Why is no one asking? Did GOP & Israel Lobbies write Iran Letter for the good of America?
By Hamid Zangeneh | (Informed Comment)
People who worry about American national interests and security fall in one of the two categories: they either trust the President to advance national interests and security or not. The Republican authors and signatories of the letter to the Iranian leadership fall in the second category; they are the ones who do not trust the President and therefore they are driven to undermine him at every turn and on every policy issue, domestic or foreign. They do not believe in the legitimacy of his Presidency and therefore, they have and will attempt to malign, denigrate, disparage, and sabotage his undertakings to deny him a successful legacy. This is nothing new and it has manifested itself in many shapes and forms in the last 6 plus years. However, this brazen letter by the 47 Senators has sunk the Republicans to a new low, where they are threatening America’s political and economic leadership and interests in the world.
Those on the right with a visceral hatred of Iranians ignore US-Iran history and disregard admiration and good will of Iranians towards the United States. Most people only remember the recent tumultuous past in the US-Iran relations. However, in all of the polls taken by reputable Western surveyors, Iranians’ admirations of the United States rank higher than most countries in the world.
The Israeli opposition to the nuclear diplomacy is nothing other than an expression of their economic and political self-interest. It is this motive that stands above all other priorities for them even if it damages American national interests and engenders military confrontation between the US and Iran. It is in their hegemonic self-interest that requires failure of any deal that would entail a closer, and worse yet, a strategic relationship between the US and Iran. They have no intention of allowing a change in the balance of power in the Middle East and they would use any and all levers at their disposal to keep the current status quo as it is.
At this time, the Israeli self-interests and the needs of the American military-industrial establishment have coincided and, as a result, we see the invitation of the PM Netanyahu to a joint session of Congress followed by the letter signed by the Republican Senators to the leadership of Iran.
Not surprisingly, a similar situation has transpired in the Arab worlds who are afraid of close US-Iran strategic relations similar to the “imperial Iran” during the Shah’s reign, where he was assigned the role of the Persian Gulf “Gendarme.” It is this fear, a sense of self-doubt, as well as a historical sense inadequacy vis-à-vis Iran that are guiding Persian Gulf littoral Arab States to be a part of the Israeli circle-of- friends and under Israelis security umbrella than acquiescing to a friendly and perhaps strategic US-Iranian accord. Therefore, all of the countries in the neighborhood have, more or less, some vested interests in the demise and breakdown of negotiations.
What are the options? We could negotiate a good deal that would be helpful in promoting world peace. Or, we could leave the table. If we leave the table, Iran is free to pursue whatever is in its best interest, regardless of the world opinion. A situation similar to what happened in 2005 when president G. W. Bush pushed Europeans against reaching an accord with Iran and, as a result, Iranians expanded and upgraded their centrifuges from a mere 164 to over 22,000 today at a huge economic and political cost to themselves.
However, this time around, unlike what happened in 2005, most certainly the other powers will not follow American’s weakened leadership (thanks to the Israelis and Republicans) in imposing new and harsher sanctions, something that Israeli and American warmongers are demanding as their first option before sending sorties in the sky.
The current sanctions are becoming more pores by the day and will collapse on their own weight if the United States decided to walk away from the negotiating table. This will leave the other option, military strikes, which means, putting fire to the Persian Gulf and trillions of dollars to waste plus ungodly number of casualties to boot. One must remember that the cost the ongoing war with the militarily emasculated Iraq has so far been over $1 trillion and in excess of 40,000 and counting deaths and wounded.
In general the letter signed by the Republican Senators is, at least, dangerous, reckless, and disrespectful, not just to the American President, it is condescending to the Iranians and insulting to the Russian, Chinese, British, French, and German delegations, most of whom have been “running the world” for decades, if not for centuries. Certainly they have much more collective experience and intellect in diplomacy than the junior Senator from Arkansas.
No one would have argued that the level of trust on both sides could be any lower than what it was a couple of weeks ago. But as German officials are whispering behind the curtains, it is falling further to lower levels, yet.
At this juncture therefore, the best policy for Iranians would be to assume that political dysfunction and discord in Washington, DC is deep and threatening enough to expect and demand nothing less than ratification of any agreement by the United Nations Security Council as a sign of good faith and certitude in delivering the promises of any agreement. That is, they would try to bind the US to the UNSC the same way we bounded Iranians to the back-breaking UNSC imposed sanctions. This is the disservice and the legacy that the letter and the Israeli PM speech to the joint session of Congress have fashioned for us.
Hamid Zangeneh is Professor Economics at Widener University, Chester, Pennsylvania. He has written many articles both in English and Persian. He is a frequent guest on the Voice of America Persian programs and its sister radio Farda discussing Iranian economic and political issues.
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Related video added by Juan Cole
The Israelis , AIPAC, the Lobby and The GOP Likuds Force place Israeli interests over the US and their political interests over the real interests of the vast majority of ordinary Americans without conflicted loyalties.
ReplyDeleteCall a spade a spade.
Delete.
ReplyDeleteAs most probably know, the Israeli Arabs have pretty much conceded any hopes of influencing Israeli politics. A large percentage of them don't even bother to vote though they represent a 20% block. Also, what votes they cast have usually been split amongst a number of small parties.
Things appear to be changing a little as a result of a Knesset vote setting a minimum percentage of votes for a party to have representation in the Knesset. Because of the new rules the various Arab parties joined together under a unity party.
This is where it gets interesting.
Finally, it is important to discuss the significance of the Arab Joint List. The list brings Israeli Arab parties Balad, Hadash, Ta'al, and United Arab List, as well as members of the Islamic Movement, under the same umbrella. The decision to join efforts was a strategic response to the raised voting threshold parties must reach to sit in the Israeli Knesset. Most polls show the Arab Joint List notching 11-14 seats.
The party is led by Ayman Odeh, a charismatic, moderate politician. Odeh has never sat in the Knesset, but he did serve as Hadash's secretary general starting in 2006. The Arab Joint List has repeatedly vowed not to sit in any government led by Netanyahu or Herzog, which means that they will sit in the opposition.
