab uprisings. Iran’s controversial nuclear program was not broached.” Turning to Iran for intelligence cooperation? In a recent poll over 60% of the American people considered Iran the number one enemy of the US, followed by China, then North Korea. How would one characterize this decision by the Obama Administration? Negligent? Suicidal? Seditious? I would add this to Professor Rubin’s accurate and disturbingly true list.
This may be the farthest thing from your mind, but let’s pretend for a minute. Pretend that all of Obama’s decisions are deliberate. He could not single-mindedly move all these chess pieces to create what we are witnessing. He had a partner. He obviously does his best thinking while golfing. He golfs more than all the presidents put together. I suggest he is communicating with someone who is advising him.
Let’s pretend something different. What you have written is negative in it’s context. It paints a picture of a world setting in a downward spiral, seemingly undoing all the democratic and political gains of the past.
Now, realize that the Jewish people have been in America a long time, the early immigrants enabled the remnants of WWll to arrive. The Israeli people have at the same time created a functioning and innovative country. While they have been developing and getting stronger, the Jews in Ameica have been getting weaker with a diluted lifestyle and an assimilation rate skyrocketing. My estimate is they are nearing the 49th rung. All the strong idealistic ones have moved to Israel.
Now let’s look at the other side of this negative coin, the positive side. It is not apparent yet, but I think it will surprise everyone. I believe that G-d is maneuvering all these events (yes, I believe in the Almighty G- d who rules the world) to fulfill certain prophecies. The enemies of Israel, those nations you write about, are in turmoil, instigated by Obama’s maneuverings, which appear threatening. However there will come about a reversal that will change the entire world situation. Since it is in the near future, I cannot describe it yet.
OBAMA WILL NOT GOING TO GET Jewish Vote in New york AND Florida
2012 will be No Obama
Danger: Obama failed to realize it or to define properly friends and enemies.
I disagree. Obama’s “friends and enemies” simply don’t coincide with America’s.
Bingo.
If we are unwilling or unable, having given adequate warning, to leave not a stone unturned in Mecca, we will go the way of the Romans. If our will is not doubted, the destruction of our adversaries may not be necessary.
Obama “really does believe that he is doing a great job,” and that includes deliberate destruction of the American private sector and attempting to create a permanent poverty class of government dependents.
He really believes America is wrong; and the our white Founders were skewed and screwed-up colonialists. He has chosen an appropriate ideology with which to “fundamentally” change” this problem. Reparations, re-distribution, fairness, social justice are things in which he believes to be “right”.
What a mind-set!! Lord have mercy ….
I don’t usually read articles about Israel and Obama because it’s too painful. But I did read some of this and decided to act. I put my video The White House Cleanses Israel From Its Website into my You Tube promotions (pay for view) It just needs approval from You Tube. It already has 38,000 views, my most successful video. I did disable commenting for obvious reasons.
I don’t earn any money from my videos. If an occassional ad appears on some the money goes to You Tube/Google. (nothing wrong with earning money, though)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLe_p_OwjpE
“His failure to handle properly the Palestinian UN unilateral independence bid has put U.S. policy in a terrible mess, with an American veto leading to large-scale anti-Americanism and probable violence both by Palestinians against Israel and by Muslims against the United States.”
This is yet another reason I expect a U.S. abstention on the Palestinian “statehood” vote. Obama will claim that the U.S. must “avoid taking sides” to continue acting as an “honest broker” and to “avoid inflaming opinion in the region”.
Of course, he’ll really just be voting “Present”, as is his wont, and then staring at his reflection in a mirror for hours bathing in the aura of leadership radiating from his body. Sort of like Dilbert’s pointy-haired clueless idiot of a boss.
We have a cartoon character in the Oval Office. He thinks he’s Superman; he’s more like a cross between Wile E. Coyote (Super Genius)- and Daffy Duck.
clear ether
eon
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110919-obamas-dilemma-us-foreign-policy-and-electoral-realities We discuss the problems with this analysis at Totten’s but it does support the characterization in The Confidence Man being slammed by Democrats.
Hillary Clinton just said that she is okay with Turkish claims that Iran will not be targeted by the X-Band nor will Israel receive any information. She has no explanation why Israel is excluded from her new Turkish American counter-terrorism group which contains 27 countries many Islamist.
I am suprised no one saw Ackerman at Dangerroom’s latest article in which he uses elAraby to call the FBI bigots. Now you know this Egyptians history. Given what has happened in Egypt, where does this man come off accusing the FBI of bigotry. How are Jews, Activists, Christians and the average Muslim treated by the Egyptian security and justice system? Here is a man who told Assad not to cower to foreign pressure.
Did everyone forget what the Jornolist Scandal was all about as the Democrats now rail against Perry’s “Jewish” friends?
There has been discussion for some time now about Obama’s foreign policy. If you wanted to reverse American Leadership and change US policy, but Americans don’t support that, what would you do? You could help chaos along until the situation became dire and confused. Then you could exploit the opportunity to take a new approach and subtlely redirect American foreign policy. Strafor is clueless about that foreign policy objective given the people at the WH like Rice, Power, Mallory, Zbig, Jones, Gates etc. I ask you all, is the Joker a republican or a Democrat? Is Assange a Republican?
