The weaklings
While I don't agree with Amir Oren's prescription for Netanyahu (a coalition with Kadima and a massive giveaway of Israel's strategic assets), I wrote earlier this week that Obama can stand up to no one other than Netanyahu and Netanyahu can stand up to no one (which should have been qualified by "other than the Likud and Tzipi Livni"). This part of Amir Oren's piece seems to be spot-on (except for the last sentence). Ever since Napoleon, at the very latest, the standard description of wise strategy has been "an iron fist in a velvet glove." Diplomacy that is not backed by power, meaning both the capability and the willingness to use it, is mere rhetoric - especially when it comes to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Actually, I think Netanyahu could get away with humiliating Arabs and Muslims if he had the iron fist and was willing to use it.
Obama's strategy - if the cumulative effect of his acts of commission and omission can be dignified with that name - is a velvet fist in a velvet glove, while Netanyahu's is a velvet fist in an iron glove. Both men broadcast weakness, but the Israeli version of this policy is further marred by the unnecessary humiliation of individuals and communities that place a high value on their own honor.
But read the whole thing.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:34 AM
1 Comments:
Carl don't hold your breath waiting for that happen.
Or the Israeli government to lift its racist apartheid oppression of the Yesha revanants.
What could go wrong indeed
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