U.S. threatened with more isolation

[leftchick]

<snip>

WASHINGTON - President Bush's uncompromising support for Israel in its battle with Hezbollah, a stance now backed by Congress, is threatening to isolate the United States even further from the international community.

It is also putting the administration at odds with fragile democratic governments in the Middle East that it is simultaneously trying to prop up, and sowing increasing anger across the Arab world.

The democratically elected prime ministers of both Iraq and Lebanon have been among the most vocal critics of U.S. policy in the 10-day Israeli bombardment of Lebanon.

Some foreign policy analysts question whether Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice can make much headway on her trip to the region early next week — especially given U.S. rejection of international calls for a cease-fire and refusal to talk to key players such as Hezbollah or its Iranian and Syrian sponsors.

"You don't just negotiate with your friends. Sometimes you negotiate with your enemies, or at least your adversaries," said Sandy Berger, former national security adviser in the Clinton White House. "We negotiated with the Soviet Union for 50 years."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060721/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_isolated_again

[Qutzupalotl]

1. Vote it up, y'all.

For diplomacy.

[lanlady]

2. I'm beyond disgusted--

--at this Adminstration for fiddling while Beirut burns. Beyond disgusted at the Israelis for the destruction they've unleashed on a sovereign neighbor. Beyond disgusted at Arab governments for preferring cynical, self-serving machinations every time one of their own is in trouble. Beyond disgusted at the US media for giving voice to rabid pundits and politicians like Newt Gingrich. Beyond disgusted at Congress--are you listening, Hillary?--for being gutless, craven cowards.

[IndianaGreen]

3. The US and Israel are as loved as the Khmer Rouge

Beirut has become the 21st century version of 1939 Warsaw as the Lebanese bravely face the onslaught of a military aggressor that has shown little regard for human life.

[goforit]

4. So true! Bush earned it!

What an ass.

[IChing]

5. I think it time we build that they tore down that wall around the US

foreign policy.

[Demeter]

6. Just So Long As A Nice Big, Barbed-Wire Wall Goes Up Around BushCo

[Barrett808]

7. Snow: "The track record stinks"

"The track record stinks" in terms of what both former Presidents Bush and Clinton achieved in their meetings with Assad's father, White House press secretary Tony Snow said. And Rice told reporters on Friday, "Syria knows what it needs to do, and Hezbollah is the source of the problem."

When will these mendacious simpletons finally stop fouling my country's foreign and domestic policy?

[tabasco]

25. And now that they have enabled full-scale war ...

how does Tony the Clown think the Bush track record looks?

War is the answer, according to the chickenhawks that never wore a uniform.

[mhr]

8. Bush And Jewish Lobby Hand-in-Hand

eom

[IndianaGreen]

27. It's the Israel Lobby, there is no Jewish Lobby

and the politics involving the Israel Lobby, and the intertwined alliances with neocons and the Christian Right are not something that can be reduced to a label or a generalization.

[Jack Rabbit]

9. "Fragile democratic governments" in the ME?

Apart from Israel and Lebanon, there are no governments in the ME that can remotely be called democratic.

Iraq? Gimme a break. It's not even a sovereign state. Can the Iraqi parliament repeal Bremer's 100 decrees?

[leftchick]

10. no kidding

"Fragile democratic governments" is a stretch.

[IndianaGreen]

13. Hamas was elected in a democratic election

a result that has been condemned by Israel and the US. We only like democracies when they produce the results we want.

[chookie]

16. So was Hezbollah

Both the Palestinians and Lebanese had democratic elections, supported by His Chimperial Highness. (Someone even asked him -- what if you don't like the results? -- and he lied, "We'll have to accept them." )

Palestinians elected Hamas, and Lebanese elected Hezbollah representation. Bad, BAD Arabs!

"Targeting Hezbollah terrorists" is a small part of this operation -- mostly the Lebanese people are being punished for the political support they gave to Hezbollah in their democratic election. The message is "Accept US puppets or die."

Watch also -- lot of Iraqi governments are going to fail until they "get it right" in their elections as well too -- I'm thinking Chalabi.

