Showing posts with label The U.S.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The U.S.. Show all posts
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Debt talks grind on, clock ticks toward default
3 hrs ago
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press
Source: Yahoo News
WASHINGTON (AP) — Budget talks between President Barack Obama and his GOP rivals are at a frustrating standstill, leading a top Republican to launch a long-shot proposal to give Obama sweeping new powers to muscle through an increase in the government's debt limit without the approval of a bitterly divided Congress.
Lawmakers return to the White House Wednesday for their four negotiating session with the president in as many days. Obama has said the daily meetings will continue until a deal is reached.
A two-hour session Tuesday produced no progress after a day of poisonous exchanges between Democrats and Republicans.
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky offered a backup plan that would, in effect, guarantee Obama requests for new government borrowing authority unless Congress musters veto-proof majorities to deny him. McConnell said he was forced to introduce the plan because he didn't see a path to an agreement so long as Democrats insist on revenue increases.
McConnell said Wednesday that his proposal was a "last resort if the president continues to shirk his duties to do something about our dire fiscal situation."
"Make the president show in black and white the specific cuts he claims to support. If he refuses he'll have to raise the debt ceiling on his own," McConnell said on the Senate floor. "But he's not going to get Republicans to go along with that."
McConnell's proposal immediately ran into stiff opposition among tea party conservatives and seemed unlikely to pass the House, but neither the White House nor House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, dismissed it out of hand.
"I think everybody agrees there needs to be a backup plan if we can't come to an agreement," Boehner said in a Fox News Channel interview Tuesday afternoon. "And frankly, I think Mitch has done good work."
Under McConnell's proposal, Obama could request — and likely secure — increases of up to $2.5 trillion in the government's borrowing authority in three separate installments over the coming year as long as he simultaneously proposed spending cuts of greater size.
The debt limit increases would take effect unless blocked by Congress under special rules that would require speedy action — and even then Obama could exercise his authority to veto such legislation. But the president's spending would have no guarantee of receiving a vote.
"The American people elected (McConnell) to serve as a check on Obama's appetite for out-of-control spending, not to write him a blank check to continue the binge," said conservative activist Brett Bozell. "It's these sort of shenanigans that got Republicans thrown out of power in 2006."
Tea party favorite Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., asked about McConnell's plan Wednesday on CBS' "The Early Show," said, "Republicans weren't elected last November to make it easier to spend and borrow and add to our debt."
GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich wrote on Twitter, "McConnell's plan is an irresponsible surrender to big government, big deficits and continued overspending."
Republicans, meanwhile, continued pushing for a balanced budget amendment that would require Washington to balance its books. McConnell said politicians in Washington have showed they can't get the job done, and "If the president won't do something about the debt we'll go around him and take it to the American people."
McConnell made his proposal public a few hours before Obama presided Tuesday over his third meeting in as many days with congressional leaders searching for a way to avoid a default and possible financial crisis.
Democratic officials who participated in the session said Obama did not reject McConnell's idea, but said it's not his preferred approach. A statement issued later by press secretary Jay Carney said the president "continues to believe that our focus must remain on seizing this unique opportunity to come to agreement on significant, balanced deficit reduction."
McConnell's plan was hatched out of frustration that Congress and Obama are deadlocked as the clock ticks toward an Aug. 2 deadline for a market-rattling default on U.S. obligations. McConnell said he still hoped a deal could be reached, but that a backup plan would show the markets and public that default is not an option.
Republicans are demanding $2 trillion-plus in budget cuts as the price for a commensurate increase in the government's ability to continue to borrow more than 40 cents of every dollar it spends. Both Republicans and Obama see the politically toxic debt limit vote as a way to seize an opportunity to cut future deficits — a move that would seem to be to the political benefit of both sides.
But GOP refusals to consider devoting any new revenue from closing tax loopholes — like those enjoyed by oil and gas companies — to cutting the deficit has led Democrats to withhold further spending cuts beyond a handful tentatively agreed to during several weeks of talks led by Vice President Joe Biden in May and June. For their part, Republicans say the White House is offering minuscule spending cuts in the near term and is pulling back from some tentative agreements on topics like requiring federal workers to contribute more to their pensions.
