Our Changing Globe » Jimmy Carter

Pro Israel? Anti-Israel? Please watch this video

Michael Redbourn — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:54:52 +0000

Israel – Light onto Nations: Growing forests in the desert

israel-lightontonations.blogspot.com11/30/11

Once the trees are mature, it's possible that they could become a renewable source of biofuel to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. This is another area of great interest to Israel and just about every other country on the planet …

Technion LIVE: Cornell – Technion – Together in Vision

www.technioniit.com12/3/11

During his visit, he planted a now-famous first palm tree that still stands in front of the old Technion building in Hadar. … Its graduates helped to build the county's infrastructure and started the high-tech industries that today make Israel a modern country with the greatest concentration of high-tech startup companies anywhere outside of Silicon Valley. More than 70 percent …. Israel's 10th Nobel laureate on his way to Stockho. … Technion Nanocrystals for Solar Power …

I recently received a link to the following video and thought it well worth posting.

Please note that it was made 6 years ago.

Israel is certainly no angel, and both its politicians and its army make their fair share of mistakes.

But regardless of whether you’re pro or anti Israel, you’ve surely got to admire its upside and wish that other countries could or would achieve the same positive results.

Please post your comments, and if they don’t flame or use abusive and/or hateful language, then they’ll be approved.

Does Obama Want To Learn from George W. Bush’s Mistakes?

Michael Redbourn — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 12:20:49 +0000

A Bold Rejection of America's Failed Diplomacy Sends Obama

Vetoing a Palestinian statehood bid at the Security Council will significantly damage one of President Obama's main foreign policy goals: to cast the U.S. as a champion of Arab freedom and democracy in a turbulent and …

Publish Date: 09/18/2011 4:36

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/17/1017848/-A-Bold-Rejection-of-Americas-Failed-Diplomacy-Sends-Obama-Administration-Scrambling

Obama's Foreign Policy Fails on Afghanistan, Israel – The Daily Beast

He was supposed to change Washington. But the president's strategy in the Middle East and Afghanistan has lacked courage and creativity—and pales in comparison with Bush's.

Publish Date: 09/07/2010 5:42

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/09/06/obamas-foreign-policy-fails-on-afghanistan-israel.html

One of the most refreshing things about George W. Bush’s memoirs, "Decision Points" is his honesty about his failings, and his unexaggerated comments on his successes, and there is much that Obama could learn from the book if he’d were willing to take on board at least some of what’s written there.

In the book Bush describes:

The basis for his key personnel appointments.

His stem cell policy.

The decision to take the fight to Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11

The mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina.

The economic blunders made before and during his tenure.

And he also highlights how his unpopular decision to implement the "surge" in Iraq turned out to be a crucial triumph in the “war on terror".

The Bush Doctrine – According to Bush

Beyond specific decisions and various turning points, his doctrine as noted in his book consisted of four main elements:

First, make no distinction between the terrorists and the nations that harbor them – and hold both to account.

Second, take the fight to the enemy before they can attack America.

Third, confront threats before they fully materialize.

Fourth, advance liberty and hope as an alternative to the ideology of repression and fear – His “Freedom Agenda".

The fourth agenda, which was perhaps the overriding one of the four was greatly influenced by the writings of Nathan Saransky and Ron Dermer.

Bush refused to accept that "the peoples of the Middle East were somehow beyond the reach of liberty", and he believed and perhaps still does that freedom is a universal objective that can, and should be obtained by all.

The Middle East revolution that began in Tunisia less than a month ago, and subsequently led to bloody protests and demonstrations in Yemen and Egypt may or may not lead to blossoming democracies, but for that to happen, lessons from mistakes made in Iran in 1979 and again in 2009 must be learned.

In 1979, President Carter stood embarrassingly idle, and in some ways tacitly encouraged the Islamic revolution that replaced the Shah, and in 2009 President Obama also stood idle as a popular uprising was struck down by the brutal Iranian authorities.

What Does Obama Need To Do?

This time around, if real democratic freedom is to be engendered in the Middle East, then President Obama will need to confront freedom’s enemies and not turn his back on America’s long term allies.

Democratic elections are only one element of freedom and, human rights, checks and balances, equal opportunity for all and the separation between religion and state are all indispensable freedom factors.

Iran and Gaza clearly show that a one-time democratic election can lead to the disaster of legitimized dictatorship, and there is every chance that elections in Egypt could lead to the spread of Sharia law rather than to the democratic rule of law throughout the Middle East.

* sharia –
n. (Islam) code of law based on the Koran; holy laws of the Islam which cover aspects of day-to-day life

Time, perspective and hindsight are required when passing verdict on a presidency, and history will judge Bush for the doctrine he set and the eventual success or failure of its implementation.

