How the Lobby Made Mincemeat of the Obama Administration

[luke]

How the Lobby Made Mincemeat of the Obama Administration

It did not take the Israel Lobby long to make mincemeat out of the Obama administration’s “no new settlements” position. Israeli prime minister Netanyahu is bragging about Israel’s latest victory over the US government as Israel continues to build illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

In May President Obama read the Israelis the riot act, telling the Israeli government that he was serious about ending the Israeli conflict with the Palestinians and that a lasting peace agreement required the Israeli government to abandon all construction of new settlements in the occupied West Bank.

On November 10 Obama’s White House chief of staff, Rahm Israel Emanuel, surrendered for his boss at the annual conference of the United Jewish Communities. The ongoing Israeli settlements, he said, should not be a “distraction” to a peace agreement.

Allegedly, the US is a superpower and Israel is a client state whose very existence depends entirely on US military and economic aid and diplomatic protection. Yet, in the real world it works the other way. Israel is the superpower and the US is its client state.

This true fact is proved to us at least once every week and sometimes two or three times in one week. A few days ago the US House of Representatives voted 344 to 36 in favor of disavowing the UN report by the distinguished Jewish judge Richard Goldstone that found that Israel had committed war crimes in its attack on the civilian population in the Gaza Ghetto. The Israel Lobby demanded that the House repudiate the fact-filled report, and the servile House did as its master ordered.

US Rep. Dennis Kucinich spoke to his colleagues for 2 minutes in an effort to make them see that their vote against the Goldstone report would be a great embarrassment to the US government and demean the House in the eyes of the world. But none of that matters when Israel gives its servants an order. The US House of Representatives preferred to demean itself and to embarrass the US Government rather than to cross the Israel Lobby.

Retribution quickly fell upon Kucinich for his 2 minute speech. On November 9, Kucinich was forced to withdraw as the keynote speaker for the Palm Beach County (Florida) Democratic Party’s annual fundraising dinner. The Israel Lobby gave the order--dump Kucinich or there’s no money and no one is coming to the dinner. County Commissioner Burt Aaronson called Kucinich “an absolute horror.”

Kucinich is the rare Democrat who stands up for his party’s principles, the working class, and tried to get health care for those Americans the corporations have thrown out on the street. But helping Americans doesn’t count. Israel uber alles.

Meanwhile, the US dollar continues to decline relative to other traded currencies. Since spring, anyone could have made a double-digit rate of return betting on most any currency against the US dollar.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently expressed concern that despite the dollar’s continuing slide, it might still be over-valued. The Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policy encourages speculators to use the dollar for the “carry trade.” Speculators, whether individuals or financial institutions borrow dollars at rock bottom interest rates and use the almost free capital to purchase higher yielding instruments in other countries. The demand for dollars to finance the “carry trade” keeps the dollar higher than it would otherwise be.

Last year it was the Japanese Yen that was used for the “carry trade” due to the practically zero Japanese interest rates. The next scare that unwinds the “carry trade” will cause another big drop in financial asset values. This means that the stock market is very volatile. It is based on speculation, not on fundamentals.

When the “carry trade” next unwinds, the demand for US dollars to pay off the loans will temporarily boost the dollar. But don’t be fooled. The large US trade and budget deficits are the dollar’s death warrant.

When the dollar finally goes, so will the government’s ability to conduct wars of aggression, underwrite Israel, finance its red ink and pay for imports. That’s when the printing press will really get going.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com

kinda strange to hear this from someone who was in the reagan government

[major.tom]

Palestinians call for EU to back independence
Monday 16 November 2009 19.17 GMT
source

Palestinians have formally asked the European Union to urge the UN security council to recognise a fully independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in response to the current impasse in peace negotiations with Israel.

Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, confirmed that the request to the EU was made on Monday as Israeli ministers repeated warnings that any unilateral moves would trigger counter-measures that could include the annexation of more of the occupied West Bank.

Erakat, speaking in Ramallah, said Israel had for 18 years continued to "impose facts on the ground by stealing Palestinian lands and building settlements and barriers aiming to finish off the two-state project". He added: "We will seek the support of all members of the international community."

EU foreign ministers are due to discuss the issue in Brussels today but are unlikely to reach any decision. Diplomats said there was no question of EU backing for a unilateral declaration of independence by the Palestinians, which would be likely to be vetoed by Washington. US senators visiting Jerusalem also warned that such an move would be a non-starter.

But Erakat made clear that the Palestinians were seeking a security council resolution spelling out the parameters for resolving the conflict — crucially without waiting for Israel to negotiate and without Israeli consent. A key element would be that a Palestinian state must include the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, within the 1967 borders in line with existing UN resolutions.

This move, supported by the Arab League, reflects mounting Palestinian frustration that negotiations with Israel have reached a dead end due to the refusal of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Likud prime minister, to agree to a freeze on settlement activity, as Barack Obama had been demanding until recently when he appeared to back-pedal.

