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April 3, 2012
U.S. of Blissful Ignorance
U.S. weakness in the Middle East is being reported by all, all except the U.S. media, that is.
"They've been saying it in Arabic, in public, for most of President Barack Obama's term in office. The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood said it in August 2010: he pointed to Obama's weakness as a reason for launching a revolution. But the American mass media has ignored it all," writes Barry Rubin below.
And Rubin is right. Which is why it always amazes us to hear even those who pound away at the President's economic policies, admit that his national security/foreign policies are “untouchable.”
They never cite examples of successes resulting from these untouchable policies, but that’s probably because there are none.
Those who would argue otherwise are either woefully uninformed or, in the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s words, defining deviancy down.
So much so that even kids in the Middle East get it (see below)…
PJMedia | April 2, 2012
Does the West Have to Be So Weak On Syria ... and Everywhere Else?
By Barry Rubin
They've been saying it in Arabic, in public, for most of President Barack Obama's term in office. The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood said it in August 2010: he pointed to Obama's weakness as a reason for launching a revolution. But the American mass media has ignored it all.
Syrian kids analyze Obama's role
They've been saying it in Arabic, in public, for most of President Barack Obama's term in office. The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood said it in August 2010: he pointed to Obama's weakness as a reason for launching a revolution. But the American mass media has ignored it all.
Well, now we have some leaked Syrian regime internal documents that make the same point. In talking points for President Bashar al-Assad prepared by his staff and given him on December 31, 2011, Assad is told to warn pro-Arab Western countries:
America has started to leave our region and there will be no ally left to you but your Syrian neighbor.
And Iran, of course, but Assad didn't want to mention his non-Arab ally.
This is the line from Iran and Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood (including Hamas), and Hizballah. Saudis say it in public now; Israeli leaders say it in private. Opposition activists say it in Lebanon, Iran, and Turkey; opposition fighters say it in Syria.
The Egyptian regime knows that it can indict 16 Americans — including the son of a U.S. cabinet member — on espionage charges, and Obama will still provide its aid. And, in reaching a deal to let them leave the country, $4 million in American ransom.
The message: you can't depend on America to be a firm ally, and you can depend on America to be a weak enemy. The U.S. position in the region is eroding away.
And yet almost all we hear from the mass media and "experts" is how successful Obama's policy has been, how America is now loved in the Middle East, and how the radical Islamists are moderate democrats.
Assad's advisor also provided a piece of advice... more here
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Notable Quotables
"Mr. Netanyahu is one of the most media-savvy politicians on the planet. On Friday he appeared live via video link on 'Real Time with Bill Maher,' taking the host’s alternately sardonic and serious line of questioning with gazelle-like alacrity."
~ Anthony Grant, jourrnalist who has written for many major newspapers and worked in television at Paris and Tel Aviv, interviewing former PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, at the outset of Mr. Netanyahu's new book (more here).
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