So why are they so important in this election? If there is a unity government, there is a very good chance that the the Arab Joint List would be left with the most seats in the opposition. Odeh could then be named head of the opposition - the first time in Israeli history an Arab party would fill that role, and the first time an Arab would hold such a position.
What concerns many right-wing and even centrist politicians is that the head of the opposition is given several intelligence briefings by Israel Defense Forces personnel - politicians worry about what the Arab Joint List would do with this classified information.
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2015/03/16/what_a_herzog_foreign_policy_would_look_like_111043.html
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Would the IDF be straight-up with the AJL?
DeleteWould the IDF not trust a Semite?
DeleteWould the IDF behave in an anti-Semitic way?
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DeleteI doubt it.
I suspect if the election comes out as predicted there might be some new laws passed.
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DeleteStill with the semite/anti-semite silliness, rat.
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ReplyDeleteNASA Scientist:
Op-Ed
California has about one year of water left. Will you ration now?
Statewide, we've been dropping more than 12 million acre-feet of total water yearly since 2011. Roughly two-thirds of these losses are attributable to groundwater pumping for agricultural irrigation in the Central Valley. Farmers have little choice but to pump more groundwater during droughts, especially when their surface water allocations have been slashed 80% to 100%. But these pumping rates are excessive and unsustainable. Wells are running dry. In some areas of the Central Valley, the land is sinking by one foot or more per year.
As difficult as it may be to face, the simple fact is that California is running out of water — and the problem started before our current drought. NASA data reveal that total water storage in California has been in steady decline since at least 2002, when satellite-based monitoring began, although groundwater depletion has been going on since the early 20th century.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-famiglietti-drought-california-20150313-story.html
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Not to worry, they'll just steal it from the mighty Columbia.
Delete"The wards have all been evacuated because of structural damage," surgeon Richard Leona told Australia's Channel 7. "We are badly needing this help.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get an urgent drug supply and food and also set up a mobile hospital to deal with the influx of patients coming in."
In Port Vila, smashed boats littered the harbor, and sodden piles of household belongings tangled among twisted tree branches lay where some homes once stood.
Cyclone Pam
"The Israelis , AIPAC, the Lobby and The GOP Likuds Force"
ReplyDeleteHere we go again, over and over again, with the same old lame "The Israelis , AIPAC, the Lobby and The GOP Likuds Force".
"The Israelis , AIPAC, the Lobby and The GOP Likuds Force"
"The Israelis , AIPAC, the Lobby and The GOP Likuds Force"
"The Israelis , AIPAC, the Lobby and The GOP Likuds Force"
It does have the virtue, if it can be called that, of propagandistic simplicity.
>>Propaganda is a form of communication aimed towards influencing the attitude of a population toward some cause or position.
Propaganda is information that is not impartial and used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively (perhaps lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or using loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information presented.<<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda
The Wiki definition omits the use of the repetitive drum beating of the same words and phrases, on and on and on....over and over.......and over.
Cheers !
ReplyDelete>>>Etymology
ReplyDeletePropaganda is a modern Latin word, the gerund form of propagare, meaning to spread or to propagate, thus propaganda means that which is to be propagated.[1] Originally this word derived from a new administrative body of the Catholic Church (congregation) created in 1622, called the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (Congregation for Propagating the Faith), or informally simply Propaganda.[2][3] Its activity was aimed at "propagating" the Catholic faith in non-Catholic countries.[2]
From the 1790s, the term began being used also for propaganda in secular activities.[2] The term began taking a pejorative connotation in the mid-19th century, when it was used in the political sphere.[2]<<<
Wiki
Damn The Catholics
OGF in Vegas busted he ankle.....
ReplyDelete>>>>Still trying to get a wheelchair. Medicare is a pain. They want another letter from
the doctor. Ridiculous! Ugh! Then you call the orthopedic doctors office and get
tons of recordings to then leave a message and wait once again for a call back. What
a deal! We are at their mercy. I feel like a steer going to market. They are to busy
and can't be bothered. At this rate goodness knows if I will even get a darn chair
this week. At home I use a walker but I need a chair for getting out when we need
to. Hoping only goes so far. :) <<<<
I told her to be thankful that they haven't put her in line to The Death Panels.
Our medical services are beginning to break down badly now, as predicted.
ReplyDeleteSign In Subscribe
Middle East
Iraqi offensive for Tikrit stalls as casualties mount
Mourners in Najaf chant slogans against the Islamic State during a funeral procession March 11 for members of the Shiite group Asaib Ahl al-Haq who were killed while fighting the militants in Tikrit. (Jaber al-Helo/AP)
By Loveday Morris March 16 at 5:49 PM
NAJAF, Iraq — Iraqi forces’ operation to retake the city of Tikrit has stalled as troops suffer heavy casualties at the hands of Islamic State militants, raising concerns about whether the pro-government fighters are ready for major offensives.
After two days of little activity on the battlefield, Iraq’s interior minister, Mohammed al-Ghabban, confirmed Monday that the offensive has “temporarily stopped.” The steady flow of coffins arriving in Iraq’s Shiite holy city of Najaf suggests a reason for the pause; cemetery workers say as many as 60 war dead have been arriving each day.
Since last week, Iraqi forces have hemmed in the Sunni militants in Tikrit, claiming control of the majority of the former Islamic State stronghold. But the operation has come at a cost, with soldiers saying the fight has been tougher than expected. As the momentum has slowed, some Iraqi officials have begun to publicly call for U.S.-led air support.
While Iraqi officials still express confidence that they can retake the city, the stuttering offensive does not bode well for the more complex battles for the city of Mosul and for militant-held areas of Anbar province that were expected to begin in coming months.
“It’s a furious fight, harder than we thought,” said Taher Sabah, a 25-year-old militiaman with the Shiite Badr Organization, who arrived in Najaf on Sunday to lay his father to rest after he was killed near Tikrit the night before.