From here until the election we will see journalism and the media distort reaity and try to turn bad into something good. Here is just one example from WaPo:
[“The Palestinians have refused to resume talks without a freeze on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which they say is swallowing up land they seek for a future state.”
Greenberg should know by now that Benjamin Netanyahu, and before him Ehud Olmert, imposed a freeze on the boundaries of West Bank settlements. During their tenure as prime ministers, the number of settlements has been frozen, the boundaries of settlements have been frozen, and acquisition of land for new settlements or expansion of existing settlements has been prohibited. There is no “swallowing up land.” The only thing that’s not frozen is population growth within the boundaries of existing settlements. Children are born, an inconvenient truth at the Post.
So where does Greenberg come off writing that Israeli settlements are swallowing up more land in the West Bank? I realize he attributes this to the Palestinians. But when they so brazenly lie — this is not an issue of spin, slant, or different narratives; this is a matter of hard, demonstrable reality being lied about — shouldn’t he point out what’s really going on in the West Bank?
Far from swallowing up more land, existing Jewish settlements still leave about 95 percent of the West Bank for a Palestinian state, especially if one factors in the fact that, in any realistic two-state solution, most of the West Bank settlements would become part of Palestine, leaving only the few major population blocs close to the Green Line on the Israeli side.
As for East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians also covet, hard, demographic trends show that, since Israel reunited West and East Jerusalem in 1967, the Arab population of Israel’s capital has grown about twice as fast as the Jewish population. Demographic projections expect the Arab share of Jersualem’s population to rise to 40 percent by 2020 and reach parity by 2035.
Put another way, the Jewish population has grown by 140 percent from 197,700 to 475,000, while the Arab population has grown much faster from 68,600 to 244,800 — an increase of 257 percent. The figures represent changes from 1967 to 2007.
In any future peacemaking that is for real, it’s bound to be more difficult to separate Jewish neighborhoods from Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem than in the West Bank. But Israeli prime ministers from Ehud Barak to Ehud Olmert have nevertheless offered to travel that route.
The Washington Post might want to keep these basic realities in mind next time Palestinians again propound claims that are factually baseless. But don’t count on it.”] American Thinker (who I don’t often quote)
Well Greenberg is Jewish and Ackerman? Obama is rolling out the Jews and I wonder if Barry can shed some light on the war within the Jewish community that will continue to take shape as Erdogan claims that resistance to Turkish power in the US Congress is merely a figment of the Jewish Lobby. What will the administration do? Well in the immortal words of the Joker:
WHY
SO
SERIOUS?
M
Well Mr. Rubin, I suspect Abbas will merely keep the US on the ropes and hand in just a letter of intent. He wants that money, from both the US and Turkey. I think Obama is not prepared for a full scale battle over the hearts and minds of American Jews?
Why has this administration accused Israel of “expanding the settlements”? Will observer status make it harder for Israel to maintain the embargo? Will the chaos inflicted on the US economy (something else Strafor doesn’t consider) so damage the DOD that force projection into the ME is rolled back much to Turkey’s, Iran’s Pakistan’s China’s Egypt’s liking? Another example of instigating chaos to cripple US foreign policy would be doubling down on the debt negotiations which would then trigger a trillion dollar defense cut. It is this omission from the Strafor report above that makes it just a grade above Debka and several orders more rational that the Worldnetbulletin (the Turkish answer to Debka).
As a US Representative apologizes to Muslims FOR THE US, I wonder what criminal charges Holder might support for Halloween costumes next months including Turbans with fuses dangling out? Given the Danish cartoon, would it be far to say reality imitates art?
P.S. correction…Ackerman was not referring to elarby, but another Muslim. I doesn’t change however the gist of where Ackerman is going. Yes, elAraby would have been quite foolish to use. Instead Ackerman touted this man: http://www.brutallyhonest.org/brutally_honest/2010/10/napolitano-appoints-mohamed-elibiary-to-dhs-advisory-council.html
Which speak volumes about what Mr. Rubin is talking about.
To Barry Rubin:
When someone is incompetent it means they really do not know what they are doing; they are lost, clueless, wandering about.
The mistake YOU MAKE is thinking Obama is incompetent.
He is not.
He knows EXACTLY what he is doing and it is totally consistent with his past and his ideology. How on earth can you not see this??
The mistake you make is believing that Obama has good intentions despite his incompetence. Obama’s belief system, his world view demands that the USA, its nazi-puppet state Israel, and capitalism be destroyed for the USA (and Israel) are the root of all evil in the world.
You cannot sit in the “church” of a communist, anti-American, anti-semite, black nazi preacher for TWENTY YEARS !!!! unless you actually believe what that “preacher” is saying.
It really is that simple.
If it’s that important to get Obama out of the White House (and I agree that it is),
then the GOP should not nominate a challenger who could even possibly blow the election.
I don’t care if Perry or Palin is a “true conservative” or reflects the anger of the GOP base or makes a statement or reassures the GOP base that they’re correct on the issues. If there’s ANY doubt whatsoever that they are the best choices to beat Obama, then the GOP should not nominate them.
