Category Archives: U.S. Politics

Israel, Palestine, U.S. Politics

Oh Romney, Oh Jerusalem, Oh Jesus Holy Christ Obama……………..

   

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“But the standard rationale for treating Jerusalem’s status as uncertain is that the partition plan designated it as an internationally ruled “corpus separatum.” Neither America nor anyone else is consistent on this point, either. In a last blast of imperialism, the corpus separatum was mapped to avoid Jewish or Muslim rule over Christian sites. ………….. I suspect that if Mitt Romney is elected, he will be absolutely irresponsible about cutting taxes on the rich and ballooning the deficit—but I don’t think he is reckless enough to move the American embassy to Jerusalem before a peace agreement. Doing so would remove the last shred of American credibility in the Arab world. It might very well ignite a new intifada, which—trust me—would not be healthy for those of us who live in Jerusalem. How many Americans will vote based on what the Democratic platform says about the Jerusalem? You can count them on your thumbs. This may be the most ideologically stark American election since 1932, if not since 1860. Most American Jews will vote for Obama. If they are worried about Israel, they will notice that Obama has upped funding for Israeli missile defense, vetoed U.N. resolutions criticizing Israel, and kept Benjamin Netanyahu from launching a disastrous attack on Iran. The minority of Jews who support Romney don’t care if the Democrats put the entire Israeli national anthem in their platform, in Hebrew. Most evangelicals will vote Romney, and are similarly unconcerned about whether “Jerusalem”—or “God”—is in the Democratic platform ……………..”

This whole quadrennial noise (it is just noise) in U.S. politics about Israel and Jerusalem is aimed at two American constituencies this fall. The first one, the Jewish voters, will continue to vote heavily Democratic, partly because they can smell demagoguery in disguise and their whole “modern” history screams against it (at least when it is non-Jewish demagoguery). Maybe a few elderly migrant voters in Florida can be terrified and swayed, which is one possibly useful target. The second receptive constituency is the Evangelicals and Bible-belters who will not vote for Obama in any case, even if his name were Jesus Holy Christ (with or without the ‘Obama’).
Come to think of it, the same Evangelical Bible-belters would probably vote against Jesus Christ himself, once they see how he is dressed, how he speaks and, more important, what he preaches.

Cheers
mhg
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Islamophobia, Muslims, Racism, U.S. Congress, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

U.S. Elections: Self-Hating Arabs, Self-Hating Muslims………

   

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I was thinking about the U.S. elections, with all the convention circus going on for the second week.
I wonder if any Muslims will vote Republican this year? And what do we call them? What do we call an Arab or a Muslim who votes for the party that has been vilifying and threatening them for the past few years? The party of Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Peter King, et al, who vilified Muslims and Islam every day for months this past year. And Romney who is threatening to wage a new war in our homelands and virtually to make Israel an actual 51st state. A party that threatens to treat the Arabs, in their own region, like past victims of racism in the old American Southwest, the Apaches and Comanches and others, to be terrorized and displaced as so many wild savage animals.
Benjamin Netanyahu has a name for American Jews and other Jews who oppose his policies: he calls them “self-hating Jews“. Ironically a very Hitler-ite way of vilifying your opponent, an irony he probably misses.
How many self-hating Muslims and Arabs are out there?

(FYI: there is such a thing as the lesser of two………)
Cheers
mhg
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Middle East, Muslims, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

Warrior Romney: Return of Imperialism Seeking More Enemies in Muslim Lands………..

   

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“If we take the candidate at his word, a Romney presidency would move toward war against Iran; closely align Washington with the Israeli right; leave troops in Afghanistan at least until 2014 and refuse to negotiate with the Taliban; reset the Obama administration’s “reset” with Russia; and pursue a Reagan-like military buildup at home. The Washington Monthly dubbed Romney’s foreign policy vision the “more enemies, fewer friends” doctrine, which is chillingly reminiscent of the world Obama inherited from Bush. In March the Rev. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention told the Romney campaign it could win over “recalcitrant conservatives,” reported the Washington Post, by “previewing a few Cabinet selections: Santorum as attorney general, Gingrich as ambassador to the United Nations and John Bolton as secretary of state.” That suggestion, which might seem ludicrous, not to mention terrifying, is more plausible than one might think………..”

