Worst Relations in 35 Years?
Obama has gone Rogue, declared war on America’s allies.

Confirmation begins to flow out like sewage how the President of the United States cynically drummed up an artificial crisis, with the ally his administration less than 4 days ago called – ‘The best friend America ever had’. Worse, the President was widely reported personally consulting, instructing & coordinating with Hillary Clinton before her scathing 45 minute scream fest toward Netanyahu. One gathers they were rather busy planning & effectuating this engineered crisis, and Chicago style blackmail campaign.

Don’t you worry, some of his best friends are Jewish.

All of this is clearly designed to squeeze & bleed from Israel yet MORE concessions, in order to shore up the Obama administration’s faltering policies & world view. The President of the United States is frankly endangering the State of Israel playing these games. Let’s be clear, this seems worse than Bush & Baker (Baker while in office at State famously declared ”F**k the Jews”), at least then Israel wasn’t being strung up by a noose with an existential military threat.

Haaretz illuminates the insane concessions Obama is trying to leech out, the threats he is using against Israel follow just below..

• Reverse building decisions in Jerusalem and implement a freeze, despite previous agreements with the USA that building in Jerusalem would continue.
   
• Make appeasement gestures to the Palestinians who despite an open Israeli invitation for unconditional talks, refuse to negotiate.
   
• Release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, terrorists!
   
• Withdraw IDF defense forces from additional territory in the West Bank!! Transfer control to Palestinians (Endangering Israel is the President’s specialty it seems). All of it without ANY peace deal whatsoever.
   
• End the Quartet endorsed blockade of Terrorist controlled Gaza, territory we just finished having to go to war with and allow Gaza to rearm full force.
   
• Remove yet more security checkpoints and security implements in the West Bank, despite effusive praise from both the USA & Tony Blair over how much Israel had already done in this regard, and glowing praise over how Israel has helped the Palestinian economy flourish.
   
• Issue declarations that indirect talks with the Palestinians who only demand more & more, deal with all the conflict’s core issues including; statehood declaration, borders, refugees, Jerusalem, security, settlements. In other words, enter these indirect talks & allow our GREAT FRIEND President Obama to moderate & impose his own solution – One which will clearly be entirely drafted by the Arab League itself, and hoisted upon Israel’s democracy.

Backstabbing Obama sure to be popular fellow in Israel now..

How can we possibly take the President at his word? His credibility internationally and especially with Israel is borderline near zero. This guy keeps breaking deals with us left, right & center..

1. The settlement issue (another crisis a few months ago) was the 1st deal Obama broke with us, when he disregarded pledges made by G.W. Bush to Ariel Sharon.
2. The second deal broken just this week by Obama, was the acknowledgment that Jerusalem would NOT be subject to the and I quote Hillary Clinton: “Unprecedented concession by Israel” to freeze settlements in the West Bank.
3. Now a third deal has been broken by the President with Israel, regarding the format & substance of the issues to be handled in indirect talks. Israel refused to negotiate core issues by US mediation for what is now obvious reasons.

The President seems to believe the word of the United States of America carries little meaning, no bearing on trust – This is truly heartbreaking for many hundreds of millions around the world who so admire American ideals. Poland learned this, the Czechs learned this, the UK, now Israel knows it too. We are under attack from our #1 ally!? It is bewildering & shocking.

The bludgeon for Obama’s threats?

Vital supplies, jet fuel, & armaments needed to defend Israel from an Iranian multi front war.. This beyond the apparent arms freeze Israel has been under since Obama took office. All of these issues, part & parcel of pledges to Israel made previously to garner our patience regarding a strike on Iran. Now, apparently even the entire American Israel relationship itself is being used as a threat judging by statements from US officials on Sunday shows.

Requests of the Palestinians? The intransigent party who refuses to negotiate? NONE.

The FIRST foreign leader Obama called immediately on his inauguration to the White House? This man here, Mahmoud Abbas! Not UK, Not France, Not Israel, Not Russia.. He signalled then loud & clear what his only priority would be in the middle east. What is it with Obama & the Palestinians?

How can we trust this President? Is he living on the same planet as the rest of us!?

