Robert Malley, a former Clinton official specializing in Middle Eastern affairs, was criticized during the recent Presidential campaign for being an anti-Israeli activist. Martin Peretz of the New Republic called him a “rabid hater of Israel. No question about it”.
On May 9, 2008, the campaign severed ties with Malley when the British Times reported that Malley had been in discussions with the militant Palestinian group Hamas, listed by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization. In response, Malley told The Times he had been in regular contact with Hamas officials as part of his work with the International Crisis Group. “My job with the International Crisis Group is to meet with all sorts of savory and unsavory people and report on what they say. I’ve never denied whom I meet with; that’s what I do,” Malley told NBC News, adding that he informs the State Department about his meetings beforehand and briefs them afterward.
Despite the Obama campaign stating that Malley would not “play any role in the future”, as of the end of the 2008 US Presidential election, Malley is described as a “senior foreign policy advisor”.
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Today, Arutz Sheva reported that the man who would not “play any role in the future” was dispatched by the President elect to the Middle East to outline Obama’s policy in the Middle East.
According to a report on Middle East Newsline, President-elect Barack Obama has dispatched his “senior foreign policy adviser”, Robert Malley to Egypt and Syria to outline Obama’s policy on the Middle East.
Malley reportedly relayed a promise from Obama that the United States would seek to enhance relations with Cairo and reconcile differences with Damascus.
“The tenor of the messages was that the Obama administration would take into greater account Egyptian and Syrian interests,” an aide to Malley was quoted as saying. The aide said Obama plans to launch a U.S. diplomatic initiative toward Syria. Malley met both Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad “to explain Obama’s agenda for the Middle East.”
Nowhere is the United States more deeply hated than Egypt and Syria. The interesting question is whether the “greater account” given to these countries by Malley will come at the expense of one of the few countries in the region in which the US is popular.
See previous post my previous post about the Principal-Agent problem and my comment in “Tanned, rested and ready” about marbles in urns.
Tip Jar
Is Malley a counter to Emanuel? Is Obama going to play his own people against each other? That would be politics Chicago style.
Oh, wait…
The International Crisis Group is Soros’ creation and funded by him. So… the puppet master is already busy…
Malley is a scum bag. The Clintons fired him in the late nineties because he was caught having misrepresented the views and words of Yasir Arafat and conveyed to President Clinton. Billy Bubba, it is said, was in a white hot rage over Malley.
This is not good news, folks.
NOT a good sign, but not surprising. Just how quickly does Obama want goodwill towards his upcoming administration to evaporate?
More importantly, how effective will would-be “watchdogs” be at raising and disseminating the alarm? And how many people will listen without an air of complacency?
American politics is pretty ridiculous. Mr Malley was acting on behalf of a well respected conflict resolution NGO. Doesn’t anyone find it strange that two thirds of Israeli’s support negotiations with Hamas, but it is a completely taboo subject in the U.S.
Here of course, the Likudniks and their US tools the Neocons and Christian Zionists try and toss anyone who dares have opinions different than the Right Wing zealots of “Our Special Friend”. Robert Malley is an Arabist by training, like both his Jewish mother & father, specializing in that region of the world. He is an expert on the original Muslim uprising and use of terror – the Algerian Revolution. He served on the National Security COuncil from 1994-98, then as special assistant to President Clinton. Then to two high-powered think tanks specializing in Islamic countries.
The guy was tossed of the campaign for political expediency, but never, given his solid support by both senior Democrats and Republicans in Foreign affairs as the best of his generation, and leaders in Israel – from consideration in an Obama Administration.
Malley, a Frenchified version of Mahli, went through Yale Summa Cum Laude in ME Studies. Then a Rhodes Scholarship. Then Harvard Law, again Summa and meeting fellow student Barack O. Then he and his classmate wife were selected to become Supreme Court clerks. Malley for Byron White, wife for Justice O’Connor. After finishing his Supreme Court clerkship, it was right to Council on Foreign Affairs in 1992, time in the ME, and his landmark study on Algeria. Then to the National Security Council with frequent visits to ME nations.
