Good News Monday

While Mr. Netanyahu did not signal an end to the naval blockade of Gaza or specify precisely what goods would be allowed,

While I find it encouraging that Israel says it will limit the blockaded items to weapons, etc., I’ll hold my praise until I see the actual list of items subject to the blockade.

Same here. Israel has a rather nasty habit of parsing human rights. I think they should give up Shalit too, because the embargo of arms is a legitimate blockade item, and I doubt that Israel will completely drop the embargo.
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Joe, I think Turkey will not return to the tent they were in. They’ve stated the conditions publicly they require, and Israel has yet to meet them.
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Netanyahu has to show the world something other than smoke and mirrors. Abbas will be off the table very soon, too, don’t forget.

Spillocaust
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Nice one.
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But how appropriate is it really?
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Great fodder for the crackhead right…

I heard someone from the Israeli government say on NPR that there was no list of specific items, what matters is where the materials come from. For example, if a country that produces cinnamon is opposed to Israel, then cinnamon isn’t allowed.
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Makes seeing what is and isn’t allowed in much more problematic.
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Also, I understand it is only the blockade on land that is lifted – not the one by sea. What is the reason for that?

Getting the Chinese to kind of float its currency in exchange for our being silent about their human rights abuses around the world doesn’t sound like that great a trade. And remember, the Chinese let their currency appreciate 20% against the dollar in the last decade and it didn’t do us much good.

Also from the article:

In what amounted to a reversal of the system of the last three years, Israel said it would create a list of items not permitted to enter Gaza for security reasons, rather than allowing in only those items that were specifically approved, as before.

I think this would make it more difficult to limit items from countries opposed to Israel. It would certainly make sending aid easier.

Thanks. That will make a difference.
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Note to self, read more thoroughly before commenting!

OK, Helen Thomas was wrong to say Israel should “go back to where they came from” (i.e., other countries). But why is Israel apparently oblivious to/shielded from criticism by pols and other media? If you’re in the wrong, you’re in the wrong. Doesn’t matter if you have most-favored-blessings-of-God status.

We will have to wait and see how the lifting of the embargo works in practice. Pity about Israel-Turkey relations. That was a miscalculation. iIsrael can get do such stuff with us because US presidents have no backbone when it comes up against the Israel Lobby. But the Turks have been turning away from Europe and now, by extension, Israel over time.

One galling episode: When the Israel Foreign Ministry had the Turkish ambassador in for discussions they served traditional eats and were cordial. Recently: no refreshments; a re-ordering of furniture so that the Israel Ministry official sat on a higher level and the Turkish ambassador in a low seat, These are the kinds of petty games that are at the back of Turkey’s disenchantment with Israel.

I hope the Israelis made any change in its Gaza policy absolutely conditional on the good behavior of the Gazans. One rocket, one bullet across the fence, one incident, then Israel should close te border totally again (and cut off supplying water and electricity as well). As long as the world gives in to the bad behavior by Hamas and its allies inside Gaza (and outside Gaza in the media and government), the bad behavior will continue. Everyone who is happy about the change in Israel’s blockade policy should be prepared to assume some of the responsibility for the next Israeli death. That’s a burden that I will not have to share, since I oppose any change in the blockade policy until the Gazans deserve it by recognizing Israel and stopping its aggression toward Israelis.

One month later:
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Deaths in Gaza Top 1 Million
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Netanyahu:
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Wasn’ me! They chose to die…

How is it fair to cut of water to everybody in Gaza that did not fire a missle? By your logic,we should shut off the water to an neighborhood in Chicago that a cop-killer lives in.

Celebrate with the Gazans. I’ll cast my lot with Israel.

“And it should finally begin plans to hold an election in Gaza, reversing the coup d’etat it staged against the Palestinian Authority in 2006″
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Wait. What???
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Joe, seriously, Coup d’Etat? Stage elections to reverse it? Um, there were elections in Gaza, there were international observers, the elections were deemed fair. Hamas TROUNCED the PA in the polls because of corruption issues and the large amount of goodwill Hamas’ various charities have built up.
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The fighting was caused when the PA, with the backing of Israel and the US – which had called for the elections in the first place – tried to invalidate the results and stay in power.
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Look, Hamas is a terrorist organization, and there’s a lot of reprehensible scum in their ranks, but they also have HUGE charitable and educational and aid arms, which are competently run and largely free of corruption, something no one was able to say about any part of Arafat’s legacy organization.
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One of the main reasons – stated by the Israeli’s – for the blockade was to “educate” the Palestinians in Gaza by “putting them on a diet” of the consequences of voting for Hamas. Pretending there was some kind of violent coup instead of elections followed by violence after some parties attempted to overturn the result is disgraceful propagandism and pure yellow journalism.
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Most of the time you’re better than that Joe. Please correct your post.

