Kristol Blue Extrapolation

a necessary corrective action on Israel’s part, I believe (with a few caveats)

longer Joe Klein — its okay for Israel to slaughter hundreds of Palestinians because a few Palestinians lob some pretty harmless rockets into empty fields in Israeli territory — but because I know this is morally indefensible, I’ll say “with a few caveats”.

this was poltically motivated, pre-medidated slaughter by Israel. Israel has the technology to pinpoint where rockets have been launched from in REAL TIME, and respond to those attacks immediately and with minimal necessary force. Instead, Israel decided to bomb heavily populated civilian areas — including police stations — with the aim of creating a complete breakdown in public order in Gaza.

that isn’t a necessary corrective — its genocide.

reposted from K-Teezies thread
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Check out this report from the Army War College. I repeat the US ARMY WAR COLLEGE.
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http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/abstract.cfm?q=894
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Israel steadfastly rejected diplomacy and truce offers by HAMAS for 8 months in 2008, despite an earlier truce that held for several years. By the spring of 2008, continued rejection of a truce was politically risky as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert teetered on the edge of indictment by his own party and finally had to announce his resignation in the summer. In fact, on his way out the door, Olmert announced a peace plan that ignores HAMAS and many demands of the Palestinian Authority as a whole ever since Oslo. If the plan was merely to create a sense of Olmert’s legacy, it is not altogether clear why it offered so little compromise.

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snip
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HAMAS emerged as the chief rival to the secularist-nationalist framework of Fatah, the dominant member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). This occurred as Palestinians rebelled against the worsening conditions they experienced following the Oslo Peace Accords. HAMAS’ political and strategic development has been both ignored and misreported in Israeli and Western sources which villainizes the group, much as the PLO was once characterized as an anti-Semitic terrorist group. Relatively few detailed treatments in English counter the media blitz that reduces HAMAS to its early, now defunct, 1988 charter.

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snip
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Negotiating solely with the weaker Palestinian party–Fatah–cannot deliver the security Israel requires. This may lead Israel to reconquer the Gaza strip and continue engaging in “preemptive deterrence” or attacks on other states in the region in the longer term.
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The underlying strategies of Israel and HAMAS appear mutually exclusive and did not, prior to the summer of 2008, offer much hope of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian-Arab conflict. Yet each side is still capable of revising its desired endstate and of necessary concessions to establish and preserve a long-term truce, or even a longer-term peace.

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This was released Dec 23 2008. I wonder why this isn’t getting much media play.

War is often a necessary tool of diplomacy, my friend. The USA has used it many times and will continue to do so in the future. Israel is in the right in its invasion of Gaza and is doing its utmost to target only Hamas and to spare civilians. Israel does not have a magic wand to win this war without casualties. You can limit yourself to watching old cartoons, if that is all you can tolerate with regard to war.

Thank you for pushing back against this mendacious garbage, Mr. Klein. If only a few more of your colleagues showed more of your insight to what really afflicts us as well as your courage to confront our domestic enemies.
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If you happen to see Mr. Kristol or any of his neocon cohorts, please tell him that one of your readers suggested that he abandon his US citizenship and move to to the country he loves above all others – I’m sure that the Lukidniks will find a place for him. To this country they are all traitors.

Fascinating:

Qassams are primitive missiles lacking any guidance system. Building one is “child’s play,” Abdul says: One of the team welds the rocket casings together from metal pipes, while another fills the warhead with up to three kilograms of TNT. Abdul’s specialty is the last step: the rocket propulsion. He and his mates brew up the fuel out of a mixture of glucose, fertilizer and a few other chemicals, which is used to fire the rockets at distances of up to nine kilometers. Right at the end, he inserts the detonator cap, which makes the missile explode on impact. They hide the finished rockets in depots, which the launch commandos can then freely avail themselves of. Abdul only fires them himself when he has made some tiny improvements to a proven model. “Then I want to see how it flies.” [Link]

Hard to imagine you could ever put a complete stop to this kind of small-ball aggression.0

Heck, Joe, I’ve known from the start (and commented here last week) that this attack on Gaza was really an attempt by Israel (on behalf of the Cheney-Kristol neocons) at goading Iran into doing something stupid that would eventually force Obama’s hand.

