- The abandonment of Czechoslovakia by Neville Chamberlain prior to World War II in exchange for "peace in our time."
- The abandonment of Israel by President Johnson prior to the Six Day War in 1967, when the US and the West refused to arrange for a flotilla to breach the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran.
- The refusal of Henry Kissinger to rearm Israel during the Yom Kippur War, when Israel's fate hung in the balance. Kissinger stated at the time, “Let them bleed a little first.”
Rudoren instead uses this opportunity to shower Netanyahu with abuse:
- "he has sometimes come off sounding shrill."
- "Increasingly alone abroad and at home."
- "Mr. Netanyahu appears out of step with a growing Western consensus toward reaching a diplomatic deal that would require compromise."
- "Mr. Netanyahu and his wife, Sara — a psychologist whom many Israelis criticize for everything from her purported temper to her child-rearing methods — have withstood mini-scandals regarding their spending on vanilla and pistachio ice cream (about $2,800 a year) . . ."
- "Iran has been Mr. Netanyahu’s priority — many say obsession."
- "Critics and admirers alike say it is a Messianic crusade."
Well, I think my spending on ice cream rivals that of the Netanyahu family, although I prefer flavors more exotic than vanilla.
But more to the point, what does it matter that Netanyahu is "out of step with a growing Western consensus" regarding a compromise involving Iran's nuclear weapons development program? Is this the same "Western consensus" that did absolutely nothing when Assad murdered civilians with chemical weapons in Syria? Although Obama has pledged that he will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon (see: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/obama-to-iran-and-israel-as-president-of-the-united-states-i-dont-bluff/253875/), the world has learned that Obama's "red lines" are drawn in washable crayon.
Rudoren just happens to mention, "The prime minister’s stance on Iran, his signature issue, though, is popular with the [Israeli] public." Yes, having listened for many years to Iranian threats of annihilation, the Israeli public is cognizant of Netanyahu's concern.
But given that it is only a nation of Jews facing extinction, why, given historical precedent, should the rest of the world rouse itself and do anything whatsoever? In fact, it is no wonder that Netanyahu finds himself increasingly isolated.
The NY Times is in perfect sync with the current administration's policies to a point where even an ultra-leftist like Glenn Greenwald sees the newspaper for what is has become - the unofficial White House press office. It's really a sad day for journalism when 'journalists' like Rudoren have to scrap the bottom of the barrel looking for ice cream bills in order to execute her character assassination. Of course, the article conveniently didn't mention Netanyahu's jab at the New York Times, where he noted that the paper had praised the diplomacy that produced a 1994 agreement between the US and North Korea to freeze and replace its nuclear program, noting that only a year later Pyongyang held a missile test.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for dialogue, but dialogue should be predicated on clear understandings of what the end game should be. In the case of Iran, that end game should be the abandonment of nuclear weapons. If Iran wants nuclear power for peaceful uses, it has to submit to inspection and buy fuel rods and not enrich its own. Iran also needs to clean up its human rights record and halt the barbaric practice of public hangings, as well as reopen dissident news media and release political and religious prisoners. Iran also needs to halt its foreign adventures in supporting terror groups and smuggling arms in places like Syria. Dialogue is great, but it means to be meaningful, otherwise it's like North Korea; a delaying tactic or bargaining chip. Iran has too long a history of saying one thing and doing another and Rouhani is as practiced at it as anyone
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