No, this is a guy that Republicans would give their left nut to have working for them…As is, his presence in the Obama Administration is inevitable and deserved. The days of the US “not talking to people and nations Ariel Sharon and other hardline Zionists say we can’t talk to” are over. They were actually over starting 2 years ago when Bush realized how badly he had fared following the Neocons and had begun trying to salvage America from the damage he had done from 2002-2006.
I get this feeling that a lot of the folks and policies “thrown under the bus” are about to be rehabilitated now that the election is over.
As Gomer Pyle might say, ” Suprise, surprise surprise!”
Your hero, c-fudd, Robert Malley, come to help dar al Islam slay the eeeeeevilllll Jooooooosssss!
No, I read that Clinton is furious still with Malley because Malley lied about the negotiations and he lied about what he learned from Yasir Arafat.
People like you utterly lack shame and honor.
cedarford: AMERICAN politics is pretty ridiculous? As opposed to everyone else’s? You are as predictable as the sunrise. What are you going to do without any of the dreaded “Neo Cons” around to rail about? Go back to reading The Protocols of the Elders Zion. So you think that Hamas is just another legitimate political party? Fully deserving of our respect as peers in the “Brotherhood of Democracy”? Your double standard is breathtaking.
Cedarford manages to take a bland nebulous term
like “my special friend” and make it sound like
evil incarnate. It is the spirit behind those words. We have seen you without clothes, oh Emperor of the dark side on other forums.
The real question isn’t who fred is, which seems pretty transparent; a disaffected former leftist, but who you are.
I get a real kick out of being called “dumb Fred” by a mind as twisted as c-fudd’s. It would only be self-serving to post my c.v. or resume.
I wear c-fudd’s mockery of me as a badge of honor, since I endeavor only to defend Jews and their claim to their homeland from the jackals baying for their blood. Hatred of Jews is also hatred of God. Since it is through those people that God strove to communicate His love for us. They are not perfect and certainly are not generally faithful, but the same can be said about us Christians as well. We are unworthy of this redemption, but it is still marvelously given to us.
I’ll gladly accept the adjective “dumb” from c-fudd. Not that I am in the same league with him, but Thomas Aquinas was called “the dumb ox.” So much better than being a pathetic, twisted creature consumed with hate.
Sure glad Americans voted for change! I’m beginning to believe that I’ve been totally wrong. I thought Obama would be Carter II. But Carter was an honorable man. Obama is heading towards becoming a suntanned Clinton – slime rodent extraordinaire!
Obama is hiring the slimey Clinton-era staff. How sad. I wonder how long until the press turns and devours him?
I’m watching for signs pointing to a sell-out of Lebanon as we try to make friends with Syria. To me, it will be the first and clearest test of Obama’s approach to foreign affairs. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, but the Lebanese are the canaries in the coal mine as far as I’m concerned. My opinion of our new president hangs in the balance.
I don’t comment often in this blog, is cedarford a muslim or a neonazi?
Anyways, it is funny that Obama was elected and all the people that are working for him so far are Clinton-era people. So why didn’t Democrats choose Hillary then?
So much for “change”.
Fred:
It’s rather interesting to note how certain members of the Father Coughlin Fan Club are now becoming staunch defenders of the new administration.
Robert Malley and Hussein Agha’s 2001 column in the New York Review of Books is very critical of Barak and Clinton but sympathetic to Arafat, portraying him as sort of clueless and a victim of Barak’s complex machinations.
Contrary to what Cedarford says, Dennis Ross did not agree with their assessment and said so in a letter to the editor.
As BHO makes his appointments it will be possible to estimate the extent to which his actions are governed by some overarching principle or simply the spoils system. The pattern of appointments will provide the evidence. If the first, then strong policy themes will emerge; if the second then we’ll see a quilt of actors as Obama rewards his backers — and quite incidentally sets them against each other. To use a musical metaphor, if Obama has a coherent vision we’ll hear a melody, maybe a bad melody, but one nevertheless. If Obama is just a machine politician, we’ll hear a cacaphony.
