Friday, January 8, 2010

Obama’s Alternate Universe


Obama’s Alternate Universe By Scott Ritter

Be sure to read Scott Ritter's excellent analysis. In an information environment packed with double-speak and Orwellian "up is down" ... his analysis is refreshing and serves very well to remind people who care that we aren't crazy.

"The heart of the problems facing the United States in the Middle East lies not in actions taking place in Baghdad or Tehran but rather in Gaza and Tel Aviv. The continued refusal of the United States to address the issue of Palestine and the Palestinians in a manner that reflects the reality of the situation on the ground, rather than the situation that exists inside Washington, as manipulated and interpreted by Israeli interests, means that the tension and unrest this issue generates will never be resolved. The conflicts with Iraq and Iran are, in many ways, simply symptoms of a larger disease represented by the failure of the United States to formulate a sound and realistic policy regarding Palestine. So long as American politicians find themselves constrained by a pro-Israeli lobby that refuses to permit the inclusion of either the concept or reality of Palestine into the lexicon of American foreign policy considerations (beyond simplistic “dual-state” and other demeaning and dishonest formulations), then there can and will be no long-term solution to any other modern Middle Eastern problem. Solving the Palestine-Israel problem wouldn’t by and of itself resolve all outstanding issues. But it would create the foundation of regional stability and rationality upon which all other solutions could be constructed."


The Question No U.S. Official Dare Ask By William Pfaff

"My question is the following. Has it been a terrible, and by now all but irreversible, error for the United States to have built a system of more than 700 military bases and stations girdling the world? Does it provoke war rather than provide security?"


Seems to me that Scott Ritter and William Pfaff should get together with John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt to follow-up and get their minds around the foreign policy mindset that is bringing America to it's knees.


Bill

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