Analysts say the UN move may also be intended to find a way for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, to remain in office. Abbas, said to be angry and frustrated, announced last week that he would not stand for re-election, though the elections originally scheduled for January have now been postponed.

The Palestinians first declared independence unilaterally in November 1988, seeking to build on the achievements of the first intifada and Jordan's formal disengagement from the West Bank. That dramatic declaration was recognised by dozens of countries but never implemented on the ground. It was superseded by the Israeli-PLO Oslo agreement in 1993, though the negotiations that began then have never been completed. Israeli settlement activity has also continued unabated since.

In 2005 Israel disengaged unilaterally from the Gaza Strip without any agreement with the Palestinians. The area was later taken over by the Islamist movement Hamas, which is at odds with Abbas's western-backed Palestinian Authority.

Hamas said on Monday that it opposed diplomatic moves at the UN, with spokesman Fawzi Barhoum calling Abbas's approach a sign of desperation. "It's clear that this was a reaction by the Palestinian Authority after running out of options after two decades of negotiations," he said. Palestinians, added Hamas official Salah Bardwil, should focus on their own "ability to liberate the land".

Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, warned: "Any unilateral movement will be countered by a unilateral move on our part." Another minister said Israel could respond by annexing some settlements.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem immediately after the 1967 war, while expanding the city's boundaries, but has always agreed in principle that it would negotiate over the West Bank. Annexation would close off that option.

US senator Joseph Lieberman said "an essentially unilateral" declaration of statehood would not move the peace process forward. "I hope and presume that the US would veto such a move if it ever came to the security council," he said.

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[luke]

[major.tom]

Yep. Same tired old spin.

[luke]

Israel okays new east Jerusalem homes dismaying US

Israel gave approval on Tuesday for the construction of hundreds of new housing units in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, drawing Western criticism as it drove another stake into troubled Middle East peace efforts.

The interior ministry said it approved the construction of 900 new units in Gilo, one of a dozen Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem, in a move that flew in the face of Palestinian calls -- that had had US backing -- for a complete freeze on new building ahead of fresh peace talks.

Washington was quick to voice its unhappiness with the decision.

"We are dismayed at the Jerusalem planning committee's decision to move forward on the approval process for the expansion of Gilo in Jerusalem," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

"At a time when we are working to relaunch negotiations, these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed."

Israeli news reports said that hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had rejected a request from his US ally to halt construction in Gilo. It was not clear whether the request specifically concerned the project okayed on Tuesday.

Britain echoed the US criticism. The Foreign Office said Foreign Secretary David Miliband "has been very clear that a credible deal involves Jerusalem as a shared capital".

"Expanding settlements on occupied land in east Jerusalem makes that deal much harder. So this decision is wrong and we oppose it," a spokeswoman said.

The approval is likely to further hamper Washington's so-far futile efforts to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table, amid deep disagreements over the thorny issue of settlements.

The Palestinians demand that Israel freeze all settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, before any resumption of talks but Israel has so far offered only a limited reduction in new building.

The Palestinians said the Israeli announcement was a new blow to peace efforts.

"The Palestinian Authority strongly condemns this decision," said Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat.

"Settlements must be stopped, that is the only way back to a real peace process," he said.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said that the impasse has given him no choice but to seek international recognition of a Palestinian state, even as Europe and the United States discouraged the move.

"We feel we are in a very difficult situation," he said in Cairo after talks with Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak. "What is the solution for us? To remain suspended like this, not in peace? That is why I took this step."

Palestinian officials said earlier this week that they intend to ask the UN Security Council to recognise a state in a move analysts said was aimed at pressuring Israel amid the floundering US peace efforts.

The European Union, the Palestinians' biggest donor, joined the United States in urging reconsideration of the move and instead called for a return to talks.

"I don't think we are there yet," said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"I would hope that we would be in a position to recognise a Palestinian state but there has to be one first, so I think it is somewhat premature," he told reporters in Brussels.

The United States said it opposed any unilateral moves.

Netanyahu has warned that "any unilateral action will undo the framework of past accords and lead to unilateral actions from Israel."

And the Islamist Hamas movement, a bitter rival of Abbas's Fatah movement, poured cold water on any bid for international recognition.

"The proclamation of a Palestinian state should be the result of the resistance putting an end to the occupation ... and not a decision taken by (the Palestinian Authority) to fill the void after the political option has failed," said Hamas's exiled political supremo Khaled Meshaal.

Israel captured east Jerusalem with the rest of the West Bank in the Six Day War of 1967. It later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community and insists on retaining the whole of the Holy City as its "eternal, indivisible" capital.

The Palestinians are determined to make the city's eastern sector the capital of their promised state.

from http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jTr43z0NKHM30ZXMyYpTmHPc6A1g

[major.tom]

There's the E.U.'s "status quo." The day after they waffled over the "timing", Israel ratchets up the pressure proving that until Palestine is devoid of Palestinians, there's always more to steal.

And the U.S. is "dismayed." Such harsh language will certainly make them think twice next time.