Now that the ploy has failed (largely because Iran finds Gazans just as useful as martyrs as it finds Hamas useful as a tool) Kristol must resort to calling for an attack on Iran on general principles.

And you still have no concept of how bad this unnecessary — yes, UNnecessary, and in the long run, counterproductive — attack is making Israel look around the world, and how it is decreasing Israel’s stock among the American populace, despite the corporatist press’ (you included) insistence upon parroting Israel’s dishonest line and hiding innocent hundreds of Gazan victims from our view.

It’s going to end up costing Isreal American military aid.

Again I’m torn between the cavalier way Joe Klein discusses issues of life and death, searching for the ‘reasonable’ approach to carnage and the fact that he’s pushing back against people who are considerably more evil who are actually advocating for unreasonable levels of death and destruction.

In one sense, I’m grateful to Joe (especially in light of some of the fire he’s drawn) but I still think that many of the core assumptions that guide his thinking are horribly wrong.

I’ve always been fascinated by the way in which critics of Hamas (or whomever is being demonized) complain about how “inaccurate” their rockets are…. I mean, I’m quite confident that Hamas would be delighted to have highly sophisticated weapons available to them with which they could pinpoint (and reach) Israeli military targets — but no one seems to be offering them the option to attack Israel in the way they would “approve” of.

I oppose the Israeli attacks, but even more I just haven’t understood them. I’ve been searching for a non-hysterical explanation, and I think the excerpt below is probably it. This doesn’t change my strong opposition, but I think it’s an accurate take:

The point I was trying to make is that those, like myself, who initially questioned the logic of a military intervention were overlooking the fact that while it probably will not eliminate Hamas, and definitely will not eliminate Palestinian militancy, it might just degrade Hamas’ infrastructure and its command and control capacity, as well create a physical buffer zone in the north of Gaza, that for a limited time will significantly reduce the shelling of Southern Israel. It will also force Hamas to include the possibility of a massive disproportionate response in its future thinking. And those two goals, if achieved, qualify as an improved security environment, and by the IDF’s definition of its goals, a successful operation. [Link]

Don’t point your right and wrong arguments at me. I’m just trying to understand the parties so I can guess what negotiated settlements might look like.

Since Israel requires American military aid, for a commentor to suggest withholding such aid implies that the commentor wishes to see Israel eliminated by its enemies. Antisemitism is bad for America.

danielev99
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What do the palestinians require?
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You do realize that Arabs are semites too right?
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Idjut

The genocide of the palestinains has only strenghted iran’s position in the region. unlike the other arab stated who continue to stand back and keep quiet while their fellow arabs are killed, Iran has been outspoken against this and has even called for action against israel. while i don’t agree with other nations getting involved in more fighting,iran has even called for using oil as a means of leverage against the western nation who are backing israel.this tough talk is being heard by all the people in the region. this only gives iran another reason to seek nuclear weapons. and lets not kid ourselves, but israel will not and cannot take on iran by itself. israel has proven it is not the military “superpower” that it like to think of itself. they have spent all their time fighting rag tag street gangs like Hezbullah and hammas. fighting a nation like iran one on one would break israel’s back not to mention set of a chain of events that would have affects world wide. whether its shia militas in iraq or Hezbullah on the northern israeli border. it would be a mess for everyone.

“Antisemitism” is a word that means, essentially, hatred of Jews. That Arabs are semites(?) is another idea altogether.

Fortunatly hatred of Jews bears no relationship to one’s feelings concerning selling tools of destruction. The fact that ‘aid’ to Israel gets recycled right back to American arms manufacturers is one of the reasons that Peace is so difficult to achieve. There’s way too much cash to be made encouraging conflict.

