Netanyahu's Train Wreck - Israel 2011

Rarely has a political party done as much damage to their country as the present Likud party has done in Israel since its return to power in 2009. Since the USA remains its big benefactor and protector this affects all of us in this country who must pay to support our intransigent ally and to also try to pick up the pieces when things go wrong. Things are certainly going wrong with faster and faster speed.

The return of Likud to the political power in Israel was billed as a return of strong leadership, while the weak policies of Arial Sharon and Ehud Barak that had led to Israel's unilateral pullback from Gaza and attempts to come to terms with the Palestinians were discredited. It was back to the same old strategy of building "settlements" on Palestinian land as fast as they could while smoke screening the political process. Safe in their reliance on their sugar daddy superpower, Israel was secure that it could do anything it wanted. Today we can survey the landscape at what these policies of these have wrought.

Whereas before Israel had strong relations with Turkey and Egypt, sub Rosa support from Saudi Arabia who saw Israel as having similar interest in foiling the Iranian menace and a working relationship with Jordan and other Arab states, today these relationships are in ruins.

In order to maintain a blockade of Gaza and its 1.6 million impoverished inhabitants, Israel maintained a naval, air and land blockade denying them basic building material (much needed after Israeli military activity destroyed much of Gaza) and even food - all in an effort to deny them weapons that could be used against Israel. While Israel has legitimate defense interests, maintaining a stranglehold on these people had become an odious business. The Palestinians resorted to a network of tunnels that were the source of both sustenance for the inhabitants and the conduit for the weapons the Israel so desired to keep out. In the meantime Hamas ran the tunnels and the smuggling activity served to strengthen them!

Into the fray came an international aid flotilla to attempt to break the siege. Instead they were shot up by Israeli commandos with the loss of lives in particular nine Turkish citizens. When Turkey demanded a full apology the US got involved to defusing the issue between its two allies and solution was found. Unfortunately, it was quickly rejected by Bibi and his ultra right wing defense minister. Instead Turkey has been moved from the column of ally to potential enemy and all for the lack of willingness to offer an apology. After all they know they own their ace in the hole - the United States. We can be counted on to bail them out of any eventuality.

Egypt and the Arab spring have topped the other main Arab dictators that were working with Israel are now gone. Now the mood on the street has turned decidedly hostile across the Arab world. Israel has developed a lot of interests in these countries for energy and the like and now they are going up in smoke. The people are not willing to countenance Israel so utterly trampling on fellow Arabs next door.

A glance at the map shows how dramatic this change in fortune has been. Such sweeping change by gross stupidity, inflexibility and arrogance has happened before and Bibi can keep company with the likes of good old Nieville Chamberlain the frequently lambasted British Prime Minister that thought he could buy off Hitler and instead turned all of his potential allies as the world prepared for its biggest storm.

Prior to the outbreak of WWII the British and a week kneed France handed over Czechoslovakia with its million man army, network of frontier defenses and its manufacturing capacity to the Furher all for the mere hope it would buy peace in our time. Instead the move resulted in even the Belgians withdrawing from military relations with the Allied powers. The USSR was even more incensed by the Czech fiasco and by idiotic diplomacy the demonstrated how little Britain could be relied on against the Third Reich. Instead they came to terms with the Furher. Britain, France and isolated Poland stood in a frightful position and would pay the price.

Chamberlain is usually used as a political straw man to show how merely standing militarily in the face of a dictator is always the right thing to do. What often is not brought out is how he dramatically changed the balance of power, turning what should have been key allies into cooperation with Furher or non cooperation with Britain and France.

Perhaps an even bigger loss to Israel is the loss of people that formerly were their greatest admirers, myself included that now have no more stomach to support this increasing right wing, ultra religious and intolerant bunch that have no qualms about doing to others things that have been perpetrated on them for centuries.

Bibi and Avigdor can rest assured that the USA will always come to its rescue. Of course we worry about them more than we worry about ourselves.

Republicans In Wonderland

I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir because I'm not myself you see.

So might the Republicans describe the state of their political party. I used to say the R in Republican stood for Responsibility in contrast to the woolly headed schemes propagated by democrats, Republicans were fiscally sound, pro-business and practical. The debt ceiling debacle clearly shows this is no longer the case. As a former Republican myself the realization that this party was heading south made me head to hills a few years ago. Today, its gotten much worse – just like our 401Ks.

"I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."

The transformation is nearly complete - from the party of Lincoln to the party of Jefferson Davis, from the party of sound government finances to the party where deficits don't matter, from the party of reality to the party of religious dogma. The loss of that formidable enemy the Soviet Union left the Republicans drifting about looking for it's raison d'etre. Into the void marched the armies of the evangelicals, the ones that want government out of our lives but to be involved helping spoon feed us their religion. In times gone by a Ronald Reagan could give them the lip service they required, but choose to not implement the programs they desired. Today, they have an iron grip.

"When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

The decidedly hostile attitude to science or even intellectual thought has been one of the striking features of this new Republican party. Global warming is of course denied as a hoax, foisted upon us by a vast conspiracy of ninety five plus percent of the scientists on the planet. Evolution is derided as nonsense and many believe the planet is only 6,000 years old in conformance with biblical prophecy. These people must not visit the Grand Canyon or even the Delaware Water Gap for that matter, or perhaps they just don't think. Mathematics is especially challenging to this group when they look to balance the Federal budget and keep incessantly pointing out small slivers that can be cut while ignoring the staggering size and scope of what is befalling this country.