People in the Middle East, Arabs and Muslims, believe Mr. Obama has expanded the war-making policies of George W Bush. He is now involved in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, East Africa, Northwest Africa, Libya (was), Syria (on the side of the rebels: weapons, intelligence, most likely with special forces and intelligence agents as well), Bahrain (on the side of the regime: weapons), Iran (economic, intelligence, cyber warfare, drones). The only people in the region who think Obama is not waging enough wars in Muslim lands are the Israeli right.
Willard Mitt Romney, if elected, seems set to appoint a bunch of right-wing war-mongers, gunboat diplomats, and old-style imperialists of the kind we have not seen since early 20th century. These are people who actually believe that the United States has the “right” to attack, invade, blockade, or otherwise boycott other countries simply for opposing its government’s policies.
Of course most people in places like Mississippi and Alabama and Oklahoma and Idaho also oppose US government policies. Yet none of these states has been invaded, not since 1861, unless you consider Little Rock (Eisenhower) and Birmingham (JFK) invasions.
Cheers
mhg
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U.S. Politics

Mitt Romney: Picking Money for a Mate…………

   

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“As part of its vetting process to select a potential vice president, the Romney campaign reportedly asked each of its shortlisted candidates this week to submit a 10-page essay describing, in detail, what they like most about money. “Before Mitt makes a final decision, he feels it’s necessary to know what a prospective running mate’s favorite aspects of money are, be it its rich green color; its ability to be exchanged for luxury items like cars or beachfront homes; or the way it looks in neat, towering stacks,” deputy campaign manager Katie Packer Gage told reporters Thursday. “We’ve made it clear to each essayist that Mitt’s not looking for anything specific here. In fact, he wants candidates to just cut loose and really explore attributes they may not have even realized they loved about money, such as its durable cotton paper stock or how it spontaneously grows when left completely alone in a bank account. Mitt wants to get a sense that if, God forbid, something were to happen to him as president, the individual filling his shoes would not only be capable of loving money as much as he does, but would be able to think about it in interesting, abstract ways.” According to several campaign sources who asked not to be identified, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty has thus far distinguished himself from the field with a nearly 12,000-word composition describing how deeply he enjoys exchanging 20 one-dollar bills for a single twenty……………”
Cheers
mhg
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Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, U.S. Politics

Bandar the Romantic Royal Jeffersonian: from the Kingdom of Fear to the Home of the Brave…………..

   

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“Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar bin Sultan, 62, fell in love with the United States when he was still a pilot in his country’s air force and took aerobatics training on an American air base. The romance was renewed several years later when he was named his country’s ambassador to Washington, a tenure that lasted 22 years, during which he was a regular guest of both George Bushes and was the only ambassador who was guarded by the U.S. Secret Service. Last week King Abdullah named him director-general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency, replacing Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, on top of his post as secretary general of the National Security Council, which he’s held since 2005. Bandar’s appointment to the most important position in the Saudi security echelons is no coincidence. Aside from the fact that he is very well connected to the kingdom’s leaders (his wife, Haifa, is the daughter of King Faisal who was assassinated in 1975, her brother, Turki al-Faisal, was once head of Saudi intelligence and another brother, Mohammed al-Faisal, is one of the kingdom’s richest men), it seems that the primary reason for his appointment now is that Saudi Arabia is preparing for the next stage in Syria………..” Haaretz (This link was through Google webcache , but it has been rendered in-operable as well)

This WAS a gushing tribute to Prince Bandar Bin Sultan al-Saud (I am so tempted to add ‘al-Yamama al-Money‘ to his name, but that may be seen as disrespectful, so I won’t). It was posted in the Israeli daily Haaretz briefly yesterday, then pulled out quickly. But there is no going back on the Internet, as they say (I am not sure who the hell said that, but somebody must have said it, or ought to have said it).
The piece starts with Bandar “falling in love with America”. That part is easy to understand: I fell in love with America from my first day, nay first hour, as a teenager student arriving in New York City. But I doubt that Bandar fell in love with American values. He did not, of course. You’d think from the piece that he has become such an avid Jeffersonian democrat, which may explain why he seeks to convert his country from the ‘kingdom of fear and no magic” into an imitation of the “land of free and home of the brave”. Except that he and the other princes have no use for a Land of the Free nor for a Home of the Brave in the Arabian Peninsula. They rule and prosper by fear, and fear is becoming a rare commodity in the Arab world these days, from Tunisia all the way to Syria and Bahrain. (No doubt Bandar will also fall in love with Bibi Netanyahu as soon as he meets him, possibly, nay very likely, he already has. By Arab standards Israel is no doubt a free democracy, except that Bandar, being an Arab prince, confuses the leader with the country).
It is possible the piece was pulled because it has many serious errors and omissions. The impression it gives that Bandar helped set American foreign policy is ridiculous, although I have facetiously called him a National Security Adviser of the Bush administration. (There are other reasons as well for pulling the piece, but that is for later). Of all the reasons given in the article for Bandar’s “promotion”, the most important is not mentioned: he is the son of the late crown prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, and in the division of spoils among the elderly al-Saud princes and their clans, this is part of his share of the spoils of the kingdom.
As I sagely clarified in another posting, the kingdom is fast becoming a land of turfs, fiefdoms, and princely principalities. I had succinctly explained the issue in an earlier posting, and in some older writings. I also had posted something about his famous American connections here.