There can be no trust here, these irrational demands, artificial crises, and plain and simple backstabbing behavior must be REJECTED  by Israel. Obama is either trying to get our country destroyed, or bring down the government of a friendly country & ally. The majority of Israeli opinion cannot support such irrational appeasement demands just to satisfy President Obama’s Palestinian fetish, or to prop up his failing policies.

Last week the US claimed we insulted them! What was that whole Biden speech about!? Days later Obama has embarrassed Biden way more than we could have even if we had tried. Obama made Biden out to look like a liar, intent on misleading the Israeli people. I doubt that was Joe’s intentions, I believe he may have been just as blindsided as Netanyahu.

UPDATE: This gambit may not roll as ‘Chicago style’ as Obama / Axelrod want..

If we see the counter 1 , 2 punch of both Israeli domestic as well as American domestic resistance to the President’s alliance rift making games, the upper cut for Obama may be a painful one. The Administration deftly used the Friday trash cycle in the US and the Israeli shutdown Sabbath to launch their coordinated volley. But today is Monday, and Israel’s coalition has spoken..

The news is less than ideal for Axelrod & CO.

While officials in Washington were quoted as saying that Netanyahu would have to choose between his ties with US President Barack Obama’s government and his coalition partners, ministers and MKs took steps to ensure that he would not have to make such a difficult choice.

Despite American pressure, not one of the 30 ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet has expressed support for freezing construction over the pre-1967 border in Jerusalem. A check among the five Labor ministers found that they were all in favor of continuing to build in neighborhoods like Ramat Shlomo and Gilo, where the American administration opposes building.

“The consensus in Israel supports continuing to build in Jerusalem and that’s not going to change,” a Labor minister said. [...]

AIPAC has issued a rare statement in opposition to the US administration’s actions.

On a Sunday night no less. They are not thrilled to put it mildly it would seem with the public undressing of Israel for such a politically cynical purpose, nor one coming only a week out from the annual conference to boot.

Hillary Clinton, who just finished berating Bibi for 45 minutes & Netanyahu will both be there. That will likely make the Administration look even more volatile & erratic than it already appears to onlookers everywhere, if they have to scale this back!? Biden & Clinton are both going to take huge lumps to the face it would seem for his Majesty Barack before all is said & done I think.

Smart Power!

The last key piece is American opinion, in this case fronted by their elected representatives. It is still Sunday night in America, so we will have to see how the reaction unfolds this week. I question the logic, foreign policy and thinking currently going on at the White House, in this I am most certainly not alone. Bibi, Obama, Biden, Clinton, everyone it seems comes out of this pained & bruised. Only the Palestinians benefit?? Has America become a Palestinian client state?

They call it “Smart Power” for a reason I guess, it just eludes me because I’m stupid.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Dubai intelligence services have provided detailed breakdowns & identities of 4 suspected MOSSAD operatives implicated in today’s Dubai Mall Aquarium Attack.

Interpol has been notified, and authorities at all international crossing points are asked to be vigilant for any sign of the 4 wanted individuals. Dubai has claimed near 100% certainty the suspects are Israeli Mossad agents, and Israeli ambassadors in Uganda & Ireland have been summoned for questioning in the matter..

It is believed at least 3000 gallons of salt water were lost as a result of the attack which prompted the evacuation of Dubai’s largest mall. Below, the intelligence identification manifest provided by Dubai intelligence services, painstakingly pieced together from hours of CCTV footage.

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Because You Need It!

I’m reflecting on the non stop media sensation regarding the liquidation of terrorist filth in Dubai recently. I’ve been struck by a number of things. Firstly, there’s the usual outcry of manufactured rage from our European pals, whom it seems are always outraged over something or other while the rest of the world simply yawns & proceeds to ignore them – Such is the importance of the EU these days.. (Yawn).

Isle of Outrageous

The British media is particularly incensed, and why shouldn’t they be? This is bread & butter for them. British media no longer does news, now they do who’s wife is screwing whom in various football leagues, along with top stories on which latest celebrity daughter was seen puking outside the nearest pub. This is what passes for important news & events in Britain these days. In light of that depressing reality opportunities to take potshots at anyone or everyone is now a British media cornerstone – Anything to take people’s minds off how shoddy the UK has become overall.

