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Total number of comments: 10 (since 2010-02-10 23:29:53)

Paul Woodward

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• But Americans favor Palestinian statehood bid, 45-36%
  • Paul Woodward September 19, 2011 at 2:43 pm with 1 replies

    That's a total of 20,446 people polled coming from 19 countries. There were 1,000 US citizens polled.

• In any rational order, Lieberman would be a doorman
  • Paul Woodward November 15, 2010 at 10:33 am with 13 replies

    "In any rational order, Lieberman would be a doorman." Is that to suggest that Lieberman's rise to power is above all an offense to Israel's European class system? That a "rational order" is one in which Israel's leaders have the requisite manners and sophistication of most other Western political elites?

    Personally, I find Lieberman's crudeness one of his more endearing qualities. The fact that he has not devoted any attention to the refined skill of shoveling shit brings some clarity to a political culture in which artful dissemblers usually run the show.

• Don't jump to conclusions about who staged yesterday's attack
  • Paul Woodward September 1, 2010 at 4:29 pm with 2 replies

    Osama Hamdan's point is one that could have been made by most observers, so -- everyone infers -- if the Al Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility it can only mean one thing: they conducted the attack.

    Not so fast. First, leaders of militant organizations have a strong desire to present themselves at the center of the action. Four Israelis get killed and, twisted as it may sound, a competition ensues among those who want to take the credit.

    Secondly, if it turns out that the gunmen really were affiliated with AQ but did this on their own initiative, the group's leaders may be reluctant to reveal that they are not in control of their own operatives.

    As I indicated in this piece, just because an event gets labelled "terrorism" does not circumvent the need to establish the facts: the identities of those responsible, the means through which they planned and carried out the attack, and their motives for doing so. At this point, none of these facts are known by those who nevertheless do not hesitate to make pronouncements about the attack's significance.

• The thrilla in the Mediterranean won't be coopted
  • Paul Woodward May 26, 2010 at 4:59 pm with 1 replies

    And this paragraph appears after the line: "Strange message."

  • Paul Woodward May 26, 2010 at 4:58 pm with 2 replies

    Sumud - A paragraph somehow got left out from my original post. This is the missing paragraph:

    While Israeli officials selectively cite reporting by the Financial Times, here is part of the same report which makes it clear that under siege, Gaza’s economy has effectively been crippled — in spite of the availability of goods coming through the tunnels.

• They're backing down
  • Paul Woodward March 16, 2010 at 4:11 pm

    Petraeus says he "never made that a formal recommendation" but as the original FP article said, the proposition was "dead on arrival" -- it's hardly surprising it would not have made it into a formal recommendation.

  • Paul Woodward March 16, 2010 at 3:58 pm

    No, I don't think that's the issue. This would really be a way of telegraphing to the other Arab states that the US recognizes that the Palestinian territories are not part of Israel -- an important point to emphasize.

  • Paul Woodward March 16, 2010 at 3:54 pm

    Another thing. Unless the vice president has been moved to an undisclosed location, I'm not sure why it takes Rahm Emanuel to verify what he did or did not say. Biden, as far as I'm aware, is still capable of speaking for himself. If he remains silent, that silence speaks volumes.

  • Paul Woodward March 16, 2010 at 3:45 pm with 19 replies

    Read carefully. A lot of people have been confused about this for obvious reasons. Petraeus never asked for Israel to be brought under CENTCOM - just the Palestinian territories.

    The United States does not have adversaries under the same command area because each command handles military aid programs. For that reason, Pakistan comes under CENTCOM, but India under PACOM. Likewise, Lebanon (which is still officially at war with Israel) is under CENTCOM and Israel itself under EUCOM.

    Hence Petraeus says "I never made a formal recommendation to add Israel to CENTCOM" - he has not apparently denied recommending that the Palestinian territories come under CENTCOM.

• At what point will the West dump Israel?
  • Paul Woodward March 2, 2010 at 11:32 pm

    Unless the West finds some place else to feed its insatiable appetite for oil, I don't think the Arab world is in jeopardy of isolation.

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