Staffers were meeting at the White House Wednesday morning to work out agreements on specific cuts discussed during those earlier Biden-led talks. The meeting with Obama, Biden and congressional leaders later Wednesday was expected to build on those discussions.
Obama himself upped the stakes Tuesday, telling CBS News anchor Scott Pelley that more than $20 billion in Social Security checks could be held up.
"I can't guarantee that the checks will go out Aug. 3 if we haven't resolved this," Obama said. "There may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it."
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press
Source: Yahoo News
WASHINGTON (AP) — Budget talks between President Barack Obama and his GOP rivals are at a frustrating standstill, leading a top Republican to launch a long-shot proposal to give Obama sweeping new powers to muscle through an increase in the government's debt limit without the approval of a bitterly divided Congress.
Lawmakers return to the White House Wednesday for their four negotiating session with the president in as many days. Obama has said the daily meetings will continue until a deal is reached.
A two-hour session Tuesday produced no progress after a day of poisonous exchanges between Democrats and Republicans.
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky offered a backup plan that would, in effect, guarantee Obama requests for new government borrowing authority unless Congress musters veto-proof majorities to deny him. McConnell said he was forced to introduce the plan because he didn't see a path to an agreement so long as Democrats insist on revenue increases.
McConnell said Wednesday that his proposal was a "last resort if the president continues to shirk his duties to do something about our dire fiscal situation."
"Make the president show in black and white the specific cuts he claims to support. If he refuses he'll have to raise the debt ceiling on his own," McConnell said on the Senate floor. "But he's not going to get Republicans to go along with that."
McConnell's proposal immediately ran into stiff opposition among tea party conservatives and seemed unlikely to pass the House, but neither the White House nor House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, dismissed it out of hand.
"I think everybody agrees there needs to be a backup plan if we can't come to an agreement," Boehner said in a Fox News Channel interview Tuesday afternoon. "And frankly, I think Mitch has done good work."
Under McConnell's proposal, Obama could request — and likely secure — increases of up to $2.5 trillion in the government's borrowing authority in three separate installments over the coming year as long as he simultaneously proposed spending cuts of greater size.
The debt limit increases would take effect unless blocked by Congress under special rules that would require speedy action — and even then Obama could exercise his authority to veto such legislation. But the president's spending would have no guarantee of receiving a vote.
"The American people elected (McConnell) to serve as a check on Obama's appetite for out-of-control spending, not to write him a blank check to continue the binge," said conservative activist Brett Bozell. "It's these sort of shenanigans that got Republicans thrown out of power in 2006."
Tea party favorite Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., asked about McConnell's plan Wednesday on CBS' "The Early Show," said, "Republicans weren't elected last November to make it easier to spend and borrow and add to our debt."
GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich wrote on Twitter, "McConnell's plan is an irresponsible surrender to big government, big deficits and continued overspending."
Republicans, meanwhile, continued pushing for a balanced budget amendment that would require Washington to balance its books. McConnell said politicians in Washington have showed they can't get the job done, and "If the president won't do something about the debt we'll go around him and take it to the American people."
McConnell made his proposal public a few hours before Obama presided Tuesday over his third meeting in as many days with congressional leaders searching for a way to avoid a default and possible financial crisis.
Democratic officials who participated in the session said Obama did not reject McConnell's idea, but said it's not his preferred approach. A statement issued later by press secretary Jay Carney said the president "continues to believe that our focus must remain on seizing this unique opportunity to come to agreement on significant, balanced deficit reduction."
McConnell's plan was hatched out of frustration that Congress and Obama are deadlocked as the clock ticks toward an Aug. 2 deadline for a market-rattling default on U.S. obligations. McConnell said he still hoped a deal could be reached, but that a backup plan would show the markets and public that default is not an option.
Republicans are demanding $2 trillion-plus in budget cuts as the price for a commensurate increase in the government's ability to continue to borrow more than 40 cents of every dollar it spends. Both Republicans and Obama see the politically toxic debt limit vote as a way to seize an opportunity to cut future deficits — a move that would seem to be to the political benefit of both sides.
