ISRAEL - IRAN - SYRIA - HAMAS - HEZBOLLAH - WWWIII?

god forbid israel should show a little compassion for a bunch of people who've been demonized.

it's not so much that i give a dink about the palis, i'm not too sure i do, but more that i'm tired of american policy in the middle east being outsourced to israel.

so far, the return has been nothing but more bullshit.

by the way, you didn't have a problem with it when bushy couldn't leave it alone...

Read it and weep- Obama's foreign policy will be as bad for the USA as his domestic policies!

Note:


Since his first moments in office, President Barack Obama has embarked on a policy course which rejects Bush's belief that the quest for freedom is universal as so much American chauvinism. For Obama, Islamic hostility towards the West is caused by American arrogance, not the absence of freedom. And because American arrogance is the root of the problem, the solution must be American contrition. It is this view that propels Obama from one international apology tour to the next and causes him to air the CIA's laundry in public. As far as he is concerned, the more apologetic he is, the more contrition he expresses for the actions of his predecessors, the greater the pay-off will be.

And yet, as we see from the behavior of Lebanon, Turkey, Syria and Iran over the past week alone, Obama's apologetics are not winning them over, but emboldening them to take more aggressive positions against the West. How can this be explained?

There is an alternative explanation for the behavior of the peoples of the Islamic world that actually can explain events, and has successfully forecast them. It has even engendered policy recommendations that might have mitigated both the popularity of Islamist parties and deterred these parties, once elected from taking provocative steps against Western states and interests. Unfortunately, every time this explanation is raised, Western policy makers head for the hills.

This explanation is really nothing more than an observation. It observes that the populations of Islamic countries and societies support Islamist parties like the AKP and Hizbullah and Hamas because they support what they stand for. This explanation notes that tens and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, Lebanese, Iranians, Turks, Egyptians and others voluntarily congregate in public venues and swoon when Islamist leaders tell them that Islam will defeat the West and promise the death of America and the death of Israel.

The jihadist message resonates with them. Their hearts and minds have already been won over. Contrary to what Western leaders as distinct as Bush and Obama believe, the hearts and minds of the Islamic world are not presently in play. From Beirut to the Taliban-controlled Northwest Frontier Province in Pakistan, jihadists enjoy public support because the public supports their aim of defeating the West with bullets, with bombs, and with ballots.

It is too early to know how Obama will react when he like Bush is no longer able to deny that his strategy for winning over the hearts and minds of the Islamic world has failed. We don't know if like Bush before him, he will simply ignore reality and pretend that nothing has happened; if he will blame his political opponents or Israel for not joining him in his contrition; or if he will cast about for another central organizing principle that will explain hostile Islamic behavior.

What is clear is that in the absence of Western " and specifically American " willingness to consider the possibility that what is happening in the Islamic world has next to nothing to do with either what the West embodies or what it has done, and everything to do with the resonance of the Islamist message within the Islamic world, events like the expected loss of Lebanon in June will continue to be met with incoherent prattling and confusion.

Like it or not, it appears that the rising forces in the Islamic world perceive themselves as at war with Western civilization. They cannot be convinced to believe otherwise by either elections or apologies. And the current situation, in which only one side is willing to recognize that there is a war going on between two mutually exclusive ways of organizing human societies, will only lead us to more violent and devastating clashes in the future.


JWR contributor Caroline B. Glick is the senior Middle East Fellow at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC and the deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post

a piece written and published nearly three weeks before meeting with bibe

what's bad for the usa is insane self gradifying jackholes like you. now piss off back to the bathroom with your fresh copy of the Weekly Standard.

Don't tread on me wrote:

it's not so much that i give a dink about the palis, i'm not too sure i do, but more that i'm tired of american policy in the middle east being outsourced to israel.

so far, the return has been nothing but more bullshit.





by the way, you didn't have a problem with it when bushy couldn't leave it alone.

**************************************************************

You are very much in error. BO's press secretary has told us that the Presidunt and his advisers have formulated a clear response concering the Middle East. Perhaps you missed the speech where BO got on his knees and told the world that the US was bad, bad, bad and ARROGANT and that the US has learned the error of its ways and please forgive us.

***********************************************************


The problem is that the fanatics see BO's approach as weakness and think he can be rolled. BO does not realize that the fanatics in the Islamic world want to destroy two countries--

a. Israel first and then b.The USA. If a nuclear device is detonated in a large American city,then BO will sit up and take notice. BO probably thinks like Neville Chamberlain. Chamberlain WOKE UP when the Nazis attacked Poland on September 1, 1939.