So whether it be whipping up faux rage on Israel (a brit favorite) or seizing on total invented nonsense like calling the Vancouver Olympic games the ‘worst in history’ (from the Guardian, a joke of a newspaper if you ever saw one) – If the British media can invent a sensation based on nothing at all, believe you me they will. Anybody know what color panties Carla Bruni wore yesterday!? Quick! We need confirmation, check the frontpage of any British newspaper.. (Yawn).

Der Spiel.. er Spiegel

Our natural & steady allies in Germany (the product of slaughtering Jews, complete with cattle cars & ready bake ovens) have devoted 5 pages in Der Spiegel on the Mossad Operation Gone Awry. Other than the fact that the operation was successful, everyone got away, no one has been identified, and the Hamas cockroach on our most wanted list is now quite dead.. This was a real botch!! *eye roll*

Der Spiegel is quick to point out how the vaunted reputation of the Mossad is now tarnished complete with this gem at the end for added dramatic effect..

The Mossad, which is presumably no longer able to use 11 of its agents, is already searching for new recruits. There is a job application form on the agency’s Web site (www.mossad.gov.il), under the keyword “career.” The areas where potential intelligence agents are needed, according to the site, include computer technology, logistics and “special projects.”

Wow, that is dramatic. We’re in emergency mode over here in Israel! We need recruits it seems, too bad the Mossad revamped its website & opened it up to recruiting online several years ago, but why let little things like facts ruin a good Israel smack-down story right? It fits the narrative more eloquently to pretend this is an emergency recruiting rush to shore up the non-botched operations we are running. (Forgive me, while I *eye roll* again.)

Well oiled German machine a ‘Team Effort’

The piece in Der BS’er is written up by no less than 6 people! – I guess when you need to cram that much bullsh*t into such a small place it takes a lot of guys to do the hauling.. Either that or they break it up into small bits to keep that illustrious German economy hauling along, seeing as it is one Fraulein away at any moment from imminent & total collapse these days.. But I digress, there’s another country that needs an Israeli whipping boy much more than the sour krauts – Illustrious Dubai! Yes, that ocean of insolvency in the sand!!

Someone toss Dubai a quarter, they need to call 911..

Mere weeks after topping world wide headlines for days on end, Bankrupt Dubai needs all the help it can get. People are scratching their heads wondering how they managed in Dubai to piece together all that security camera footage so quickly!? Is that a real mystery these days? What else is there to do in Dubai right now? Those guys are splicing & dicing the video footage like there’s no tomorrow! Because, well.. there isn’t. Of course these guys are working the video like gerbils on speed! Anything to hold on for dear life to that paying government job on the isle of insolvency.

More striking was the fact that in all those hours upon hours of footage one sees massive brand new airports filled with absolutely NO ONE but alleged Mossad agents! It’s like one of those new fangled zombie movies, albeit after the zombies have eaten away the entire population food source and are just roaming around, looking for that one guy running around without shoes, but sporting a flashlight and a shotgun…

Dubai 2.0

Scouring the footage also reveals half a dozen spiffy hotels complete with shooting water fountains, marble floors.. and not a single patron anywhere in sight! One of the alleged Mossad agents supposedly called in to the front desk to verify if room 237 across from the Hamas target was ‘available’.. Silly goose, of course it is. The vacancy rate in the multi-billion dollar oil money funded hotel is at 99%. PLEASE – JUST CHECK IN!! Kill anybody you want!

Drowning in Red Ink Special!

Is that your bag with your rocket launcher Mr Spy Man? No problem, Mahmoud – snap snap.. Bellhop that up to room 237. Here are your complimentary breakfast buffet coupons Sir. There is a 10 dollar surcharge for any brain matter or blood spatters in rooms, shall I tack that on now or later? You know what, 1st assassination in light of the economic times is on the house, just please I beg of you tell all your friends!!! Let them know there’s always action in Dubai..

Frankly I don’t care if that credit card is forged and you are wearing what is obviously a silly disguise, take as many rooms as you like, here in Dubai we need all the help & sensationalism we can get right now.. We’re going to milk this till the camel milk runs dry.

Over Here in Israel

No one really cares, another dead terrorist? Good. EU Media is up in arms!? What’s New?

Haaretz will whine about needing to see heads roll, or how if Livni was in charge the pomegranate trees would bloom 365 days a year. Better yet, blame it on Bibi - If your toilet backed up its because Netanyahu is leading in every poll. *Yawn* It’s not Haaretz’s fault, just like in Britain, newspaper circulation is down – And nothing sells papers like a little Jew bashing, just ask Aftonbladet in Sweden – Clearly we killed this Hamas man in order to sell his kidneys on the black market. (Insert latest Eye roll here..)

