US-Israel Relations: Dumb Ideas Versus Reality just like Barisan relation with people of KT VOTERS THEY WANTED TO SLOT THEIR CHOOSE M.B THEY COULD NOT NOW ,THEY BOUGHT OVER THE PRESENT M.B TO RIP OFF THE STATE OIL MONEY. PAKATAN EXPECT TO WIN BY MORE THAN 20,000VOTES TO SENT THE MESSAGE TO NAJIB’S AMBITION IS ONLY A PIPED DREAM
Posted by muslim786malaysia on January 16, 2009
NOW, CAN YOU KTgites TAKE THIS COCKAMAMIE TURD?
Pic courtesy of Antares MALAYSIAKINI reported this: To a question, Najib said voters in Kuala Terengganu have to choose between a BN MP who can deliver development projects and funding to the state and a vocal opposition MP.
Go HERE to see what got developed by the Monsoon Cup family clan. ”An opposition MP can make noise in Parliament, but to bring change and obtain funding, it is clear that the Barisan candidate is more effective than the opposition candidate,” he said.
Podah! But five states won alledy mah….make noise also can win 5 woh! Asked if the development projects only benefit a select few, Najib said that oil royalties are now in the hands of the state government and the state government’s plans were ‘people friendly’.
Very friendly for family and cronies. Carpe Diem always loh!
“The royalty will be used for the benefit of the people. (In the past), some programmes were adopted for specific reasons, like Monsoon Cup was to promote Terengganu. This was our effort to put Terengganu on the world map,” he said.
My take on this issue is best verbalised by these pics that I picked up from one of my former Friday Guest Blogger, Sakmongkol (HERE).
Don’t lah the talking cock all the time. Where got tourism…..people still very poor.
US-Israel Relations: Dumb Ideas Versus Reality
- Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday turned the tables on Barisan Nasional (BN) and demanded that Umno explain why it is creating fear over hudud laws.
“Why is Umno silent? Why is Umno causing fear over hudud?” he asked at an event yesterday attended by a large Malay crowd in Kuala Terengganu.
He said it was for Umno to explain its stand on hudud - the Islamic penal code that prescribes punishments like amputation of limbs for robbery - and why it was making this into an issue of fear.
This change of tack came after 10 days of campaigning in the Kuala Terengganu by-election, during which the BN played up the hudud issue, leaving the opposition on the defensive.
Hudud is the weak link in the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition as Parti Islam SeMalaysia (Pas) has pledged to implement it if it came to power, while the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) opposes it. DAP chairman Karpal Singh said the party would pull out of the coalition if Pas insisted on hudud.Anwar has taken a strictly neutral stand, saying hudud would apply only to Muslims and, even then, it would first be discussed by all Pakatan partners.Pilihan raya kecil ini Umno telah membelanjakan beribu-ribu juta wang ringgit Malaysia. Kenapa mereka sanggup bekorban sedemikian, asalkan melihat rakyat miskin papa di depan mata mereka. Umno mesti mengeluarkan taktik-taktik kotor untuk memenangi pilihan raya ini demi menutup kes royalty minyak, rasuah Monsoon Cup. Masjid Kristal , Taman Tamadun Islam dan sebagainya. Dengan memenangi pilihan raya kecil inilah kubu 52 tahun yang ditakluki UMNO dapat membersihkan nama baik mereka.
- Karpal should me reminded that DAP is not his father’s party and it is not for him to say if DAP wants to quit PK.
- Photo captured by Abu Yusef’s magic camera of the “special and unbreakable friendship between the land masses of the United States and Israel”.
If he wants let him quit the DAP. Let’s be realistic PAS can never install Hudud. Its impossible as PAS landing on the moon.Malaysia is an Islamic coutry! Najib, you are the PM to-be, it is your duty and responsibility as the country’s leader to explain the detailed meaning of Hudud law as well as the doctrine of islamic teaching attached to it, and spread the information to the public. Why did you pass the buck to opposition party?? Are you implying that PR is better educated in terms of islamic law compared to you?? Then I take it that you are not well-versed to be the PM of an Islamic nation, you should religuish you position and hand it over to the opposition by tomorrow at 10.30 pm 17TH JAN 2009
I. On Monday Israel’s outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert traveled to the ‘war-torn’ city of Ashkelon to bask in the light of the overwhelming support and approval for his operation in the Gaza Strip. It had been a long time since the embattled PM has had anything to brag about, being plagued by the 2006 failure in Lebanon and ongoing corruption charges, and it seems that at the first opportunity to sing his own praises, his eagerness got the better of him.
The controversy revolves around the mysterious abstention by the United States in the recent cease-fire vote of the UN Security Council. The vote - which actually lacked any teeth as there was no timeline for a ceasefire – was approved by 14 out of the 15 Security Council members, had the support of the European Union and the near unanimous backing of the UN General Assembly except Israel.
