As I Expected
The minority prime minister of Israel tells the American President what to do.
From an interview in The Atlantic magazine: Netanyahu to Obama: Stop Iran—Or I Will
In an interview conducted shortly before he was sworn in today as prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu laid down a challenge for Barack Obama. The American president, he said, must stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons—and quickly—or an imperiled Israel may be forced to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities itself.
There is no explanation as to how one stops what isn’t occurring. The Iranian nuclear weapons program is an wholly owned fantasy of the Likud used as an election ploy. If Israel attacks Iran, Israel will have created a real existential threat. Paranoia is unbecoming in a political leader, especially when it threatens the existence of your country.
The BBC notes that the US stands by two-state solution
The Obama administration has renewed Washington’s commitment to a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
As a row raged over the new Israeli government’s stance, the White House said Barack Obama looked forward to working with Israel’s new leaders.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said the government will not be held by commitments made by its predecessors.
A US-hosted 2007 agreement had, he declared, “no validity”.
Let’s review: Hamas can’t be dealt with because it refuses to accept prior agreements, refuses to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist, and refuses to renounce violence, but we can deal with Israel which refuses to to accept prior agreements, refuses to acknowledge the right of a Palestinian state to exist, and constantly uses violence. What a “fair and balanced” position. 😈
File under “the sky is blue”, the BBC notes that Israeli FM questioned over fraud
Israel’s new Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has been questioned by police for at least seven hours over corruption allegations.
Police said Mr Lieberman was questioned under caution on suspicion of “bribery, money-laundering and breach of trust” as part of an ongoing investigation.
Mr Lieberman was sworn in as foreign minister on Tuesday.
All Israeli politicians are suspected of fraud and most of them are eventually convicted. Their system is even more tied to money than the US, where a lot of the corruption money comes from based on recent cases.
14 comments
Maybe we’ll all get lucky and Israel will attack Iran. Then we’ll at least have one less bunch of trouble-making fools in the World to worry about! And I don’t mean Iran! 😉 😆
Hey! Here’s a thought… If Israel does do *teh stoopid* and attack, we can round up the Bushmorons, Cheney’s, Malkins, O’Reilly’s, Beck’s… etc, etc, etc… ad nauseam, and the rest of the Israel loving lunatics in the US and elsewhere and send them to the front lines so they can prove their
stupiditybravery and love of Israel and hatred of Iran and all be dead by beingCannon fodderMartyrs for the cause… I’d just be all chocked up by theirincredible stupiditybravery! Wouldn’t you? IT would be a great sacrifice though… for the sane World! Get rid of two bunches of crazies with one insane stunt! What a bargain! 😆I suddenly feel all warm and happy at the thought! *sigh*
i can see it now, tomorrow’s headlines —
Ahmadinejad to Obama: Stop Israel —Or I Will
hipparchia´s last blog post..more fabulous than you
If they keep beating on this drum, Iran just might decide to build or buy a nuke.
A secondary worry is that Russia, or even China might get involved.
The North Koreans have nukes [thanks to the Shrubbery] and they need money.
The US needs to slap this down hard, and quickly, if for no other reason than to avoid seeming like an Israeli tool. Their attitude is insulting.
“Seeming like…”??? 😉 I sorta vaguely remember the Bush crowd making that a done deal. 😉 One that Obama has yet to *undo*!
And a point for people concerned for my seeming lack of regard for “the poor Israeli citizens who would die”… They all do ‘National Service’ (ie. They are military trained), so as far as I am concerned, the only civilians there are the poor children too young to be conscripted. (and yes I am aware that, as in the USA, the wealthy and criminals usually escape doing their National duty). So pretty much everything in Israel could be considered a military target. 🙂 Unlike in Iran that actually does have a very large civilian population, albeit, one that knows how to fight and survive. A distinction with a difference. 😉 😆
And sadly, from someone who has seen it… it’s *ALWAYS* the children who suffer the most and pay the price of the ultimate adult stupidity and insanity.
How did Bebe get back in power? I guess like bad pennies he keeps coming back.
Yeah, Kryten, the kids always seem to be the ones who have to pay for adult stupidity. They only know what they are taught, and when that’s a lie, they die for nothing. The experiment that is Israel could have produced something different in the Middle East, but they were subsumed into the cesspool that is the political conventional wisdom of the area and became just another corrupt state with nominal democracy.
It doesn’t take long for a new country to develop an aristocracy that makes all of the decisions.
When Sharon vegged out the Likud had to resurrect the ‘Yahu to drive the chariot of Israel around the area. They way it was, is the only way they’ll accept it, Jill. If peace came to the area they would all have to find productive jobs.