My guess is that BHO’s main enemy will be consquences. In his past career he has always been able to flee the fruit of his actions by escaping to a higher level. But having attained the position of POTUS, there’s nowhere left to go. Now he either demonstrates his transcendance or it all comes back to him with a vengeance. Obama has a tendency to run a political deficit, writing rhetorical promises that cannot be cashed. The problem with big deficits is they do not fail gracefully; they crash and burn. The major problem with predicting events under an Obama administration is that the variance is so high.
“My guess is that BHO’s main enemy will be consquences.” –Wretchard
That’s true since now he is in power and he has defeated his foes with the help of ACORN, Sorors, and the race card.
I wonder how long will it take for his “consequences” to catch up with him. I could take years or even a life time.
Yasser Arafat lived to be a ripe old man. Disease got him before his enemies. I am sure Barack Hussein Obama will deal with his enemies just as cleverly as Arafat.
I hope Obama doesn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize while killing thousands as did Arafat.
Now he either demonstrates his transcendance or it all comes back to him with a vengeance.
As I said earlier, time for them to shut up and put up; we’ll be watching.
Obama is no more than an avatar. He must not be held accountable alone or those truly responsible will escape…from George Soros to your acid-sripping neighborhood Obamaniac.
Wow! The election of Obama has proven truly liberating. Already.
The love is palpable. Can you feel it?
Anyway, for what it’s worth….
“My guess is that BHO’s main enemy will be consquences.” –Wretchard
I am stuck between hoping for the best and fearing the worst. Either way, at this point, I am a spectator… and I find it a little scary. Does a re-approachment to Syria mean that ultimately we may find AlQueda flying airliners again as a result?
Funny the Left & the assorted Jew haters (like c4) noever called for a “cease fire” with South Africa, never called for a “cease fire” with Nazi Germany, never called for talks with the KKK, never called for discussions with Pol Pot….
But when it COMES to Israel, the Jooos must talk to and accept “cease fires” with Hamas, the PLO, Islamic Jihad, Iran….
Maybe we dont need a cease fire at all, maybe we should suggest Israel EARN the terrible reputation that the c4′s of the world give it and BOMB BOMB BOMB for a while?
what would iran, southern lebanon & gaza look like 24 months from now if Israel did not hold back?
would not PEACE be easier to achieve if MOST of the gaza strip was completely destroyed and it’s population living in tents in the sinai?
would not PEACE with Iran be possible if 1/2 it’s population were left alive and it had no modern infrastructure?
If war and destruction is the promise of islamic crazies they maybe less “cease fire” talks and more big sticks are the answer…
Malley & C4 only understand that israel & the 9 foot tall Jooos are to blame…
FINE…
I’ll take blame… Just let’s start bombing 1st…
#22, Ledger,
Last week, after getting his first intelligence briefing, Obama had the look on his face of someone who has just seen a ghost.
If you run with Lefty, anti-American crowds you’ll get used to aping all sorts of nonsense, like the trope about the CIA planting AIDS in ‘black’ communities. And you can live your whole life believing these cants, and without ever hearing them rebutted.
The problem arises when you win a major election and find yourself in the cockpit of the country you’ve been told to hate. Then, as you gain real institutional knowledge, you learn that everything your comrades maintained about your country was wrong, and that the stew of lies is so greasy and has been so thickly applied that it’ll take years of mental scrubbing to set your compadres straight.
All this pales, too, when it is compared to the pain of realizing that your mentors have misinformed you about America, and that you, too, have been lying – to your own wife, under-writers and voters.
Get used to the “deer in the headlights” look on Obama’s face. After being gracefully received by George and Laura at the WH last week, he and Michelle were forced to forget that “Bush is Hitler” and to treat with our current President as he hopes we will treat with him: as regular Americans, not as “typical [pick color] folks.”
Has Cedarford’s identity been hijacked? I have always viewed his posts as thought provoking even if I did not agree with some or at times, even most, of his underlying theses. However, of late there seems to be an entirely different Cedarford commenting. A lot less thought and a lot more invective.
Steveaz: Actually I would have more confidence in Obama if he did have a “deer in the headlights” look. I don’t see it. I still see the ice cold glare from the One.