But GOP refusals to consider devoting any new revenue from closing tax loopholes — like those enjoyed by oil and gas companies — to cutting the deficit has led Democrats to withhold further spending cuts beyond a handful tentatively agreed to during several weeks of talks led by Vice President Joe Biden in May and June. For their part, Republicans say the White House is offering minuscule spending cuts in the near term and is pulling back from some tentative agreements on topics like requiring federal workers to contribute more to their pensions.
Staffers were meeting at the White House Wednesday morning to work out agreements on specific cuts discussed during those earlier Biden-led talks. The meeting with Obama, Biden and congressional leaders later Wednesday was expected to build on those discussions.
Obama himself upped the stakes Tuesday, telling CBS News anchor Scott Pelley that more than $20 billion in Social Security checks could be held up.
"I can't guarantee that the checks will go out Aug. 3 if we haven't resolved this," Obama said. "There may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it."
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
The U.S. is at a Precipice
By Timothy V. Gatto
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
liberalpro.blogspot.com
March 23, 2010
We are at a precipice. This is the end of one era and the beginning of another. The “real” world that so many people believe in, here in America is not the world you see on your TV sets, that is the world that the government and the media want you to believe in. We are so accustomed to believing in our own American ideology that we can’t understand the ramifications of what we have done. So many people in this country continue to believe that what we have done can’t be undone. This is the reason we have come to this point. We are not “invincible”. We are not “exceptional”. We must abide by the same financial tenets that rest of the world must obey. We cannot spend above our means. We cannot spend 1.4 Trillion dollars on the military and get nothing back. We cannot give trillions in fiat money to prop up the bankers and financiers on Wall Street.
The only ones benefiting from this spending spree America is going through are the families that own the banks that make up the Federal Reserve. Every fiat dollar that is printed, six cents ends up in the transnational banks of these families. We have mortgaged our own nation to the same people we fought the Revolutionary War against. To me, the worst President in the world was Woodrow Wilson. I hope he rots in hell. Like Obama, that man reneged on almost everything he said he stood for. He was pressured into the First World War, a war we should have stayed out of. He also let us become slaves of a Central Bank. Instead of printing our own money, we were now faced with printing money that included an automatic debt.
I believe that the only reason our government is waging these incessant wars and spending money that they don’t have is so that the rest of the countries in the world remain afraid to refuse to take dollars as payment for oil and other imports. The minute one nation refuses to accept dollars; there will be a cascade of other countries that will follow suit. That will trigger hyper-inflation and our dollar will be worthless. No more cheap imported oil. No more cheap electronics. No more spending on infrastructure. We won’t have a pot to piss in.
Undoubtedly the United States will launch a major war. Even they can’t understand that the petroleum to run the war machine has to be paid for. Ask the Japanese in WW2 how that worked out for them. We will be thrown into the same circumstances that the Soviet Union faced in the last great super-power meltdown. The break-up of the United States will be a huge probability. If you think that the families that own the Federal Reserve are going to bail us out, think again. They have seen empires come and go. No, they won’t back us up, they’ll just buy everything in this country in a huge fire sale with the money they made by putting us in debt.
This recent fiasco concerning health insurance really made me understand that most Americans have no idea what is really important. The minuscule amount of money compared to the defense budget and the bail-outs is not the important issue here. The selling out of our nation by Congress and the Executive Branch is the real problem. Giving away our nation’s treasure to financial insiders that produce nothing but debt and supporting military adventures that produce no lasting results is what is killing this nation. We can’t continue to go trillions of dollars in debt every year and continue to enjoy the standard of living that we enjoy in America. That day is coming to a close. Get used to it.
The other problem this nation faces is the timidity of the “Left”. It seems that the so-called left in this country can’t seem to get involved enough to speak out. Where are all the people that protested the Iraq War? Where is the outrage on this war for an oil pipeline in Afghanistan? The Taliban don’t want to attack the United States, they just want the “foreigners” out of their country. Afghanistan is funny like that; look at what they did to Alexander “The Great”. Let me tell Olbermann and Maddow and all the Daily Koster’s that Obama is not your friend. Supporting this so-called “progressive” is like the old socialists that supported Hitler. Hitler called himself a “socialist” but he was a Nazi. Obama may call himself a “Progressive” but he is a fascist. Most of our politicians are. Our government is in collusion with corporations that will ride this gravy train to the very end. Let the left stay quiet and when the toilet flushes on the United States, they can take it up with the tea-baggers or some other right wing coalition.