Rice has insisted that her abstention out of a desire to see the outcome of Egyptian mediation efforts which she believed offered a better opportunity for nailing down a sustainable peace, rather than simply another temporary cease-fire.
Here is Olmert’s version of events leading up to the US abstention: (Sources used for Quotes in Hebrew were Ma’an News, Jerusalem Post and Ha’aretz from January 14th – all of their translations of the PM’s words were identical throughout the three publications)
“I said, ‘Get me President Bush on the phone. They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn’t care. ‘I need to talk to him now’. He got off of the podium and spoke to me.”
Bush told Olmert, “I did not see it…I am not familiar with the wording”, to which Olmert replied, “I’m familiar; you can’t vote for it (…) (Bush) gave the order to the secretary of state and she didn’t vote for it (…) She left pretty embarrassed, abstaining on a draft resolution she organized herself.”
Whether Olmert thought that statements like this would not reach Washington are unclear. They did however, and were not well received, the PM stuck to his guns anyway creating the first public spat between Israel and its super-power ally in years.
According to US State Dept spokesperson, Sean McCormack,
“She (Condoleezza) was not at all embarrassed or ashamed of the actions that we took (and Olmert’s claims) are wholly inaccurate as to describing the situation, just 100-percent, totally, completely not true.”
He added that Israel should consider clarifying the record if Olmert truly meant it. A spokesperson for Olmert refused to do so.
The New York Times goes on to cite other unnamed State Dept officials as saying,
“Her recommendation was to abstain; that was her recommendation all along,”
“Mr. Olmert is wrong. The government of Israel does not make US policy.”
It certainly does not; but the perception that it does has run rampant through radical and academic circles for years. Statements like this only add fuel to a rather irrational, unsophisticated and even racist view of international relations.
II. For the record, I would like to set a few things straight concerning Israeli-American relations that seem to have eluded notable scholars and anti-semites alike.
Dumb Idea Number 1: States can be friends and not simply allies
A friend is someone who is willing to make personal sacrifices on your behalf – sacrifices which may well harm their own interests. Friends forgive each other for making mistakes because they share a bond of camaraderie or love.
States are large masses of land defined by political borders. They have no emotion and they do not make sacrifices for their friends; indeed, they do not have friends. States pursue their own national interests first and foremost and ally only with those who align with these interests (period.)
Those who believe otherwise have either been sucking on an exhaust pipe or searching for simple answers to difficult questions.
Israel is an ally to the United States and not a friend. This alliance holds only as long as their perceived mutual interests last, and then it will end. Some alliances last for what seem like ages while others collapse and result in conflict. But it is only in the land of theory or conspiracies that can one assume that two states’ interests will align forever.
Dumb Idea Number 2: A weaker state can control the policy of a stronger state
The statements by Ehud Olmert Monday lend a certain amount of credence to the sophomoric belief that Israel, either through their supernatural ‘political lobbying skills or the control of the media’, is able to determine the foreign policy of the United States in one of the most important regions in the world.
‘The Lobby’ is certainly a strong force within American politics and exercises influence over how Americans perceive this conflict, but the idea that they are anywhere near the most powerful force in Washington or in the media is utterly ridiculous within a realistic framework of international relations.
Pro-Israel organizations wield large budgets and enjoy wide access to decision-makers on the Hill, but this is dwarfed in comparison to other interest groups and states. Is Israel’s ability to lobby the United States better than England’s? Are their interest groups more powerful than the Tobacco lobby, retired peoples’ associations, the defense industry or big oil? I think not, and to assume so is to reverse cause and effect. Israel’s interests may align with these interests, may even influence in some small way any or all of these, but it does not determine them – or any other number of special interests in Washington.
The United States as a nation sits atop a uni-polar world in terms of military, as well as a uni-polar economic world when compared only to other states and not blocks or unions. They are the world’s only superpower and have acted with impunity in the international scene since the collapse of the Soviet Union. They have not sought balance in the international arena, and have pursued the same strategy of primacy in the Middle East as they have around the world.
Sure, the US give lots of money to Israel, more than anyone else in fact, but they also give money to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey ensuring that this Israel must defend its own regional supremacy long before it challenges ‘the master’.
III. Now that we have dispelled a few myths about US-Israeli relations, let us review the possible consequences of Prime Minister Olmert’s claims.
Ehud’s Dumb Idea Number 1: Open faced arrogance in the face of growing public anger over his ‘adventures in Gaza. Though looking at the body counts on both sides of the recent bombardment of Gaza suggests that Israel is ‘winning the war’, it is becoming increasingly clear that they are losing the battle for hearts and minds in the United States - where it actually matters.