Since Israel requires American military aid, for a commentor to suggest withholding such aid implies that the commentor wishes to see Israel eliminated by its enemies.

Since “A” requires “B”, for a commenter to suggest withholding “A” implies the commenter wishes to see “A” eliminated. Insert you own “A’s” and “B’s” as needed. Mine: A = “I” / B = “Supermodels”

“In one sense, I’m grateful to Joe (especially in light of some of the fire he’s drawn) but I still think that many of the core assumptions that guide his thinking are horribly wrong.”
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Well, nobody’s perfect. And most of his peers are absolutely atrocious.

Indeed we must take immediate action to make up for poor pourmecoffee’s devastating lack of supermodels. Failure to do so could spread instability throughout his entire region!

@Paul – Here here! I messed up the equation a little (should be withholding “B”), but thank you for your support, and by supermodel, of course, I mean wife. I misspelled wife.

I want to repost this for effect.
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Israel steadfastly rejected diplomacy and truce offers by HAMAS for 8 months in 2008, despite an earlier truce that held for several years

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Thats not from Al Jazeera, thats from our very own Army War College. You know the one every journalist was quoting from a couple of weeks ago when they released their “Known Uknowns” report about the problems facing Obama? The same one that correctly predicted the problems with going to war in Iraq? Is that not the exact OPPOSITE of what we have been hearing for over a week from our elected officials and the media?

Economics and war are related, for sure. We kill to eat, too. There is a place to draw the line in war and food production. We may not agree on where that line is.

danielev99 compares the residents of Gaza to cattle and yet has the audacity to complain about somebody elses racism/antisemetism.
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I can see where this is going clear as day.

Recourse to false claims of “antisemitism” is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

Especially when I said that Israel’s dissembling slaughter “is going to end up costing [Israel] American military aid,” not that I want Israel wiped off the map.

Among non-Religious-Righters (who really only support Israel insofar as its existence may help to hasten the return of Jesus, who will then — according to their insane theology — condemn to the eternal fires of Hell any Jew who refuses to convert to Christianity) Israel is overplaying its sympathy card. Like our Abu Ghraib/torture policies in Iraq, Israel’s Gaza slaughter is making terrorists faster than they can kill them; and unfortunately, those terrorists lump us in with Israel, because we are picking up the tab.

Especially given our present financial crisis, this play doesn’t have many years left in it.

We can’t get past the way facts are selected to make an argument. I understand Israel’s need for security. But its use of border closings flies in the face of the agreement reacehd between Israel and Hamas. I know that the picture of dead and wounded children is absolutely horrible and Israel must know that this is going to happen. But I am sure Hamas uses this for its propaganda value. One of the dishonest aspects of Israel’s policy is the way it allows illegal settlements to flourish thereby making it impossible for even the accommodating Abbas to work with them. Sorry: the rampant dishonesty of both sides is there if you want to see it. It seems as if the Israelis want to foster a Holocaust in Gaza City. The pictures of dead children laid out in shrouds is doing the rounds of Arab tv. We may shrug at this, but the Arabs are not.

The islamist terrorist attack America and Israel simply because they think they can win. Tom seems to think so, too. I do not.

“We may not agree on where that line is.”
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The line is recklessly killing and injuring non-combatants you cretin.