All I can say is that we had better start treating what is happening to this country with all the seriousness that we can muster. We don’t have much time; in fact, we may already be out of time. I am loath to write what I’m writing, but a friend reminded me that we must all continue to speak out. There is no place to hide. Maybe there are some of you out there that are listening.
timgatto@hotmail.com Read Tim’s new novel “Kimchee Days or Stoned cold Warriors” at any online bookstore.
Link: http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/the-u-s-is-at-a-precipice-by-timothy-v-gatto/.
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
liberalpro.blogspot.com
March 23, 2010
We are at a precipice. This is the end of one era and the beginning of another. The “real” world that so many people believe in, here in America is not the world you see on your TV sets, that is the world that the government and the media want you to believe in. We are so accustomed to believing in our own American ideology that we can’t understand the ramifications of what we have done. So many people in this country continue to believe that what we have done can’t be undone. This is the reason we have come to this point. We are not “invincible”. We are not “exceptional”. We must abide by the same financial tenets that rest of the world must obey. We cannot spend above our means. We cannot spend 1.4 Trillion dollars on the military and get nothing back. We cannot give trillions in fiat money to prop up the bankers and financiers on Wall Street.
The only ones benefiting from this spending spree America is going through are the families that own the banks that make up the Federal Reserve. Every fiat dollar that is printed, six cents ends up in the transnational banks of these families. We have mortgaged our own nation to the same people we fought the Revolutionary War against. To me, the worst President in the world was Woodrow Wilson. I hope he rots in hell. Like Obama, that man reneged on almost everything he said he stood for. He was pressured into the First World War, a war we should have stayed out of. He also let us become slaves of a Central Bank. Instead of printing our own money, we were now faced with printing money that included an automatic debt.
I believe that the only reason our government is waging these incessant wars and spending money that they don’t have is so that the rest of the countries in the world remain afraid to refuse to take dollars as payment for oil and other imports. The minute one nation refuses to accept dollars; there will be a cascade of other countries that will follow suit. That will trigger hyper-inflation and our dollar will be worthless. No more cheap imported oil. No more cheap electronics. No more spending on infrastructure. We won’t have a pot to piss in.
Undoubtedly the United States will launch a major war. Even they can’t understand that the petroleum to run the war machine has to be paid for. Ask the Japanese in WW2 how that worked out for them. We will be thrown into the same circumstances that the Soviet Union faced in the last great super-power meltdown. The break-up of the United States will be a huge probability. If you think that the families that own the Federal Reserve are going to bail us out, think again. They have seen empires come and go. No, they won’t back us up, they’ll just buy everything in this country in a huge fire sale with the money they made by putting us in debt.
This recent fiasco concerning health insurance really made me understand that most Americans have no idea what is really important. The minuscule amount of money compared to the defense budget and the bail-outs is not the important issue here. The selling out of our nation by Congress and the Executive Branch is the real problem. Giving away our nation’s treasure to financial insiders that produce nothing but debt and supporting military adventures that produce no lasting results is what is killing this nation. We can’t continue to go trillions of dollars in debt every year and continue to enjoy the standard of living that we enjoy in America. That day is coming to a close. Get used to it.
The other problem this nation faces is the timidity of the “Left”. It seems that the so-called left in this country can’t seem to get involved enough to speak out. Where are all the people that protested the Iraq War? Where is the outrage on this war for an oil pipeline in Afghanistan? The Taliban don’t want to attack the United States, they just want the “foreigners” out of their country. Afghanistan is funny like that; look at what they did to Alexander “The Great”. Let me tell Olbermann and Maddow and all the Daily Koster’s that Obama is not your friend. Supporting this so-called “progressive” is like the old socialists that supported Hitler. Hitler called himself a “socialist” but he was a Nazi. Obama may call himself a “Progressive” but he is a fascist. Most of our politicians are. Our government is in collusion with corporations that will ride this gravy train to the very end. Let the left stay quiet and when the toilet flushes on the United States, they can take it up with the tea-baggers or some other right wing coalition.
