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The Ballad of Barry and Ben
The president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have never been very close, but during the sensitive negotiations with Iran — wherein it has been proposed that Iran take a 10-year break from nuclear development — the Prime Minister will be visiting Congress, in the process upsetting the president’s apple cart by providing a different perspective on the true dangers posed by the Iran deal.
Priorities seem to be truly skewed in this discussion. One of the president’s supporters (Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia) almost went as far as invoking the Prime Directive (against interference in the history of primitive cultures — a philosophical perspective evoked in the original Star Trek series) as somehow more important than addressing what is certainly an existential threat of nuclear proliferation by terrorist-sponsoring regimes, a threat to not only Israel and America, but to the rest of the world.
I, for one, can’t accept the shallow criticism that this is all about Israeli politics. Since when do we worry or care about Israel’s election calendar? Netanyahu didn’t invite himself. He was invited by the Speaker of the House, whose party was elected by the citizens of the United States. Our Senate will be there too, and they were also elected to be a Republican majority by the people of the states. The presidency is held by a Democrat, who is close to coming to blows with the Prime Minister. All of this owes to the fact that the people want to hear something from outside the echo chamber that is the Obama Administration.
Mr. Obama is attempting a full court press to disparage Netanyahu for accepting an invitation to speak in front of our elected representatives about the Iran negotiations. Obama is trying to keep his promise of no nukes in Iran (during his administration, he forgot to add). Susan Rice says this has undermined the longtime spirit of bipartisanship in U.S.-Israel relations.
Whose fault is that?
She said in a recent TV interview, “I think it’s destructive of the fabric of the relationship.”
If she’s talking about the fabric of the bipartisanship among our elected representatives and senators, I ask again: whose fault is that?
If she’s talking about the fabric of the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, I also have to ask: whose fault is that?
A former Israeli general said, “If tensions persist and increase, you hear real concern in the defense establishment that over time it could impact the level and depth of the strategic cooperation.”
Whose fault is that?
Image Credit: By Pete Souza (White House (P032013PS-0408)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
[Edited for spelling. Thanks to BDB for noticing.]
Published in Foreign Policy, General
Beautifully put, Ray. This ‘most transparent’ administration is about nothing more than controlling words, controlling the narrative, controlling perception. I just wish Netanyahu would get here quick. I wouldn’t put it past them to try something underhanded to keep him from speaking. I am eager to hear him.
When Rice says it could destroy the fabric I can only infer, by the admin’s actions, she means the fabric of appeasement in which the admin swaddles Israel’s enemies.
It’s surreal to see John “I voted for the war before I voted against it” Kerry casting doubt on Netanyahu’s judgement on the basis of Bibi’s qualified support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
This is an example of bootstrapping.
A rule is created that says if A and not B, then you should do X and not Y.
Someone deceitfully ignores the first part and says the rule is that you should always do X and not Y even when the first part is not satisfied.
In at least later Trek, the Prime Directive meant that you kept the primitives ignorant of you. it also ceased to apply once the primitives developed warp travel.
Here, there are at least three differences. First, we are not keeping the primitives ignorant of us. Second, we interfered by giving them nuclear technology. Third, their actions are the equivalent of developing warp travel.
Son,
Fabulous job Kerry did on perceiving Putin’s real intentions. Gosh the Russians lied. You don’t think those nice Iranians would lie do you. Of course, now they know Kerry’s Achilles heel. He’s an idiot!
Regards,
Jim
Remember the Limbaugh Theorem. BHO is not responsible for ANYTHING.
Here’s the quote from the Va senator that made me think he was unfairly invoking some kind of trump card directive.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) had said (quoted in WSJ online for 2/25/15) that it was “highly inappropriate” so close to upcoming elections in Israel. “Otherwise it’s being spun as if we’re trying to affect the election of another country, and we should never do that. The halls of Congress should not be used for that.”
This is like many of the things politicians will say that, if examined, illustrate severely lop-sided priorities. Should the Senator be insisting on such niceties when we’re discussing nuclear negotiations with Iran?
What am I to conclude but that Democrat politicians who invoke such tortured reasoning don’t really care if Iran gets the bomb?
ctlaw, you’re absolutely right, even in Trek, this logic wouldn’t fly. We’re already in too deep with Israel. But I love bringing up Trek in the unlikeliest places.
Thanks, Penci. If he could, he would have vetoed the speech. Boehner wisely didn’t ask for permission from dad.
Living under Obama is so surreal it reminds me of the quote from The Wizard of Oz: “Pay no attention to the man behind that curtain.” Well, the curtain is certainly starting to develop some holes in it. Even the MSM is starting to question what they are being told.
It’s so worrying that these guys are taken for saps time and again. I don’t trust Obama to conclude a deal that really respects what our citizens want. He is all too ready to ignore Congress doing their advise and consent role. He never even listened to his own party when they controlled Congress.
He’s a bad negotiator. I really don’t like what is going on behind the scenes with this multi-year correspondence between Barry and the Ayatollah.
This is the country that kidnapped our citizens in the Carter years, used chemical weapons against Iraq. Isn’t there some kind of religious injunction against using that against Muslims? I don’t trust the Ayatollah saying that there is a Fatwa against nuclear weapons in Iran. Their past behavior makes my ears deaf to their words.