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UPDATE: Soccerdad has linked over, & he has more on the rage that has developed. His post and links are a little less snarky too lol.

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The Single Greatest Threat to Israel

It’s not demographics, it’s no secular vs haredi issues, it ain’t even Iran. The greatest threat Israel faces is the perpetual watering down of the country’s principles. I’m talking of course about Gilad Shalit, who’s been rotting away as a Hamas captive for 3+ years. Do we want him back? Don’t you know it.

The question becomes is it Gilad Shalit being held hostage now or the State of Israel?

Arguably it is both. We’ve taken ourselves hostage by negotiating with terrorists & worse, giving in to their outrageous demands. After Lebanon War II, every western nation & even the UN stated matter of factly that Israel’s soldiers (including Shalit) must be released unconditionally.. That morphed into releasing a cold blooded child murdering terrorist & an undisclosed numbers of other terrorists in return for a few mutilated body parts. The Lebanese declared it a national holiday after robbing us blind & I watched in horror as the exchange took place live on Israeli TV.

The reaction in Israel was less than boisterous. The whole thing was media pumped to no end, ‘we must do this’ the media said endlessly just as they do now. No, in fact we mustn’t do this. As much as I empathize with the Shalit family, and did so with Regev & Goldwasser’s families – They are manipulating Israel & using media as a bludgeon on our better sensibilities.

After the last few exchanges the consensus was these were a mistake, no kidding? Ya Think? Israel set up a commission who’s findings are not being officially released, but the recommendation after these fiascos was all future swaps be 1 for 1 – Period. Here’s the tally, it’s not not pretty.

• June 2008: In exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Israel frees a Lebanese convicted in a fatal 1979 apartment house attack, four other Lebanese prisoners, an undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners and dozens of bodies of Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
• January 2004: In a deal with Hezbollah, Israel trades 436 Arab prisoners and the bodies of 59 Lebanese fighters for an Israeli civilian and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers.
• July 1996: Israel frees 65 prisoners for the return of the bodies of two soldiers from Lebanon.
• September 1991: Israel frees 51 prisoners for proof that one of its soldiers held in Lebanon is dead.
• May 1985: Israel swaps 1,150 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners for three Israeli soldiers captured in Lebanon after Israel invaded in 1982. Criticism over the lopsided deal intensified after many of the freed prisoners played leading roles in a Palestinian uprising that began in 1987.
• November 1983: Israel swaps 4,600 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners for six Israeli soldiers captured in Lebanon in September 1982.

Now, a thousand-plus more are to be released, despite these statements regarding who’s on the Hamas list..

According to Israeli security officials, the 450 prisoners included senior terrorist engineers who planned and carried out “the most murderous terrorist attacks that the State of Israel has ever known.” Releasing and returning them to the West Bank and Gaza would severely endanger Israeli civilians.

I’ll say it

Because not many people in Israel will outloud despite their agreement. The price is too high. The People & State of Israel cannot be held hostage for one man irrespective of who he is or what the circumstances are. Not even for 10 men, or 100 for that matter. There are 7 million people here, we take combat losses, we lose civilians to terror, we lose 20+ people a week to bad drivers. Israel is a dangerous place, we are only making it ever more dangerous with this insanity.

I thought it was Barak responsible in earlier exchanges. Then I blamed Olmert, now I blame Bibi who just lost my vote. If the PM can’t make the hard decisions he should resign. Sacrificing the State of Israel for one man, whomever he may be, is against every Zionist (not too mention Jewish law) principle.

I do not support negotiating with terrorists

I most certainly do not support releasing them from prison - No matter what.

I support killing them, nothing less, nothing more. If the goal is to lose more lives (which this deal will certainly accomplish) then send in Commandos. Some will die, Shalit too probably but they will do so with gusto defending the State as they are combat soldiers rescuing one of their own.

It is preferable than releasing hundreds of terrorists who will murder & maim countless Israeli civilians. At least then we’ll still have our honor, because only a fool makes a deal with the Devil - But it takes a nation of morons to keep on making the same bad deal over & over again.

