Which raises a question: what kind of schmuck does Netanyahu think Obama is? He wants Obama to push the Palestinians into direct talks with Israel—talks the Palestinians are wary of because they fear that Netanyahu isn’t serious about negotiating a Palestinian state.Can you hear me scratching my head? No? Well, I am, anyway.
there is a piece at the Sad Red Earth going after Greenwald which made me wonder why guys like him or Beinart are treated by really interesting writers as their equals i.e. like gentleman to gentleman.
ReplyDeleteI had a try at Greenwald and it made my brain feel like the villain's brain must have felt, when he tried to get a hold of Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau dancing him into confusion in Viva Maria (can't find it on YouTube)
Both read like half-drunk pontificators eager to explain the world which one can meet in every pub. Thus if they are treated like gentlemen it must be a class thing, were they nobodies like the bar flies all they'd get would be short shrift as the incoherents they are.
Silke
PS: From what I've seen and heard from Netanyahu I trust that if there would be a choice Netanyahu would choose what is good for Israelis' chance of a peaceful and secure life over any personal dreams
And of course the Palestinians are serious about negotiating a state...which is why Abbas didn't even both to show up to negotiate with Olmert when Olmert made his offer.
ReplyDeleteI've said this before about other formerly rational pundits - one's perspective is warped, when one uses Obama's buttocks for headphones.
There won't be a peace agreement because the Palestinians don't want one. The personality or policies of this or that Israeli leader is irrelevant. The other side does not want to recognize Israel or end the conflict with the Jewish State.
ReplyDeleteWhy is this so hard for the world to grasp?
This whole back-to-front upside-down world we live in has me scratching my head as well. Israel says "Let's negotiate" The Arabs say " No way - you aren't serious so we will stay at home"
ReplyDeleteAnd Israel is condemned for not agreeing to the Arabs' terms before the negotiations start - or end??
I just noticed this on ha'aretz's English web-site:
ReplyDeletePalestinian negotiator: Netanyahu blocking path to direct peace talks
Netanyahu says Israel it is prepared to take additional steps to ease Palestinian movement in the West Bank in a bid to coax Abbas into direct negotiations.
So Israel is blocking negotiations by being prepared to take additional steps in advance to "coax" Abbas to the table.
And Israel is wasting Obama's time???
AKUS
ReplyDeleteAbbas has been "promised" by Obama that Israel fulfills his wildest dreams regarding settlement and now you expect him to go to the table for nothing? And that while he has had only -how many?- visits to the White House since the Cairo speech? Now this is what I call dis-respect - one must really feel for the fellow ;-)
My first idea long ago was that these guys know that there will be no more red carpets once there is an agreement or when have you last seen Lebanon's Hariri in the White House? It is a prestige thing and unless you can offer them some equivalent in media attention and honours from world leaders, they won't budge or if they do they'll always find a pretext to chicken out in the last moment - it is not only money they want, they also want the stuff, money can't buy and care for the well-being of their people - you gotta be kiddin' that's what they have Israel for, to blame it on her
Silke
When the going gets totally absurd, the totally absurd get going.
ReplyDeletePeter Beinart has found that it is easier to make a career out of bashing Israel than promoting Israel. It is strictly for financial reasons
ReplyDeleteScott
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't mean that as an apology
or is the guy so little in demand as a writer that writing nutty stuff about Israel is his only hope of making a living?
here's btw Glenn Greenwald in action - I only read the transcript but there he sounds definitely like a severe case of hyperventilation - now I understand even less, why he is taken seriously instead of ridiculed by all means possible. Nobody talking like that in a pub would find followers.
http://www.alternet.org/news/147087/glenn_greenwald_clobbers_eliot_spitzer_in_debate_on_the_gaza_flotilla/
Silke