Shiite fighters carry the caskets of comrades killed in combat against the Islamic State during a funeral in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq, on March 11. (Jaber al-Helo/AP)
“It’s taking so long,” he said. “But we’ll keep going.”
The Iraqi government is not providing casualty figures from the battle. But Najaf’s Wadi al-Salaam cemetery, the largest in the world, is the final resting place for the majority of Iraq’s Shiites and, given the largely Shiite makeup of the country’s security forces, a large number of the pro-government battlefield casualties.
As dusk fell Sunday evening at Najaf’s Imam Ali shrine, where the dead are taken before being buried, four coffins — shrouded in flags to signal that they contained the bodies of fighters who had made the ultimate sacrifice for their country — arrived within 20 minutes.......
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iraqi-offensive-for-tikrit-stalls-as-islamic-state-inflicts-casualties/2015/03/16/258a6dec-cb58-11e4-8730-4f473416e759_story.html
The Iranians seem to be taking a beating.
This does not bode well for happy dreams about Mosul.
The only person remaining at the Bar sticking with a prediction of an early victory over ISIS - saying Iraq to be ISIS free by Memorial Day due to the wonders of 'the rat doctrine' - is now our self proclaimed 'military expert' rat.
ReplyDeleterat will soon now - you watch - begin making shit up about how he was really right, only.................how if only.........how it was Labor Day not Memorial Day.......how if if if......blah blah blah
You get the drift.
He will continue to insist he is a 'military expert' while everyone else can plainly see he is simply full of shit.
You are projecting your insecurities onto other, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.
DeletePlease post the timestamped and dated remarks that 'rat' made claiming to be a "military expert".
You cannot do it, because ...
'rat' never made any such claim.
He would tell you "All the experts are dead".
Bob Sun Jun 22, 01:42:00 PM EDT
When did I ever say I was a scholar??
I don't recall saying that.
I have a college degree in English Lit. from U of Washington.
To avoid being drafted in part. ...
Landmark papers
ReplyDeleteMany of the most significant scientific breakthroughs in modern history have been first published in Nature. The following is a selection of scientific breakthroughs published in Nature, all of which had far-reaching consequences, and the citation for the article in which they were published.
Wave nature of particles — C. Davisson and L. H. Germer (1927). "The scattering of electrons by a single crystal of nickel". Nature 119 (2998): 558–560. Bibcode:1927Natur.119..558D. doi:10.1038/119558a0.
The neutron — J. Chadwick (1932). "Possible existence of a neutron". Nature 129 (3252): 312. Bibcode:1932Natur.129Q.312C. doi:10.1038/129312a0.
Nuclear fission — L. Meitner and O. R. Frisch (1939). "Disintegration of uranium by neutrons: a new type of nuclear reaction". Nature 143 (3615): 239–240. Bibcode:1939Natur.143..239M. doi:10.1038/143239a0.
The structure of DNA — J. D. Watson and F. H. C. Crick (1953). "Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids: A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid". Nature 171 (4356): 737–738. Bibcode:1953Natur.171..737W. doi:10.1038/171737a0. PMID 13054692.
First molecular protein structure (myoglobin) — J. C. Kendrew, G. Bodo, H. M. Dintzis, R. G. Parrish, H. Wyckoff and D. C. Phillips (1958). "A three-dimensional model of the myoglobin molecule obtained by X-ray analysis". Nature 181 (4610): 662–666. Bibcode:1958Natur.181..662K. doi:10.1038/181662a0. PMID 13517261.
Plate tectonics — J. Tuzo Wilson (1966). "Did the Atlantic close and then re-open?". Nature 211 (5050): 676–681. Bibcode:1966Natur.211..676W. doi:10.1038/211676a0.
Pulsars — A. Hewish, S. J. Bell, J. D. H. Pilkington, P. F. Scott & R. A. Collins (1968). "Observation of a Rapidly Pulsating Radio Source". Nature 217 (5130): 709–713. Bibcode:1968Natur.217..709H. doi:10.1038/217709a0.
The ozone hole — J. C. Farman, B. G. Gardiner and J. D. Shanklin (1985). "Large losses of total ozone in Antarctica reveal seasonal ClOx/NOx interaction". Nature 315 (6016): 207–210. Bibcode:1985Natur.315..207F. doi:10.1038/315207a0.
First cloning of a mammal (Dolly the sheep) — I. Wilmut, A. E. Schnieke, J. McWhir, A. J. Kind and K. H. S. Campbell (1997). "Viable offspring derived from fetal and adult mammalian cells". Nature 385 (6619): 810–813. Bibcode:1997Natur.385..810W. doi:10.1038/385810a0. PMID 9039911.
The human genome — International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium (2001). "Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome". Nature 409 (6822): 860–921. doi:10.1038/35057062. PMID 11237011. <<<<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_%28journal%29
She is emailing me her article. Maybe I'll post it here, to break things up a bit.
ReplyDeleteMy Niece has been published in the journal Nature.
ReplyDeleteJudge Napolitano on Fox News with Megyn:
ReplyDelete'If Mrs Clinton did not sign OF109 she stole government property, if she did sign it she has committed perjury'
Either is a felony.
Bwabwabwahahaha
Shillary may finally be in deep do-do.
Your typical Democrat.............
hahahaha
It Mrs Valarie Jarret:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Jarrett
Senior Adviser to President O'bozo, was the original source of the leak that led to all this.
hahahahaha rotflol
That is to say these honest typical Democrats don't much like one another, and O'bozo wants to remain King of the Party.
Ah shit she'd look BEAUTIFUL in an orange jump suit.
!!!!!!!!
FOURNIER: Dems 'Scared to Death' over Hillary scandals...
ReplyDeletePanel grants Clinton extra 2 weeks.......Drudge
:):):)
ReplyDeleteHillary Will be President Of Nothing
Kurt Schlichter | Mar 16, 2015
The only people who should be afraid of Hillary Clinton running in 2016 are her fellow Democrats, and the only thing they should fear more than her running and losing is her running and winning.