Cheers
mhg
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Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

New Band in Middle East Town? Romney’s Warmongers……

    

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“Rick Perry labeled the Turkish government “Islamic terrorists.” Newt Gingrich referred to Palestinians as “invented” people. Herman Cain called Uzbekistan “Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan” and memorably blanked when asked what he thought of NATO’s incursion into Libya. Michele Bachmann pledged to close the US embassy in Iran, which hasn’t existed since 1980. Rick Santorum gave a major foreign policy speech at a Jelly Belly factory in California…………. Few advisers personify the pugnacity of Romney’s foreign policy team better than Bolton. He has been a steadfast opponent of international organizations and treaties and seems never to have met a war he didn’t like. “John’s wisdom, clarity and courage are qualities that should typify our foreign policy,” Romney responded……….”

President Obama started in office being generally well-liked by Arabs and Muslim. He has come along way: now he is not liked much in the Arab and Muslim worlds. He is considered no more than any other recent US President, probably less because he is waging more wars in the Middle East than any other American president.
I have no doubt that Willard (Mitt) Romney will immediately become the most-hated (by Arabs and Muslims) US president in history. He is already setting himself up, if elected, to expand America’s wars in the Middle East to Iran and Syria and possibly a few other places. John Bolton is such an extremist that even a Republican-controlled Senate refused to confirm him as UN ambassador when Bush nominated him. He was appointed at recess for one year only. He will no doubt be back with Romney, either as deputy at State or Defense or at National Security or as UN ambassador. Bolton assiduously evaded serving in the Vietnam war, a war he verbally supported. Sort of like Cheney and Bush and many other rightist ‘war lovers from a safe distance‘.

The Romney Middle East and Arab policy looks pretty bad when we know his advisers who are mostly neoconservatives. The only native Middle Eastern among them is a veteran of the Lebanese right-wing militia the ‘Lebanese Forces‘ (LF) which were implicated in massacres like those at the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps. (Actually the LF militia committed the rapes and massacre, with the dead estimated at between 1,000-3,000 victims, while Israeli forces kept a lookout outside). His name is Walid Phares. This does not bode well especially for a Romney policy toward Lebanon and Syria. It does not bode well for US relations with a majority of the Lebanese people who, like it or not, support Hezbollah and its allies (they won 54% of the votes during the last Lebanese elections). It does not bode well for relations with the plurality of Lebanese who are the political base of Hezbollah.

No matter who wins next November, he will become the least popular American president in history as far as Arabs and Muslims are concerned. I am talking the people not the princes and potentates who no doubt prefer Romney but can learn to continue loving Obama.

Cheers
mhg
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U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

Romney Promises Policies ‘Opposite’ Of Obama, Screwing Up the Economy…

    

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This past weekend, Mitt Romney vowed that he would look at what President Obama has done regarding Israel and “do the opposite.” What do you think? ……” 

Some American voters responded that: “I can only assume what Romney means is that he’s going to cut off aid to Israel, support the Palestinians, and make out with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…..…. this style of rhetoric could really take the guesswork out of Romney’s positions on everything…….”

This might be problematic for Romney if he applies it to economic policy (especially before he gets elected). Obama always says he wants to create more jobs for Americans. Ergo: Romney has to say he will strive to lose more American jobs (just like Bush and Cheney did). Hopefully if he is elected Romney will abandon this policy since it will screw up the U.S. economy in a way that only Republicans have been able to do so far and get away with it.
Cheers
mhg
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Islamophobia, Muslims, Racism, U.S. Congress, U.S. Politics

America in Danger of an Arab and Muslim Takeover……….

