Category Archives: Israel
Chickenshit
An article in the Atlantic reveals that an anonymous White House staffer wanted it known he thinks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “chickenshit“. Seemed like a chickenshit thing to do.
The White House is making no effort to identify the chicken.
According to Politico staffers have also said Secretary of State John Kerry is tumbling untethered through space like Sandra Bullock in the movie “Gravity”. Meanwhile, President Obama has become so untethered from popular support chances are he’ll lose the Senate on Tuesday.
Another Politico story says that the administration is so worried about the midterms it sent forth cabinet members like flying monkeys to scare up votes. Alas:
Their efforts do not appear to have done any good. Obama’s numbers, if anything, have gone down, and the only question Democrats are going into Tuesday with is how many losses they’re going to suffer.
Could be his cabinet secretaries were unenthusiastic after losing influence to the White House staff. (From the first Politico piece)
Earlier, Obama’s first two secretaries of defense, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, published books criticizing his decisions on national security. Specifically, they complained that Obama has brought so much responsibility into the executive office of the president that it has paralyzed the White House’s ability to think strategically.
The National Security Council itself has grown from about 50 people under President George W. Bush to just under 400 people under Obama, Reuters reported.
Chickenshit
Many of whom are young and inexperienced.
Stupid Shit Obama Doctrine
When President Obama is not saying “the Bear is loose”, as he pretends to break the bonds of his keepers, he likes to say he “doesn’t do stupid shit”. Not doing stupid shit seems to be the Obama Doctrine. (I changed “shit” to “stuff” in the cartoon to get it in the newspaper. Harry Truman wouldn’t have given a shit:
Reportedly, at a speech to a Washington garden club, he kept referring to the fact that flowers need manure. Now, in those days, even the word “manure” was a little extreme for such ladies, and afterwards one complained to Mrs. Truman. “Can’t you get the President to say ‘fertilizer?’” “Heavens, no,” Mrs. Truman replied “It took me twenty-five years to get him to say ‘manure’.”)
Anyway, with 2016 approaching, Hillary decided to put some daylight between herself and Barack I. In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in Atlantic, the former secretary of state said, “Great nations need organizing principles. “Don’t do stupid shit” isn’t an organizing principle.”
Obama’s response? “That’s horse shit!”
Dana Milbank accuses our fecund fecal minded ruler of going on vacation “while the world burns”. “If not in the category of “stupid “stuff” it could fall under the heading of tone deafness.”
Even Obama agrees.
Kerry, Qatar, Hamas, and Turkey
Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and the Saudis want Hamas out and Fatah in in Gaza. So what did John Kerry do? He met with Islamist Turkey and Qatar to come up with a cease fire agreement that keeps Hamas in power and its rockets and tunnels intact. The Israeli cabinet unanimously rejected the deal. Israel has Hamas on the ropes. Hammas is without friends – save for Turkey and Qatar – which is why Krauthammer called Kerry Hamas’s lawyer.
Here’s David Harsanyi in The Federalist:
Perhaps because of tragic loss of life, the United States would rather see a ceasefire than Hamas dealt a mortal blow. And that is almost certainly one of the reasons Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields.
Thomas Sowell , looking way back, says ” ‘Cease-fire” and “negotiations” are magic words to “the international community.” But just what do cease-fires actually accomplish?”
In the short run, they save some lives. But in the long run they cost far more lives, by lowering the cost of aggression…
At one time, launching a military attack on another nation risked not only retaliation but annihilation. When Carthage attacked Rome, that was the end of Carthage.
Looks like mutual assured destruction all around is the key to world peace.
The Washington Post’s David Ignatius calls this Kerry’s big blunder:
Kerry’s error has been to put so much emphasis on achieving a quick halt to the bloodshed that he has solidified the role of Hamas, the intractable, unpopular Islamist group that leads Gaza, along with the two hard-line Islamist nations that are its key supporters, Qatar and Turkey. In the process, he has undercut not simply the Israelis but also the Egyptians and the Fatah movement that runs the Palestinian Authority, all of which want to see an end to Hamas rule in Gaza.
The State Department’s response to Kerry criticism? Well, this is “not the way allies treat each other.”
Hamas and the Iron Dome
Hamas has fired over 1200 rockets claiming “every Israeli is a legitimate target”. So far only one “legitimate target” has been killed. That’s because of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense.
Israel doesn’t consider individual Palestinians “legitimate targets”. Before striking back at Hamas it warned civilians with pamphlets and phone calls. Hamas responded by telling them to stay in place as human shields.
Charles Krauthammer writes in the Washington Post, “Rarely does international politics present a moment of such moral clarity”:
“Here’s the difference between us,” explains the Israeli prime minister. “We’re using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they’re using their civilians to protect their missiles.”
Hamas and the Iron Dome
William Saletan in Slate says there’s plenty to argue about in Gaza, “But one thing should be clear to everyone: Hamas is insane. It’s destroying Gaza.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is perplexed:
“What are you trying to achieve by sending rockets?” he asked rhetorically in a TV interview. In another appearance, he pleaded: “We are the losing side, and every minute there are more and more unnecessary deaths. … I don’t like trading in Palestinian blood.”
The Guardian disagrees. Seumas Milne says, “The idea of Israel defending itself from unprovoked attacks is absurd.”
Iran Sucker’s Deal
The U.S. negotiated a deal with Iran that would have eased sanctions without requiring them to stop moving toward an atomic bomb. Netanyahu freaked out and hit Kerry on the nose with a rolled up newspaper calling it a “very very bad deal“. The French went a step further calling it a sucker’s deal and killed it.