All I can say is that we had better start treating what is happening to this country with all the seriousness that we can muster. We don’t have much time; in fact, we may already be out of time. I am loath to write what I’m writing, but a friend reminded me that we must all continue to speak out. There is no place to hide. Maybe there are some of you out there that are listening.
timgatto@hotmail.com Read Tim’s new novel “Kimchee Days or Stoned cold Warriors” at any online bookstore.
Link: http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/the-u-s-is-at-a-precipice-by-timothy-v-gatto/.
Monday, October 25, 2010
US on collision course with economic ruin
Finance ministers from the G-20 nations will meet in South Korea to address the global financial crisis. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to push his plan aimed at rebalancing the world economy.
Geithner wants to set new targets to reduce deficits in countries in order to fix global trade imbalances. Currently, the world's nations are split on his trade plan.
“I don’t even know how they can take Geithner seriously anymore,” said Peter Schiff, the president of Euro Pacific Capital and author of “How and Economy Grows and Why it Crashes.” “The policies that we’re pursuing here in America are exasperating the very imbalances that the Treasury Secretary claims that he wants to reign in. The biggest offender is the United States.”
The US is spending too much, barrowing large sums of money and expanding already large trade deficits, he explained. Geithner may have inherited a broken system, but he continued to break it more, said Schiff.
“It could be repaired,” he said. “America needs to save more. America needs to produce more and we’re not going to do that with the current policies in place. We need to reverse course. We need to shrink the size of our government. We need higher interest rates in America, not low interest rates. People need to save their money, not go deeper into debt.”
The US cannot continue the same policies and blame others; it simply does not make sense.
“Everybody gains from Trade,” added Schiff. “But now we’re not really trading.”
He explained that the US is an addict, addicted to spending and borrowing money. China needs to cut off the supply of money, he argued. Foreign governments enable the US to continue failed policies that continue to hinder the global economy.
“As long as the world will lend us money, our politicians will spend it to get elected, but that’s not helping America,” Schiff said.
“The United States is in the process of collapsing. It doesn’t mean it’s irreparable. I think we are on a collision course with economic ruin, it doesn’t mean that we don’t still control our own destiny,” he added.
He argued that the US can reclaim a viable economy if they enact proper policies to do so. The current policies will lead to economic ruin.
Geithner wants to set new targets to reduce deficits in countries in order to fix global trade imbalances. Currently, the world's nations are split on his trade plan.
“I don’t even know how they can take Geithner seriously anymore,” said Peter Schiff, the president of Euro Pacific Capital and author of “How and Economy Grows and Why it Crashes.” “The policies that we’re pursuing here in America are exasperating the very imbalances that the Treasury Secretary claims that he wants to reign in. The biggest offender is the United States.”
The US is spending too much, barrowing large sums of money and expanding already large trade deficits, he explained. Geithner may have inherited a broken system, but he continued to break it more, said Schiff.
“It could be repaired,” he said. “America needs to save more. America needs to produce more and we’re not going to do that with the current policies in place. We need to reverse course. We need to shrink the size of our government. We need higher interest rates in America, not low interest rates. People need to save their money, not go deeper into debt.”
The US cannot continue the same policies and blame others; it simply does not make sense.
“Everybody gains from Trade,” added Schiff. “But now we’re not really trading.”
He explained that the US is an addict, addicted to spending and borrowing money. China needs to cut off the supply of money, he argued. Foreign governments enable the US to continue failed policies that continue to hinder the global economy.
“As long as the world will lend us money, our politicians will spend it to get elected, but that’s not helping America,” Schiff said.
“The United States is in the process of collapsing. It doesn’t mean it’s irreparable. I think we are on a collision course with economic ruin, it doesn’t mean that we don’t still control our own destiny,” he added.
He argued that the US can reclaim a viable economy if they enact proper policies to do so. The current policies will lead to economic ruin.
America’s “spoiled child” holds the key to Middle East peace
Published 21 October, 2010, 18:00
Edited 25 October, 2010, 11:26
Despite reassuring words out of Washington that a two-state peace deal is possible for the Israelis and Palestinians, the facts on the ground tell a very different story.