I don’t hear anyone talking about or giving a damn these days about the 10’s of thousands of children dieing and suffering in Iraq for what history will no doubt decide is the ultimate in adult stupidity, cowardice and greed. It’ normal and easy for adults to *forget* the things they don’t want to know and justify their arrogant stupidity.
I don’t mention Afghanistan, because the children there know how to fight by the time they begin to walk. Several ignorant US solders went knocking on doors to be greeted by a 10YO with a gun who knew how to use it and ended up with a hole in the head. I am certain the Eastern European countries laughed aloud when the Bushmorons announced they were invading Afghanistan. It would be better than watching sports in Russia! I can see them sitting around with the vodka nudging each other and saying “this is going to be fun!” And NOT for the Americans.
I suspect that the reason Israel has National Service is so the majority of the population can be brainwashed into doing what they are damned well told! Yes Sir! There are not a lot of serious independent thinkers in Israel. When an entire population is militarily trained, what can anyone expect but a military response to every *problem*, even the contrived ones? I guarantee you, the GOP would absolutely LOVE to force every US citizen into National Service! I’m sure they have orgasms at the thought of controlling mindless millions of cannon fodder. 🙂
I had a sneaking suspicion some time ago that that was the plan behind outsourcing everything and creating huge unemployment (well, that and pure greed). Maybe they thought that when people couldn’t get work, they’d all sign up for military service. 🙂 Might have worked too, except that the GOP can’t do anything right and screwed up everything they ever tried to do. 😆
Actually, when we had the draft it didn’t work the way the politicians hoped, which is why the US shifted to an all-volunteer force [for a given definition of “volunteer”]. The draftees didn’t exactly excel at the “military thing” and the military ended up having to accommodate them, rather than the other way around.
It has always amazed me what people will put up with from employers, having seen what draftees wouldn’t put up with in the military.
I think the US should have national service, but not limited to the military. There are a lot of things that need doing that are a good deal more important than toting a rifle, and the politicians keep putting them off to cut taxes to get re-elected.
If they are bi-lingual use where the language will do some good, don’t put them in a tank in desert somewhere. Even people with health problems can be put to useful work that will help the country and the individual.
We waste people along with everything else in this country.
We waste people along with everything else in this country.
Ah, well… That’s one of the very few *universal* constants on this planet m8! I don’t know any nation that doesn’t waste people. There are just so many ways that can be achieved. *shrug*
It always been a curious dichotomy that people who have *health problems* or *disabilities* are generally more keen to do something actually useful and productive than most healthy *normal* people. I think there have even been studies on that. 🙂 One of the most intelligent and hard working guys I’ve ever known personally had cerebral palsy and was told often he wouldn’t walk and would be dead by 19 at the latest. He’s almost 30 now. He was one of the 7 Global BSD code Auditors, wrote a lot of security related and other code for Red Hat, IBM and other linux vendors. Was a speaker at many conferences… and a great guy to know. It was very hard for him (especially as he has other problems besides the CP) but he always moved forward and is the toughest guy I’ve ever known. I would have been proud to have him in my unit in Cambodia, but I’m really glad he wasn’t there (I think he’d only just been born anyway.) 😆
I’ve often thought that many of the so-called *normal* humans have some serious mental health issues they don’t want to know about. Certainly many have *personality disorders*. Many are simply arrogant prats and join the GOP club, or the equivalent in other countries. 😉 I have found that many *normal* humans are amazingly superficial and shallow. There have been exceptions I’ll admit. But they say it’s the exceptions that validate the rule.
You should be careful what you wish for m8! 😉 The kind of *National Service* you are talking about is what Hitler and Stalin had. And, as we are talking about the Human Race, you know as well as I that no human or group of human’s can ever be trusted with that kind of power ever. I’d trust them about as far as I could throw one by a single hair strand. Any human selfless and *good* enough to do it, would be dead before he could start.
And no… I seriously do *NOT* think highly of humans. With good reason and just cause.
In the current conditions we need to do something with all of the idle people who are coming out of school with no job prospects. Just teaching them to show up on time and take care of themselves would be a major boost to the work force. It is amazing how many new hires don’t seem to understand that you can’t simply not show up for work and not have repercussions. American schools teach people how to go to school, not how to work. For whatever reason, no matter what the course, there isn’t much information as to why students are being taught what they are taught.
Think about it. No one mentioned that if you can’t do algebra, you will probably get ripped off by a loan company, because you can’t figure out what a good loan is.
You need literature because people refer to great books as a kind of short hand, and if you haven’t read the books, you don’t know what they are talking about. Look at all the stupid crap being spread about “Atlas Shrugged”.
This stuff is useful, but no one ever bothers to explain why, which makes it a PITA and pointless to a kid. They don’t understand why they have to study it.
Anything can be abused, but I would rather see people making some money and doing something, than just waiting for time to pass.
I hate to tell you this, Bryan, but you’re wrong here. I, and every other teacher in my school, did my darndest to explain why this stuff is useful. But kids nowdays are legends in their own minds and if an adult is saying it’s useful, then automatically it’s not because if it was really useful they would have already known it was useful (since they know it all). So I start talking about using a framer’s square in Geometry class to put the correct slope on the roof, and the only damned thing I get back is a raised hand and the insolent question, “Is this going to be on the test?”
– Badtux the Former Teacher Penguin
You may have done when you were teaching, Badtux, but today the only reason given for learning anything in public schools is that “it is on THE TEST”, which locally means the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test, the sole arbiter of whether a school is succeeding or failing.
Apparently the purpose of school for many of the parents who can actually get involved with their children’s education, is to get good grades to go to a “better” level of school in the next step, or, at least to a school with a better athletics program for too many people.
Those parents would be insulted if you used a framer’s square, as that should be limited to the “Vo-Tech” students who won’t get the grades to go to a better school and will have to work with their hands, rather than wearing a headset and asking about “supersizing” like their bundle of joy.
I think you might be starting to get it. The problem isn’t that teachers don’t try to explain why this stuff is important. The problem is that parents, and students (who get their cue from their parents, simply do not give a sh*t as to whether it’s useful or not. All they care about is, “will this be on the test?”
As for your example of an affluent parent upset about a framer’s square being used to explain slope in a geometry class, I never had that problem, because I was teaching in deprived areas where kids aspired to go to community college to learn a trade, not Harvard, and where parents’ expectations for their kids weren’t very high. But my general point remains: Teachers try explain this stuff, but the kids simply do not listen because they (and their parents) only care about the answer to the question, “will this be on the test?”
It’s true that many teachers, even today, do actually want to teach. Sadly, the schools for the most part don’t give a f*ck about education. they are run by bureaucrats and accountants. They just want to ensure they meet their goals to get their next budgets with the academic standards getting lower every year. It’s the same here.
After more than a year of health problems, I’d had enough and wanted to get back into what I enjoyed. IT Security, especially Risk analysis & management, etc. I’d been doing it for many years, even published two accepted papers on Risk, consulted with many companies of all sizes… and was told that I had to go back to school and get a Certificate IV in Security Risk Management to get a piece of paper saying I was qualified! A course I could have taught a hell of a lot better than the young fools teaching it. The kicker was that to enrole in the Cirt IV, the Gov (Centrelink) wanted me to complete a Cirt II & III first. Cirt II is basic Crowd Control type physical security, III is more advanced unarmed and armed guard and Control room operations. Now, I’d had a license when I was in my early 20’s because doing security in pub’s and nightclubs for a Uni Student a few nights a week was easy money and a good way to get free beer and girls. So I had no problem doing it as a uni student! I had my priorities right then. 😆 But now? When I’m 50 and been in Engineering and IT for almost 30 years? You HAVE to be shitting me! They wouldn’t budge. In the end, I decided that having the license would be useful because it’s worth 100 points of ID and people don’t bug or annoy you either. So I did the course in my sleep. (almost literally! I ended up with a nasty flu, and still passed the law exam with 96%, only because on the last 2 questions worth 2 points my brain had had enough and I just wrote “I have no f*cking Idea!”.) 😀 After I’d successfully completed the C II & III at the academy, Centrelink said “We’ve decided that we can’t fund you for the Cirt IV.” The C IV was over $4k. They had decided that I could just go to work as a security guard, in spite of my health problems. I had a complete breakdown and am now in rehab on a 2 year program.
About 6 years ago, on of our *leading* universities contacted me and asked me to teach a part-time night IT security course. They were charging 18 students $4.5k for a 32 hour course, and were going to pay me $30/hr AND I had to write the course material, and BTW… The course started yesterday! I discovered the guy who was going to do it eventually realised it was a joke and he was going to be screwed and they couldn’t find anyone else! They were going to own the material I produced for a lousy grand??! 20+ years of my IP? I don’t think so! I told them I’d give them a license for the material with certain conditions for $100k. 🙂 They said no.
Schools are run by bean counters, not educators. they don’t understand or comprehend, or care about, the value (and I mean the true value) of education. How can students be educated when the system is designed so that only someone inexperienced or a fool will be willing to teach these days? Anyone with real experience and some self-respect won’t go near a school now.
So, whilst a lot of it is the kids and parents, a lot of it is because that”s the way the system is!