Hillary is a Lovecraftian monster, the Cthulhu of American politics who sleeps dreaming of victory, but she will never be president. You can take that to the bank, the same too-big-to-fail bank that probably paid her $250,000 for a 10 minute speech about income inequality.
Hillary is a punchline in overly-sensible shoes and a passion-quelling pantsuit. Ready for Hillary? Every serious Republican candidate sure as hell is, except Jeb Bush. Jeb actually hung a medal around her neck in the dumbest political play of all time until he shattered his own record by deciding that the key to the GOP nomination was to embrace Common Core and push amnesty. The only way Jeb could show worse judgment is if he called up Bill and asked him to babysit his teenaged daughter.
The Democrats have to be terrified. It's not the email scandal itself. It's the fact that her email ploy was so transcendently transparent, so agonizingly unnecessary, and so absolutely and utterly Clintonian. It never even occurred to her not to have a private email server in violation of the law. She just did it, because Clintons always pull that sort of stunt. It's in their blood. And everyone absolutely knows that nothing is going to change if she gets back in the White House. It will be scandal after scandal after mortifyingly tacky scandal for four solid years. We'll be lucky if she doesn't post $25,000 nights in the Lincoln bedroom on Craigslist.
Even the mainstream media will find itself compelled by the sheer weight of her venality to shout, "The Emperor has no clothes," while the rest of us plead, "Please put some on!"...............
http://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2015/03/16/hillary-will-be-president-of-nothing-n1970711
Ain't it the truth !
The Clintons are skunks, worse even than Obama.
>>>>Oh, and speaking of no clothes, there's Bill Clinton and his latest scandal. I'm not talking about the Lothario Express flights down to the Caribbean for sex parties with his billionaire pervert pals. I'm talking about the obscure internet site's story about a random teenager who's now claiming that Bill's her daddy. See, here's the thing: We don't know if it's true, but we can't be sure it's not.
ReplyDelete"George W. Bush is my pa!" Nope, not buying it.
"Ronald Reagan knocked up my mama!" No, can't see it.
"Bill Clinton got with my mom and nine month later there I was!" Yeah, I can totally see that, especially if your mom wore blue.
Does anyone think Bill Clinton is going to be able to keep it in his pants just because Hillary's in the White House? Ha! This guy's going to go on a booty bender that would make the Rat Pack look like a bunch of Jesuit monks. Hillary may re-veto Keystone, but you can be sure that Big Bubba is going to be laying pipe across the country.<<<<
:):):):)
"laying pipe across the country" is very good.....
Bwahaha
ReplyDeleteMarch 17, 2015
Of Course Obama Wants to Take Hillary Down
By Karin McQuillan
We can believe Ed Klein’s sources claiming Valerie Jarrett is the White House point woman for the destruction of Hillary Clinton. Evidence:
It was the New York Times which broke the story. The Democratic press does not eat its own, ever. Yet here was the Gray Lady, setting the headlines for Drudge.
People asked how Hillary could have been so stupid. The answer is that in the normal course of mainstream reporting, there is no Democrat crime too large for the press to cover up. She knew she was perfectly safe. Bill Clinton raping women? That story had no legs. President Obama’s bizarre secrecy and lies about his past -- no interest. Obama’s radical record as a community organizer? President Obama attending a black supremacist church led by a Louis Farrakhan clone who hates whites and Jews? No story there, move along. Obama working day and night to promote the hegemony of Iran in the Middle East? Nothing to analyze. Hillary lying to our faces about Benghazi? The IRS abusing its power to hobble the Tea Party before the 2012 Presidential election? Not news worthy.
So it was perfectly normal for Sect. Hillary Clinton to break security rules and think she could get away with it.
Even if it came out, a blustering press conference, followed by every liberal journalist’s loyal disinterest and chorus accusing the Republicans of being on a witch hunt -- that everyone uses private emails -- and the story would be buried. That was her expectation.
The mystery is why -- for the first time in memory -- the liberal press was pushing a damaging Democrat scandal.
To make it even clearer that something was going on behind the scenes: the fact that Secretary of State Clinton was using private email had come out in the news two years ago. Raking up an old story detrimental to their team is not normally what the New York Times does.
The Times followed the emerging scandal with article after article. They didn’t just want to embarrass Hillary, they were out to destroy her.
The burning question was from the start was: who put the Times up to it? It had to be someone with a lot of power. Not one of Hillary’s weak contenders for the nomination, unless there was someone waiting in the wings who wanted to clear the field before moving. I wondered at the time about Jarrett, but dismissed the thought, as she likes to pull the strings out of public sight.
And then Ed Klein, at the New York Post, reported the Clinton camp believes it is Valerie Jarrett, at the behest of Obama, who is behind the leaks on Hillary Clinton’s misconduct at State, and has instigated no less than six different investigations into other possible wrongdoing.
Klein claims a source close to the Clinton’s told him:
…according to this source, Bill added: “The Obamas are out to get us any way they can.”
Can Klein’s sources in the Clinton’s inner circle be trusted? Naïve question. Everything in the Klein column is information handed to him by the Clinton camp, as their returning salvo.
A war is on for control of the Democratic Party after Obama leaves office...........
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/03/of_course_obama_wants_to_take_hillary_down.html#ixzz3UdEEKZ1G
:):):):)
ReplyDeleteDemocrats are just gangsters.
Most Democrats are just gangsters.
ReplyDeleteEven Democrats won’t back Obama’s Iran nuclear deal
March 16, 2015 7:56 pm By Robert Spencer
Barack ObamaEveryone knows he is handing the Iranians a license to nuke Tel Aviv. Even some Democrats know. “Democrats won’t back Iran nuclear deal in blow to White House as enough break with Obama to to put veto-proof legislation in the works to stop an agreement,” by Francesca Chambers, Daily Mail, March 16, 2015:
Democratic senators remain irritated with their GOP colleagues who last week sent a letter to Iranian leaders undercutting President Barack Obama, but they will still back bipartisan legislation that would give Congress final say over a nuclear deal.