    

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“Yet Wasserman Schultz decided to abruptly pull out of speaking at EMERGE’s annual dinner last week. “We never agreed to do a fundraiser, nor an event,” claimed Wasserman Schultz spokesman Jonathan Beeton. Yet EMERGE had previously widely advertised Wasserman Schultz’s participation at the fundraising dinner without apparent complaint from the congresswoman’s staff. “We were interfacing with congresswoman Wasserman Schultz’s people for about a year to try to get something together,” said Siddiqui. “So when she agreed to the banquet, we were elated.” There’s a much more likely explanation for her abrupt refusal to attend the event than a simple miscommunication. For months, Islamophobic websites and a far-right congressional candidate waged a smear campaign against EMERGE, pressuring Wasserman Schultz to back out of the event. With her withdrawal, it appears that they won. The smears can be traced back to an article in right-wing McCarthyist David Horowitz’s Front Page Magazine. In a February article, Joe Kaufman – who is vying in a Republican primary to challenge Wasserman Schultz for her seat in Congress – teamed up with Militant Islam Monitor’s Beila Rabinowitz to claim that EMERGE was part of a “nefarious agenda of placing Islamists into positions of American power and influence.”……..”

Speaking of “placing Islamists into positions of American power and influence”. Come on now, I hate to be “ethnic” oriented but, just to show the absurdity of that point: Wasserman Schultz (an excellent person, probably better than most Muslims that I know or possibly even those I don’t know), David Horowitz, Beila Rabinowitz, Joe Kaufman, Joe Lieberman, Edelstone, Abe Foxman, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Michael Bloomberg, Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, Eric Cantor (poor lonely guy)? Most of the elected ones among those listed are excellent public servants (with the exception of Lieberman and Cantor). The bloggers and opinion-ators among them are just the usual racist idiots that come in all shapes, colors, and faiths. Not to mention all the Christian (real or nominal) ones. I haven’t even got to the Vegans yet. And these guys worry about “Arabs or Muslims” in positions of power?
I am tempted to type exactly the sound that I just expressed to the consternation of my best friend: hahahahaha.
Cheers
mhg


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Iran, nuclear Iran, U.S. Congress, U.S. Politics, United Nations International Organizations, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Obama Painted into a Corner on Iran: Why Hillary Clinton Should Leave State…..

    

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“L’Iran a appelé lundi les Occidentaux à envisager la levée des sanctions s’ils veulent parvenir à une solution de la crise liée à son programme nucléaire controversé, et laissé entendre qu’il pourrait discuter du niveau d’enrichissement de son uranium. «Si l’Occident veut construire (un climat de) confiance, il devrait commencer par les sanctions, car cela peut aider à accélérer les discussions pour parvenir à une solution», a déclaré le chef de la diplomatie iranienne Ali Akbar Salehi à l’agence de presse ISNA………..”

That is the dilemma of the Iran negotiations with P5+1. Even if the Iranians agree not to enrich uranium to the 20% level, the Western regimes are in no position to lift the sanctions. Provided they are really willing to provide the isotopes needed for research. The Obama administration has painted itself into a corner, where it cannot lift the sanctions in exchange for Iranian concessions. In this political year, the sanctions have been tightened more than ever before, mainly for domestic US political reasons, pressure by the Republican right and AIPAC and the likes of Joe Lieberman. There is no way Obama can lift any sanctions this year; he certainly can’t get the Congress to go along. There is also no way the Iranian will agree to yield on the enrichment issue without a lifting of the Western blockade. That would be tantamount to surrender.
In their eagerness to accommodate the American and Israeli right-wing, Obama and Hillary Clinton have made sure that there can be no deal this year. Not a very good job by the Clinton State Department. If Obama is reelected, he really should look for another secretary of state: the current one has not done a good job.
Cheers
mhg


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Cuba, Latin America, U.S. Politics, US Foreign Policy

Failed Cartagena Summit: Blame Florida, Blame Canada…….

    

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“A summit of nearly 30 Western Hemisphere leaders has ended without a joint declaration due to divisions over Cuba and Argentine claims to the Falkland Islands. “There is no declaration because there is no consensus,” said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos as the summit’s closing news conference. Washington, backed by Canada, stood fast against widespread demands to include in the meeting’s final declaration language specifying that Cuba be included in future hemispheric summits. They had also balked at backing Argentina’s claims to the British-held Falkland Islands. “All the countries here in Latin American and the Caribbean want Cuba to be present. But the United States won’t accept,” President Evo Morales of Bolivia told reporters late Saturday. “It’s like a dictatorship.”……..”


So, no more Summits of the Americas unless ALL nations of the Americas are allowed to attend. Canada’s right-wing government and the United States’ allegedly communist socialist government blocked any consensus on Cuba (and perhaps Florida)and the Malvinas (Falklands). At least until after the 2012 elections. This time Canada got the Malvinas (Falklands) in exchange for Cuba (and perhaps Florida), next time: who knows.
Cheers
mhg


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