[IndianaGreen]

18. The real issue in Lebanon is water!

It's the water, stupid!

James Carville kept a sign over his desk that said, "It's the economy, stupid!" as a reminder of what the real issue in the 1992 Presidential campaign was.

Today we are bombarded by all kinds of propaganda about Hezbollah, captured Israeli soldiers, and all kinds of yada-yada. The news today is that Israel is planning to establish a security zone inside Lebanon that will extend to the Litani River. Up to 300,000 Lebanese will be displaced, become refugees in their own land, by that move.

If up to this point you have believed everything the American corporate media has told you about Lebanon, I've got news for you: It's the water, stupid!

Some "8% of the world's freshwater supplies are used for (sanitation). We need adequate supplies of water (also) to feed ourselves. Agriculture accounts for some 63 percent of the world's use of freshwater."(1) No where is the need for water more evident than where water is scarce, as in the Middle East. In fact, there has been an armed conflict over water, in particular, the Litani River, between Lebanon and Israel.

The entire basin of the Litani River is located within the borders of Lebanon. The river rises in the central part of the northern Biqa'a Valley, a short distance west of Baalbek and flows between the Lebanon mountain to the west and the anti-Lebanon mountains to the east, running south and southwestardly at its own pace. The river enters a gorge at Qarun, flows through it about 30 kilometers and, near Nabatiya and the Beaufort Castle, abruptly turns right (to the west), to break through the mountain range to the right, and continues to flow through the hilly terrain of the al-Amal region. North of Tyre, it empties into the Mediterranean.

The Litani River flows not far from Israel. The nearest part of the Litani to Israel is where the river turns by Nabatiya, four kilometers from Israel's border. The river's proximity to Israel may make it even more tempting for Israel to exploit. The Litani River is 170 kilometers long, with a basin of 2,290 square kilometers. A narrow ridge about 5 kilometers wide separates the Litani from the Hasbani River, a tributary of the Jordan River.

The Litani discharges approximately 580 million cubic meters (MCM) per year. (This is based on 25 years of measurements, from 1941-1971.) Its flow varies from year to year. The minimum was in 1970 at 184 MCM and the maximum in 1954 at 1020 MCM.(2) The estimated average annual flow of the Litani is 920 MCM.(3) The Litani is smaller than the Jordan in terms of its total flow.(4) The Litani has high quality water. In particular, its salinity level is 20 parts per million (compared with 250-350 parts per million for the Sea of Galilee).(5)

Lebanon finds that the harnessing of the Litani is essential to its industrial and agricultural development.(6) Therefore, the Litani was partially dammed at Qarun. The Litani also passes through tunnels and pentstocks of hydroplants to the coast, where it is used for irrigation for areas south of Beirut.(7)

http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/litani.htm

[chookie]

21. Yeah, agreed.

For Israel to be able to sustain a population larger than the present 6 million souls, it must find more water. It can be surmised that "saving our kidnapped soldiers" really means "All your water is belongs to us." We'll see.

Heard about the trouble with Turkey?
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19859184-2703,00.html
The US warns Turkey to stay out of northern Iraq, despite border incidents with Kurds.

This too is about water, and oil.

When Iraq is divided, the Kurds will have land that includes a portion of the Tigris and the Euphrates. They will then be able to sell it to Israel. (Israel has been forging an alliance with the Kurds in northern Iraq, presumably promising them American-delivered autonomy.)

They will also have control of vast oil reserves, which, again, they will be able to sell to Israel.

The US is going to make sure these deals go through -- Turkey's security problems be damned.

Next step -- make sure that Chalabi is "democratically" elected. They better get it right this time, eh? Things might, you know, BREAK, if US puppets don't get democratically elected....

[murray hill farm]

19. As has been said, "You are either with us or against us"

and if you are against us because you are not with us, well then...you die.

[chookie]

22. NOW BE FAIR!!

They might just be maimed. Or just orphaned. Or made childless or lose their spouse. Missiles don't kill EVERYBODY, so just quit saying that. :sarcasm:

In any case, the Lebanese need to get with the program, or face the variations of the above scenarios :sarcasm:

Total humble unconditional surrender is the key here. That would put an end to this "shit". They must learn that they must vote for American puppets, and reject those who actually stand up for them.