Enough members of the president’s party have signaled support for that bill and another that would impose new sanctions on Iran if it doesn’t make an agreement with negotiators that the White House would be powerless to stop the measures from going into effect once passed.
The Obama administration and its international partners now have until March 24 to set up the framework for a deal.
After that, a dozen Democratic senators, including Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Affairs committee, have said they will join with the GOP majority to pass bills inserting themselves into the process.
One would levy additional sanctions on Iran after June 30 if it doesn’t agree to the final terms of a deal, though monthly waivers would be allowed should more time be requested. The other would give the Senate the power to reject within 60 days any pact the executive branch makes with Iran.
Democrats who spoke with Politico voiced their displeasure with the 47 GOP senators who wrote a letter to Iran notifying the country’s leaders that any contract it makes with the Obama administration would be nullified when a new president takes office in January 2017, whereas most members of the upper chamber would be in office for years to come.
But that hasn’t changed their position on the core issue, they’ve said.
‘The letter’s incredibly unfortunate and inappropriate,’ Heitkamp said.’That doesn’t diminish my support for the legislation that we introduced.’
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters similarly said the missive was ‘simply unacceptable’ and ‘brought hyperpartisanship to an issue that we need to maintain our bipartisanship in.’
He added: ‘That doesn’t change my support for that bill. … I stay firm.’
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/03/even-democrats-wont-back-obamas-iran-nuclear-deal
Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson is a Gangster
DeleteMarch 16, 2015
ReplyDeleteIraqi Tikrit offensive stalls
By Rick Moran
>>Where is Baghdad Bob when you need him?
The contradictory explanations for why the Iraqi army can't make progress against a "handful" of IS fighters reveals the truth about the situation: the Iraqi army has bitten off more than it can chew and is looking for U.S. air power to do its dirty work and bail it out. If civilians are going to die – and you can bet a lot of them will be lost if the U.S. launches air strikes in the heavily populated urban area – the Iraqis don't want to be blamed for it.
This is still an army not ready for prime time. Being outnumbered doesn't seem to faze IS forces, and, as they showed in Kobani, they've developed a knack for holding on against superior forces and firepower. It took dozens of coalition air strikes to finally lever Islamic State fighters out of Kobani, nearly leveling the city in the process. Tikrit is nearly ten times larger than Kobani, and any hope to avoid large-scale destruction and civilian casualties in order to retake the city appears delusional.......<<<
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/03/iraqi_tikrit_offensive_stalls.html
Baghdad Bob?
Idaho Bob's had it mostly right, and he's not even a 'military expert'.
The only thing Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson has been right about ...
DeleteHe ripped off a bank and stole his aunt's honor, destroying her good name before she died.
Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson is just a Gangster
DeleteFox News -
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON -
House Republicans Tuesday will propose using tens of billions of dollars in additional war funding to get around tight budget limits on the Pentagon in their new budget plan.
New York Times -
ReplyDeleteNEW DELHI -
Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he is "deeply concerned" about the rape of a nun and the destruction of a church in India, but Christian say his words do little to dispel the fear in their community since his rightwing Hindu government came ...
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ReplyDeleteYour government at work big and small.
It was recently revealed that last year the government wasted $125 billion dollars, one quarter of the entire federal deficit.
The proposed solution? Hire more IRS agents, an agency as corrupt as any other in this administration.
One example of the fraud and waste? The earned income credit. The GAO reports that 25% of all payments under this program were wrong.
And bringing the waste down to a level we can all understand. Recently, Obama and Michelle flew out to California. On separate planes. On the same day. Cost of this little jaunt? $1 million. Reason for the trip? Obama appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel show while Michelle had to appear on Ellen DeGeneres. Reason they flew separately? Their schedules didn't mesh.
Reduction of fraud and waste in various programs is often written into the costs estimates for future programs as it was regarding Medicare when pushing through Obamacare. Only a fool would believe those numbers. The culture in D.C. is so elitist, so corrupt, so privileged, the dollars involved so large, that any hope of correcting the fraud and waste there is a pipe dream.
It amazes me that the administration can brag about the size of half trillion dollar deficits.
Great job, Brownee.
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(Reuters) -
ReplyDeleteIran and major world powers have been making headway in identifying technical options for a historic nuclear deal as an end-March deadline nears but difficult issues must still be addressed, U.S. and Iranian officials said on Tuesday.
Iran and six world powers are seeking an agreement to curb Iran's most sensitive nuclear activities for at least 10 years in exchange for a gradual end to sanctions on Tehran.
The powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- aim to complete the framework of a final deal by the end of March and reach a full agreement by June 30.
"We have definitely made progress in terms of identifying technical options for each of the major areas," the U.S. official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "There is no way around it. We still have a ways to go ... But even within this space, we have some tough issues to address."
The official said any framework agreement settled this month would need to have key details, including numbers. "If there is an agreement, I don't see how it could be meaningful without having some quantitative dimensions," he said, without elaborating
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/17/us-iran-nuclear-usa-idUSKBN0MD0VF20150317
ReplyDeleteThe Times Errs on Iran Weaponization
by Robert Kelley
A recent piece in The New York Times ( http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/sunday-review/irans-nuclear-shell-game.html?_r=0 ) purports to explain why Iran has not been clear about its nuclear bomb aspirations. The article tries to link this alleged silence to the successful agreements in the P5+1 negotiations that have begun again in Switzerland. However, the article is based on misconceptions, innuendo, and technical ignorance.
The first jolt comes in the second paragraph at the mention of curtailing Iran’s plutonium complex. There is no plutonium complex in Iran. Indeed, there is very little discussion of plutonium at all in the negotiations. The US State Department no less observed in July 2014 that Iran has not constructed a facility capable of reprocessing spent fuel from a nuclear reactor and therefore cannot separate plutonium for a bomb. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) agrees.
