Author Archives: Soccerdad

About Soccerdad

I'm a government bureaucrat with delusions of literacy.

The real obstacle

Michael Slackman reports in Arab States Cool to Obama Pleas for Peace Gesture: President Obama starts his much anticipated Middle East tour on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, where he is expected to press the Arab nations to offer a gesture … Continue reading

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The questionable centrality of Palestine

The New York Times asked seven Muslims – from Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Pakistan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia – what President Obama’s message to the Muslim world should be later this week. I was surprised at the responses. AHMED al-OMRAN (from … Continue reading

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You might just as well be blind

Helene Cooper whose Rolodex seems filled with only anti-Israel experts now writes that President Obama will be “honest” with Israel. “Part of being a good friend is being honest,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with NPR News. “And I … Continue reading

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Where Hugo’s huge

A surprisingly astute Washington Post editorial two month ago observed: FOR DECADES, summit meetings of the Arab League have resounded with rhetoric about the alleged “double standards” of the West in enforcing U.N. resolutions or respecting international law. No communique … Continue reading

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The media’s anti-bibi brigades

One aspect of reporting on ties between Israel and the United States is to look for exaggerations in the extent of the rift between the two countries. We will see a lot of this in the coming years as journalists … Continue reading

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9 years later, still covering for Arafat

Commenter Sassinfras claims that Yasser Arafat begged Ehud Barak when they met at Barak’s apartment, not to allow Ariel Sharon to visit the Temple Mount in late September 2000. This is a dubious claim. Deborah Sontag initially reported on the … Continue reading

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Stall. Wait for pressure. Get concessions. Add some violence. Repeat.

Noah Pollak describes Mahmoud Abbas’s negotiating strategy as described in an interview with Jackson Diehl, as a “Princess Bride strategy.” Diehl seems to get it too as he writes: Abbas and his team fully expect that Netanyahu will never agree … Continue reading

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Unsettling

The Washington Post reported the other day that the United States is pushing Israel to stop all “settlement” activity. And that PM Netanyahu caught flack on the topic from an unexpected source: formerly pro-Israel Congressmen: During meetings with congressional leaders … Continue reading

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Bolstering the unelected kleptocrat

The Washington Post emphasizes what a slender reed the United States is depending on as a key to peace, Abbas’s credibility problem. Unfortunately the article skims over various reasons why Abbas shouldn’t have any credibility to Israel. Abbas, 74, a … Continue reading

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Der Spiegel, Zionist tool

In case you’re wondering why Nasrallah’s response to the charge in Der Spiegel that Hezbollah was responsible for Rafiq Hariri’s murder, is that Der Spiegel is a Zionist tool, read Michael Totten’s take. “[I]f (the majority) uses the report against … Continue reading

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Hugo helps with Iranian nukes?

According the AP, Israel has prepared a “secret” report claiming that Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program. The two South American countries are known to have close ties with Iran, but this is the … Continue reading

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Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu – the alternative version

There’s a really great editorial at the New York Times that I missed the other day: We’d call this week’s White House meeting between President Obama and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, a draw. Mr. Netanyahu promised to promote … Continue reading

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Lebanese spy stories

I’ve previously been skeptical of the Lebanese claims that Israel has an extensive spy network in Lebanon. The NY Times today, has a more extensive report on the story. Mr. Homsi, 61, was the deputy mayor of Saadnayel, a town … Continue reading

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Working together

While some folks thought it was fun to tally up the points Bibi and Barack scored against one another, it appears that they actually did some things of substance. For one thing it appears that apart from Secretary of State … Continue reading

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Camp David never happened

In Vote Fatah (or Hamas) Khalil Shkaki writes: Recall how, in 1999, when the interim arrangements of the Oslo agreements expired without an end to the occupation, younger nationalists led by Fatah leaders like Marwan Barghouti, in cooperation with Islamists, … Continue reading

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