Truman, Reagan and Bush

When Truman left office in 1953 his approval ratings were in the twenties, but today he is viewed as one of America’s great presidents. Reagan was once ridiculed as a diplomatic dunce but will be remembered by most as the "Great Communicator" who won the Cold War and Bush may eventually be regarded as the best president of our time.

And Obama?

Obama’s agenda has alienated all of America’s previous staunch allies and gained no new ones, and his economic policies, unless halted by the Republicans will lead the country to bankruptcy by 2020.

Obama is far from stupid and the question is not, "Is he able to learn from Bush’s errors?", but, "How would he apply that learning?".

Until a recent five point drop in the polls and a pummeling from both politicians and journalists, it appeared the he would much prefer the Muslim Brotherhood to Mubarak.

Obama carefully hid his tracks and his policies and intentions are still not clearly understood, but how he eventually responds to the present crisis in the Middle East will provide many clues.

Not Only Is Israel Not An Apartheid State

Michael Redbourn — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:40:56 +0000

Israpundit » Blog Archive » Goldstone: Israel and the Apartheid …

www.israpundit.com11/1/11

In assessing the accusation that Israel pursues apartheid policies, which are by definition primarily about race or ethnicity, it is important first to distinguish between the situations in Israel, where Arabs are citizens, and in West …

The Yeshiva World Goldstone: There Is No Apartheid In Israel …

www.theyeshivaworld.com11/2/11

Goldstone: There Is No Apartheid In Israel. (Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011). Back in November 2009, the United Nations approved the Goldstone Report that probed the IDF's counter-terrorism offensive in Gaza known as Operation Cast …

It’s Not Even Close To Being One

In his book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”, Jimmy Carter implied that Israel is an apartheid state although he didn’t actually say so, and although one could perhaps argue that he was only referring to the West Bank,

even that wouldn’t be appropriate either.

Israel proper is in no way an apartheid state, and although the West Bank does have security restrictions, they cannot be compared to the apartheid that existed in South Africa of days gone by.

To Carter’s credit, he did apologize but the apology was late in coming and intentionally vague.

So What Is Apartheid?

The Oxford English dictionary describes apartheid as;

The South African (policy of) racial segregation of the White inhabitants from the remainder.

Also transf. & fig., any other form of (esp. racial) segregation.

[Afk., lit. ‘separateness’, f. Du. apart apart + heid -hood.]

The term “apartheid” would most often be understood to mean a State where political and civil rights are withheld on the basis of race and race alone, so let’s look and see if this can be applied to Israel.

In Israel

In Israel, Arabs make up about one about one-fifth of the population and they have exactly the same civil and political rights as Israeli Jews.

Arabs sit in the Knesset and although some opt to serve in the military, most decline and are not drafted as are Jewish Israelis.

Arabs use the same buses and can enter any shop or restaurant as Jewish Israelis and use the same toilets etc.

In South Africa

In South Africa, the whites were the minority and not the majority as in Israel, and non-whites were not only denied civil rights, but as of 1958, they were even deprived of citizenship.

Non-whites had to use separate buses, separate shops, restaurants and toilets etc.

No Comparison

So it should be clear from the above that Israel proper is in no way similar to apartheid S. Africa.

The West Bank

In the West Bank the minority does govern the majority, because the area is under Israeli military rule, but the rule is based on security concerns and not on race or color and successive Israeli governments have proposed returning up to 98% of it once a peace plan has been agreed.

Again, there are no segregated cafes, shops and toilets etc.

Slanderous Comments

Israel’s critics do themselves no favors by continually calling Israel apartheid, because it’s not only clearly untrue but it’s also slanderous, and it also makes it easy for Israeli leaders to simply point to countries like Saudi Arabia, where women can’t even drive, let alone vote.

What’s more, it also encourages Israel to point a finger at many countries in the Muslim world where Palestinians frequently have far fewer rights than they do in Israel.

Israel Is Far From Politically Perfect

Israel like every country has its faults and Palestinians have their case, but when their case is bolstered by lies and slander, it denigrates the Palestinian cause; which if valid should not need lies.

Iranian Suffering Dwarfed By Jackson Death

Michael Redbourn — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 06:12:28 +0000

It’s a strong indictment of our MSM (main stream media) and perhaps of our western society too, that the saddening and historic events that are taking place in Iran have been pushed off of the headlines because of Michael Jackson’s death.

Human Rights Watch just reported that the Iranian paramilitary Basij forces are now carrying out nightly raids and “trashing entire streets” in an attempt to stop rooftop revolutionary cries. It says that the Basij are “breaking down doors and beating residents in an attempt to stop protests against Iran’s disputed election”.

