A Palestinian state, then, could create an untenable choice for Israel: learn to live with terror as a daily reality, or defend yourself and become a pariah.
In endorsing an imposed solution, the General Assembly would be telling Israelis that their security concerns are irrelevant. It is, in other words, far more important to the U.N. to create Arab state No. 22 than it is to ensure the safety of the lone Jewish state.
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In endorsing a diplomatic process that ignores Israel, the U.N. would, in effect, affirm the Arab world's attempt to erase Israel's legitimacy. And by encouraging Israeli despair, it could help turn Palestine into a permanent virtual state.
FP: The League of Nations collapsed because it was unable to fulfill its function of preventing wars. The UN has gone one further: it is actually inducing wars. But hey, who cares about wars against the Jews.In endorsing an imposed solution, the General Assembly would be telling Israelis that their security concerns are irrelevant. It is, in other words, far more important to the U.N. to create Arab state No. 22 than it is to ensure the safety of the lone Jewish state.
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In endorsing a diplomatic process that ignores Israel, the U.N. would, in effect, affirm the Arab world's attempt to erase Israel's legitimacy. And by encouraging Israeli despair, it could help turn Palestine into a permanent virtual state.
Whipping votes to dodge the veto
It takes nine votes to pass a measure through the 15-member Security Council, so U.S. (and Israeli) diplomats are scrambling to line up six more "no" votes or abstentions that would save the U.S. having to veto it and in some way minimize the impression of international isolation.
The U.S. is hoping that the major European countries like Britain, France, and Germany -- if they aren't able to broker a compromise that skips the Security Council -- will vote "no." American diplomats are also working the African states on the council -- Gabon and Nigeria -- and Colombia, which would make six. Other possibilities: Bosnia-Herzegovina and (according to the Israeli press, though other sources aren't so sure of this) Portugal.
FP: There is hardly anything more eloquently exposing the decline of the US and West in general than their dependence on the atrocious UN in general and Gabon and Nigeria in particular, and I would not be surprised if even they refuse to cooperate. The PostWest.The U.S. is hoping that the major European countries like Britain, France, and Germany -- if they aren't able to broker a compromise that skips the Security Council -- will vote "no." American diplomats are also working the African states on the council -- Gabon and Nigeria -- and Colombia, which would make six. Other possibilities: Bosnia-Herzegovina and (according to the Israeli press, though other sources aren't so sure of this) Portugal.
Netanyahu to Abbas: Let’s Talk in New York
PM Netanyahu calls PA Chairman Abbas to meet with him and restart peace negotiations while both are in New York.
FP: Yuckh! No dignity. Breeds contempt in the honor-shame Palestinians. Not to mention the ammunition it gives to the anti-Israel camp to “prove that Israel is scrambling to avoid the consequences of its failure to negotiate”. And if Netanyahu makes any further concessions it teaches the Palestinians to repeat the procedure until they get everything.Elder of Ziyon: Hamas paper publishes anti-UNRWA editorial
The Hamas mouthpiece Palestine Times published an article this weekend accuding UNRWA of "killing religion" by not spending more time teaching the Koran and for hiring teachers of Islam who are not as fanatic as Hamas would like.
The author complains that UNRWA's Islamic education is being treated with the same seriousness as gym and far less than math or science. The teachers, he claims, are not experts in Islam and they teach it like just another subject, in ways that would not give the youngsters an adequate desire to grow up and kill Jews (a paraphrase, but that is what he is saying.)
In a followup article the author says that some teachers were not happy with what he had written, and he calls on them to - as much as they can without getting fired - disregard the official UNRWA curriculum and instill Islamist concepts into the students.
Notice that no one is saying that UNRWA schools - bankrolled by secular Western nations - are not teaching Islam. They are. The complaint is that they aren't doing it to the exacting standards of Hamas, as a springboard into teaching more hate.
FP: Wanna bet they’ll get it too?The author complains that UNRWA's Islamic education is being treated with the same seriousness as gym and far less than math or science. The teachers, he claims, are not experts in Islam and they teach it like just another subject, in ways that would not give the youngsters an adequate desire to grow up and kill Jews (a paraphrase, but that is what he is saying.)
In a followup article the author says that some teachers were not happy with what he had written, and he calls on them to - as much as they can without getting fired - disregard the official UNRWA curriculum and instill Islamist concepts into the students.
Notice that no one is saying that UNRWA schools - bankrolled by secular Western nations - are not teaching Islam. They are. The complaint is that they aren't doing it to the exacting standards of Hamas, as a springboard into teaching more hate.
Peter Wehner:Obama Speech was “Obama Unplugged”
What Obama is acting out is similar to a phenomenon we sometimes see among ministers. It isn’t simply that they avoid sermonizing about areas they themselves are failing in. They actually portray themselves to their congregations as mastering the very sins that beset them. Cynicism and hypocrisy are obviously at play in these circumstances — but often something more complicated is at work. These people have a compulsive need to cover up their vices by trumpeting an imaginary set of virtues. At some point this habit – to view oneself in a way that is utterly divorced from, and even the opposite of, reality – can become unsettling.