Now that was as empty as they come, danielatlanta.
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Of course in order to get around the consequences, you have to relabel my humanitarian concerns as something else, don’t you?
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There is almost no viable sources of potable water in Gaza, and I think you know it, as well as the consequences of such a blanket cutoff.
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You couldn’t win a milk carton race on dry land…

Good news on Mondays often turns sour by the end of the week. Just the pessimism in me speaking. China is China (the authoritarian communist/capitalist hybrid) and Israel is Israel (the fascist victims turned fascist) and I’ll withhold judgement for now.

When your start showing as much concern for the victims of aggression (the Israelis who are getting rocket-bombed and suicide blasted and kidnapped) as youshow for the perpetrators of that agression (the Palestinians who lob the missile-bombs and send their women and children as human bombs to detonate themselves in civilian malls and buses, and who kidnap and hoild soldiers against the Geneva Convention), then I will perhaps have some respect for your “humanitarian concerns.” Instead, you seem to be blind to the reality of the originators of the aggression, either historically or in recent times. Until the Palestinians stop the aggression against Israel, there are no innocent Palestinians. If the Palestinians want peace, then let them be peaceful. Maybe they can consider giving up Gaza, like the Israelis did to get peace. However, it didn’t work for the Israelis. All they got in return is more aggression.

Daniel,
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Trying to be more Catholic than the Pope or, more Jewish than Israel, to be specific (since you said that you are Christian, not Jewish, this is very odd to me.)
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Kidnapping of Israeli soldiers:
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First, the term is POW. It happens in every combat situation.
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Second, when they trade fifty or a hundred to one, how it that possible if Palestinians should be less worried about or no more worried about IDF taking them into custody and holding them as POWs? Clearly, although likely better fed, cleaner and with better housing, Palestinians are justified in being far more afraid of the IDF than Israelis should fear Hamas in terms of kidnapping.
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Next, if your neighbor or somebody in the office building next to your office building is a crack dealer, should you, also, go to jail? Of course not!
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If some man down the street from your home or your office is a serial killer, should you, for being his neighbor or near his workplace face the death penalty? Of course not.
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So, keeping in mind that Palestinians, like any other members of the human race, have a huge majority who spend all of their time doing lawful and uninteresting things, why drop a bomb on a place where 98% of the people you blow up did not fire rockets and do not who did fire any rockets by name or address (to report them)?
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Why starve 98 people for the two who are firing rockets?
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At least the Palestinians via the Turkish are learning a new strategy: shame the Israelis through passive resistance.
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Surely enough, not for white Americans, not for Christians who can get a sunburn but for Christians (still some there – close to 10% who strongly prefer the Palestinian government over Israel) you believe in group punishments.
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Why?
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Why not, with your line of though don’t we find out where a crack house is and drop a bomb on the entire neighborhood. Why don’t we find out where a serial killer lives and blow up the whole town?
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All I know is that you have one standard for people of color abroad and another standard for Americans.

Just thinking about the 2006 Palestinian elections.
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Palestinians, also, like the US, have a two party system for now.
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They had a choice between one party of extreme corruption and elitism ignoring the will of the people uninterested in solving the problems or people (Fatah) or a party very good to the people who, unfortunately are dangerously violent, militant and fanatical (Hamas).
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It makes me love being American. You see, we have extreme corruption and elitism ignoring the will of the people and dangerously violent, militant and fanatical both within the Republican Party so, when we, instead, want watered down middle of the road so-so government, we always have Democrats to fall back on instead.
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At least our two party system is an easy choice.

Although less dramatic, allowing the Chinese currency to float is good news. Slowly our goods will be more affordable to Chinese people, our investments (like our T Bonds owned – as the media never lets us forget – in a large part by China) will be less attractive to Chinese investors and we should get some – some (not many) – of the low wage jobs shipped back to Mexico (possibly enough to complete with the drug trade so that honest money may beat out some of the high danger drug money they make).

patrick, if the ratio is 98 good guys to 2 bad guys in Gaza, why aren’t the 98 stopping the 2 from being so aggressive towards Israel? Could it be that they themselves are aggressive or approve of the 2% and their actions?
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patrick, if only 2% approve of Hamas, how did that 2% elect a terrorist government, Hamas, that is sworn to wipe Israel off the map?
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patrick, when 200,000 Gazans (the 2%) demonstrate against Israel and the US, where are the other 98%, or 9,800,000 “good guy” Gazans, hiding?
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The myth that “only 2%” are bad Palestinians is just that, a myth. The whole lot is bad until they form a government that will recognize Israel and start living peacefully with its Israeli neighbor.