Today’s online edition of Haaretz, the Israeli daily, shows a photograph of two bulldozers scraping the dusty terrain in the West Bank accompanied by the headline: “Settlers broke ground on nearly 600 homes since end of freeze, survey shows.” Just below is another story, entitled: “Clinton: Two-state solution still possible for Israel, Palestinians.”
These wildly diverging articles illustrate the chasm that exists between the United States and Israel over the question of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The first article, quoting the Associated Press, announces that “…settlers have begun building new homes at a quick pace since the government lifted its moratorium on West Bank housing starts – almost 550 in three weeks, more than four times faster than the last two years.”
The article reported that many of the settlements are being built in areas that would be incorporated into any future Palestinian state; this trend will severely hampers any hope for a lasting peace.
According to an AP survey, construction has begun on 544 new West Bank homes since September 26, the date when Israel ended its 10-month moratorium on new settlement building.
“Nearly 300,000 settlers now live in the West Bank,” AP reported, “along with 2.2 million Palestinians. Settlers have covered the territory – captured by Israel in the Six Day War in 1967, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem – with an increasingly intricate web of established communities and nearly 100 unauthorized hilltop outposts.”
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has been trying to persuade Israel to extend the construction moratorium. Washington is pushing for a one-time two-month extension, during which time the Israelis and Palestinians would be expected to reach agreement on the future borders of a Palestinian state. These efforts, however, have been hampered by next month’s highly anticipated midterm elections, in which the Democrats are expected to suffer setbacks due to public impatience with the sluggish economy.
Meanwhile, the Palestinians are demanding a total freeze on settlement construction for the duration of negotiations, saying two months is not sufficient time to reach an agreement.
The next article from Haaretz quotes parts of Hillary Clinton’s address to the annual conference of the American Taskforce for Palestine, an organization founded in 2003 that advocates the creation of a Palestinian state, in Washington, DC.
"We remain convinced that if they persevere with negotiations,” Clinton said, “the parties can agree on an outcome that ends the conflict; reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps."
"We have a moment in time and we must seize…The Obama administration will not turn their backs on either the people of Palestine and Israel. They will continue working for and, God willing, achieving peace."
The Secretary of State then said the “goal [of a two-state solution] is now the official policy of the United States.”
Below the diplomatic niceties, however, Washington understands that without a freeze on settlement construction – on the very land that is supposed to be the site of the new Palestinian state - the peace talks will implode.
US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley last week criticized Israel for its decision to resume building in East Jerusalem.
"We were disappointed by the announcement of new tenders in East Jerusalem yesterday. It is contrary to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties," said Crowley.
Is Israel behaving like a “spoiled child”?
This week, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman suggested that Israel, which is indulged with extensive American support at every turn, is behaving like a spoiled child in its relations with the United States.
“It is a measure of how spoiled Israel has become that after billions and billions of dollars in US aid and 300,000 settlers already ensconced in the West Bank,” Friedman writes, “Israel feels no compunction about spurning an American request for a longer settlement freeze – the only purpose of which is to help the United States help Israel reach a secure peace with the Palestinians.”
The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer then imagined what so many Americans would like to hear from the Israeli side: “You know, Mr. President, we're dubious that a continued settlement freeze will have an impact. But you think it will, so, let's test it. This one's for you."
It is hard to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the veteran politician who is enjoying his second stint as prime minister (he served in the same capacity from 1996 to 1999), is bowing to settler demands simply because he is worried about a political dogfight.
Netanyahu certainly has the power, influence and political balls to contain even the most provocative members of his government, like Avigdor Lieberman, the minister of foreign affairs, who has been labeled a racist ultra-nationalist by many commentators, not least of all by Jewish columnists in the United States.
“Yes, I know,” Friedman continues. “Netanyahu says that if he did that then the far right-wingers in his cabinet would walk out. He knows he can't make peace with some of the lunatics in his cabinet, but he tells the US that he only wants to blow up his cabinet once – for a deal. But we will never get to that stage if he doesn't blow it up now and construct a centrist coalition that can negotiate a deal.”
Friedman then attacks the notion that Barack Obama is somehow “anti-Israel,” and provides some good reasons why that notion is totally inaccurate.