[Jack Rabbit]

17. That sounds like a true NeoCon

We only like democracies when they produce the results we want.

Of course, the values of Hama are no more democatic than those of the Bushies, but you're right, it appeared to be a free and fair election. In fact, if it wasn't, Fatah would have won.

[truth2power]

24. Jack...please keep raising the issue of Bremer's 100 orders...

I've mentioned it here, but it never gets any traction. IRAQ IS NOT A SOVEREIGN NATION!

Why are we not inundating the media with emails about this? EVERY TIME the Insect opens his pie-hole about Iraq being sovereign and the media reports it as such, we should call them on it. It's a friggin'disgrace!! :mad: :mad:

[billyoc]

11. Honestly, who's left for the US to be isolated *from*? n/t

[Jack Rabbit]

12. Well, there's always Micronesia

When Micronesia votes against the US in the General Assembly, I guess that's isolation.

[indepat]

14. Sounds like a freakin' disaster abrewing

[ShortnFiery]

15. Done! As requested. eom

[Voltaire99]

20. Well, you can't negotiate with terrorists

Their leaders mercilessly send their young to kill civilians. They aren't afraid of death; they'll sacrifice their own people in the thousands. And you can't negotiate with them--they meet rationality with all kinds of fanatical religious talk, refusing peace, vowing to fight on and kill, and flatly rejecting perfectly reasonable terms offered to them for coexistence.

What is the world going to do about the United States?

[onager]

23. Please keep her home. She endangers my life.

OK, I'm exaggerating, but not by much. I'm working in Egypt right now, and have been for some months. Every time Condi comes thru this part of the world, she just pisses people off even more.

Given current events, they're plenty pissed off right now as it is. I got a cheery little e-mail warning from the State Dept. earlier this week. It helpfully suggested that Americans might become targets, so I should probably keep off the streets around the time of Friday prayers, and avoid mosques.

What, you mean like that huge mosque right across the street from my hotel?

Yeah, thanks a bunch for the advice, asshats. That was real helpful.

BTW, State Dept. Drones Who Write This Crap, here's some helpful advice for you: not all mosques are big buildings equipped with minarets. Here in Alexandria there are hundreds--maybe thousands--of tiny little storefront mosques. You don't even know the mosque is there unless you walk past it during prayer call and see the shoes outside.

This should be even more helpful: those mosques tend to be in the poorer neighborhoods, which is exactly where the more radical Muslim preachers tend to rant and rave.

Anyway, I will NOT sit in my hotel, so I've been out walking around the past two days, as I usually do. (Our weekend here is Friday and Saturday.) Yesterday I went to a local barber shop and got a haircut. Went down to the pharmacy. Bought a roasted chicken for my dinner from a street vendor. (That's a whole chicken, 4 loaves of flatbread, hummus and a green salad for LE 20 (20 Egyptian Pounds, or about $3.00 American.)

Last night I went over to a little park in front of the mosque and had an ice cream. Right now Alexandria is flooded with Egyptian tourists, coming to the beach to beat a brutal heat wave.

I didn't notice anything different. Egyptians occasionally look at me funny, but not hatefully. They're just not used to seeing Westerners in their neighborhoods.

One little girl wanted to try out her School English on me. ("What is your name? Where do you live?") I think she was just showing off for the rest of the family. Her father beamed when he realized I could understand her and we actually conversed, sort of. This seemed like a Worthy Cause, so I hung around with them for a while improving my pidgin Arabic and her English. Sort of.

(This happens a lot. School is out right now for the summer. But during the school year, the kids are sometimes given an assignment to track down a foreigner and converse with them. When it comes to asking intelligent questions, I think the average Egyptian 9-year-old is probably about the equivalent of a NY TIMES reporter these days.)

Oh well. The news of Condi's visit could be worse. She could be bringing Karen "Bigfoot" Hughes with her. And that woman REALLLY pisses people off.

More helpful advice for our foreign relations experts: even if people don't know the English word "condescension," they tend to recognize it when they see it.

[Quantess]

26. K & R