tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post1776147046872990546..comments2024-01-01T01:47:59.449+02:00Comments on Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: On Being Subtle (Or Not)Yaacovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835192312242961481noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-79454071866776818242009-08-07T01:28:06.618+03:002009-08-07T01:28:06.618+03:00Hi Lydia -
Are you referring to me? I indeed vote...Hi Lydia -<br /><br />Are you referring to me? I indeed voted for Livni, and while I'm living rather well under Netanyahu I don't regret my vote. I didn't vote for Obama. There were things about him that appealed to me, certainly, but as I explained at the time, I feared he didn't understand the world well enough to be the most powerful man in it. So far he hasn't proved me wrong.Yaacovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12835192312242961481noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-16320771789164212382009-08-05T03:22:57.770+03:002009-08-05T03:22:57.770+03:00All of this should give serious pause to anyone wh...All of this should give serious pause to anyone who, authorized to vote both in American and Israeli elections, voted for both Obama and Livni. Or so it seems to me. Imagine if Obama--now revealed to be Mr. Clueless about Israel, with sledgehammer--were now confronting someone less willing to stand up to him. Sounds to me like that image should bother even centrist Israelis.Lydia McGrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423567323116960820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-4230907893051955782009-08-04T19:59:10.180+03:002009-08-04T19:59:10.180+03:00That link posted above is worth checking out. Barr...That link posted above is worth checking out. Barry Rubin rambles a bit, but hits his stride:<br /><br /><i>Almost everything the administration says about the Arab states is wrong. The fact is that relatively moderate Arab regimes believe very radical things and benefit by using the conflict for demagogic purposes. They fear the radicalization of their population, Iranian-Syrian aggression, and radical Islamist groups at home. They do not desperately need formal peace with Israel; Egypt and Jordan don’t need more normalization; Syria desperately needs the conflict to continue.<br /><br />Nothing, nothing, nothing has been learned from all the experience accumulated in the region for decades. No deep thought has resulted from the failure of the 1990s’ peace process. Everything is superficial, tactical, on a quicksand basis. This is truly pathetic.</i><br /><br />Conflict Resolution is not a priority for Arab states, and has never been - Conflict Exploitation is. It is a devastating miscalculation of American and Western policy to assume otherwise.Avigdorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05008730229882004376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-32869267296953281662009-08-04T01:58:30.984+03:002009-08-04T01:58:30.984+03:00well the magazine that once famously refused to pu...well the magazine that once famously refused to publish the Mearsheimer & Walt "Israel-Lobby"-stuff that later became the book and which is incidentally also Jeffrey Goldberg's magazine is now in earnest going for Israel via one of its stars - he says some very interesting and depressing things about the M&W book<br />rgds,<br />Silke<br /><br />http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200908u/kaplan-israel<br /><br />DISPATCH AUGUST 3, 2009<br />More than democracy, Washington wants stability in the Middle East. That means leaning against the interests of the Jewish state.<br />by Robert D. Kaplan<br />Losing Patience with IsraelAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-43266505034459073952009-08-03T21:03:04.685+03:002009-08-03T21:03:04.685+03:00if this goes on a little longer could it come to t...if this goes on a little longer could it come to the American Jewry having to decide between "love" of Obama and "love" of Israel?<br />or put differently decide between an unattainable ideal in a far away land and taking sides in the messiness of real politics in the middle east<br /><br />the whole thing reminds me a lot of Churchill's exasperation when Woodrow Wilson came over and according to Churchill was aghast at the Europeans having shifted allegiances multiple times during the war being always only after their own advantage <br />to the honour of Wilson he learned and changed at least part of his mind while in Versailles (again according to Churchill)<br /><br />maybe Obama has to sit himself at a negotiation table where it is not enought to do the moderation community organizer styleAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-44470625464348640372009-08-03T18:57:31.127+03:002009-08-03T18:57:31.127+03:00Here is Barry Rubin's response to Mitchel'...Here is Barry Rubin's response to Mitchel's interview<br />http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2009/08/obama-middle-east-policy-clueless-is.htmlDimitry Papkovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10882533376133034078noreply@blogger.com