Though the public in the US is still largely shielded from the carnage in Gaza in comparison to the publics in the Arab World, they have seen enough dead and burned children to start drawing conclusions over the righteousness of the war. Public opinion is turning against Israel, and the US’s one-sided approach to the conflict is coming into sharper focus.
Comparisons are now being drawn that have never surfaced in the US press, and from some of the least likely sources. Take conservative icon Pat Buchanan’s closing words on the McLaughlin Group in which he compares the situation in Gaza to a concentration camp:
“I think it is a valid comparison. When you shut up a million and a half people, can’t get in or out, cut off their food, fuel, electricity, the sewage is running on the streets — about 50 percent of the kids have dysentery — that’s a concentration camp like the Boer camps in South Africa.”
Ehud’s Dumb Idea Number 2: Flaunting American-Israeli relations immediately prior to a new US administration and outlook.
The recent issue of Foreign Affairs in which the entire one-sidedness of the US approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is analyzed and criticized by Walter Russell Mead is a great example of a possible sea-change in US-Israel relations. (An excellent discussion lead by the authoris available on http://cspan.org/Watch/watch.aspx?MediaId=HP-A-13624)
Rather than blaming some sort of ‘shadowy cabal or boogey men’ as was done by Mearsheimer an Walt, Mead adds complexity to the issue of Israel-Palestinian conflict rather than simplicity. He speaks about rational US interests and how they may be better served by re-examining the one-sidedness of our approach and our ‘friendship with Israel’.
Ehud’s Dumb Idea Number 3: Offending a very nationalist, and perhaps increasingly isolationist, American public.
Even if all of the ‘dumb ideas’ I have worked to discredit are in fact true, and that Israel is somehow able to defy the laws of International Relations and control the entirety of policy-makers and media outlets in the United States (again this is delusional), they cannot control the still very powerful sense of nationalism amongst average Americans.
Olmert’s comments will inevitably injure relations between Israel and the American public who have grown used to the idea of ‘taking care of Israelis’ not ‘taking orders from them’.
The arrogance and insults made by Olmert to America’s super-power pride could very well backlash against Israel at the same time as a new administrations struggles to break the regional deadlocks of the past. As Israel’s image slides into the gutter in the minds of Americans, Obama will be given a much freer hand in dealing with their ‘little ally’ and forcing concessions which would have otherwise been blocked by domestic support for Israel.
I am not sure who spiked PM Olmert’s Orange juice on Monday morning and neither are most of the US policy makers. In the words of former Israeli-Palestinian negotiator Daniel Levy,
“This confirms every assumption they have in the Arab World (And might the author add Europe, Asia and Latin America to that mix) about the tail wagging the dog. It is a story likely to be quoted there for years to come. (…) There are some things you just don’t say, even in Ashkelon, even in Hebrew”.
What does the hudud say when UMNOputras, with both his hands already amputated for plundering the country and rakyat, are caught red handed stealing the third time (countless other times they were not caught, and many times through caught they managed to bribe their way out!) ? What appendages of the body is to be amputated next? Ears? Nose? Penis? Maybe the hands of their spouses?Anwar has taken a strictly neutral stand, saying hudud would apply only to Muslims and, even then, it would first be discussed by all Pakatan partners.
“It has never been the intention of Pas to introduce legislation that will affect non-Muslims,” Anwar said.
He and other top Pakatan leaders are in town for the last lap of the campaign for tomorrow’s by-election, which was called after the Umno MP Razali Ismail died last November. Umno”s Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh is facing PAS” Abdul Wahid Endut and an independent.
BN tailors its messages to the respective races. To the Chinese, who make up 11 per cent of the 80,229 voters, it warns that Pas would eventually dominate the opposition to the detriment of non-Muslims.
To the Malays, who make up 88 per cent, Umno says DAP is blocking the implementation of
hudud and has forced Pas to tone down its principles.
Hudud does not seem to be a major issue among the Chinese. A survey by independent pollster Merdeka Centre showed that half the Chinese said the issue was important, but 37 per cent said the matter had been exploited by the media to deter them from voting for PAS.
But 41 per cent of the Malays said hudud was an important issue, suggesting that Umno”s campaign on Islamic issues may have hit home.
The survey also suggests the Malay vote is split, while the opposition has managed to woo the Chinese, who supported BN in the polls last March.
Some analysts believe Umno may have made inroads on the Malay ground, going by the turnouts at its rallies and friendlier reception. If so, it could reflect the larger trend where the minorities support the opposition, while the Malays are split.
The opposition is revving up its campaign with only a day to go before polling. Much effort is being made to woo the Malay fence-sitters.
Mr Anwar made a strong appeal to the rural Malay community yesterday when he supported a campaign to abolish the use of English to teach maths and science in schools.
A surprise “campaigner” in the form of former de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim - sacked from Umno recently for attending a Parti Keadilan Rakyat congress - turned up on Wednesday night to give a boost to the Pas candidate. - Straits Times
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