‘It’s the right thing to do, the moral thing to do’..
No, I’m sorry, it most certainly is not.

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Yaakov Katz at JPOST has an interesting piece about the 2006 Lebanon war up today. It’s a report on an IDF research article and it comes to some ugly conclusions..

• Israel failed to execute the last war as well as Hezbollah
• Israel needs to prepare for hundreds of 5 man Guerrilla teams infiltrating Israel in coming conflicts
• Hezbollah is armed to the teeth with advanced weapons
• Israel needs to prepare for a possible scenario where it has “No US Ally or Support”

We’ve already seen a waning of our US alliance under Obama, and a crimp on weapons from the US.

What is of particular interest is the guerrilla raiding teams aspect.

One notes that the catalyst for the last war itself was in fact two or three such teams carrying out a similar attack across the northern border against an IDF patrol, with the goal of killing & capturing IDF soldiers. Using the rocketing of Israeli civilians as a diversion, two such teams ambushed IDF humvees on patrol with RPGs and weapons fire, killing at least three soldiers & abducting Goldwasser & Regev – Who themselves were probably either dead or mortally wounded in the ambush.

Other raiding teams were lying in ambush within Lebanon itself, waiting for the IDF Tank response to cross the border in hot pursuit – Directly toward the intricate Hezbollah bunker & mine networks leading to further IDF losses. The result was the full outbreak of war, where Israel faced village after village stocked with these small teams armed up with advanced RPGs & anti-tank weaponry, complete with advanced armor piercing shaped warhead charges.

In 2000, another similar ambush occurred. That time however Hezbollah were wearing UNIFIL / UN uniforms and driving UN vehicles as their diversion & cover. They attacked a smaller IDF patrol destroying their vehicle, and hauled off three IDF soldiers who again were most likely either dead or mortally wounded.

Large scale raids

The prospect of Hezbollah scaling up this strategy is clearly a serious threat, dozens of such teams or even hundreds as mentioned in the article could create havoc in Northern Israel – Even a mini insurgency going on for some time, in a frightening hide & go seek manner relying on local ‘Arab Israeli infrastructure’ & villages for shelter or supplies, while seeking to kill untold numbers of Israeli civilians.

Unlike traditional threats, Israel could not rely on choppers, heavy weaponry or tanks to counter this terrorist rush. They’d have to be engaged by elite combat forces in close quarters. It should also be noted that these teams would not be Hezbollah regulars, but Iranian trained Revolutionary Guards serving Hezbollah as proxy fighters, these are the most heavily armed & best trained fighters terrorism can currently buy.

Hezbollah is in reality an army with the full Iranian weapons arsenal that employs terrorist tactics, this differentiates them somewhat from traditional guerrilla threats like those faced by the US in Iraq or Afghanistan, and represents a serious challenge. Hezbollah’s heavier weapons & longer range rockets require full logistics & abilities beyond any terror group to maintain & launch, light years beyond what any normal insurgency can muster. How do you engage with an army that does not follow any rules of war on any level? Worse, one who’s main goal is the killing of civilians and causing civilian damage / casualties as opposed to engaging in normal warfare.

The Syria Factor

Also of note, comments by Syrian President Bashar Assad to the effect that this is the manner Syria intends to fight Israel going forward. In 2006, Assad & Syrian Ministers hinted that Syria could resort to ‘Armed Resistance’ & Guerrilla Warfare to retrieve the Golan Heights.

Unable to defeat Israel with their conventional forces the Arabs & Iranians have now fully also invested themselves in terrorism & missiles that target civilians, instead of just tanks or planes to fight. It’s not very honorable, but it sure can kill a lot of innocent people.

Serious Challenges

Let’s hope IDF reforms past, present & future are gearing up to counter these realities. Its no small challenge as Israel needs to counter traditional warfare threats from tanks & planes. Missile & rocket threats from tens of thousands of short medium range weapons on multiple fronts. Missile threats from large long range ballistic weapons probably armed with WMD. A full terrorist threat comprising of gunmen & suicide bombers, and now a combination Guerrilla / Terrorist threat armed with conventional advanced army weapons.