One witness to the attacks in the Velenjak district said, “On June 22, while we were shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ from the rooftops, the Basiji entered our neighborhood and started firing live rounds into the air, in the direction of the buildings from which they believe the shouting of ‘Allahu Akbar’ is coming from”.

A second witness reported, “Basijis climbed over walls to enter homes after they failed to kick down doors when people were shouting from rooftops on June 23. When they entered the homes, they beat the residents. The neighbors took to cursing the Basijis and throwing stones at them to divert them from beating the residents, but then the Basijis attacked those neighbors’ houses and tried to enter them”.

Another eye witness said, “the Basijis spray-painted a sign on the doors of houses in a central district where they thought protesters had fled. A few minutes later, they came back and attacked the marked houses, breaking down the doors and entering them. They beat the owners, and broke the windows in the house and of their cars”.

Human Rights Watch says that similar reports have come in from other parts Tehran including Farmanieh, Niavaran, Saadat Abad, Shahrak Gharb, and Vanak Square, all of which might be considered upper-class districts.

What has not been widely reported is why Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is using the Basijis and not the Revolutionary Guard to crush dissent.

General Ali Fazli, who was the head of the guard in Tehran refused to fire on his own countrymen and was subsequently arrested.

The Guard has its own institutions, and is to a large degree independent of the both the government and Khamenei’s Guardian Council, and it now seems likely that there will be a division of religion and state, with the guard effectively operating a military dictatorship.

It is clear that Obama hadn’t and hasn’t got a clue as to what or say or do about the situation, and similarities are already being noted between him and Jimmy Carter, who famously talked of “America’s inordinate fear of Communism”, but later implemented a military buildup that Reagan continued with, and which Obama is now threatening to reduce.

What Obama has referred to as the “robust debate” taking place in Iran, has so far meant the deaths of hundreds of debaters being killed, and who knows how many others being clubbed, and then thrown into jail, where they are most likely still undergoing torture and abuse.

One can only wonder if he held such robust debates at Harvard.

Obama’s Israeli-Palestinian Plans

Michael Redbourn — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:35:00 +0000

Obama’s Israeli-Palestinian Plans

During the Presidential campaign neither Obama nor his spokespeople gave much information about his intended plans for the middle east.

Now however with only eight weeks to go before Obama is sworn into office it is possible to get more than an inkling of what those plans might be in spite of the fact that he and his minions are still tight lipped.

We can gain a fairly good idea of his plans and intentions by looking at the people that are now likely to be chosen to both give advice and to carry it out.

At the time of writing it appears likely that retired general James Jones will be named national security adviser and it is known that Obama and Snowcroft (who served as national security adviser in the administrations of Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush) have spoken on at least two occasions since the elections.

Snowcroft and the man that succeeded him as national security adviser to Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski recently penned an op-ed piece for the Washington Post which might perhaps give valuable insight into the “Obama Plan For the Middle East”.

In spite of the fact that since being elected that Obama has not stressed the Israel- Palestinian conflict as one of his top priorities the two former NSA chiefs have already called upon Obama to lend “priority attention” to the ‘peace’ process.

Their plan centers on four principles which are:

1) An Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines, with slight alterations that would be mutually agreed upon.

2) Compensation for Palestinian refugees in lieu of exercising the right of return to pre-1948 Israel.

3) Jerusalem as a “real home” to two capitals.

4) A demilitarized Palestinian state.

Since it is a given that Israel will have legitimate concerns if it is asked to hand over territory to a Palestinian government that is clearly incapable of combating terrorism, the two former national security advisers have recommended the stationing of an international force, which could be NATO whose remit would be to protect Israel and to train Palestinian forces. Scowcroft and Brzezinski also believe it is highly important for Obama to publicly declare his support for these principles before the Israeli elections which are scheduled for February in order to provide Israeli voters with the opportunity to register their views.

Last June in a speech to the ‘American Israel Public Affairs Committee’ Obama pledged to immediately act towards achieving an Israeli-Arab peace if elected and he stressed a number of points that would safeguard Israel’s security:

1) An American commitment to military aid to the tune of $30 billion over the next decade;

2) A “contiguous and cohesive” Palestinian state;

3) Defensible, secure, and recognized borders and the preservation of Israel’s “Jewish identity”;

4) And Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel although he later somewhat altered his stance on this.

He has since called on Israel to ease the day-to-day lives of the Palestinians, to allow for greater freedom of movement in the territories and to halt settlement construction.

It might also be of interest to note that although Obama opposed Hamas’s participation in the Palestinian elections in 2006 he has not revealed his position on the group’s participation in future elections.

Obama’s Israeli-Palestinian Plans