In the first few days after the election he has shown no signs he takes the enormous responsibilities of the Presidency seriously. When he:
• sends nutjob Robert Malley to apologize to the Syrians
• still says that “His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defence system when the technology is proved to be workable.”
• still is against a free trade agreement with Columbia because of some phony union harassment complaints
he can’t be serious.
Obama is still spewing out his line of crap like he believes it. Anyone serious about dealing with the threats mounting against America would change his tune from populist campaign rhetoric to careful comment. He hasn’t.
The jury is still out on whether the guy really wants to protect America, her citizens and her interests in the faithful conduct of his office or whether he really just wants to take America down several notches. So far the evidence is not good.
Programmer,
I’ve noticed a change in the writing styles of many commentators at my favorite websites.
C4 is one of them. I could name another three at least.
Of interest to me, I noticed that the shifters all share a rigid opposition to Republican America. Which only serves to say that, whatever the reason is for their stylistic shifts, it didn’t spur a similar shift in their editorial bottom-lines.
wretchard,
I think the tune we are going to hear is a cacaphony, since the indications are that it’s the spoils system that will largely obtain in his proposed appointments (according to the media rumor mill).
Someone like Malley is so toxic that he would be best handled in a secure lab, at a distance, behind the glass and metal.
Those hoping for any “change” in the One, must contend with the obvious facts that
1)he has run/been a major part of the most fraudulent presidential campaign in memory, maybe history,
2)his friends and associates are mostly, or perhaps exclusively, sociopaths,
3)he only recently renounced his 20-year membership in a racist, Marxist, anti-American cult,
4)he fought for 2+ years for a doctor’s right to let an infant die in a laundry room, and
5) was marinated and mentored since an early age in the most dangerous and pernicious ideology known to mankind.
That’s a lot of data and provides convergent validity to the notion that we have just put a sociopath, or worse, a megalomaniac in the most powerful position in the world.
Change will require a St. Paul type moment, not a few disputing facts.
sgi – Contrary to what Cedarford says, Dennis Ross did not agree with their assessment and said so in a letter to the editor.
The reference to Dennis Ross backing Malley was about a letter Ross signed affirming that Malley’s engagement with Hamas and attempting to understand their perspective – in order to communicate that to various leaders in the West, Israel, the Muslim world was a useful and productive exercise. That Malley had his support. And that of other Jewish and non-Jewish American ME experts that opposed the heavy hand of Israeli right-wingers and their US backers attempting to shut down diplomatic activities.
Of course Ross criticized aspects of Malley’s read of the causes why the 2000 effort failed. Everyone in every faction did. Then said he was dead right about what he said of “others” involved.
*******************
Oh, on invictive. Yes, I have gone on the attack on Fred. I got fed up with him casting himself as a loyal attack dog for right-wing Zionists, as a self-proclaimed “defender of Jews” and his relentless ad hominems accusing anyone who disagreed with his misinformation as “Nazis, jooooo-haters, people who hate God himself”.
Especially since the stupid bastard has been caught in multiple dishonest lies, and at times has favored Zionist interests over American interests.
He brings the nasty, he gets it right back in his face.
When he can civilly debate and not start any post accusing anyone who questions the Likud or power of AIPAC as “anti-Semitic”, Nazi jew-haters or mewing out his clueless “God hates you if you go against the Jews” gibberish..(which evidently encompasses 2/3rds of Israelis and the 80% of US Jews who voted Obama in who can’t stand Republicans or Settler zealots)
…well, then I’ll be civil with him.
For now, I’ll continue to hold him in special contempt as someone who thinks he is a good, loyal lackey-dog for a people that he thinks are “special” and who have a God who is pleased by his subserviance. The same special contempt a Korean or Filipino would feel seeing a citizen declare themselves a loyal lackey of the Yamoto Race and their God.
Rather than the wilki info on Malley, try this one on for size…
http://tiny.cc/iRQ2a
The pattern continues…every other stone flipped over on the path our new ‘dear leader’ has walked reveals another commie PoS.
Get set for an ugly, bloody four years…if we’re lucky.