This huge mistake in the second paragraph is only the first of many. ....
http://www.payvand.com/news/15/mar/1108.html
In any case, the depth of thinking behind the Times article is summed up near its conclusion:
DeleteIran already knows how to make a rudimentary bomb. So do terrorists and college students. The real question is whether Iran can miniaturize a weapon to fit atop a missile...
The threat posed by Iran to the West is equal to the threat posed by college students? Both know how to make a rudimentary bomb. That is the position of the Times. For some days now, American audiences have been treated to a television ad showing a white panel truck carrying an Iranian nuclear bomb blowing up in a parking garage in downtown New York City. This bomb didn’t need to be miniaturized to fit on a missile. And, as the Times tells us, college students can do it too.
The Times article purports to be a summary of weaponization issues, but it appears more likely that political biases trumped technical accuracy.
How's that Iraq free of ISIS by Memorial Day 2015 Prediction goin' for ya, Recognized and Award Winning Blog Liar and Self Proclaimed 'Military expert' rat ?
ReplyDeletehootHootHOOT
Off to the Big City.
tata
Cheers !!
Looks like it still could happen.
DeleteIf not, then 4th July or Labor Day...
Doesn't much matter, as long as there are no US troops in the fight.
Yep, it's a good thing that the Iraqis got this silliness out of their system Before they got to Mosul.
ReplyDeleteHe leads the way past a huge new defensive line of piled earth, beyond it the flames and smoke of a burning oil installation ISIS blew up in retreat. It is a desolate landscape of rolling hills and gulleys; in the far distance, a black ISIS flag flutters in the wind that whips across their "caliphate." The commander has it in his sights — "we will take it, don't worry."
ReplyDeleteFurther south is the distant sound of gunfire and mortars as Kurdish fighters advance on the village of Bayshir where ISIS fighters are holding out; trying to resist the onslaught.
The commander says ISIS suicide bombers drove armored vehicles at his men twice in recent weeks. He takes out his phone and shows photos of what ISIS are capable of; a tunnel dug 150 yards towards his lines, discovered before it could be filled with explosives; an armored vehicle with room for 18 men, the lower third filled with explosives. It was both an armored personnel carrier and a huge bomb on wheels.
"They are cunning and dirty fighters," Kirkuki says.
He is confident that in the coming weeks, Kurdish fighters will take more ground from ISIS, as Iraqi troops and militias try to push the militants out of Tikrit, further south. ISIS is being squeezed on two fronts. The momentum of their stunning advance of last year is being reversed.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/neely-iraq-n324416
The commander says ISIS suicide bombers drove armored vehicles at his men twice in recent weeks. He takes out his phone and shows photos of what ISIS are capable of; a tunnel dug 150 yards towards his lines, discovered before it could be filled with explosives; an armored vehicle with room for 18 men, the lower third filled with explosives. It was both an armored personnel carrier and a huge bomb on wheels.
ReplyDelete"They are cunning and dirty fighters," Kirkuki says.
Sounds like their brothers, the Hamas
Netanyahu says, "No Palestinian State." Apartheid is now the official policy of Israel.
ReplyDeleteHamas is fighting for the right to live in their own homeland. Not similar to ISIS, at all.
Israel created Hamas.
DeleteISrael is part of the IS Brothrhood, flies close air support for IS, in Syria.
ReplyDeleteRuns strategic bombing missions for IS, tambien.
Do not let Saladin fool you with the typical "False Flags" that the Zionists love to fly.
Zionists murder civilians, Jewish refugees in a False Flag operation
On Nov. 25, 1940, a boat carrying Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe, the “Patra,” exploded and sank off the coast of Palestine killing 252 people.
The Zionist “Haganah” claimed the passengers committed suicide to protest British refusal to let them land. Years later, it admitted that rather than let the passengers go to Mauritius, it blew up the vessel for its propaganda value.
“Sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice the few in order to save the many,” Moshe Sharett, a former Israeli Prime Minister said at memorial service in 1958.
http://beforeitsnews.com/strange/2013/03/zionists-led-jews-to-annihilation-in-ww2-2447940.html
ISrael is part of the IS Brotherhood, flies close air support for IS, in Syria.
DeleteUSA TODAY -
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON - Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., will resign after weeks of news reports about questionable spending on everything from airplane flights to his office decor.
New York Times -
ReplyDeleteJERUSALEM -
Increasingly worried that he could lose Tuesday's elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel lashed out at the country's Arab voters, expressing alarm that a large turnout by them could determine the outcome.
The Zionist changed the election rule, uniting the Arab citizens of ISrael into a voting bloc.
Smooth move ... the consequences, unintended but quite predictable.
YNET report dispute Bibi's claims, they report that the Arab voters have united but that their level of participation remains at historic levels.
Delete... according to data attained by Ynet the voter turnout among Israeli Arabs was similar to the average of previous elections, with some communities reporting a lower than average turnout.
As of 4 pm the overall voter turnout stood at 45.4 percent, slightly lower than the previous election's turnout for the same hour, which stood at 46.6 percent.
MK Ahmad Tibi, from the Joint Arab Party, slammed Netanyahu for the statement, saying "Netanyahu's claims of a dramatic increase in voting rates in Arab communities is just false – it's an election spin. Some communities had a higher turnout and other had a lower turnout."
Netanyahu's comments toward Israeli Arab voters were remarkable because they targeted Israeli citizens, and they quickly attracted accusations of racism. Israel's Arabs, who make up 20 percent of the population, have long complained of discrimination. A new joint list of Arab parties, unifying four factions, has energized Arab voters and is poised to make big gains in the race.
Wadea Awawdeh, a resident of the Arab town of Kfar Kana, said Netanyahu "cannot hide his racist feelings toward the Arabs" anymore.
"Netanyahu is angry because he feels he is losing. It's another indication he is losing in the elections and losing his patience," said Awawdeh.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4638010,00.html
What ARABS, the dogs, are ALLOWED to VOTED in ISrael ELECTIONS?
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of apartheid nation is it?
Those fucking Arabs have no rights, they do not count, as Jack Hawkins has lectured us repeatedly…...
