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Monday, March 29, 2010

Obama's plan for the Middle East

For those of you who have been watching the goings on for the last couple of weeks and wondering whether President Obama has a plan other than visceral Jew hatred, unfortunately I can assure you that he does have a plan. William Kristol explains.
Why the exploitation of a minor disagreement with the Israeli government to justify a turn against Israel? President Obama cares about being popular—in America, certainly, but in the world as well. And not just because popularity in the world can help the United States achieve its foreign policy aims. But because, as James Ceaser argued in these pages in January, Obama aspires to be a leader of humanity, not merely a president of a single country.

And there’s no better way to be a leader of humanity than to show disapproval of the Jewish state. Sure, Obama’s turn against Israel will make it less likely that Palestinians will negotiate seriously with her. Sure, it will embolden radical Arabs and Muslims against those who would like their nations to take a different, more responsible, course. Sure, it’s a distraction from the real challenge of Iran. But the turn against Israel is ultimately a key part of what Obamaism is all about. That’s why there’s been so little attempt by the administration to reassure friends of Israel that Obama has been acting more in sorrow than in anger. Obama’s proud of his anger at the stiff-necked Jewish state. It puts him in sync with the rest of the world.
Jennifer Rubin adds:
In this, we see the intersection of Obama’s multilateralism, his aversion to American exceptionalism, his fetish with his own international popularity, his obsession with engaging despots, his disinterest in promoting human rights, and his hostility toward the Jewish state. They are interlocking pieces in the greater Obama vision — each reenforces the other and makes more precarious the security of not only Israel but also the United States. Obama may suppose he is making America more popular or reducing conflict with rogue states, but instead, he is fueling the ambitions of aggressive despots and frittering away America’s moral standing. We are abetting an international free-for-all as the world’s bullies look for openings to assert themselves and to show just how dangerous it is to be a small democratic ally of the U.S.
What could go wrong?

3 Comments:

At 2:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I feel we have definately entered the post-Amirican era.

My thoughts are that it may be due to one of the following:

1.) A desire for American isolationism; or
2.) ANC-style socialism whereby the 1st post-Apartheid South African government declared it would reassess its relationships with countries allied to the former government and choose its friends from those who had supported the struggle: Libya, Iran, The PLO etc.
The new America; much like the New South Africa, will strive towards becoming a "rainbow nation", with open borders, a scaled down police and army, a dismantled nuclear weapons program and the favouring of minorities.

South Africa today; America's tomorrow? Could be, if Pres. Hussain gets to run for a 2nd term.

 
At 2:56 PM, Blogger NormanF said...

Part of it is visceral Jew hatred but another reason is to sidle up to America's enemies and hold America's allies at arms' length. There's madness behind Obama's treatment of Israel but its also rational as well. The people who run his foreign policy know perfectly well what they're doing even if that isn't the kind of foreign policy America used to have in the past. And unfortunately, its not something Israel can rely on.

 
At 3:32 PM, Blogger NormanF said...


I just had to get this in before Passover starts in Israel. Roger Cohen, who thinks Obama is cool and thinks Netanyahu is his Khruschev to Obama's JFK in toughening the neophyte President up, avers that Iran is not really the Number One Problem in the Middle East.



More here: Lo, The Mideast Moves



If you guessed its Israel, you're in good company, indeed. Not much has changed in the world in the last 3,000 years, except the world is still in denial about the danger the Jews face from gallows of a very different kind. No thanks to Cohen and his ilk.

 

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