Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Personal Animosity And The Nuclear Arms Race

It is no secret that President Obama has little time for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.  He has been less than politic about his feelings while Netanyahu has bitten his tongue and remained civil.

A large part of the issue is what the U.S. demands as part of the two state solution for the Palestinians and what the Israelis are willing to do.  Netanyahu declared during his recent re-election campaign that there would be no Palestinian state as long as he was Prime Minister. He backed off the statement by saying he wasn't altogether against it but now isn't the time.

Why not now?  Because he is surrounded on two sides; by Hezbollah on one and Hamas on the other.  Both are terrorist groups who have declared their intent to drive Israel from the face of the earth. I'd see no reason to negotiate either with that as the prevailing attitude.

For some reason, however, our President is determined to punish Netanyahu for not acquiescing to him.  Obama wants him to embrace the nuclear negotiations with Iran. He's also determined to punish us by threatening to go around Congress with the secret details and go straight to the U.N.

To add insult to injury we have declassified what had been a secret agreement with Israel not to make public the extent of their nuclear program.  That they have one is no secret, but to break our word and make the details available to anyone who cares to look does no more than insure there will be an arms race in the middle east.

I don't believe the Israelis would use them unless hopelessly cornered and I believe the only country that would try to corner them is Iran if they had the same capabilities.  We're making it possible for them.  Add to that the Sunni/Shite strife among the other countries you can bet everyone who can will get either a ready made bomb or the technology to make their own.

I'm sure negotiations have long been underway between the Saudis and Pakistan or North Korea.  To me, Obama has now, with this latest action, set the match to the fuel that needed the smallest of parks to ignite the region.

Who knows how this will play out but it seems to be an awfully big risk just to justify his Nobel Peace Prize and pave the way for John Kerry to get his.

Friday, December 05, 2014

With Friends Like Us...

Some times the news is so incredible I have to pause to make sure I'm not reading some fictional thriller.  Such was my reaction when I read that the Obama administration has had meetings to consider sanctions against Israel.  Israel!  The only friend we have in the Middle East which doesn't have Muslim underpinnings.

They've been as staunch an ally to us as we've been to them before this administration. What could they have done to make us think sanctions could be justified?

Bombing innocents in Gaza?  No. Building houses in East Jerusalem.  It was captured in the seven year war.  However, it has been designated to be the capital of Palenstine when and if it becomes a state. Some would say by having declared themselves one is enough.  But the Israelis continue to build, not helping the situation at all but then since the Hamas driven Palestinians are determined to drive Israel into the sea I can understand why they continue to poke them. Halting the building would give them the high ground.

Why don't they take it?  I don't know. And that's the point. It would help if it were explained.   I do know, however, how we would react if our former allies would move to place sanctions on the United States for our handling of racial discord.  We'd scream and shout it's none of their business.  Butt out!

I don't understand middle eastern mind sets.  There is so much hatred and violence it seems to me to be hell on earth.  But isn't it an issue to be settled and perhaps even negotiated among themselves without U.S. threats if they don't do things our way?

It's cockeyed to be looking at sanctions against Israel for building settlements while looking to lessen or even eliminate them against Iran who is building toward a nuclear bomb!

They say we have no foreign policy, whoever "they" are.  In some ways they are wrong.  We do.  It's to micromanage everything according to the will of Obama regardless if it makes sense or not.  We promise military aid and send meals ready to eat.  We draw red lines and kick sand over them.  We negotiate with an enemy regime while they build their bomb. We take 4 days to mount a rescue attempt by which time the captive has been moved.

And we wonder why we have no credibility among our enemies nor our one time friends in the world. We have a bunch of rank amateurs running the show and bolstering one another while the professionals stew, quit or are fired should they dare speak out.

Is there anything worse than having no friends?  I think so.  I think it's having no convictions.

Friday, August 01, 2014

Hamas Doesn't Want Peace

The carnage in Gaza has made me wince and sorely tested my backing of Israel of late.  However, with all the cease fires violated by Hamas I've stayed strong.

I appreciate the fact that our Secretary of State is trying to do some good though he's chosen one more task at which he cannot succeed. Let's face it. Hamas does not want peace.

If you've been following the conflict you know it's in their charter to destroy the Israeli state.  Unfortunately for them and the people they hold in their grip Israel has a far superior war machine which they've not hesitated to use.

Today, however, seems to be the last straw.  With a 72 hour cease fire in hand in order to get the right mix of negotiators to Egypt, Hamas just could not contain themselves. They fired rockets, once more into Israel, killed two Israeli soldiers and kidnapped and Israeli officer. Yes, according to reports, four more Palestinians were killed.  They won't be the last.  On either side.

When you look back at history and realize the land which is now Israel was carved out of other territories by Europeans who didn't even live in the region the conflict is understandable.  This is probably the most graphic illustration of unintended consequences of good intentions.  You can understand the bitterness.  It seems the whole region is bitter and I don't see it changing in our lifetime. Hate has become a way of life.  How do you change it?  We can't.  And until and unless those involved realize the unending killing solves nothing it won't end.

Perhaps it's time to let them fight it out among themselves.  You say the odds aren't even?  Well, that's war.  Let's face it, we cannot get inside their heads to displace that bitterness and hate and trying seems to do no more than build resentment against us.  We have more than enough already.  We haven't yet learned how to defend our interests without antagonizing others.  It's called diplomacy which is an art foreign to those currently trying to practice it.  Scolding, dictating and empty threats don't cut it.

War is a horrible way to solve anything but when hatred runs so deep there is little else.  One can only say that the oxymoron of all this taking place in the land which is sacred to both sides makes me, at least, question just about everything about human nature as a whole and it's relation to cultural differences.

I'm no longer sure of what I believe any more.