Bret Stephens, writing in the Wall Street Journal-May 19, 2009-P. A 15(Wall Street Journal--another of those filthy truth twisting right wing sources--says Cyclops who is not well enough informed to rebut)

Stephens gives advice to Nethanyahu--

"An Israeli attack on Iran, successful or not, could mean big trouble for US interests in the MiddleEast, especially in Iraq and the Persian Gulf. So much the better from your point of view: It gives the US every incentive either to rachet up sanctions in some convincing way, ideally through an embargo on Iran's gasoline imports, or else assist you in seeing to it that the strikes succeed. That could mean anything from an air corridor over Iraq to the sale of highly sophisticated munitions.
Of course, there is the possibility that this president will wind up not only doing nothing to stop Iran but actively seek to prevent you from doing something. In that case, you will stand truly alone.
Then your options willbe to turn Israel into a bunker state, take harsh measures against Palestinians and plan for all out war with Iran, damn the consequences to the US. A point you just might want to make to Obama, privately, JUST TO SEE THAT HE 'GETS IT".

end of quote

There ain't going to be any two-state solution while Hamas controls the strip.


May 19, 2009 13:47 | Updated May 20, 2009 7:02
Diskin: No peace while Hamas rules Gaza
By REBECCA ANNA STOIL




Hamas control over the Gaza Strip will prevent any effective peace process from coming into fruition, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Yuval Diskin warned Tuesday, revealing that he had recommended that the Olmert government try to topple Hamas's rule in the coastal territory.




Shin Bet head Diskin: No peace while Hamas rules Gaza

Delivering the annual Shin Bet briefing to the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Diskin warned that there was a good chance that the situation could become more dire if Hamas emerges victorious in a West Bank election.

"If ballots were cast in the West Bank today, there is a chance that Hamas would win," he warned.

Diskin estimated that approximately 20 percent to 25% percent of the West Bank population are diehard Hamas voters, 30%-35% are are solid Fatah supporters, and that the remaining 50% are undecided.

He warned that a victory for Hamas would "be seen as a second victory for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in this area, and thus would have a dangerous impact on the whole region, including in neighboring countries."

He dismissed the possibility that the Gaza Strip and West Bank would be united under one government by internal Palestinian efforts alone.



"A joint [Fatah-Hamas] government can only be formed through firm international pressure," the Shin Bet head said. "Hamas will never voluntarily give up its rule in the Strip, and the Palestinian Authority will never cede its control over the West Bank."

He added that "a great divide exists in terms of culture and mentality between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the chances of bridging that gap are almost nil."

He had suggested to the "last government" to topple the Hamas regime in Gaza and in doing so, to "open many more options for diplomatic processes," but his recommendations were not adopted, Diskin said.

"I argue that you don't need to conquer all of the Gaza Strip in order to collapse the Hamas government. It can be toppled, but it is ultimately impossible to uproot Hamas from people's hearts."

Diskin concurred with an assessment made last week by Military Intelligence Chief Gen. Amos Yadlin, that Hamas was working on internalizing the lessons from Operation Cast Lead, and was interested in maintaining relative calm while it rebuilt its power.

"Hamas wants to maintain the calm in order to win the time it needs to reinforce and improve its standing on the ground," he said, estimating that some 300 smuggling tunnels were currently active on the Egypt-Gaza border, although not all of them were used for weapons smuggling.

Diskin said that the Shin Bet believes that the vast majority of the weapons used during the operation had not been smuggled through the infamous tunnels, but rather had entered Gaza during the days in which the Rafah border with Egypt was unmonitored.

According to Diskin, since the operation ended in January, terror organizations in Gaza have smuggled in 46 anti-aircraft rockets, 362 mortar shells, hundreds of assorted rockets, 220 rifles and machine guns, 39 anti-tank rockets, 17 tons of explosives and 61 tons of fertilizer to be used to build explosive devices.

Hamas is still trying to launch terror attacks from Gaza, Diskin stressed.

The terror group, according to Diskin, was definitely shaken up by Operation Cast Lead. In the negotiations that followed, he said, the military wing of the organization - which is the stronger wing in Gaza - had come under criticism from the political wing.

Furthermore, the Shin Bet had observed that a number of Hamas operational commanders had been removed from their positions following the IDF operation, and had indications that Hamas was "disappointed in Iran and Hizbullah for failing to open a second front," during the operation.

--jpost.com

"Re: Advocate (Post 3655173)
It's interesting to note that the Jews did to the Palestinians what they now fear will happen to them. Cultural shifts in societies usually takes a very long time, but what happened in Israel is unique. "

You just can't stop lying.

I had a lot of problems with a lot of meddling President Bush did in some things. But I am unaware that "bushy" couldn't leave Israel alone. I remember him specifically saying that if the two sides don't want peace, we can't force them. I remember him giving implied approval for Israel to deal with Iran's nukes but that was never official US policy. I remember him saying that sometimes a large show of force can settle things. I don't have a problem with that. I remember him saying that we were 'going to tilt back toward Israel'. I don't have a problem with that. I don't remember him trying to broker a deal between Israel and the Palestinians that neither wanted.

So what do you have in mind that President Bush 'couldn't leave alone'?

Okay, show us how these Jewish links are lies?