"Curiouser and curiouser!"

During the early days of the war in Iraq, the State Department experts that had studied the country in detail and were trying to come to grips with running it were fired to be replaced by young Republican zealots that were primarily chosen for their stances on abortion and other litmus tests. Thus, Iraq would become yet another American fiasco. In case after case having a scientific background or a well grounding in history makes one suspect in the Republican party.

" Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin," thought Alice; " but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever say in my life!"

These people lack historical perspective and cling to the myth of American exceptionalism despite all evidence that we are no longer as exceptional as we have been telling ourselves. Many great empires have come and gone and most of them thought they were pretty exceptional too. Trusting to god for our nation's salvation they help lead us over the cliff.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

As the Republicans have become the party of the south, they more and more resemble the old Republican party which eventually became the Democratic party in the time of Andrew Jackson. This sounds benign until you get to the bottom of all the “states rights” talk, the nullification of federal laws and outright secession that has been running from the mouths of a prick like Texas Governor and aspiring Presidential contender Rick Perry. Plenty of the old imbecility of the old south is evidenced by these people. It seems more and more a replay of the early 19^th century with the lead up to the civil war. Once again the southerners are going to hold the country hostage. Not another President from Texas!

"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

Where does this leave the country? Well its standing still watching the world pass us by. Our biggest hope, that the Chinese real estate bubble bursts landing them on their ass. We have a spineless Democratic President but at least he is sane. We have one Republican contender that threatens to do real bad things to Ben Bernanke the Fed Chairman while trying to solve the Texas drought and fiscal problems by holding prayer sessions. We have another one that promises us we will have under $2 gas when she is elected, how this is to be done she never says. I guess we must take it on faith. Perhaps, they will have to look for some volunteers, three virgin boys and girls and three black rams to use as a sacrifice just like they did in the time of Abraham.

Dressing down an American President

Bibi goes over the edge.

Normally the time to deliver strong language to an American President is behind closed doors not in front of TV cameras at an Oval Office reception in the White House, that is unless of course you are Bibi Netanyahu the Israeli Prime Minister, who delivered a blistering lecture right in Obama's face for all to see. How Obama could sit there stoically and take it I do not know. How Republicans can stand up and approve the indiscretions of the Israeli Prime Minister in demeaning the Chief Executive and Commander and Chief of their own county is even more appalling.

This is not the first time the United States has been subjected to obnoxious behavior directed against their President by a visiting foreign politician. In 1793 George Washington had to face down the French Ambassador, Citizen Genet who decided to outfit privateers in American ports to wage warfare against Great Britain which would have most likely drawn the United States into a war for which it was woefully unprepared. When Genet attempted to go over Washington's head to the newspapers and refused orders to cease and desist his efforts, became a scandal and he was disgraced and recalled.

Bibi's indiscretion has far less injurious potential to the United States than the Genet's episode could have been, but it shows how the Israeli tail wags the American dog. Obama had to sit and take it like a man. He knows who is boss. Showing an American President being dressed down does not set a good precedent especially when the video is being seen as a further example of American decline and subservience to Israel.

Republicans of course stand up for Israel first and foremost or should I say they stand for that portion of Israel that is right wing Likud or some far right religious parties that mostly control Israeli politics today. These groups desire to see Israel expand over all the lands of Israel as god decided thousands of years ago. It is no matter that Palestinians have existed there for thousands of years, they should leave and move to Jordan. They should accept their reduced status and lack of a future.

Considering the history of the Jewish people this a curious turn of events after hundreds of years of living in forced ghettos and enduring progroms directed against them. In 1492 not only did Columbus sail the ocean blue, it was also the year Spain expelled all the Jews, 200,000 of them! Martin Luther is praised in western school curriculums for his part in the Reformation, however having failed to convert the Jews he urged that their property be seized, they be afforded no legal protection and shown no mercy or kindness. More recently the Fuhrer took these words to heart forcing them into cattle cars to their final oblivion in the gas chambers.

Today we see Israel acting in much the same way towards the Palestinians. A quick flyover on Google Earth will show the Palestinian reality quite clearly. Compare the adjacent Arab towns to the resort-like Jewish communities they are adjacent to. They are certainly living in walled off ghettos much like Jews did in Europe in the 15th century. Basically, to support the 260,000 Israeli "settlers" in the West Bank the 2,400,000 Palestinians must be tightly controlled lest they demand the basic rights of human beings. In the combined Israel/Palestine the number of Jews and Arabs is almost equal at 5.3 million. The Arabs are multiplying much faster.

With the Israelis great benefactor the United States heading down the road to financial ruin, how perilous are these policies going to be for Israel over the next few decades? Encouraging the Israelis to be intransigent and allowing them to go further out on a limb might not be a good idea - unless of course you are an apocalyptic Christian that hopes the Jews will crush the Arabs and rebuild the Temple which will herald in the return of Jesus Christ.

We just had another doomsday prophecy go up in flames we do not need to base or foreign policy on one.

Good Riddance

All these people have come out to decry our exultation over the death of that poor individual Osama Bin Laden, the man that never had any issues killing women, children and other innocents in his quest for the new Caliphate. The man the would be Caliph or at least one of its principle poo-bahs is dead - double tapped in the head. What a pity he could not suffer like those that continue to suffer from the barbarous deeds perpetrated in the name of this beast. Holy man, yeah two holes in the head.

Like Luca Brasi, Osama now rests with the fishes.

Atheist and True Believer alike we can all say Amen and hasta la vista, baby.