That is correct, the Palestinians are not allowed to participate in ISraeli elections.
ReplyDeleteOnly a very few Arabs are allowed to participate, and the Zionists attempted to marginalize even that limited participation in the electoral process. It seems the electoral process machinations may have backfired on the Zionists.
• Four million Palestinians in the Occupied Territories lack the right to vote for the government that controls their lives through a military occupation.
In addition to controlling the borders, air space, water, tax revenues, and other vital matters pertaining to the Occupied Territories,
Israel alone issues the identity cards that determine the ability of Palestinians to work and their freedom of movement.
• About 1.2 million Palestinian Israelis, who make up 20 percent, or one-fifth, of Israel’s population, have second-class citizenship within Israel, ...
... which defines itself as a Jewish state rather than a state for all its citizens.
More than 20 provisions of Israel’s principal laws discriminate, either directly or indirectly, against non-Jews, according to Adalah: The Legal Center for Minority Rights in Israel.
DeleteMillions of Palestinians remain refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere, unable to return to their former homes ...
... and land in present-day Israel.
Even though the right of return for refugees is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Naw, Jack, WHY are those dogs, the aRabs allowed to be citizens?
DeleteDon't go off the plantation for an answer….
YOu tell us that ISrael is an apartheid nation, then why would ISrael have aRab citizens…
As for the Palestinians that voted for Abbas? They have have declared statehood..
Get with the program Jack…
Jack, are you telling US you approve of all aRabs to be driven OUT of ISrael?
DeletePalestinians of the West Bank and Gaza have declared STATEHOOD Jack and don't allow the Jews that live there the right to VOTE…
DeleteAPARTHEID
Anonymous does not provide any references for his/her claims, so they are worthy of anonymous
DeleteI guess the Israelis don't want a "two-state" solution; early exit polls have Netanyahu in the lead.
ReplyDeleteTwo States?
DeletePalestinians have 3!
Gaza, West Bank and of course Jordan.
But to suggest that Israel allow a flood of illegals into the country that would be too American even for Israel.
But not to worry, 100,000's of thousands of arabs from Syria are on their way to the USA!!!
Don't start bitching when your malls start blowing up!
Well, it certainly looking that a sizable portion of the ISraeli population supports the idea that ISrael is a nation that is untrustworthy, that even when it signs treaties, the value of the agreement is nil.
ReplyDeleteA rogue in rouge, that's ISrael.
To think that this abomination. is controlling American Politics. Sickening doesn't even start to describe it.
ReplyDeleteWe have seen the apogee. The magic is gone.
ReplyDeleteLook again, the MAGIC is BACK..
DeleteObama looks like a petty, bitter, bitch of an Iranian appeaser, on the wrong side of history and America, REAL Americans that is, are rejecting his race baiting, Jew hating, western bashing ways.
Just stopped by to rub your noses in your predictions that Bibi was toast...
The good news? America is not over yet and the ANTI-Obama sentiment is rising...
The Magic of the cuckholding, race baiting loser we call "Obama" is fading really fast...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared victory in Tuesday’s close national elections.
ReplyDeleteNetanyahu, leader of the conservative Likud Party, made the announcement on Twitter. "Against all odds: a great victory for the Likud. A major victory for the people of Israel!" he wrote in Hebrew.
Exit polls had showed Likud in a dead heat with the center-left Zionist Union. But the results indicated that Netanyahu will have an easier time forming a government with support from hard-line and religious allies, according to The Associated Press.
Netanyahu said he had already begun to call potential partners, the AP said.
Two exit polls showed Likud and Zionist Union with 27 seats each in the 120-member Knesset, while a third poll gave Likud a 28-27 lead.
I like the result. I want Netanyahu around until the next US election. Netanyahu, titular head of The GOP Likuds Force, led by Captain Cotton, junior adjutant to Bibi, the leader of The free World, The people’s choice in Israel, keeping reign on the US political class in Israeli occupied Washington. I would love to script the political 30 second spots on every Republican Likudnik.
ReplyDeletePrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the Likud headquarters on Tuesday night and said: "Against all odds, we gained a big win for the Likud. I am proud of the nation of Israel who at the moment of truth knew to seperate the weed from the chaff and fight for whats important."
ReplyDeleteFunny thing, when he called the election, he was a 'shoe-in' to win.
DeleteHe may be able to put together a coalition, or not.
Jack, once again you are just a loser.
Delete:)
Suck it up man, that's your normal...
I imagine he's a pretty good bet, Rat. There are a lot more seats being held by the various right-wing coalitions than are being held by the left. It would have probably taken a pretty good beating to take him out.
DeleteNot me, amigo, I had no dog in the ISraeli election.
DeleteIt was an intra-Zionist slug fest, only good for the entertainment value that it provided.
And that it will continue to provide....
DeleteIf that is the case, Rufus, it seems a sure bet that the entertainment value of ISraeli politics for the next 18 months or so, until their next scheduled election will be entertaining.
DeleteYeah, there's no reason to think the other party would be a heck of a lot better. Maybe, a little slicker.
DeleteThe "abomination" I referred to above was not "Bibi;" it was Israel.
Exactly right
DeleteIsrael's election has yielded a fractured parliament and no clear winner, setting up a horse-trading phase that seems likely to leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in place and in ever deeper confrontation with the world. To govern, his Likud Party would need to depend on ultranationalists — a recipe for neither stability nor bold moves toward Mideast peace.
ReplyDelete...
Netanyahu knows the complications of all this and may try to draw in Herzog, to give his government a more moderate character. But he has promised, in his final appeals to his base, not to do this — and Herzog would probably demand a rotation in the premier's post as his price.
...
Only one thing seems certain: Pressure to overhaul the electoral system that has yielded such chaos will grow.
.
DeleteOnly one thing seems certain: Pressure to overhaul the electoral system that has yielded such chaos will grow.
If so, then likely more reduction in the principles of democracy in Israel.