From Jewish Virtual Library:
Of the country’s Jewish and non-Arab population , 70 percent were born in Israel. In 1948, only 35 percent of Jews were born in the country.
Among Jews, the largest group is those who originate from a European-American extraction - 2.2 million, which represents 38.5 percent of the total Jewish population in the country as of the end of 2007. Fifteen percent of Jews numbering 871,000 are of African origins while 11.9 percent are from Asian countries. A total of 34.6 percent of Jews are native born Israelis whose parents were also born in the country.

From FactsOfIsrael.com:
…................1948..................... 2001.......................% Growth
Religion. Population.......... Population
Jewish..... 646,000 80.1%.... 5,240,000 81.3%..............8.11%
Muslim... 160,000 19.9%........ 980,000 15.2%..............6.13%
Christian.... N/A.... N/A.......... 130,000 2.1%
Druze......... N/A.... N/A.......... 110,000 1.6%          
Total........ 806,000 100%...... 6.46 Million 100% …......8.01%

Looked at another way, the increase of Jews in Israel during that period was 4.594 million, and the increase in Arabs was 820 thousand, or more than 5 times the increase in population by the Jews over the Arabs.

Cicerone Imposter is a total moron. He thinks that there are so few Arabs that want to destroy Israel?
Cicerone moron can list any of the countries below which are pro-Israel and which would come to her aid if she was attacked by Al Queda fanatics.

Population

Country**
Area KM2
Population*
Percent
Arable10
Population
Density9

Algeria
2,380,000
32,930,091
3
13.3

Bahrain
660
698,585
2
977.8

Egypt
1,000,000
78,887,007
3
69.5

Iran
1,650,000
68,688,433
10
40.1

Iraq
434,000
26,783,383
12
53.8

Israel
20,700
7,026,0002
17
312.0

Jordan
98,000
5,153,378
4
52.6

Kuwait
17,800
2,418,3933
0
114.7

Lebanon
10,452
3,874,050
21
347.1

Libya
1,760,000
5,900,754
2
3.0

Morocco
446,550
33,241,259
18
69.4

Oman
212,000
3,102,2294
2
12.4

Palestine8
6,275
3,889,248*
27
520.9

Qatar
11,437 885,359 1 67.25
Saudi Arabia
2,240,000
27,019,7315
1
10.2

Sudan
2,510,000
41,236,378
5
14.4

Syria
185,000
18,881,361 6
28
90.4

Tunisia
164,000
10,175,014
20
59.2

Turkey
780,000
70,413,958
30
85.2

UAE
78,000
2,602,713 7
0
30.9

Yemen
527,970
21,456,188
6
34.2

Israel MPs seek to prevent Jerusalem concessions:

Is there an inference that nice neighbors in Germany do not have fences between homes? I always thought there was some saying that a good fence made for nice neighbors.

One would not need a fence between neighbors, if neighbors were always polite and civil, even though not necessarily friendly. Perhaps, the neighbors in this photo might not always be friendly? If so, then the fence is effecting a positive result, by limiting the amount of interaction.

Well, we had about 1.400 km of such a 'fence' plus 155 km of a wall here.

That fence, however, was to prevent your people from 'escaping' to more hospitable terrain and not to protect anybody from those on the other side. The fence separating Israel from the Palestinians is to keep militant terrorist Palestinians from blowing up Israeli synagogues, markets, and busses full of innocent men, women, and children. And it has been effective toward that end. The bombings have essentially stopped since the wall went up. Any Palestinians or anybody else in Israel who wish to move to the other side are certainly allowed to do so.

Quite a difference wouldn't you say?

Your logic is wrong, Foxfyre.

The Israelis built that wall.
You use their explanations for it.

The GDR built the fences and walls.
You use your/our explanation for it.

The GDR officially built a protective barrier against fascists and their influence and attacks (German title of the resp. GDR order: "Errichtung eines antifaschistischen Schutzwalls")
To assure the effective saftey of the GDR population, special troops of the regular GDR forces were stationed along the security walls and fences ("Sicherungstruppen der Staatsgrenze") ... ...

You're serious? You're saying the GDR built the wall to protect the people from the German people in the west? I don't doubt that was the official line, but you don't think the 2.6 million (I think) East Germans who escaped to the West was the primary reason for the wall? To keep any more East Germans from emigrating?

I am using my own observation for the wall between Israel and Palestine. Israel was being regularly bombed by Palestinian bombers until the wall went up. The wall went up primarily to stop the bombings, sabotage, kidnappings, murders, and it has been quite effective for that purpose.

I am using my own observation for the wall between East and West Germany. The Soviets/East Germans didn't want to lose any more people to the West.

How is that illogical?

I didn't post my opinion but only how the fences/walls were justified by the GDR authority.

[From 1949 until 1961 nearly 3 million people emigrated from the GDR.
The number of those who could escape and weren't shot is just some dozens.]

damn walter, foxfyre, has a point to make and your are interfering with facts. that's obviously an ad hominem attack on foxfyre.