Comments on: Obama seems upset, as he calls for Palestinian ‘hopes’ to come before Netanyahu’s fears

By: RowanBerkeley

RowanBerkeley — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:17:24 +0000

"Ben Israel" is probably hypocritically accusing Obama of having succeeded in Chicago politics by means of ethnic pull and corruption. In fact, he succeeded due to Jewish sponsorship, which is what makes 'Ben israel"'s accusation hypocritical.

By: RowanBerkeley

RowanBerkeley — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:58:16 +0000

If you think of the neo-lib version of military keynesianism (which is what currently proposes to turn Pakistan into a new Cambodia) as working in accordance with the desires of Big Oil, whereas the neo-con version of military keynesianism worked against the desires of Big Oil, then I think you cover all the bases at once.

By: LeaNder

LeaNder — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:42:15 +0000

I actually wondered, if Obama was using that main propaganda line and dress it in a compliment. A clever fox? Hmm? Basically I think Obamas move to postpone Iran to an assessment at the end of a year could be quite "clever". He could be simply mirroring Israeli stalling techniques. But I have to admit, that I don't give a damn about experience the way it showed during the run up to the Iraq war on US ground. Didn't feel like "experience" in democratic leadership, many, many very "experienced" people among the decider's willing followers. So what please do you mean by repeating this silly meme?

By: bradallen

bradallen — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:27:31 +0000

Curious statement Ben, what are you referring to. I think Obama was simply caught by his lack of foreign policy knowledge and experience. Bibi is a clever fox and knew what buttons to push long before he came to washington. Obama will need to learn how to negotiate with those who have years of experience. The other curious note, where was Hillary?

By: Sin Nombre

Sin Nombre — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:09:19 +0000

I doubt he "has" anything on Obama. Instead I think it's more like Khruschev and Kennedy at Berlin. Khruschev took the measure of Kennedy there and found him a young, callow boy who he could bully, and then went too far pushing that and put those missiles in Cuba and put Kennedy in a spot where Kennedy had to grow a pair. (Although, firstly, even then Kennedy did secretly fold a bit by taking our missiles out of Turkey. And, secondly, he didn't need to grow a very big pair; at the time the US had something like a 100-to-1 advantage in nukes over the Soviets. Wasn't much of a gamble really that Khruschev would back down, but of course Kennedy acolytes and the Democratic party had ever reason to make it seem like he was like Leonidas at Thermopylae.) The problem isn't that Chicago bare-knuckle politics didn't work on Bibi; the problem is they weren't used, and are the only ones that would.

By: Sin Nombre

Sin Nombre — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:56:41 +0000

And now I've read that all Obama's going to do is announce yet another freaking new "peace process" plan, this time somewhat taking off from King Abdullah's offer which was endorsed by the entire Arab League. Except … Abdullah's offer, remember, was essentially that if Israel retreated back to it's pre-'67 borders and otherwise concluded the easier issues with the Palestinians all the Arab League members would normalize relations with Israel. Well that was a fine and dandy offer; nice and clear and unequivocal and exactly the kind of thing needed. Of course there was room for good-faith haggling over this or that detail by the Israelis, but was nice and clear and neat and said to Israel precisely what it always pretends which is that theoretically it is willing to give up the vast majority of the occupied territories. But what's Obama lamely saying? "Oh well, my new peace process proposal is that *first* I get the arab countries to recognize Israel and normalize relations with it and *then* Israel reaches a deal with the Palestinians…." Worse than lame. Indeed any new "peace process" would be just embarrassing; who the hell would be fooled by them anymore? But this one is worse than pathetic. The sun will run out of hydrogen before he gets the arab countries to buy into such a sucker's deal of them acting first. What does Obama think they are, retarded? Like I said, this is all one huge step backwards in fact. Before we at least got Israel playing games "negotiating" with the PA, even though of course those went nowhere. Now *we* are negotiating with Israel to try to *get* them to negotiate. And then … we're doing it by saying "hey, how about if we *first* negotiate with all the arab countries to recognize you and then…." Belly-laughable. Not a single arab country will bite I can't imagine, no matter how much we bribe 'em to. Nor will a single arab be fooled; yet *another* "peace process," the US can't even make it's supposed "client state" stick with its past agreements such as the two-stater at Wye …. Who the hell does the US think it's kidding? My view is … it's own people who ain't paying attention. "Oh yeah," it's saying to the historically impaired, "yes we are subsidizing the hell out of Israel essentially so they can go on stealing land, but no no no we don't agree with that stealing because otherwise we'd have to admit that the arabs who are mad at us have a point, wouldn't we? So that's why we have this fancy 'peace process' because that *proves* we don't approve of Israel stealing that land…." Except now … Israel itself has spit in our eye and essentially said "fie on your pretext because now we won't even agree to a two-state solution (even though we agreed with it before at Wye), so there. And by the way, go attack Iran for us," and what's Obama done? Effectively, acted like a little kid scrambling to make nice with the neighborhood bully, running after him saying "oh but please please please, how about I'll go and get all these arab countries to recognize you … *then* will you agree to talk some more….??? Pleeeeaaaasssseeee?" Cosmically naive, at best.

By: Ben Israel

Ben Israel — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:17:55 +0000

Chicago politics does not work on Bibi…The real question is, what does bibi have on Obama? which caught obama by surprise in that private meeting?

By: rykart

rykart — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:05:07 +0000

Obama has lived up to the office to which he was elected, the most despised position on earth–an American president.

By: hasbarablaster

hasbarablaster — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:48:10 +0000

Good analysis, Sin Nombre. (Start yourself a blog!)

By: hasbarablaster

hasbarablaster — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:38:42 +0000

Stalin has Trotsky assassinated not just because of personal rivalry but an ideological dispute. Stalin favored "Socialism-in-one-country" (consolidating the Bolshevik revolution) while the Trots favored "Permanent Revolution." "International Communism" refers–to my understanding– much to the Trots than Stalin.