I mean the line between moral and immoral food production, and the line between moral and immoral war. Jeez. People are not cattle, not even if they are our enemy. The IDF is not trying to “slaugher” civilians.

the next time i hear someone mention the supposed restraint of the Israelis and their attempt to prevent civilian casualties i would ask why the are being condemned by solidarity international, that is definitely proof that they are doing something wrong. as a side note i would remind people that while hamas began firing rockets that was not the original breach of the ceasefire, Israel withholding basic supplies and electricity from the Gaza strip was the original breach of the ceasefire. Our media has once again resorted to false equivalencies making it look like the suffering is equal on both sides. Let me put this in numerical fashion, approximately 450 dead Palestinians and 5 dead Israelis, (these numbers are approximate as of last time i checked and don’t discriminate between combatants and noncombatants but are still a good comparison)this does not look like an equal fight. One estimate is that 25% of casualties are women and children. If this is the best that can be done to prevent collateral damage… maybe it would be better if i didn’t finish that sentence.

sevenoaks07: The pictures of dead children laid out in shrouds is doing the rounds of Arab tv. We may shrug at this, but the Arabs are not.

The Arabs aren’t the only ones not shrugging. The rest of the world is not being sheltered from the real news coverage coming out of Gaza as we here in the US are. The rest of Israel’s friends are quickly becoming less friendly.

And to the eliminationist danielev99: when you can define what “winning” is, short of Israel sponsoring its own holocaust (which seems to be the direction in which they are headed) let me know.

Islamists don’t attack us to win. They attack us to hurt us back.

The only way to stop it is religious genocide. But it can be reduced by giving them less unnecessary “back” as an excuse to hurt us.

by the way danielev99, no occupying force in history has ever been able to eliminate a resistance movement with any level of violence short of genocide. On the other hand if you care to find us an example where that isn’t true then you may try. i don’t think you’ll find anything but it would interesting to see what you come up with.

Anyone who isn’t willing to sacrifice everything in the name of Israel is an anti-semite. Anyone who questions Israel’s tactics is an anti-semite(see above). Anyone who isn’t ready to face the consequences of nuclear war in the name of Israel is an anti-semite. Get it people?

right sorry

Anyone who doesn’t use periods is an anti-semite.

The islamist terrorist attack America and Israel simply because they think they can win. Tom seems to think so, too. I do not.
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2004 called, they want their war slogans back.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not genocide. It was harsh and appropriate to the circumstance.

Im betting danielev99 is a paid Israeli operative. You know they are using Youtube and Twitter for propaganda purposes. Why not Swampland?

As for Klein’s original post, I think the evidence is mounting for the need to quarantine Kristol away from public discourse, before we all catch the stupid.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not genocide. It was harsh and appropriate to the circumstance.
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Man, what the f–k are you babbling about.

Why not Swampland?
A real Israeli operative wouldn’t come off sounding like a 13 year-old.

Cliff Says:
Monday, January 5, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not genocide. It was harsh and appropriate to the circumstance.
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Man, what the f–k are you babbling about.

Cliff, I responded to comment# 29

People that question whether Hiroshima and Nagasaki were appropriate responses are anti-semetic.

Someone check Wikipedia – did we occupy Japan?

I wonder if another Swamplander has the same impression. The Knesset in Israel is a pretty rough place; and elections rarely produce a party with an overall majority. So govt ends up with a rag bag collection of members who span the whole spectrum. Extremists in Israel are a dime a dozen. Progressives too are around but not in any position of strength in the body politic. Maybe they need Gaza to keep them united. All you need to do is meet a bunch of rough illegal settlers to ask yourself: what differentiates these guys from Hamas?

AN OLD RITUAL REPEATING ITSELF

Where is the outrage from the Arab community for the Hamas tactics?
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http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/12/israel-hamas-lebanon-here-we-go-again.html
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That is where any hope for a real solution lies.

danielev99:
That’s arguable, because Japan was an imperial nation engaging in traditional mechanized warfare. They signed an unconditional surrender before we set up an occupying force, so we never had to deal with generations of Japanese setting up bombs and pungi sticks.

Anyone who doesn’t see the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as analogous to the Israeli occupation of Gaza is an anti-semite.

Heck, we were propping up Hirohito. BTW – nobody was talking A-Bomb = genocide until danielv99 made the connection himself.

Who benefits? Ehud, Tzipi and Netanyahu? What is the election angle? The 20 jan 09 angle? The timing of this venture stinks.

