Doc's Talk: How Obama Administration's Ideological Obsessions Trash U.S. Interests

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

How Obama Administration's Ideological Obsessions Trash U.S. Interests

Barry Rubin

It’s amazing how an entire foreign policy philosophy can be contained in so few words, as in this short paragraph:

“`It’s not going to be any news if the United States says Assad needs to go,’” Mrs. Clinton said at the National Defense University. `O.K., fine, what’s next? If Turkey says it, if King Abdullah says it, if other people say it, there is no way the Assad regime can ignore it.’”

Ladies and gentlemen I ask you to explore with me how the downfall of a great power is encapsulated in this passage. See, too, how history is totally garbled, the lives of thousands are shortened, and millions subjected to tyranny.

And that’s an understatement.

First, of course it would be news—-big news—-if the United States government calls for the overthrow of Syrian dictator-president Bashar al-Assad. People have been waiting for months to hear these words uttered and implemented. One reason it would be big news is that for the last 2.5 years the Obama Administration—as bizarre as that might seem—has become the virtual sponsor of that anti-American dictatorship, a tyranny fawned over by the likes of Senator John Kerry and then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Syria’s government arms, finances, trains, and assists terrorists to kill Americans and Iraqis in Iraq. It does the same for terrorists in Lebanon, a country which it has now once again turned into a satellite. It does the same for terrorists attacking Israel which, last time I checked, was still a U.S. ally. And it even does so, albeit only occasionally, in Jordan. The Saudis have been trying to contain Syria’s subversion for years, without U.S. help. Syria is an ally and client of Iran and tried to develop its own nuclear weapons in partnership with Iran and North Korea.

Yet through all of this, the Obama Administration has kept engaging Syria. The mass media in America has tended to be apologists for Syria at least up to the last few weeks. The op-ed columns have been full of apolegetics for courting Syria without the case why this was a bad idea and would never work simply wasn’t presented at all.

So in the face of all this—including Syrian aggression against five U.S. allies—the Obama Administration kept engaging Syria until the most recent days. Why did it take a rebellion and massive repression to make the Obama Administration even think about a major policy shift?

And this wouldn’t be news?

Then there’s the implicit assumption that what the United States does isn’t important. Oh no, explains the secretary of state, Turkey and Jordan are what’s important.

Note the relevance of this behavior to Libya. When the Arab League called for the downfall of dictator Muammar Qadhafi that was enough for the United States to commit itself to the enterprise. No,, I haven’t forgotten the European pressure for such a move but the Arab approval was stated as vital by Obama.

Yet when Saudi Arabia, Jordan,, and others wanted to keep Egypt’s dictator-president Husni Mubarak, or at least the regime, in power that didn’t matter to the Obama White House. Ladies and gentlemen, those U.S. allies were not even consulted on the issue. Bahrain, same story.

All of these countries are not constantly begging the United States in private to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict but to solve the problem of Iranian aggression. People depend on American leadership and protection. They aren’t getting it today.
One of the most remarkable conclusions to be drawn is that the Obama Administration is incapable of learning to understand international relations and will not do so even if in power another 5.5 years. That’s in large part because this president won’t abandon:

The obsession for popularity that has overridden the pursuit of U.S. national interests. And it doesn’t even bring popularity!
The obsession to prove that America is no longer an “imperialist bully” that has made the Obama Administration act as if the United States is and should be a pitiful helpless giant. And that includes its behavior toward such false friends as the Turkish regime and Pakistan.

The obsession to show that he feels those who hate America have a real justification for doing so that has led to a U.S government to coddle its enemies.

The obsession with “soft power” that cannot avoid hard realities. You can’t prove to people who want to destroy you that you are on their side.

The obsession in believing that there must be something wrong with any non-European country that wants to ally with America which has led to indifference toward real allies’ needs.

Digression: I keep thinking this approach parallels the Obama side’s arguing that any Hispanic, African-American, or woman who doesn’t support Obama has something seriously wrong with them, a traitor to their group. In the same manner, there almost seems to be a subconscious belief that any non-European government that isn’t radical or at least anti-American is not really authentic. Or that those really moderate Muslims in the West are not legitimate and should be ignored in their efforts and warnings.
I find this sentence of Clinton’s to be particularly annoying:

“If Turkey says it, if King Abdullah says it, if other people say it, there is no way the Assad regime can ignore it.”

What nonsense! Turkey and other local countries are saying it and of course the Assad regime is ignoring it! And the current Turkish regime is no friend of the United States. It is an ally of Iran and of the Muslim Brotherhood. It wants an Islamist, anti-American regime in Syria—of course, one that is friendly with the Turkish Islamists who are now arresting every military officer in sight.

And why didn’t Clinton mention Saudi Arabia? That’s another insult to that kingdom which has put up with so much abuse from the Obama Administration despite being a critical ally? We know a lot of things the Saudis do, at home and abroad, that we don’t like. But on Syria their policy has been better than Obama’s. They’ve recalled their ambassador from Damascus, something Obama refuses to do. Oh, and Assad hasn’t listened. Maybe that’s why Hillary Clinton didn’t mention them.

The problem of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy is not essentially related to partisan politics or liberals versus conservatives. Obama foreign policy is profoundly at odds strategically and philosophically with pretty much every presidential predecessor for more than six decades. It has abandoned the most basic principles of diplomacy, which is why it keeps making obvious, dangerous, and absurd errors.

If people who actually know about the Middle East, for example, were allowed to write in the mass media, the Obama Administration’s foreign policy would be torn to pieces every day. Many people in the foreign policy establishment know this. In defense of U.S. interests they should start speaking out.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal, and Middle East editor and featured columnist at PajamasMedia http://pajamasmedia.com/barryrubin/. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). GLORIA Center site is http://www.gloria-center.org.His articles published originally outside of PajamasMedia are at

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk