Author Archives: Soccerdad

About Soccerdad

I'm a government bureaucrat with delusions of literacy.

The Wal-Mart of the pharmeceutical industry

I haven’t commented much on Israel’s acceptance into the OECD, but I should have. I would think that one indication of Israel’s economic success is the success of Teva, the world’s largest generic drug manufacturer. Teva’s success is nicely described … Continue reading

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Abbas is negotiating with a maxed out credit card

Evelyn Gordon speculates at the end of The Purpose of Proximity Talks: Why is the proximity-talks charade necessary? Because currently, Obama lacks both public and congressional support for moving beyond mere verbal hostility. If he didn’t realize this before, the … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, palestinian politics | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Can Israel supply a Grecian formula?

The Jerusalem Post reminds us: The European Union’s unfolding Greek tragedy finds analysts outdoing each other in scripting hyperbolic doomsday scenarios. Time will tell whether they are right or exaggerating. But it might serve us Israelis well to recall that, … Continue reading

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Do-over

I’d like to bring up an observation made by Treppenwitz again: But when most people today say “the ’67 borders” in relation to territorial compromise, they are talking about the borders that existed on June 5th, 1967… which were, in … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time | Tagged | 3 Comments

That which kills me makes me stronger

The problem with integrated Islamists is that they become effective foot soldiers for mini-Qaedas as Maureen Callahan terms them. Al Qaeda’s ability to plan and launch strikes abroad has been degraded since Sept. 11, due both to the war in … Continue reading

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Forget your right hand

The Washington Post reports, “Israeli construction in East Jerusalem adds to difficulties facing negotiators“: When the Obama administration launches indirect peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, as early as this weekend, it faces a much more complicated landscape … Continue reading

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Rogin’s understatements

In this dispatch at Foreign Policy (via memeorandum) Josh Rogin writes: “Clearly one way that Iran is increasing its influence in the region is by exploiting the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians,” Ross said, echoing statements made by U.S. … Continue reading

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The Post on proximity talks

The Washington Post has a pretty good editorial on the upcoming proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Israelis and Palestinians are ready to begin talking — sort of: INDIRECT TALKS between Israelis and Palestinians appear finally set to … Continue reading

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The Israel prism

There are those, who, in order to show their sophistication about the Middle East will claim that it is Israel’s position that makes peace in the Middle East so elusive. A recent variation on this was the March post in … Continue reading

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The key to “Minority Report”

Quite a few bloggers have commented on Benjamin Birnbaum’s “Minority Report” – an account of Robert Bernstein’s break from HRW – in the New Republic. There were some ironies. According to Birnbaum, Marc Garlasco was one of the HRW staffers … Continue reading

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Arabs allow indirect talks

In Arabs Back Indirect Talks Between Palestinians – NYTimes.com, Michael Slackman reports: Arab ministers gathered late Saturday at the offices of the Arab League here at the request of the Palestinian leadership, which sought regional support before agreeing, again, to … Continue reading

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Iraqi chutzpah

The Iraqi government has been making a request of the Americans: The soldiers came looking for weapons of mass destruction. What they found in the flooded basement of Saddam Hussein’s secret police headquarters was a legacy of destruction — the … Continue reading

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The NYT’s one sided debate

I did a quick roundup of op-eds appearing at the New York Times website duirng the year 2010. I suppose it may be somewhat arbitrary, but I did a search on the words “Israel” and “Hamas” between January 1, 2010 … Continue reading

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Hezbollah’s next milestone?

Close to a year and a half ago, Meryl observed a news report that despite Security Council resolution 1701, Hezbollah was three times as strong as it had been during its war against Israel in 2006 leading her to snark: … Continue reading

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Hamas, hate and humanitarianism

Robert Mackey writes about an ad that Hamas released implicitly threatening to kill Gilad Schalit. The video, which was posted on the Web site of the Hamas Qassam Brigades and on YouTube, uses the real voice of the captured solider … Continue reading

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