I’m still waiting to hear a cogent argument as to why Perry or Palin can get more Electoral Votes on Election Day than Romney could.
Spoken like a rational voter. till, the counter is, “Do you want Mitt to be staring down Ahamdinejad, Erdogan, Meshal, Nasrallah, Assad, Jalil, Tantawi, elAraby? What Perry has going now is that he looks the part. That is not an endorsement but rather an Independent’s observation….
Palin is not in the same ballpark as Perry, though a woman would be a shock to the leaders in the ME having snubbed Clinton for years.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/a-friend-of-israel-must-vote-no-to-palestinian-state/story-e6frgd0x-1226142975682
What Obama should have said. And not saying it has nothing to do with incompetence. What he did say was partially forced by the political trouble he’s in. Still, I wouldn’t bet the WH turning red based on the ME mess. There is still plenty in the bag of tricks that could Obama back in the WH. It is also unwise to choose hurting Obama over supporting opportunities in our nation’s interests. Obama has a huge press corp to help him make that case. failure to take action of foreign policy in the Congress doesn’t make Republicans look good either. X-Band? Threats against Noble off Cyprus? Maybe the Iranians release Americans while preparing more advances towards the bomb? From what I understand, it appears the Russian subs protect Noble, not US subs…..
“The Joker: Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I’m an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It’s fair! “
Well, after reading you’re list of horrors, and being as charitable as I can be, I hate to say it, but no one can be that stupid. I can only conclude those listed outcomes were intended rather than unintended. In fact, given the president from the Lefts background, I’m not surprised at all. He’s been operating at his highest level of competence, it’s just his ideas are incompetent. I suppose the best spin one can put on it is that give the barbarians enough explosives and they’ll blow themselves up. And give this administration enough rope to practice their ideas ( Fast and Furious, Solyndra) and they’ll hang themselves too.
Oh, it won’t be themselves they’ll be blowing up.
Well, at least you’ll admit that Obama would make a great U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
I think the U.S. will veto. Having done so, Obama will then cash in the chips earned for “saving Israel” by ratcheting up the pressure on the Israelis to concede all the major Palestinian demands as a pre-condition to a new round of talks, where the Palestinians in turn will make a few token concessions, which they will immediately proceed to abrogate before the ink is dry.
Absolutely depressing list, absolutely not one thing I didn’t already realize (and obviously don’t have the skill or intellect to state with the care that Mr. Rubin does)…..so thanks for documenting it. We’re not surprised. You paint a perfectly accurate picture of the skunk we’ve been smelling for 2 years+ now. But it’s ok with Congress, so I guess we’re not ‘sposed to be concerned. (The reason I know it’s ok with Congress is that they’re not stopping him)
Obama’s actions are not the least bit incompetent.
His actions a given exceptional support for the new Muslim Caliphate.
Don’t blame Obama alone, if you have been against blaming Bush alone. Obama could have done all the damages without congressional backing. He’s merely a puppet.
It all makes sense if he is, and I’m 100% sure he is, A MUSLIM.The word is TAQIYYA.
As confusing as it may seem to be-we hear the terms
“win-win”, and “lose-lose”, actually it should be
“lose-win”. Why- because in losing Obama plays the
victim and therefore -he wins politically in the
climate of the times we live in and giving the fact
that most see Obama as a black man in a white-dominated
society. Kind of “reverse psyche” political current.
I don’t see any evidence he’s a Muslim. Far more likely he’s just a committed left-wing/hate America idealogue (or love it, but hate everything about it and want to change it to something 180 degrees from what it’s supposed to be). We know these two groups (far left/Islamist) have formed an unholy alliance…possibly unconsciously, but real nonetheless in terms of practical geo-political reality. He likes Muslims not because he is a Muslim, but because Muslims seek to “fundamentally change” America, a profoundly shared objective.
You got that right! Just like the western feminists support suppression of women in islamist countries and in muslim communities all around the world because it’s “cultural” and anti-west , just like western leftists condone suppression of all freedoms as long as it’s “cultural” (islamist) and anti-west, so the leftist in the White House will support anybody working against his own “evil colonialist suppressive fascist nazi hegemonist bloody-mentalist (have I left something out?)” country.
Well you just went to the top of the “LIST” on obama`s attack watch, see you in the interment camp!
Well, no suprises here, he is only doing pretty much what he said he would do by his quasi-official mandate; those promises which got him elected. Namely, to reduce American prestige and power globally, because as is proven up with a coherently truthful battery of facts from assisting Israel with arms and finance to Union Carbide to dropping the big one (any random eceteras will suffice these conceptualists), one can clearly point out great sins of U.S.A and from there it is just a stones throw to one great satan, that progenitor of all the worlds ills.
Diplomatically there is bugger all Obama can do. Nobody gives a damn about American power any more-even Greece was blustering against you the other day. Obama needs to keep being nice and accomodating and at some point someone will wake up and smell the beans. The Q is what level of aggression, arrogance and power would west-haters need rise to before our enlightened class feel threatened. Get them scared and they’d fold quickly, “pacifism” is a requirement for modern humanities acadmeia.
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