And patrick, contrary to your logic in your last sentence, just in case you haven’t noticed, many, many Americans are “people of color.”

im wondering if Joe has any reason to believe Obama has anything to do with this. i know it would validate some of Joe’s foreign policy views, which is why i can’t possibly trust that assertion without him supporting it

Wow, Looks like Obama accomplished a lot with his “Apology tour” :
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* Got China and Russia to support the Iran sanction effort.
* Got Israel to agree for talks with PA and lift the blockade on Gaza.
* Got China to allow their currency to float upwards.
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I wonder when will the swampnuts – Rustybog, 3x, freeper, Earljar et al stop calling Obama’s foreign policy a sign of American weakness.

“patrick, if the ratio is 98 good guys to 2 bad guys in Gaza, why aren’t the 98 stopping the 2 from being so aggressive towards Israel?”
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The same reason why you, your wife and children (I am guessing you are happily married with children – who cares if you are or not for this argument) do not, after a family dinner, raid crack houses, beat up pimps, attack gun smugglers who bring illegal guns the stricter gun control states.
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“They had a choice between one party of extreme corruption and elitism ignoring the will of the people uninterested in solving the problems or people (Fatah) or a party very good to the people who, unfortunately are dangerously violent, militant and fanatical (Hamas).”
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They voted against Fatah. That is not the same thing as supporting all of the things Hamas is doing and it is obvious that strangling them and removing food from them will do exactly the same thing that the Nazi Blitz on London did: piss them off and make them more eager to fight than ever before.
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(No, it not the moral equivalent to the Nazis, it is just about when your community is riddled with bomb craters, you want to sign up for the Armed forces or resistance group if you do not have a country and kick somebody’s ass, not smile and say thank you to the people who blew up your brother. Think of how we felt after 9/11. Palestinians feel that way after every Israeli bombing).

The Israelis are most of the way to standing on the moral high ground now. Next if they provide aid themselves, then they can be the Mother Theresa of the Middle East.

You forget, the crackhead right considers success a failure. Green is now black, and environmentalism is racketeering.

“im wondering if Joe has any reason to believe Obama has anything to do with this. i know it would validate some of Joe’s foreign policy views, which is why i can’t possibly trust that assertion without him supporting it.”
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On the one hand the State Department usually leads the presidents through foreign policy and wanting the Chinese currency to float rather than be artificially low but, OTOH, not all presidents can persuade other governments to do things like this.
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As for Israel changing policy, that was a combination of the EU, some soft remarks by Democrats (not too harsh since letting out a burp about Israel will have wingnuts – almost all Christian – call us either Nazis who want to murder Jews or “self hating Jews”) which made this happen. GWB got practice at Yale being a Yale cheerleader and when in office, he was an Israel cheerleader. The EU and some very mild pressure from the US changed this and, had we had a more anti-Palestinian anti-peace administration (so-called “pro-Israel” which, in reality is less in favor of policies which would help Israel live in peace than the so-called “anti-Israel” people like myself who oppose policies which put Israel in additional danger) we would have been less likely to have had this settlement.
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Members of EU were contemplating taking over the blockade themselves. Obama not being outraged and cheer leading for the right wing of Israel is what made Israel cooperate and make a step closer to peace. (As far as I am concerned, being pro-peace is not at all “anti-Israel” but the best thing in the world for Israel as well as the best thing in the world for Palestinians- fewer dead people is all that I care about about not which flag is draped over the dead people’s grave).
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One must, also, give Obama credit with the negotiations with China since the only difference between the State Department negotiating China one and half or more years ago and now is Obama’s personality and negotiating skills.
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Who else is there to thank?

sorry, i forgot there were 2 topics. i was referring to Chinese currency only but thanks for the rest anyway patrick
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“who else is there to thank” – well, i don’t understand all possible motivations for currency manipulation, but generally speaking, how about only the “changing economic conditions” Klein cites? Or perhaps leaders of ALL other low cost labor asian countries who have had to mess with their currencies to keep from getting priced out of the export business. also, i just saw that all Chinese risk-trading went up because of it. there’s got to be some economic incentive.