Twelfth Bough

i run my own damn think tank

Archive for September 1st, 2008

Glass feelings - So Fragile

Sep 1

Posted by Marlena in Iran, Israel, Media, Obama/Biden | No Comments

This article is from the Jerusalem Post: J’lem worried over Biden’s Iran stance.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1220186495107&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Full psychopathic drama on display…

Security officials expressed concern Monday over statements reportedly made by US Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Army Radio reported that the Delaware senator was heard saying in closed conversations with Jerusalem officials three years ago that he was firmly opposed to an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

GASP! Can you believe someone said they once heard Biden say that, like, three years ago! Outrageous.

Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reportedly claimed that Israel would likely have to come to terms with a nuclear Iran. He reportedly expressed doubt over the effectiveness of economic sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic and said he was against the opening of an additional military and diplomatic front, saying that the US had more pressing problems, such as North Korea and Iraq.

Can you believe the nerve of that man!?!?!?! Who gives a crap about the US’s “pressing problems”??? Why would he even bring that up?!

The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report.

And your point is…..?

Biden has a solid 36-year Senate record of pro-Israel leadership. He has called Israel “the single greatest strength America has in the Middle East” and declared himself a Zionist in an interview with a US Jewish television channel last year, saying that “you don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist.”

That doesn’t mean anything. He’s lying.

Army Radio said that Jerusalem officials expressed amazement at the comments and were wondering which position to take seriously, that of Biden or Obama, who declared last Monday that the world must press Iran through sanctions and diplomacy to stop its nuclear program, so that Israel does not feel its “back is against the wall” and that it therefore has no choice but to attack.

The State of Israel has feelings, you know, which is a truly remarkable thing, and if these feelings are not treated with the utmost care, Israel will have no choice to do something really quite crazy, out of despair and self-defense of course, considering that we are absolutely sick with worry and you clearly don’t care, and so it will be all your fault. Since now we know that Biden once allegedly said something that contradicts what Obama says now, we now have no choice but to wonder which man to take seriously. Obviously, we can no longer take them both seriously. This one mistake is all it takes to wreck our trust, which is a fragile, precious gift. You have rejected our beautiful gift of trust and friendship. This is going to affect your presidential race, because Obama can no longer be trusted (as we’ve suspected and which has now been confirmed — Aha!), and we will tell all our media people to step on the scales for McCain/Palin with both feet. And we have media people everywhere, as we’re sure you don’t need to be reminded.

The officials said that they had believed Biden’s nomination would give a feeling of security to the Israeli government, which was concerned that the US would give Israel the cold shoulder regarding the Iranian threat following the end of the Bush Administration’s term.

(Sniff.) This is so disappointing. Here we were, so hopeful that we could continue our beautiful, special friendship with a Democratic administration. But now (sniff) it’s clear that this is not to be.

Nevertheless, reports of Biden’s comments have now cast doubt over this sentiment and officials said that “this feeling of security has been undermined.”

(Filling many tissues.) We’re not angry, just really, really hurt.

“The position of the vice presidential candidate puts a huge question mark over the degree of empathy the Obama administration would display concerning one of the greatest threats Israel faces,” they said.

It would be so hard to trust you after this terrible breach. It’s like a beautiful teacup has been smashed on the ground. I suppose we could glue it back together, somehow, but it would never be as strong. The cracks would always remind us of your terrible betrayal. We are so very, very vulnerable; and all you can think of is yourself.

(Sadly honking many boogers into tissues.)

UPDATE: It works again!! (That’s why they keep doing it.) Biden forced to release a statement denying ever putting US interests ahead of Israel’s elusive ’security.’

Israel: The Most Insecure Place on Earth.

Heckuva job, Saakass.

Sep 1

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, NATO, Politics, Russia | No Comments

The pressures must be very intense right now on the European countries. Saakashvili has tripwired lots of problems for the US, Israel, Europe, Turkey… I guess Cheney forgot to tell him about the Silly String trick before giving the go-ahead to piss off Russia. Oops.

Extraordinary meeting held at request of several EU member states:

The President of the French Republic as current President of the European Council, has, at the request of several EU Member States, decided to convoke an extraordinary meeting of the European Council which will be held on Monday 1 September in Brussels.

This meeting will be devoted to the crisis in Georgia, particularly to the course of action that the European Union intends to take in terms of aid to Georgia and its future relations with Russia.

But there’s a big problem:

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition is split over confronting Russia, its biggest energy supplier, for invading Georgia, threatening efforts to strike a united European response to a resurgent Kremlin.

…“Everybody in the EU is looking for Germany to lead on this, and if the Germans can’t get their act together, it’s very bad news for the rest of Europe,” said Shada Islam, an analyst at the European Policy Centre in Brussels. “It’s a bit of a gamble to hold this meeting, which may merely serve to reveal all the cracks and fissures in the EU’s Russia policy.”

Germany is the 27-nation EU’s biggest member and has the closest links to Russia, so it has most to lose from reducing economic ties that flourished under Merkel’s Social Democratic predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, now co-head of a joint venture with Russian state-owned gas monopoly OAO Gazprom. Merkel’s own party, the Christian Democratic Union, is pushing her to confront Russia to improve its record on human rights and democracy. Her Social Democrat coalition partners, including Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, stress dialogue over sanctions or confrontational rhetoric because they don’t want to risk Germany’s place as Russia’s No. 1 European trading partner.

There’s a lot of hand-wringing going on because Russia has the upper hand and everyone knows it. Saakashvili has put Old Europe in a difficult position, and now they will make some decisions for their own interests.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Aug. 28 that some EU states at the summit “will propose sanctions” while “others will be against.” The EU has to decide such measures unanimously, making sanctions unlikely because a single member state can block imposing sanctions on Russia. “Europe can’t do very much,” said Fredrik Erixon, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy in Brussels. “We mainly import energy from Russia and if we cut trade ties it’s going to be a very cold winter.”

Soon we will hear shrill, ear-piercing screams coming from the neocons because Everything’s Ruined!