SoccerDad provides a stunner of a Link update:

Using his rather impressive encyclopedic knowledge, SD points out to me that he has read something similar to the report being referenced here on Hezbollah previously! - In fact reading the link he sent my mouth kinda opened a bit. Written a decade ago, Israel’s current Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz warned of a nearly identical threat from Israel’s seam line with Judea & Samaria in reference to the Oslo accords, and the arming of PA security forces by Israel.

Reprinted from Commentary Magazine, December, 1999:
WHEN THE PALESTINIAN ARMY INVADES THE HEART OF ISRAEL

Yuval outlines in very specific terms the dangers to critical infrastructure, civilians, the military and the entire state that small groups of Palestinian guerrillas in a mass assault could  inflict. It’s a prophetic & sobering analysis, one which has left me with an entirely new facet of respect for Mr. Steinitz, while equally leaving me scratching my head somewhat as well.

Where were the IDF big thinkers?

Spanning all that time until now? How come these issues have not been addressed seemingly on multiple borders, and why have we seen in many ways now more than a decade of mediocre IDF strategic thinking, culminating in the painful 2006 Lebanon war? Is it merely complacency or something far more troubling.

Israel’s own Lebanon War Winograd Report blasted the IDF for their lack of out of the box strategic thought, compounded by having a Labor Union chief playing Defense Minister & a negligent Prime Minister. We’re going to need a better effort from our political echelon, regional commands & our upper mid level commanders. Hopefully, the mere fact that we are finally seeing the IDF internalizing, thinking & discussing, while simultaneously reporting & researching means the IDF has come to the same conclusion.

Ehud Barak’s sad Lebanese legacy

Equally, I would like very much to point out that the current Defense Minister Ehud Barak, while serving as the Prime Minister around the time Steinitz penned his own analysis above compounded this situation badly. Barak opened up this second northern front by precipitously & delusionally withdrawing from the Lebanon security corridor in the middle of the night. A move which was stunning in its lack of strategic planning or thought on so many levels it left me in tears when I watched it unfold on the news a decade ago.

He did so with no political deal whatsoever to fill the void left by the dismantling of the Phalange (Israel’s Christian Lebanese Militia allies) and withdrawal of IDF forces from Lebanon, let alone a secured peace deal. Without a doubt the single biggest strategic bungle of the last decade by far. We already know the results of that poor strategic thought on the part of Barak – It’s known as South Lebanon, now a mini self enclosed Iranian terror state which manifested itself in less than 5 years. One imagines he took something away from this & other stunning failures like Camp David II, which resulted in the most brutal terror assault Israel has ever seen.

I’m going to stop now, I’m feeling disillusioned & I have so much more to say I could go on forever. You could write a book about the issues in this post but I promised my readers I would hold post lengths and I’ve already doubled this post’s word count.

It’s not my fault, Gerstman found Pandora’s Box!

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I Like My Terrorists Extra Crispy

On the eve of the Jewish day of atonement, judgment overall seems to have come early for these three terrorists preparing to launch rockets from Gaza at Israeli civilians. Stunningly clear IDF UAV video captures them setting up for launch, only to be roasted (literally) by Israeli counter-fire before they can attack with their rockets Saturday.

It’s a testament to the skill, vigilance and frankly unbelievable efforts Israel’s defense forces exhibit keeping us safe day in & out. Gd bless them, and all Am Israel this Yom Kippur.

Gmar Hatima Tova.

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Why would we in Israel, be at all concerned about this US administration’s commitments on Iran or anything else for that matter?

The suggestion is down right silly! After all it isn’t as if..

• Obama reneged on the Bush / Sharon settlement agreements.
• Obama reneged on the Eastern European Missile Defense Shield.
• Obama reneged on barring Iranian Uranium Enrichment as a pre-condition for Iranian talks
• Obama reneged on supporting Iranian democracy protesters in lieu of the Supreme Leader.
• Obama reneged on isolating Syria and shielding Lebanon from Syrian re-occupation
• Obama reneged on supporting Latin American allies like Honduras or Colombia

So now it’s the Poles and Czechs.. No big deal, it’s not as if Iran is even a threat. Who needs Missile Defense any how. It’s not as if the Iranians are developing nuclear weapons or have threatened to destroy Israel on numerous occasions either.

Don’t you worry. Not in Israel or even in America now that US appeasement has reached stratospheric heights, because it’s not as if President Obama is an appeaser either. Man o man, this guy can LEAD!