“Please spare me the nonsense that President Barack Obama is anti-Israel. At a time when the president has made it one of his top priorities to build a global coalition to stop Iran from making a nuclear weapon, he took the very logical view that if he could advance the peace process in the Middle East it would give him much greater leverage to get the Europeans and the United Nations behind tougher sanctions on Iran.”
Friedman then reminds us that “Israel can't remain a Jewish democracy in the long run if it continues to control 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank.”
His advice: “Abbas is weak and acts weaker. Netanyahu is strong and acts weak. It is time for both to step it up. And it is time for all the outsiders who spoil them to find another hobby.”
The question is: Do the Palestinians have any hope of achieving sovereign-state status if the United States, a well known ally of Israel, continues moderating the peace talks? More than a few observers say the answer is “no.”
With peace talks looking on the verge of collapse yet again, Palestinians are reportedly discussing the idea of taking their case “to the United Nations, the International Court of Justice and other forums to achieve recognition of Palestinian statehood,” The New York Times reported Wednesday.
"We cannot go on this way," former peace negotiator Hanan Ashrawi of the Palestine Liberation Organization told the Times. "The two-state solution is disappearing. If we cannot stop the settlements through the peace process, we have to go to the Security Council, the Human Rights Council and every international legal body."
Meanwhile, Israeli officials are vehemently opposed to the idea of having a solution imposed by outside parties, the Times said.
Israel wants Washington to publicly reject such an approach, which the administration of Barack Obama has so far refused to do.
Should the government of Benjamin Netanyau fight harder for a final peace deal with the Palestinians, even agreeing with the United States to enforce another settlement moratorium, or should it gamble further, risking the best friend it has?
It is clear that only through the strong leadership of a time-tested politician like Mr. Netanyahu can Israel’s hard-right be won over to any peace deal. A weaker Israeli leader will never be able to bring all the different factions together in agreement like Bibi can.
The key to peace is in Netanyahu’s court. It won't remain there forever.
Robert Bridge, RT
Edited 25 October, 2010, 11:26
Despite reassuring words out of Washington that a two-state peace deal is possible for the Israelis and Palestinians, the facts on the ground tell a very different story.
Today’s online edition of Haaretz, the Israeli daily, shows a photograph of two bulldozers scraping the dusty terrain in the West Bank accompanied by the headline: “Settlers broke ground on nearly 600 homes since end of freeze, survey shows.” Just below is another story, entitled: “Clinton: Two-state solution still possible for Israel, Palestinians.”
These wildly diverging articles illustrate the chasm that exists between the United States and Israel over the question of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The first article, quoting the Associated Press, announces that “…settlers have begun building new homes at a quick pace since the government lifted its moratorium on West Bank housing starts – almost 550 in three weeks, more than four times faster than the last two years.”
The article reported that many of the settlements are being built in areas that would be incorporated into any future Palestinian state; this trend will severely hampers any hope for a lasting peace.
According to an AP survey, construction has begun on 544 new West Bank homes since September 26, the date when Israel ended its 10-month moratorium on new settlement building.
“Nearly 300,000 settlers now live in the West Bank,” AP reported, “along with 2.2 million Palestinians. Settlers have covered the territory – captured by Israel in the Six Day War in 1967, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem – with an increasingly intricate web of established communities and nearly 100 unauthorized hilltop outposts.”
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has been trying to persuade Israel to extend the construction moratorium. Washington is pushing for a one-time two-month extension, during which time the Israelis and Palestinians would be expected to reach agreement on the future borders of a Palestinian state. These efforts, however, have been hampered by next month’s highly anticipated midterm elections, in which the Democrats are expected to suffer setbacks due to public impatience with the sluggish economy.
Meanwhile, the Palestinians are demanding a total freeze on settlement construction for the duration of negotiations, saying two months is not sufficient time to reach an agreement.
The next article from Haaretz quotes parts of Hillary Clinton’s address to the annual conference of the American Taskforce for Palestine, an organization founded in 2003 that advocates the creation of a Palestinian state, in Washington, DC.
"We remain convinced that if they persevere with negotiations,” Clinton said, “the parties can agree on an outcome that ends the conflict; reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps."