I support Israel’s operation in Gaza because I believe it is good for the West and bad for Islamists, and it is being waged at a reasonable cost of life and money. Thanks for the debate! -Bye

[...] Read the rest: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/01/0 5/kristol-blue-extrapolation/?xid=rss-topstories [...]

“I support Israel’s operation in Gaza because I believe it is good for the West”
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And of course, anyone who doesn’t equate what is good for Israel as also being good for the West….you guessed it: anti-Semite.

OT, but useful info. Tom Ricks has a new blog at Foreign Policy.
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http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/
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Smart guy. Had this to say about the Bolton-Yoo op-ed:
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NYT op-ed page tortures me with an unreadable article by John Bolton AND John Yoo. Frankly, I’d rather be waterboarded. Bolton also bloviates on the Post op-ed page. Could we at least have a decent interval before these guys start telling Obama what to do? Please? This feels like Herbert Hoover holding forth on the New Deal.
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heh.

“Thanks for the debate! – Bye”
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Hey, that’s not the Swampland way! I smell a plant.
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And there is no such thing as “a reasonable cost of life and money”

who have overseen the terrific expansion of often wasteful federal spending over the last decade

Don’t forget that one person’s ‘wasteful spending’ can be another person ‘research budget’. I recall that many of the projects that McCain made fun of during the campaign we’re precisely the sort of investments in knowlege that pay significantly down the road. Think of where we’d be today if research into alternative energy had actually been generously funded 30 years ago when then oncoming problem was already clearly visible to those paying attention.

sorry….
wrong thread!

I support Israel’s operation in Gaza because I believe it is good for the West and bad for Islamists, and it is being waged at a reasonable cost of life and money. Thanks for the debate! -Bye
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Good riddance, I get more reasoned opinions from my morning BM.

People who post in wrong threads are:
a)distracted
b)simultaneously downloading/viewing porn while commenting
c)on drugs
d)anti-Semetic

I missed it!
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People like danielev99 are such reasonable people!
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So calm, and yet, so racist…

“…a necessary corrective action on Israel’s part, I believe (with a few caveats)”
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So Joe, are you admitting that Gaza is just one huge open-air prison, or is it that I’m just not getting the complexity of things?

Send Kristol, equipped with two rubber bands and a green wooden toothpick.
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Equipped with those implements and his wits, and he should be able to fix things in Gaza once and for all.
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After that, let’s just fire him on over to Iran to solve that little problem, too…

[...] Leave it to Bill Kristol to take the situation in Gaza and transform it into a call for war with Iran Here is the original: Bill Kristol’s Saber Rattling on Iran (Time Magazine) [...]

cinci, I hope this doesn’t come off as antisemetic, but I think the dominant forces or governments (Isreal, for instance, but it could be US/Viet, UK/Ireland, and more), fails to realize that the insurgents (terrorists as you may) are a tiny fraction of the population they deal with. The remainder of the population just strives to survive through it all. In unleashing unreasonable and disproportionate violence on that small population, they really serve the insurgents’ aims…to coalesce the disengaged population. In other words, Isreal can’t fire enough bullets and bombs (bought with US aid from US suppliers), to achieve any success. This blitz is doomed to failure.

formerlyjames , you might as well be wearing a swastika and singing Deutschland über alles.

formerly- This blitz is doomed to failure. Depends on what they want.
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What is Israel’s goal here? This is a deliberate operation planned well in advance -including press spin and the blockade itself. They know the Muslim world will condemn their actions. They realize that there will be backlash from Western nations. They have to know that they won’t eliminate Hamas, they’ll fuel jihadis, endanger our soldiers, shake the Iraqi government (seen as compliant with the US), embolden Iran… And that the blockade and invasion will insure more missile attacks from Gaza. Also, there is no way that the Bush admin was not aware of these plans. In fact, as Kristol is chirping, one can assume the neocons in our defense agencies, media and the VP office are colluding with Isreal. What do they want?
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My guess is that this is an attempt to show that the world is not safe enough for us not to have FOBs, an obscene mil budget and on-going mil aid to Israel. And if it goads Iran into an attack, ALL THE BETTER to justify their aims.