Video: 33 Minutes – The time required for a nuclear armed missile to reach American Shores

Precisely the system versus Iran now scrapped in Europe to defend America & allies, by President Obama today.

It’s being ‘re-designed’. Given a little bit of the ‘ole Hope & Change mojo’ which has been working out so well lately..
Awesome!

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Obama’s Open Hand to Nowhere Results in Predictable Syrian Slap to the Face

Bush’s Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams takes us there blow by blow, courtesy of the ever delish Weekly Standard..

The Obama administration has been trying out a new policy toward Syria since the day it came to office. The Bush cold shoulder was viewed as a primitive reaction, now to be replaced by sophisticated diplomacy. Outreach would substitute for isolation. Thus there have been six visits to Damascus by high-level administration officials, including two by George Mitchell. Moreover, the administration has signaled that its handling of export license applications for Syria will be more “flexible” than that of the Bush administration, which tried to deny every shipment it could.

Well, the returns are in. Within the past week, Iraq has withdrawn its ambassador from Damascus and accused Syria of involvement in terrorist incidents in Baghdad. Iraqi TV has also aired a confession by an accused al Qaeda terrorist, a Saudi who claimed he had been trained in Syria–by the Asad regime’s intelligence services. Nor is this all. Syria continues to support Hezbollah’s blocking of the formation of a government in Lebanon, backing Hezbollah in its demand for a “blocking third” that would prevent any decisions Hezbollah opposes in any new Cabinet. The Palestinian terrorist groups remain headquartered in Damascus, and under no visible restraints. And on August 19, President Bashar Asad paid a visit to President Ahmadinejad in Tehran, to showcase his support of the latter during the current Iranian political crisis. [...]

You can smell the generous dollop of sarcasm Abrams drops on us with his ’sophisticated diplomacy’ shot above, as soon as I read that I knew I’d be blogging about this one. I love that! Critics will point out that Obama has in theory maintained the ‘US tough guy stance’ toward Syria by renewing American Congressional sanctions slapped on the regime by the Bush Administration, albeit minus the now granted gift of export licenses mentioned above for technical parts & other goodies. Further, the argument inevitably leads to critics saying the Bush strategy did not produce desired results, so ‘hope & change’ was needed.

More Yummyness..

To this criticism Abrams fires off an unexpected volley, the Bush strategy was too tame & weak. With evidence pouring in that Syria has been for years now allowing the open flow of men & matériel to Iraq with the goal of fighting Americans, Abrams counters that a more aggressive strategy would have been effective and that the tools – A massive US military presence along the border regions with Iraq were close at hand.

Hawks Speaking Out

Which brings up another related manner. VP Cheney’s recent comments to Fox News Sunday which carried a not so subtle undertone. The second half of the Bush administration’s two terms exhibited a much weaker foreign policy stance across the board. One which clearly created debate within the administration with Cheney and hawks lined up versus Condi Rice and the organs of State.

We can deduce without much trouble where Elliott might fall opinion wise. Cheney himself spoke about Iran, but this weakened stance exhibited itself in relation to Syria & North Korea, and finally in the Annapolis process as well which was clearly Condi’s baby. This weakness was most especially pronounced & came to the fore clearly when Condi lobbied to have America halt Israel from successfully striking the Syrian illicit nuclear program, which was frankly a stunning bit of appeasement that Bush thankfully resisted.

Realists vs NeoCons

It all comes full circle. Abrams speaks about the lack of moral clarity we’re now seeing under President Obama in relation to Syria, but just as glaringly we have also seen it in relation to Iran. Where Obama shamefully sacrificed American ideals to appease a brutal and vicious Iranian Revolutionary Guard military coup in order to prop up his already failing strategy on that front too.

The new Obama policy has produced no change in Syrian conduct, but it has produced a change in American behavior: Now we have even lost the moral clarity with which America used to speak about the nature and actions of the Asad regime.

But that is in essence the great American dilemma right now isn’t it?

With realists driving American foreign policy; Freedom, American values and sacrosanct American ideals which are the basis of neoconservative policies have taken a back seat to cold often faulty calculating ‘realism’. Screw Democracy, it’s now a moment by moment mish mash of washed up, moraless, academia induced nonsense. There’s no map or guiding principles. In short – An epic fail in both result and what has been sacrificed.. The American moral high ground.

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