Tag Archives: US Congress

Iran, Israel, nuclear Iran, U.S. Congress, U.S. Foreign Policy

Netanyahu’s Good Arab Proverb: the Dogs Bark but Will the Caravan Move On?……..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

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“The Dogs Bark, but the Caravan Moves On: الكلاب تنبح والقافلة تسير” A very good Arab proverb.

“It is said that Israelis’ favorite philosopher is Spinoza. I approve. Iranian intellectuals are less able to speak their minds in Iran’s unfree media than their Israeli counterparts (though there is a price to too much frankness in Israel, as well), but one on one they are also level-headed and clear-eyed. I suspect Iranians’ favorite philosopher is Rumi. If so, again, I approve. In fact, I think Rumi and Spinoza would have gotten along famously. Unfortunately contemporary Iran and contemporary Israel don’t get along at all politically, which sets the stage for the Washington melodrama planned for March 3, when Israel’s belligerent prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, will address Congress in a bid to undermine President Obama’s diplomacy with Iran on their civilian nuclear enrichment program…………”

“The coming weeks will put the relationship between their countries, which otherwise remain stalwart allies, to one of its toughest tests. Netanyahu is bound for Washington for an address to Congress on Tuesday aimed squarely at derailing Obama’s cherished bid for a diplomatic deal with Tehran. At the same time, Secretary of State John Kerry and other international negotiators will be in Switzerland for talks with the Iranians, trying for a framework agreement before a late March deadline………….”

There is an excellent Arab saying or proverb: “The Dogs Bark, but the Caravan Moves On= الكلاب تنبح والقافلة تسير“.
It seems that the caravan of the Iranian and P5+1 negotiations is moving on, even as Mr. Netanyahu and his American groupies become more shrill. Even as they intensify the campaign against a deal aimed at avoiding yet another Western war against a Muslim country. Throwing all kinds of distortions at the media here, while inserting himself and his reelection campaign into a tense American political situation. Something no foreign leader has ever done, not with the connivance of a major American political party. Not in this century.

So, the dogs bark and will continue to do so, but will the caravan of peaceful negotiations keep moving on?

Here is what I wrote on this many long months ago:
“He has been warning them for more than twenty years now that the Iranians are only six months away from a nuclear bomb. From way back in the 1990s, when he was fear-mongering to win his first election, he claimed that the mullahs were about to go ‘nuclear’. I am surprised Europeans still listen to him (American politicians are different, they have their own ‘compelling’ excuses for listening to him). Over two decades, Mr. Netanyahu and his ministers have promised the world a lot of unrealized nuclear slam dunks about Iran………..”

Cheers

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter
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Iran, Israel, U.S. Congress, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Senate

Iranians Worry about Pro-Likud U.S. Senate, Seek a More Active Europe……….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

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“The European Union (EU) can play more active role in the negotiations between Iran and the world powers over Iran’s nuclear issue, Press TV reported on Tuesday quoting Iran’s foreign minister as saying. In a meeting with his Portugese counterpart Rui Machete in Tehran on Monday, Mohammad-Javad Zarif hailed what he termed as “positive” the European countries’ current approach to oppose the imposition of any new sanctions against Tehran and trying out diplomacy………….”

The Iranians are apparently just trying to get some help from Europe. They can see that the U.S. Knesset Congress/Senate is trying to create the conditions for failed negotiations. They see that the legislators are setting the U.S. up for being dragged into an Israeli war against another Muslim country. They know that the Europeans, like almost everybody else outside the USA,  are skeptic about Netanyahu and the Israeli stance. They are trying to get the Europeans to be a bit more forceful on this issue.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Barack Obama, Chickenshit, Israel, U.S. Congress

A Tale of Two Sieges: Obama in Sana’a on the Potomac……..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

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It is tempting this week to compare two cities, two governments, and two countries. On the face of it no two countries can be more different than the United States of America and Yemen. No two cities can be as different as Washington DC and Sana’a. But I shall try to blur the sharp differences:
Months ago Houthi rebels swept from the north and took over the capital of Yemen, Sana’a. They had president Generalissimo Abd Rabu Hadi under a friendly siege for several months as they maneuvered to bend the regime to their will. This week the Houthis seem to have succeeded, for now, in taking complete control of the governance of (North) Yemen. For now: Yemen is not easy to tame. Some in neighboring Arab countries claim that the Houthis depended on Iranian support in their confrontation with the regime. They are also reported to depend on Iranian money. A plausible claim, but then a clever skeptic can say that Generalissimo President Hadi and his corrupt supporters depended on Saudi and UAE money.
Two months ago the very conservative Republicans in the U.S. finished their complete control of both houses of the United States Congress, in Washington DC. They tightened their siege of President Obama, hoping to eventually depose him and replace him with one of their own tribe by 2016. There is no need for anyone to claim that the Republicans in DC depend on the Israeli Likud in their confrontation with Obama. That is not necessary. This week we learned that they have secretly invited the head of Likud, Netanyahu, to come to Washington to officially anoint them as true leaders of the city, just as they will officially anoint him the new war president of America when he makes his speech in Washington in February. He, the alleged chickenshit, will get more standing ovations than Obama can even dream of. More than Abe Lincoln would get. That goes for both parties since nobody dares to be seen to rebuff Netanyahu or be tepid about him for the sake of a mere U.S. president.