"We have a moment in time and we must seize…The Obama administration will not turn their backs on either the people of Palestine and Israel. They will continue working for and, God willing, achieving peace."
The Secretary of State then said the “goal [of a two-state solution] is now the official policy of the United States.”
Below the diplomatic niceties, however, Washington understands that without a freeze on settlement construction – on the very land that is supposed to be the site of the new Palestinian state - the peace talks will implode.
US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley last week criticized Israel for its decision to resume building in East Jerusalem.
"We were disappointed by the announcement of new tenders in East Jerusalem yesterday. It is contrary to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties," said Crowley.
Is Israel behaving like a “spoiled child”?
This week, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman suggested that Israel, which is indulged with extensive American support at every turn, is behaving like a spoiled child in its relations with the United States.
“It is a measure of how spoiled Israel has become that after billions and billions of dollars in US aid and 300,000 settlers already ensconced in the West Bank,” Friedman writes, “Israel feels no compunction about spurning an American request for a longer settlement freeze – the only purpose of which is to help the United States help Israel reach a secure peace with the Palestinians.”
The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer then imagined what so many Americans would like to hear from the Israeli side: “You know, Mr. President, we're dubious that a continued settlement freeze will have an impact. But you think it will, so, let's test it. This one's for you."
It is hard to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the veteran politician who is enjoying his second stint as prime minister (he served in the same capacity from 1996 to 1999), is bowing to settler demands simply because he is worried about a political dogfight.
Netanyahu certainly has the power, influence and political balls to contain even the most provocative members of his government, like Avigdor Lieberman, the minister of foreign affairs, who has been labeled a racist ultra-nationalist by many commentators, not least of all by Jewish columnists in the United States.
“Yes, I know,” Friedman continues. “Netanyahu says that if he did that then the far right-wingers in his cabinet would walk out. He knows he can't make peace with some of the lunatics in his cabinet, but he tells the US that he only wants to blow up his cabinet once – for a deal. But we will never get to that stage if he doesn't blow it up now and construct a centrist coalition that can negotiate a deal.”
Friedman then attacks the notion that Barack Obama is somehow “anti-Israel,” and provides some good reasons why that notion is totally inaccurate.
“Please spare me the nonsense that President Barack Obama is anti-Israel. At a time when the president has made it one of his top priorities to build a global coalition to stop Iran from making a nuclear weapon, he took the very logical view that if he could advance the peace process in the Middle East it would give him much greater leverage to get the Europeans and the United Nations behind tougher sanctions on Iran.”
Friedman then reminds us that “Israel can't remain a Jewish democracy in the long run if it continues to control 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank.”
His advice: “Abbas is weak and acts weaker. Netanyahu is strong and acts weak. It is time for both to step it up. And it is time for all the outsiders who spoil them to find another hobby.”
The question is: Do the Palestinians have any hope of achieving sovereign-state status if the United States, a well known ally of Israel, continues moderating the peace talks? More than a few observers say the answer is “no.”
With peace talks looking on the verge of collapse yet again, Palestinians are reportedly discussing the idea of taking their case “to the United Nations, the International Court of Justice and other forums to achieve recognition of Palestinian statehood,” The New York Times reported Wednesday.
"We cannot go on this way," former peace negotiator Hanan Ashrawi of the Palestine Liberation Organization told the Times. "The two-state solution is disappearing. If we cannot stop the settlements through the peace process, we have to go to the Security Council, the Human Rights Council and every international legal body."
Meanwhile, Israeli officials are vehemently opposed to the idea of having a solution imposed by outside parties, the Times said.
Israel wants Washington to publicly reject such an approach, which the administration of Barack Obama has so far refused to do.
Should the government of Benjamin Netanyau fight harder for a final peace deal with the Palestinians, even agreeing with the United States to enforce another settlement moratorium, or should it gamble further, risking the best friend it has?
It is clear that only through the strong leadership of a time-tested politician like Mr. Netanyahu can Israel’s hard-right be won over to any peace deal. A weaker Israeli leader will never be able to bring all the different factions together in agreement like Bibi can.
The key to peace is in Netanyahu’s court. It won't remain there forever.
Robert Bridge, RT
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