For more than 60-years the government of the United States has had a special relationship with Israel that was considered strategic, cultural and technological. That may now be coming to an end.
Obama's speech yesterday to the worlds Muslims was in effect a major change in US Middle East policy. By engaging the Muslim and Arab world, Obama will have to change our relationship with Israel and he effectively did so yesterday.
Yes, there have been strained moments but when we needed an ally in the region, we had one who would take care of the dirty work we needed done. Whether it be taking out the Iraqi nuke facility at Osirak or the Syrian atomic facility, the Israeli's acted with professionalism and incurred the wrath of the hand-wringing world for our strategic interests as much as their own.
The Israeli public is apoplectic and the Obama administration has placed Netanyahu in an awkward position at home. By courting the Arabs, Obama has effectively shunned the Israeli's and their quest for security. His actions will only embolden Ahmadinejad and Assad while also giving rise to a renewed fundamentalism in Egypt and Jordan.
The Arab world has never supported us and won't now. They'll speak in platitudes and soundbites that will look good in print but will continue to do what they've always done; work against our interests for their own self-preservation. Name one reliable ally we've had in the Mideast. Saudi Arabia was nice to us when they needed our protection but would just as likely push for $200 per barrel oil and make us grovel then help us in any real way. I guess we could count Kuwait but their proximity to Iran and Saudi Arabia would ensure major instability should they be too vociferous in backing our aims.
So we find ourselves at the dawn of a new era, an era that sees us disengaging with an old, reliable ally and engaging with those who bred and, in fact, encouraged through state media attacks on our interests at home and abroad.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Change With No Hope: Obama Bails On Israel
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2 comments:
this strategic relationship has only harmed the US..and threw us in multiple wars, and got us in great friction with 57 muslim countries and cost us our economy.
and do the Israelis even do one thing for us?..would they stop one settlement?..no..did they lose a single soldier in Iraq?..did they give one vote for republicans in 2008 elections??..no..they are taking us for granted..and thats enough..
they need to end the occupation and implement the UN resolutions, and stop being a country above the law.
That is probably the single most inane comment I've ever had here. They forcefully removed families from near the Gaza Strip and other areas. As for the contribution of a single soldier, what are you, nuts? Of course they didn't because we would have had a full-scale Mideast war. They would have gleefully joined in if we asked.
Furthermore, what the hell are you talking about votes? You don't save the oldest democracy in the region for votes...that's what Democrats do. To think that "57" Muslim countries would be friendly to us if we allowed Israel to be wiped off the map is absurd in the extreme. 6,000,000 more Jews would be killed and then they'd turn their sghts on us once more. We weren't attacked because of Israel, the other Arab nations could have brokered a peace agreement years ago. No, they hate our liberalized democracy and freedoms because they know if it were to catch on, their collective kleptocracies would end and they'd find themselves at the business end of a scimitar.
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