Uh, yeah Joe, you’re right – and Bill Kristol is wrong. Somehow, I think you are too smart to not understand how Iran is an implacable foe, seeking Israel’s and our destruction, and how it is involved in this crisis. Yet, you choose to cater to the crowd that won’t allow Israel to ever complete it’s defense. Any strategy that spares Hamas simply keeps the attacks coming, which is why contrary to your comments, the French cease-fire offer is a bad idea at this time. Israel did not make a mistake. Instead, they show they learned the lesson of 2006 and have the courage to make difficult decisions. Stop catering to the anti-Israel crowd, and please don’t deny it, it’s embarrassing.

dcanales
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Then why don’t you take your dumb ass over there and help them fight internet tough guy. I swear Republicans are the biggest puhsees on the face of the planet but will talk sh!t behind a computer all day long.

dcanales

What are you talking about? When was the last time Iran attacked anyone, let alone invaded a country? Iran couldn’t defeat Shaddam, what makes you think it seeks Israel’s or even more crazy, our destruction?

Allowing Israel to “complete it’s defense”. Israel is going to have to learn to live with its neighbors and it given its treatment of moderates, like Abbas (no respect) versus how it treats Hizbollah and Hamas (with grudging respect), is it any wonder it is constantly at war? I suggest you read the commentary by Mr. Burg on Time.com (sorry I am not savvy enough to link) a prominent Israeli who says it time to get over the Holocaust (his words, not mine).

It seems that Israel is trying to make up for the Hizbollah disaster which ruined their reputation for invincibility and showing how “tough” they are. This is especially true for the Kadima and Labor parties who are behind in the polls.

Israel never seems to miss the opportunity to make a bad situation worse. First they trade hundreds of Lebanese prisoners for a few bones while, until very recently releasing very few Palestinian prisoners to Abbas. Then they withdraw unilaterally from Gaza without negotiating with Abbas. All that does it make Abbas look irrevelant and makes Hamas look important.

And for goodness sakes, freeze the expansion of settlements on the West Bank!! No one who really looks at Israel’s behavior in the West Bank really believes the government is serious about a peace settlement. It is clear the Israeli government wants “peace”, this piece and that piece of the West Bank.

One day, Israel is going to look and find that the Palestinians don’t want to wipe out Israel, but become a part of Israel and overwhelm it demographically. Then the Israelis will have a real problem.

Somehow, I think you are too smart to not understand how Iran is an implacable foe, seeking Israel’s and our destruction, and how it is involved in this crisis.
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Show me where they’re implacable.

If this is going to be Obama’s first major issue to deal with, I think it is a cakewalk issue. Assuming that Isreal doesn’t halt the slaughter before 1/20, he has a no brainer to deal with first out of the shoot. A simple message to Isreal would be, stop this carnage immediately. That would be followed by humanitarian aid to Gaza. If military support to provide that aid is necessary, then so be it. I ask this. What small fraction of the money and resources spent on the mindless destruction of Iraq could have been directed to this tiny island in the middle east to productively address the festering cause of all of the conflict to begin with?

“Iran is an implacable foe, seeking Israel’s and our destruction…”
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If true, it would be a big, fricking club at this point. Tell them to get in line. Seriously, the point is to know who can and who will do you harm and deal with the threat with the least possibility of blow-back. The US and Israel will be eating blow-back for Cheney and Sharon/Olmert Administration policies for generations.