.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans block Senate bill to boost veterans' benefits
A bill to increase spending for veterans' services failed to move forward in the Senate, despite support from 54 Democrats and two Republicans.
http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0227/Republicans-block-Senate-bill-to-boost-veterans-benefits
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ReplyDeleteJust stopped by to rub your noses in your predictions that Bibi was toast...
Maybe I missed it, but I don't recall anyone here saying that Bibi was toast though there was some obvious schadenfreude lately with the possibility that the little prick might get dumped in an election he called because he thought it would be to his advantage. If someone actually did suggest Bibi was toast, it shows a sad lack of understanding of the parliamentary election process. As to Bibi's declaring victory, I'll wait for the final count and Rivlin's decision on who he will ask to form a government. Rivlin and Bibi are personal and political enemies and I doubt Rivlin would worry too much about hurting Bibi's feelings if he had a legitimate way of doing it.
I personally have loved the last couple days of this election. Bibi was scared shitless and the curtain dropped. He showed himself to be the phony bullshitter and racist he is. We have seen it in his actions and and in unguarded moments before but in the last couple of days he announced it to the world. His statement that there would never be a Palestinian state under his watch was nothing new to those who have watched him. He declared it himself in 2002. All his actions since then merely confirm it. His statement that the right had to get out the vote is like Ted Cruz or Rick Perry declaring the GOP had to get out the vote because the Dems had a get-out-the-vote program going amongst blacks. The guy is a slug.
If Bibi actually wins, it is the Israelis that lose. The security issue was the only thing Bibi had going for him. His domestic economic policies have been a disaster. As for Herzog, his views on Iran are a mirror image of Bibi'. I doubt there would have been any change in his stance on Iran except that it would have been free of Bibi's grandstanding. Herzog's stance on the Palistinians 'might' have been a little more flexible than Bibi's. How could it not be? But even that is uncertain.
.
.
DeleteJust as in the US, the leaders you elect are the leaders you deserve.
.
Bibi wins, Israelis stay alive.
DeleteThe security issue is important.
But you really don't have a clue at the good Bibi has done for domestic and economic issues.
Stop shooting from the hip and try reading and learning something..
It's would round you out a bit.
The death of the "2 state solution" rests solely on the palestinians and their merging with hamas and unilateral actions at the UN, both oslo deal breakers...
Bibi just spoke the truth, the PA/Hamas/ISIS are not partners for peace, so why pretend any longer?
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DeleteThe thing I will be most interested in coming out of this election is the how the Arab Joint List does and what it means for Israeli politics going forward.
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Just as in the US, the leaders you elect are the leaders you deserve.
DeleteHamas and Fatah urged Arabs of Israel to vote...
Now that's a gas....
.
DeleteI would suggest it is you who needs to expand their reading, WiO. Try reading something more than Caroline Glick and the AIPAC talking points.
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DeleteHamas and Fatah urged Arabs of Israel to vote...
And the Arabs did not heed the advise.
Illustrating the lack of solidarity in that portion of the Semitic community in ISrael.
.
DeleteI'm not aware of Hamas commenting on the issue. I guess there was one PA official in Jerusalem to take advantage of the opportunity Liebermann presented them with.
What I do find funny is the constant drumbeat from the Lobby about Israel being democratic and that the minority Arabs there have the vote.
Yes, they 'can' vote; however, if they get uppity and actually 'do' vote Bibi and his ilk rend their clothes and set their hair on fire.
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Exit polls from Israeli elections showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and its nationalist and religious allies deadlocked with the center-left Zionist Union, an Arab alliance and more dovish parties.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the US should do with Israel what it dud with the Palestinians - ignore the election result and deal with the individuals and groups it prefers!!??
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteNice version of Sophisticated Lady.
Ella Fitzgerald
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Netanyahu also blamed "foreign funds that flow in vast quantities" to groups supporting the opposition for his party's tough race. It was a veiled reference to the role U.S. donors and a former campaign aide to Obama have played in helping a non-profit group that opposes Netanyahu's policies.
ReplyDeleteHis party has been aided by U.S. Republicans.
In a phone interview on the Channel 10 TV, Netanyahu had ruled out forming a coalition government with Herzog saying he would seek an alliance with the ultra-national Jewish Home party, which also opposes Palestinian statehood.
I’ll bet there are more than a few of Captain Cotton’s GOP Likuds Force that were hoping Netanyahu would leave the scene.
ReplyDeleteNo such luck for the lower 47. The Republicans are owned by him and stuck with the stain on their Red White and Blue neck ties.
QuirkTue Mar 17, 08:34:00 PM EDT
ReplyDelete.
The thing I will be most interested in coming out of this election is the how the Arab Joint List does and what it means for Israeli politics going forward.
The thing that means the most is how UNIMPORTANT the issue of the fuckups, the palestinians are in the arab world
The arabs are fed up with them.
While Assad, with Iran and hezbollahs help have butchered up to 400,000 civilans and created 11 million refugees, Iraq being taken over by Sadr and his Iranian masters, Yemen and lebanon and more?
NO one gives a hoot about the west bank and gaza's welfare queens...
As for the arab citizens of Israel? they do not turn out to vote for the same reason Americans don't turn out and vote.... Things are NOT that bad for them...
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ReplyDeleteIt Was a Very Good Year.
Heard a sweet version of this tonight by Pete Malinverni but couldn't find the recording so I stuck with Frank
Sinatra
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This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe American Public that pays attention, knows that the Likuds in Israel control The GOP and that control of US foreign policy has been ceded to the worst racist elements in Israeli politics.
ReplyDeleteNetanyahu organized the Republican 47 to show public and international disloyalty to a sitting US President who is black.
Netanyahu and the Likud Party are openly racist.
Obama conducted himself with dignity.
The GOP Likuds Force aligned themselves with a foreign power and the Israeli Lobby, a lobby that The Lobby itself denies that it even exists.
The lower 47 and the Israeli Lobby dissed the first African American president, a president trying to keep us out of war with Iran.
Bibi Netanyahu did Americans a favor exposing the Republicans and their Israeli masters for what they are.