American foreign policy
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Guest Column: What Awaits Obama in the Middle East
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
Here is an interesting piece by Tom Mitchell, an occasional contributor to Realistic Dove. His analysis of the electoral mess in Israel, in particular, is persuasive. But I find it surprising that he believes Obama should “should look at preparing Israel for negotiations on the Palestinian track by nudging Israel into instituting a much-needed and [...]
Why Niebuhr, Obama’s favorite thinker, was a Zionist
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008After years of shamelessly pretending to know what Reinhold Niebuhr wrote and thought when his name came up in conversation, I have taken the trouble to start reading him for the first time. There are two reasons. One is that our President-elect has indicated that Niebuhr has had a profound effect on his thinking. Andrew [...]
Newsflash: AIPAC (probably) isn’t pushing for an attack on Iran
Thursday, June 12th, 2008I have read even more drivel than usual about AIPAC in the blogosphere these days, and thought I would explain a few things to those who have never attended an AIPAC Policy Conference. First of all, AIPAC does not appear to be trying to prod the U.S. to bomb Iran. If it is, I have [...]
From Rabbi Don Quixote: Why the new Middle East peace lobby has a chance
Monday, May 26th, 2008The scoffers are coming out of the woodwork. After all the hoopla over the new J Street project, in separate conversations, two friends have expressed skepticism about the Jewish peace camp’s ability to offer more than token resistance to AIPAC’s lobbying juggernaut. AIPAC has 100,000 members and its operating budget is somewhere between $40-50 million. [...]
Don’t just sit there and complain about American policy. Help J Street
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008At long last, the urgently-needed “J Street” project has been officially launched. It has generated a great deal of media attention, much of it positive, but the most important story by far was in yesterday’s Washington Post: Some of the country’s most prominent Jewish liberals are forming a political action committee and lobbying group aimed [...]
Aaron David Miller: The pro-Israel community has won, so stop “geshraying” already
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008Aaron David Miller has a stirring piece in the LA Times that deserves to be quoted in full. A note on my headline:”geshray” is Yiddish for “wail.” Other than that, believe it or not (is everyone sitting down? Get ready…), I have nothing to add! Nothing more needs to be said, as far as I’m [...]
Will Obama, Clinton or McCain make Israel-Palestine a priority on Day 1?
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008To gauge what the presidential candidates might do about the ongoing Arab-Israeli nightmare, one has to make inferences based on inflections, hints, nuances and tea leaves. What they or their campaign staffers say now is at least as important as the identity of 4 or 5 of the many “foreign policy advisors” who have communicated [...]
So just who are Obama’s Middle East advisors? Finally, some clarifications…
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008Clarifications –i.e., light, as opposed to heat– about Obama’s Middle East advisors are provided by Jack Levin, an Obama friend and campaign insider quoted in Gidon Remba’s Tough Dove Israel. Almost the exact same language can be found on a blog called The Sunny Side, which quotes Eric Lynn, who is on Obama’s staff. Here [...]
The smears against Rob Malley continue, but former U.S. officials rise to his defense
Thursday, February 14th, 2008James Besser has a balanced and informative piece on the ongoing Rob Malley fracas in New York Jewish Week. Among other things, we learn that the offensive smear campaign against Malley and, by extension, Obama has not abated: “In the days leading up to this week’s Democratic primary in Maryland, Jewish voters in Baltimore and [...]
Rob Malley: the Willy Horton of right wing Jewish nut jobs
Friday, February 1st, 2008Unable to find anything in his past to prove that Barack Obama will sell Israel down the river, right wing bloggers in my community are now focusing on one of his Middle East advisors, Robert Malley. Malley served various roles in the Clinton Administration and was President Clinton’s special assistant during the Camp David talks. [...]
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