Tag Archives: US

Flotilla-Gate

This is not about whether Israel’s actions on the high seas were justified or not, whether Israeli soldiers acted with restraint or not. Rather, it is about the irrelevancy of such considerations to Israel’s long-term interests.

The factors that led to Israel’s favored status with the US — its origins in the holocaust, the bravery of those who fought off at its birth the entire Arab nation, its democracy, its “reclamation” of desert to fertile soil, its continued threatened existence, the extraordinary rescue at Entebbe and other heroic military acts, the utter inhumanity of terrorist strikes in the heart of the country — began to unravel when Israel attacked and occupied Lebanon. Like the British during the Boer War and the United States in Vietnam, the public (American and Israeli) then came face-to-face for the first time with the harsh truth that not all was good, true and beautiful about Israel’s occupation and conduct.

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Lying About the Gaza Flotilla Attack

It’s been one lie after another in the US media about the Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound relief flotilla. No matter that the Israeli media views the whole incident as a debacle for Israel, in this country the Israel-can-do-no-wrong crowd is on overdrive defending the operation. As usual, facts don’t matter to them.

Except they do.

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Shout at Obama to Muscle BP aside is Futile and Wrongheaded

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell minced no words in a talk with ABC News. Powell said President Obama should muscle BP aside and move in with “decisive force.” The general had one thing in mind, and that’s a military type response to and seizure of the operation. Powell thinks and talks like a hard-nosed military man. So his demand for a military solution to the BP spill is understandable. Powell didn’t say how the government, let alone the military, could cap the runaway well and insure that it stayed capped. But Powell and the wave of media pundits, politicians, and much of the public still shout at Obama to impose a total government takeover of the operation. The shout is futile and wrongheaded. The Obama BP critics shout it at him in part out of ignorance at what the government can do, and in part to beat up on him.

When a hazardous substance poses a major threat to the health and well-being of US citizens, the president can invoke provisions of the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act to take full charge. But the BP spill is in international waters and technically federal law doesn’t apply to that. Even if the government makes the compelling legal case that the BP spill poses a grave enough threat for government agencies, the military, or both to step in then what? Every credible military expert that’s weighed in on what the military can do if it were called on to take over the cap and control of an errant off shore drill operation has said that it would be totally lost. Its deep sea technical capability and undersea imager technology is too limited, and untested in this kind of complex, intricate, and uncharted operation. The bitter pill every scientist, engineer, and technician that’s weighed in on the spill said the public must swallow is that BP created the problem, and despite its flop so far in fixing it, it has the technology and expertise to do the job. The military and government agencies can take over containment, cleanup and construction. But the government has dispatched more than 20,000 responders, dozens of ships, and floating operation stations that are doing those functions.

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The F Word: Anger over Israel Hurts U.S.

As we wait to see any substantive response from the U.S. president to Israel’s killings of peace workers seeking to break the years-long Gaza siege, it’s worth noting that anger towards the US is up — in the Middle East, but also around the world. As mild-mannered Jim Sciutto, senior foreign correspondent for ABC News, noted Sunday at a protest at the Israeli embassy in London, the anger was more like what’s usually seen in the Middle East than in Europe. And the anger extended to the U.S.

Tweeted Sciutto: “Anger extended to US – got grief for working for US network, again something I’d expect more in Cairo than Kensington.”

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White House Needs to Rethink Weak U.S. Response to Israeli Attack

White House Needs to Rethink Weak U.S. Response to Israeli Attack

The U.S. State Department response, “Free Gaza Flotilla,” to Israel’s unwarranted attack is tepid and one-sided, reminiscent of statements issued by the George W. Bush administration with the quiet approval of the Israeli government. It undermines the credibility of the Obama administration globally and especially in the Muslim world. While one cannot underestimate the many crises on the president’s plate and the political pressures the administration faces on Israel-Arab relations, the White House statement implicitly endorses a total distortion of the facts on the ground and practically parrots the Israeli Government’s narrative. The administration’s message will be read as communicating that the US does not want the embargo lifted since it is part of their West Bank first policy. Indeed, that may be part of the purpose of the message, but if so, it fails to deal with the realities on the ground and places the US dangerously outside both the parameters that an honest broker would respect and the position of many long-time allies and friends of the US from Turkey to the EU and across the Muslim world

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How Deep Is the US Squad for South Africa?

There are still question marks surrounding the US national team callup. Let’s be honest, Bob Bradley picked the best men available to him. The team has a collective mentality that is very strong. But mentality can only take you so far. The callup stirs mixed emotions, but overall you have to give it a passing grade — for now.

Forwards

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China Trade Reform: Mission (Not Yet) Accomplished

Last week, as the portion of the annual two-day US-China summit in Beijing regarding trade came to a close, I half-expected Treasury Secretary Geithner to tack up a banner on the wall of the Great Hall and declare “Mission Accomplished”.

While Mr. Geithner didn’t go that far, he certainly made it clear both before and after the summit that at least in his mind we’ve made great progress in reforming our deeply troubled trade relations with China.

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US Kills Al-Qaeda’s Number 3 For Nine Thousandth Time

ISLAMABAD (The Borowitz Report) – The US confirmed today that it has killed al-Qaeda’s number three for the nine thousandth time, setting a new world’s record for killing the number three man in a terrorist organization.

“No matter how many times you do it, it’s always a special feeling when you nail their number three,” a US military official said today. “I’m sure I’ll feel this way when we do it for the 9001st time.”

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Remembering Jay on Memorial Day

Memorial Day is to commemorate US soldiers who died while in military service. It’s to honor those who did what the majority of us aren’t willing to do: sacrifice their lives for this country, its principles and its citizens.

For me, Memorial Day is also a time to remember those soldiers and veterans who are still among us but are shells of who they used to be. It is also to remember those people who after going to war, are physically living, but emotionally, mentally, spiritually gone.

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Black Power comes to the Ultimate Fighting Championship

In UFC 114, Rashad Evans vs. Quinton Rampage Jackson, history was made with the first headline fight between two African American fighters. Not only were the two fighters Black but so was the ref (the only Black ref I know in the UFC), and an African American octagon girl (also the only one I know of). In a sport not know for its large African American fan base, it was a Black power convention in that main event. There were even allegations that Rashad had called Quinton an Uncle Tom and Quinton promising there would be some “black on black crime.” Though the fight lasted all three rounds with plenty of high emotions and both fighters looking like they were about to win at different points of the fight, Evans vs Jackson wasn’t the crowd pleaser many had hoped.

What was probably the most unpleasing aspect of the card was the loss of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Rampage is a ten year veteran with a Hollywood story; coming from the streets of Memphis, fighting for relatively little, fighting in Japan, and then coming to the US and winning the light heavyweight belt from one of the most dominant champions in UFC history. Just like a Hollywood story, Rampage had a downfall in the midst of his success. Rampage (after a highly contested loss), delusional from lack of sleep and energy drinks, went on a driving rampage in a tricked out truck that had a massive mural of himself on the side. After hitting several vehicles, the police, at gunpoint, took him out of the vehicle and arrested him. Since that time Quinton has been on a path to regain his title.

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