RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/355061/lords-transition-team-mark-steyn

Let us put aside, as he so rarely does, Anthony Weiner’s spambot penis, and consider his wife and putative first lady. By universal consent, Huma Abedin is “smart, accomplished” (the Guardian), “whip-smart” (The Week), “accomplished” (Time), “smart and accomplished” (the Daily News) — oh, and did I mention “accomplished” (Forbes)?

So, if she’s so smart, what has she accomplished? Let us put aside her Muslim Brotherhood family background — let us put it aside in the same corner as Anthony Weiner’s infidel penis, the Muslim Brotherhood being one of the few things on the planet rising even more spectacularly than Anthony. Instead, consider merely the official résumé. Huma Abedin’s present employment is as “head of Hillary Clinton’s transition team.” Mrs Clinton, you may recall, was once secretary of state. This was way back in January. Since then, she has been “transitioning away from government to become more involved in her family’s charitable foundation.” You can’t make a “transition” without a “transition team.” Well, not in America. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands recently abdicated and managed to transition away from being queen back to the non-queen sector without benefit of a “transition team.” But it would be entirely unreasonable to expect U.S. cabinet officials to attempt the same tricky maneuver.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/08/show_the_leaders_the_road_to_peace.html

Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies

THIS COLUMN WRITTEN BY A PROFESSOR WHOSE MIDDLE NAME SHOULD BE PANGLOSS IS PRECISELY WHY THERE IS NO PEACE….POLITICAL, STRATEGIC AND HISTORIC UNDERSTANDING IS SUPPLANTED WITH “WHY CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG” DRIVEL. AND HE TEACHES COURSES ON “INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATION AND MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES? YIKES IS ALL I CAN DISRESPECTFULLY SAY…..RSK

If there was even a small chance of success in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, they would have to be based on three fundamental tenets. First, they must come to an agreement on the critical issue of borders, delink it from other difficult conflicting issues (e.g. Jerusalem and the refugees), and remain committed to it, rather than aiming for achieving a comprehensive peace which is not attainable at this juncture. Second, the U.S. should remain resilient, advance ideas of its own, and use its leverage on both sides to keep them on track. Finally, trust must be cultivated between Israelis and Palestinians through people-to-people interactions, which is the subject of this article.

Repeated polls suggest that a clear majority of Israelis and Palestinians want peace. Now that formal negotiations have started, they must no longer remain complacent. It is up to them to initiate people-to-people interactions that must occur concurrently with the peace talks.

This is the only way to build trust between the two sides and allow them, over time, to see each other in a starkly different and positive light, instead of the prevailing sense of empowerment the Israelis enjoy and defeatism from which the Palestinians suffer.

Sick transit Israel…..Daniel Greenfield says it best.

“I haven’t written about Israeli politics in a while. After the last election, I was too disgusted to dip my toe in that pool.

Netanyahu’s shameful behavior however does not surprise me at all. He couldn’t stand up to pressure from Bill Clinton over Wye. There was no reason to think he would do any better here.

After dividing the county over an unnecessary draft battle, those extra soldiers will apparently be needed for the extra wave of terror that will come once more territory and terrorists are turned over to the Jihad all to prove that Israel really means well and is complying with the latest diplomatic effort to destroy it.

I don’t have the energy or desire to type out everything I think about Israel’s dysfunctional political establishment. It would end up sounding like a rant, rather than a reasoned piece. And much of it is, as in the United States, frankly attributable to idiot voters who follow the media to the latest phony scandal and ignore the ground burning under them.

But by the time the last election rolled around, there was hardly anyone to vote for. The fact that the Likud has no alternative to Netanyahu and neither do any of the other parties says it all. (And please don’t talk to me about Moshe Feiglin, he’s a good man and well intentioned, but etc…)

Netanyahu is not a leader. He’s smart, articulate and spineless. He’s the Galut Yid that the Sabra was supposed to leave behind, writ large.

It’s a staggering bankruptcy of leadership. I could go on, but I would rather not. Netanyahu is obviously not going to resign, though he no doubt should, and his policy was entirely predictable based on his first term.

And from the policies of “conservative” leaders in most Western countries.

Netanyahu is no different than Cameron or Mitt Romney or Sarkozy or the rest of them. They head up faux conservative parties, that talk tough to conservative voters around election time or during a crisis, and then govern from the center-left consensus.

N was good on the economy and utterly terrible on everything else. That is again something he has in common with most Western conservative governments who understand economic liberalization and little else.

They think that free markets and deregulation will fix everything. They won’t.

Meanwhile right on cue, Netanyahu’s people have released a made-for-youtube tough talking video. But words are cheap. The referendum bill, which at best protects Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, is as worthless as the border security part of the US amnesty bill. It’s there to disguise the sellout.

And the Supreme Court will no doubt find a way to invalidate it once enough pressure has been applied.”

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/ PIVOT Without much publicity or official announcements, the Unites States released five Guantanamo Bay detainees as a nod of willingness to open peace talks in Afghanistan. After officials in Kabul expressed desire for negotiations, the Obama administration released five members of the Taliban who were detained at the US detention center. The Afghan Taliban […]

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/ NO BLOODY HOPE In ’09, Obama destabilized Egypt. To get the Muslim Brotherhood back into power, he has to continue destabilizing the country. As long as Obama encourages the Brotherhood to think that he wants it back in power, it has cause to hope that its violence will win the day. That is why […]

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/obamas-cavalcade-of-shameless-political-calculations Ever since Barack Obama won reelection last November, he and his minions have become increasingly emboldened in their efforts to dismantle this once great nation, and replace it with a broken-down socialist “democracy” more to their liking. The hounds of liberalism are feeling energized and believe their cause has been validated by the voters. […]

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/novelists-view-world/2013/aug/2/weiner-and-incredible-shrinking-new-york/#.UfxRvHLZTzA.twitter So it has finally come to this. New York has sunk to the level of a punchline. Taking the town by storm used to mean Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio…Mickey Mantle…Joe Namath…Leonard Bernstein. Today it is Anthony Weiner. New York used to have “eight million stories.” Now it only has one. My Cincinnati pals Danny and […]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/02/california-prison-early-release_n_3698348.html?1375485959&icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D353168 SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday paved the way for the early release of nearly 10,000 California inmates by year’s end despite warnings by Gov. Jerry Brown and other state officials that a public safety crisis looms if they’re forced to open the prison gates. A majority of justices refused an […]

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Into-the-Fray-Resign-just-resign-321828   Recent developments reveal a dramatic erosion in Netanyahu’s strategic perspectives that makes it impossible to justify his continued incumbency.   Prisoner releases only embolden terrorists…they encourage precisely the terrorist blackmail they are supposed to defuse. – Binyamin Netanyahu, Fighting Terrorism (1995)   What sort of people and government would agree to free the […]