"Earlier in the day, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad awarded Iran's highest national medal, the Grand National Order of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to the Syrian president for his support of the Palestinian and Lebanese nations.
This medal is a sign of Iran’s profound gratitude to the Syrian government and nation for their serious efforts to establish peace in the region, Ahmadinejad said during a ceremony held at the Foreign Ministry.
If it were not for Syria's resistance, no country in the region would have been unaffected by the Zionist regime’s aggression, the Iranian president added."
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=227807
Assad's "support of the Palestinians and Lebanese nations"? I suppose Ahmadinejad is referring to Assad's willingness to harbor the Hamas leadership in Damascus, which has gone to extraordinary lengths to oppress Gazans and promote terror in the region, and Assad's complicity in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
Remember the long private dinner party held by Senator John Kerry, Assad and their wives at the Narenj restaurant in the old city of Damascus in March 2009? Remember Syria's declarations of "respect and friendship" between Kerry and Assad? Remember Obama's overtures to the Islamic Republic of Iran, encouraged by the Leveretts, at the beginning of his presidency?
The meeting of Assad and Ahmadinejad on Saturday serves as a testimonial to the naivete and abject failure of Obama's foreign policy.
http://pajamasmedia.com/michaeltotten/2010/10/03/the-tower-of-the-sun/
ReplyDeleteMichael Totten visits the Druse of the Golan Heights, and offers insight into why Assad the Alawite has to embrace Ahmadinejad the Shi'ite.
Beyond naive for the Obami to continue to think all Israel has to do is return the Golan Heights to Syria, and kumbaya peace will peel Assad off from Iran.
One would think a truly progresssive President would at minimum stand for the rights of minority populations under dictatorships. Instead, the Kurds, the Druse outside Israel, Lebanon's Maronite Catholics, Egypt's Coptic Christians, the Christian refugees of Iraq, et al, are left to the wolves.
Perhaps a foreign policy that does not define the Muslim world solely into Sunni versus Shi'a would be helpful.
How one high-profile Obama supporter, and close friend of John Kerry, views this story without being able to actually say "naivete and abject failure of Obama's foreign policy.":
http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-spine/78125/obama-courted-iran-obama-courted-syria-obama-achieved-nothing
Totten is far more enlightening...
K2K
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/israel-braces-for-ahmadinejad-stone-throwing/
ReplyDeleteenjoy comment #20 by Judith Bell Toronto:
"Have to comment that so many of the Lede stories are about Israel.
The explanation of this blog is it is an examination of the day's top stories.
How is this story important on a day when another 40 Nato trucks were torched?
Are the attacks on Nato trucks day after day not important compared to this?
Why was there a Lede about the dancing Israeli soldier and the Palestinian prisoner but none about the Americans who shot Afghani civilians? Both were in the paper the same day.
Just curious, Lede that it seems this is such a focus for you when so many other significant stories, both domestic and foreign, never make it to this column.
What gives, Lede?"
A very polite way of also saying how demeaning this Mackey post was to one aspect (stone-throwing) of a potentially very serious issue -what if Iran pushes Hezbollah to actually seize power in Lebanon through military force?
K2K
Thanks, K2K.
ReplyDeleteI am primarily concerned that Hezbollah will seek to diminish the impact of the Hariri murder investigation findings by heightening tension on the Israeli border.