dcanales:
“Somehow, I think you are too smart to not understand how Iran is an implacable foe, seeking Israel’s and our destruction, and how it is involved in this crisis.”
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Now isn’t this typical. The “Arab Domino Theory”. Havn’t you noticed yet that there are no Iranians fighting in Gaza?. Last time I looked, Iran was no greater threat to us than Iraq was when the British PM, singing Bush’s chorus of neocon bullsquawk, claimed that they could hit us in 45 minutes.
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And I’m still cowering under my bed at the thought of the Mighty Iraqi Air Force appearing over the horizon here.
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Do you suppose that maybe the Mighty Iranian Air Force is about to take up their cudgels? Where’s my bomb shelter…
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“Yet, you choose to cater to the crowd that won’t allow Israel to ever complete it’s defense.”
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I know Zeevi had an absolutely wonderful solution for those “breeders-of-suicide-bombers”:
Drive them into the sea.
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With such humane sentiments, who would need despots. “Defense” indeed!
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“Any strategy that spares Hamas simply keeps the attacks coming, which is why contrary to your comments, the French cease-fire offer is a bad idea at this time.”
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I might point out two things:
1. The Gazans have nothing to lose by fighting
2. The Israelis not only kept all of Gaza imprisoned, but kept them at below subsistance levels. Desparate Gazans stormed the borders not to buy weapons, but food and medicine, not just once, but three times!.
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“Israel did not make a mistake. Instead, they show they learned the lesson of 2006 and have the courage to make difficult decisions.”
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As far as Lebanon is concerned, you’re dumber than a warm rock on a windowsill. The Israeli army, as powerful as it is, is too small to hold enough territory to keep rocket crews from lobbing them at Israel with impunity.
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dcanales, you had better learn how to give peace. Otherwise, soon, Israel will soon be plagued by enemies that don’t need to hold territory to fire rockets, and whose rockets will only become more sophisticated as time goes on.

Itzik Basman

http://basmanroselaw.blogspot.com/

# danielev99 Says:
Monday, January 5, 2009 at 3:29 pm

I support Israel’s operation in Gaza because I believe it is good for the West and bad for Islamists, and it is being waged at a reasonable cost of life and money. Thanks for the debate! -Bye

Much the same way as the Iraq invasion saved us from WMD and resulted in cries of joy by the grateful Iraqi population, who immediately embraced democracy, learned to love baseball, and have designated Bush as the Father of the Nation?

Since when was it good for the West for an irresponsible rogue state to trigger another round of an unwinnable war – a war which has everything to do with its own violations of international law, theft of land and brutal oppression of another people?

Joe Klein writes

…if Obama abandons the fantasy of an anti-ballistic missile system in return for Russian cooperation on Iran), a world where the U.S. no longer provides the mullahs with an overseas satan to divert attention from their disastrous domestic failures.

“the fantasy of an anti-ballistic missile system”??? like the space shuttle is a fantasy, and aircraft carriers are a fantasy, and other advanced space and military technologies pioneered by the USA are a fantasy?

It is very naive to think “the mullahs” will now love America because of the enlightened Obama

The huge challenge for Obama and his gang is going to be Iran!
Bill Kristol is right in many ways. Israel is doing what it has to do in Gaza; what it should have done in Lebanon. It ought not to have backed off! They should have cleaned house with Hezbollah and chased them back into the ‘rat hole’ that they came out of while they had the chance!
I believe this is what Israel has learned from the recent past.
You can’t deal with terrorists! They will just see weakness on your part and want more and more concessions! Where is that young Jewish soldier that they said they would release if and when Israel released many of the prisoners they had in incarcerated for crimes against them?
Israel released terrorists and murderers and where is this soldier? He is still not released!
Again I say you can’t trust the word of a terrorist nor deal with them!!!

[...] Kristol Blue Extrapolation Leave it to Bill Kristol to take the situation in Gaza–a necessary corrective action on Israel’s part, I [...] [...]

Obama supports Israel’s war on Hamas.

[...] Gaza conflict (BBC); Gaza Crisis: Israelis Echoing Bush on Regime Change? (Mother Jones); Kristol Blue Extrapolation (Joe Klein, [...]