A third thing that stands out in Obama’s speech was its undiluted, rank appeal to class envy. The president is clearly hoping to win re-election by running hard against millionaires and billionaires, which is a (silly) political strategy. But that political strategy is anchored in a political philosophy, one that views wealth creators as people for whom the rest of us should have animus. More than that, they deserve to be punished because they are successful. People may do well –but the job of the federal government is to make sure they don’t do too well. That is a near constant sub-text of the entire Obama presidency. Rather than encouraging wealth creation, Obama has attempted to make it a badge of dishonor (except for rich people who support his campaign, in which case they are given a pass). None of this is surprising, given the intellectual milieu in which Obama spent his formative years.
FP: Disconnect from reality is one of the factors that cause dominant powers to decline without much hope for reversal. But that disconnect also applies to class envy: the political system induces class envy not by talking about it, but by ruling via the corporate welfare state—its kleptocratic alliance with the business system, particularly the Wall Street fraudsters and speculators which they bail out at public expense, and who produce nothing for the billions they “earn”, that brings the US down. I recommend to read Matt Taibbi. See next for an example of how the media elite defends these parasites and sell the public a bill of goods.A third thing that stands out in Obama’s speech was its undiluted, rank appeal to class envy. The president is clearly hoping to win re-election by running hard against millionaires and billionaires, which is a (silly) political strategy. But that political strategy is anchored in a political philosophy, one that views wealth creators as people for whom the rest of us should have animus. More than that, they deserve to be punished because they are successful. People may do well –but the job of the federal government is to make sure they don’t do too well. That is a near constant sub-text of the entire Obama presidency. Rather than encouraging wealth creation, Obama has attempted to make it a badge of dishonor (except for rich people who support his campaign, in which case they are given a pass). None of this is surprising, given the intellectual milieu in which Obama spent his formative years.
Matt Taibbi: Why David Brooks Really Is a Sap
I suspect that Brooks here is playing with the word "income," for while it might very well be true that the richest 1 percent pay an average of 31 percent of their "income," I seriously doubt that they pay that much of their earnings.
No doubt people like Wall Street billionaires Stevie Cohen and George Soros and John Paulson do pay well over 30 percent on their "income," if they have any, from speaking engagements or whatever else they do in their spare time. But the vast majority of the billions in actual money that these hedge-fund guys make is not called "income" but "carried interest," and is therefore taxed at 15 percent. There's a similar exemption for capital gains income, but let's even leave that aside for now, since I can see someone like Brooks arguing that investors need a tax break, or else they'll stop investing and creating jobs. I don't agree, but let's stipulate it anyway – and simply ask why anyone should have to pay higher tax rates for teaching kids or putting out fires than a billionaire who makes his money placing bets for rich people.
I defy David Brooks to come out publicly and explain how it's fair that he should pay more than twice the tax rate that Paulson or George Soros pays. I think about this every April when I send my check off to the IRS, and it makes me want to go on a tri-state killing spree. But it apparently doesn't bother Brooks, who defends this system in the pages of the Times over and over again, showing everyone that he's actually not being sarcastic when he calls himself a sap.
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Brooks has many allies in the punditry world, who voice similar objections, which should tell you a lot about the chances for actual reforms. If we can't even get rich pundits to object to being personally screwed by the system, if we can't even get those people to talk about it, it'll be a long time before we get around to seriously considering making changes.
FP: There are 3 factors that join in to spell disaster: A greedy, corrupt and decadent elite, media that spreads propaganda and a gullible and ignorant public. The result is the PostWest.
No doubt people like Wall Street billionaires Stevie Cohen and George Soros and John Paulson do pay well over 30 percent on their "income," if they have any, from speaking engagements or whatever else they do in their spare time. But the vast majority of the billions in actual money that these hedge-fund guys make is not called "income" but "carried interest," and is therefore taxed at 15 percent. There's a similar exemption for capital gains income, but let's even leave that aside for now, since I can see someone like Brooks arguing that investors need a tax break, or else they'll stop investing and creating jobs. I don't agree, but let's stipulate it anyway – and simply ask why anyone should have to pay higher tax rates for teaching kids or putting out fires than a billionaire who makes his money placing bets for rich people.
I defy David Brooks to come out publicly and explain how it's fair that he should pay more than twice the tax rate that Paulson or George Soros pays. I think about this every April when I send my check off to the IRS, and it makes me want to go on a tri-state killing spree. But it apparently doesn't bother Brooks, who defends this system in the pages of the Times over and over again, showing everyone that he's actually not being sarcastic when he calls himself a sap.
...
Brooks has many allies in the punditry world, who voice similar objections, which should tell you a lot about the chances for actual reforms. If we can't even get rich pundits to object to being personally screwed by the system, if we can't even get those people to talk about it, it'll be a long time before we get around to seriously considering making changes.
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