Many of these congressmen, of both parties, also depend on pro-Likud money encouraged through AIPAC blessings or directly from Likudnik rich tycoons like Adelson.
I know, I know, there are some major differences with Yemen. But the recent similarities are almost shocking when you think about them.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Israel, U.S. Congress, U.S. Foreign Policy

A Superpower with a Banana Republic Foreign Policy………

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

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The Republican leader of the U.S. Congress, John Boehner, has invited Mr. Netanyahu to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress, just after President Obama’s State of the Union Speech. Basically they are inviting  a foreign leader to respond to the U.S. president. Inside the U.S Congress! Unheard of anywhere in the world.
Two foreign policies in the same capital, in Washington. This is the ‘stuff’ of banana republics. Not all banana republics, some of them. It is something you see these day in Yemen. And it is happening in Washington, still capital of the only superpower. it hasn’t moved to Tel Aviv yet.

Here is how I responded yesterday: “Apparently the Republican Congress have invited him, again, to respond to Obama’s State of the Union speech. And his groupies in Washington are trying to help him in the March Israeli elections. Sheldon Adelson and his money be praised!…….”
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Israel, U.S. Congress

U.S. Knesset Invites Netanyahu to Respond to Obama and SOTU……….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

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“Speaker John Boehner has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress about Iran next month, a move sure to inflame the Obama administration, which is trying to negotiate a nuclear deal with the Islamic republic. Boehner later told reporters he did not consult with the White House about the invitation………..”

Apparently the Republican Congress have invited him, again, to respond to Obama’s State of the Union speech. And his groupies in Washington are trying to help him in the March Israeli elections.
Sheldon Adelson and his money be praised!
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

[email protected]

AIPAC, Iran, Israel, US Congress

How Far Will AIPAC Want the U.S. to Go on Iran?………

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

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“The powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC is urging a dramatic escalation in sanctions on Iran in response to a recent seven-month extension of nuclear talks. It also seeks a US ban on Iranian oil exports worldwide and more Iranian industries blacklisted…………”

No doubt a majority in the Knesset Congress and Senate will immediately bow and push for this. They have been at it on a bipartisan basis since at least early 2009. Some of them have been at it even before AIPAC went public with its demands, pushing poison pill clauses in some congressional resolutions and measures, with the aim of dragging the USA into yet another regional war.
Tightening a unilateral blockade that other countries are forced to observe, courtesy of AIPAC.

I am beginning to suspect that if AIPAC (the right-wing Israeli lobby) some day demands that Iran be hit with nuclear weapons, a shocking number of legislators in Washington may start talking seriously about it. I am almost not being facetious here.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

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U.S. Politics, Uncategorized, US Congress

U.S. Elections: It Is the Money, Estúpido……….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

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Abe Lincoln would probably tear up the old draft, rewrite his Gettysburg Address. He would see it nowadays as not “government of the people, by the people, for the people“. He would probably see it now more as “Government of the Moneyed Interests, by the Moneyed Interests, for the Moneyed Interests“. And that is largely bi-partisan, although it leans more one way. 

He would be amused by the uninspiring and possibly harmful oratory of his successors. They gave us gems like: “defeat the terrorists by going out and shopping” (that one by W contributed to the 2008 economic crash), and “corporations are people, my friend” (That one by the Least Interesting Man in Politics  in 2012. The fallout from that one is building up as I write).

The people still make their free choices. But they don’t have a chance to make real ‘choices’ while bombarded with so much money and all the misleading distortions that it can buy and sell. So they vote for candidates who are openly against what they stand for, against what the polls tell us most Americans support. Which elicits a loud WTF, but politely expressed, from the media pundits who scramble to explain it with prepared plan A or plan B explanations.

It is the money, estúpido……….

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

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AIPAC, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, U.S. Congress, U.S. Foreign Policy

Left-ish in Congress, Rightist in Gaza: Torn Between AIPAC and Principles ………

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“Much of the American left is critical of Israel, particularly since its incursion into Gaza. But in the halls of Congress, even progressive Democrats beloved by grassroots activists are loath to criticize the Jewish State’s ongoing military offensive. A Pew Research Center poll released Monday showed that a plurality of Democrats across the country, 35 percent, and liberals, 44 percent, said that Israel had “gone too far” in its response to its conflict with Hamas. Meanwhile 47 percent of Democrats told Gallup that Israel’s actions during the current conflict were “unjustified,” compared to just 31 percent who thought the opposite. But these opinions are nearly impossible to find in Congress. Democrats, when asked a question about Israeli operations in Gaza, had two standard responses: irritation, or else a statement of their broad support of Israel………….”

The article asks: why can’t Congress (meaning its relatively left-ish members) criticize Israel?

Silly question: criticizing Israel publicly in Washington is taboo. It is, well, like throwing the apple pie that your mom baked right into her face then adding insult to injury by burning old glory at the table.

The answer to that question is mainly spelled A-I-P-A-C (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee). Mainly, because Hamas, like many other Islamic fundamentalist groups, is not known for great public relations, not the positive kind of PR. Any criticism in the West of the Israeli conduct of this onslaught on Gaza has nothing to do with any case that Hamas makes. The criticism, mostly in AIPAC-less Europe, is mainly related to the mass killings of civilian people in Gaza by Israeli forces.

This is the Congress that gave Netanyahu many more standing ovations than it would give a U.S. president. On both sides of the aisle, as they like to say. As for the Right-ish (scratch that, make it extreme rightist) majority of the Red Congress, this blind pro-Israeli (right or wrong) stance might be just another political IOU. They are eagerly awaiting the time when all Jewish people convert to the true faith that persecuted them for two thousand years. That would be when the Rapture comes. At that time, the Red politicians anticipate a restoration of universal virginity rather than universal health care, end of Planned Parenthood and Welfare for the tykes, and the final eradication of HIV and other forms of STD.

Some of the more pious among them may still get to keep their place in those little black books (Psssst: they are safer than a digitized database, the Feds can’t get into any little black book unless they are also clients).

Cheers

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

[email protected]