Obama and Israel: Not Smart.

[OldMercsRule]

John Podhoretz.

In both politics and diplomacy, actors must think at least one move ahead. They need to be reasonably sure that when they say or do A, then the other party will say or do B. And they should want the other party to say or do B, otherwise it makes no sense to say A in the first place. The purpose of action isn't just to act, in other words, but to make sure that the reaction you get advances your purposes and your interests. Which is why the administration's behavior in deepening and perpetuating its latest confrontation with Israel is actually rather bewildering. Let's start out by acknowledging that what happened during Vice President Biden's trip last week — the announcement of new housing starts in East Jerusalem — was an affront to the United States. I believe Israel has every right to do what it is doing, but the view of the visiting representative of the administration is that what it is doing is wrong and injurious to future prospects for peace, and this conflict of visions is not going to be resolved. Biden was embarrassed, his visit overshadowed, and expressions of diplomatic dismay appropriate as a result. The Israeli prime minister, who did not know about the announcement, apologized to the visitor and was embarrassed as well by the way in which the dysfunctional Israeli political system was exposed to international view.

See the rest:

http://www.debatepolicy.com/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=29

This crew from Chicago can't seem to shoot straight. JR

[HogTrash]

I don't understand, exactly how "the announcement of new housing starts in East Jerusalem — was an affront to the United States."???

And what difference does it make who is affronted?...Israels 1st priority is to do what is best for Israelis to survive in a very hostile part of the world.

And as far as Joe Biden being embarrassed, COOL!...This whole administration is a joke we would all be laughing at if not for the seriousness of our situation.

[OldMercsRule]

It does seem strange that the Obamaprompter Administration escalated this particular issue at this particular juncture.

Netanyahu is the PM, (that is likely far too cornservative relative to what Obamaprompter would likely prefer if he had a magic wand or some such), butt: he heads a coalition Gubment (which are notoriously sloppy due to competing factions looking for political opportunity), potentially at the expense of the coalition PM.

If Obamaprompter had actual experience (outside of Chicago knee breaking politics where he voted present), he would know that weakness about parlamentary type Gubmnets governed by coalitions.

Were the Chicago thugs lookin' for a media distraction from the heavy handed way they are shoving the health care reform down our throats? Unlikely as well, butt: hard to really know from this gang who can't seem to shoot straight.

Maybe it is a combination of the inexperience of Obamaprompter, the daffy duck nature of Joey "gasbag" Biden, and the tendency of modern hate and blame Liberals to luv and help our (and their) enemies, (like Iran) and hurt our (and their) friends and allies, (Israel) as they did routinely when George W Bush was POTUS fighting two wars that Democrats badly wanted to loose, (at least in Iraq), for political gain.

Hard to tell not knowin'!

Maybe Dr. Weiner is right after all when he states: "Liberalism is a mental disorder", eh?

Further reading (if you have interest):

http://www.tnr.com/article/world/the-crisis