Mister Nightowl
Mister Nightowl's JournalBibi Netanyahu is a Chickenshit and a Coward
Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic writes:
This comment is representative of the gloves-off manner in which American and Israeli officials now talk about each other behind closed doors, and is yet another sign that relations between the Obama and Netanyahu governments have moved toward a full-blown crisis. The relationship between these two administrations— dual guarantors of the putatively “unbreakable” bond between the U.S. and Israel—is now the worst it's ever been, and it stands to get significantly worse after the November midterm elections. By next year, the Obama administration may actually withdraw diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations, but even before that, both sides are expecting a showdown over Iran, should an agreement be reached about the future of its nuclear program.
The fault for this breakdown in relations can be assigned in good part to the junior partner in the relationship, Netanyahu, and in particular, to the behavior of his cabinet. Netanyahu has told several people I’ve spoken to in recent days that he has “written off” the Obama administration, and plans to speak directly to Congress and to the American people should an Iran nuclear deal be reached. For their part, Obama administration officials express, in the words of one official, a “red-hot anger” at Netanyahu for pursuing settlement policies on the West Bank, and building policies in Jerusalem, that they believe have fatally undermined Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace process.
Over the years, Obama administration officials have described Netanyahu to me as recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, pompous, and “Aspergery.” (These are verbatim descriptions; I keep a running list.) But I had not previously heard Netanyahu described as a “chickenshit.” I thought I appreciated the implication of this description, but it turns out I didn’t have a full understanding. From time to time, current and former administration officials have described Netanyahu as a national leader who acts as though he is mayor of Jerusalem, which is to say, a no-vision small-timer who worries mainly about pleasing the hardest core of his political constituency. (President Obama, in interviews with me, has alluded to Netanyahu’s lack of political courage.)
“The good thing about Netanyahu is that he’s scared to launch wars,” the official said, expanding the definition of what a chickenshit Israeli prime minister looks like. “The bad thing about him is that he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states. The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat. He’s not [Yitzhak] Rabin, he’s not [Ariel] Sharon, he’s certainly no [Menachem] Begin. He’s got no guts.”
I ran this notion by another senior official who deals with the Israel file regularly. This official agreed that Netanyahu is a “chickenshit” on matters related to the comatose peace process, but added that he’s also a “coward” on the issue of Iran’s nuclear threat. The official said the Obama administration no longer believes that Netanyahu would launch a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in order to keep the regime in Tehran from building an atomic arsenal. “It’s too late for him to do anything. Two, three years ago, this was a possibility. But ultimately he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. It was a combination of our pressure and his own unwillingness to do anything dramatic. Now it’s too late.”
U.S. officials had described Netanyahu to me as recalcitrant, pompous, and “Aspergery.” But this was the first time I'd heard him called “chickenshit.”
Let the divorce begin!
Krauthammer: If GOP Doesn’t Win Senate, They Should Look for Another Country
Another country? No, another century, like, say, the 14th.
Olbermann: Adrian Peterson & Ray Rice Halloween Idiots Are World's Worst In Sports
From last night's broadcast:
To paraphrase the late (and great) Ann Richards, "Stick a fork in America. We're done."
Co-Founder of The Weather Channel: Global Warming Is a Complete Hoax
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In this case, it literally WILL!
Child poverty up in more than half of developed world since 2008
Source: The Guardian
Tuesday 28 October 2014 06.01 EDT
Child poverty has increased in 23 countries in the developed world since the start of the global recession in 2008, potentially trapping a generation in a life of material deprivation and reduced prospects.
A new report by Unicef says the number of children entering into poverty during the recession is 2.6 million greater than the number who have been lifted out of it. “The longer these children remain trapped in the cycle of poverty, the harder it will be for them to escape,” it says in Children of Recession: the impact of the economic crisis on child well-being in rich countries.
Greece and Iceland have seen the biggest percentage increases in child poverty since 2008, followed by Latvia, Croatia and Ireland. The proportion of children living in poverty in the UK has increased from 24% to 25.6%.
Eighteen of the 41 countries in the study have seen falls in child poverty, topped by Chile which has seen a reduction from 31.4% to 22.8%.
Norway has the lowest child poverty rate, at 5.3% (down from 9.6% in 2008), and Greece has the highest, at 40.5% (up from 23% in 2008). Latvia and Spain also have child poverty rates above 36%. In the US, the rate is 32%.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/28/child-poverty-developed-world-unicef-report-global-recession
Keep on Rockin' in the Free World
WaPo Op-Ed: Vladimir Putin lays out a menacing choice for the West
ANYONE WONDERING what Western leaders have been up against when they try to reason with Vladimir Putin need only read the transcript of the Russian ruler’s three-hour performance at the annual Valdai conference in Sochi on Friday. Mr. Putin was politely questioned by an assortment of Moscow-approved foreign journalists, scholars and former policymakers about Russia’s aggression in Ukraine — and out poured a poisonous mix of lies, conspiracy theories, thinly veiled threats of further aggression and, above all, seething resentment toward the United States.
“Having declared itself the winner of the Cold War,” the United States, with the help of “its satellites,” according to Mr. Putin, promoted a “unipolar world [that] is simply a means of justifying dictatorship over people and countries.” According to Mr. Putin, Washington has created chaos across the world by conspiring to foment revolutions, including what he views as an armed “coup d’etat” in Ukraine. Even worse, it believes “there is no need to take into account Russia’s views.”
Mr. Putin portrayed the invasion of Crimea as the corrective to this “imperialism.” “The bear will not even bother to ask permission,” he boasted. “Here we consider it master of the taiga, and .?.?. it will not let anyone have its taiga.” He made it clear that most of Ukraine is part of the “taiga” over which the Kremlin claims dominion — and Ukraine, he warned, “will certainly not be the last” “example of such sorts of conflicts that affect [the] international power balance.”
I always chuckle when people worry aloud about the "possibility" of another Cold War; in point of fact, CWII has been underway for nearly a decade.
Putin cracks down against calls for greater autonomy in Siberia
Source: GlobalPost
Dan Peleschuk October 28, 2014 00:21
NOVOSIBIRSK, Russia — When Alexander Bakayev mentions Moscow or any other city west of the Ural Mountains, he speaks of “Russia” as if it were another country.
This place, some 1,800 miles east of the capital, is simply “Siberia.”
“Siberians are different,” says the social activist and filmmaker. “They stand out.”
People here have felt freer from Moscow’s control for centuries.
Just don’t tell the Kremlin, which is trying to ensure any notions of regional freedom stay well within a small circle of artists and activists lobbying for greater recognition — political, cultural and otherwise — for this vast Russian expanse.
Despite Moscow’s support for the separatist rebels who have seized swaths of eastern Ukraine and demanded independence, officials have made it clear they’ll tolerate no such movement at home by stifling even the faintest calls for more rights in Russia’s regions.
Read more: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/russia/141024/siberia-novosibirsk-activists-federalization-putin
Czar Vlad doin' his thing. Again.
Jogger runs into PM David Cameron in Leeds
Looks like Cameron's guards went to the same school as our Sercet Service.
White House ponders life with a Republican Senate
Source: Republitico
By EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE | 10/27/14 5:02 AM EDT
Nervous that Democrats could lose control of the Senate, the White House is already discussing how to cut deals with a Republican majority.
As bad as the electoral map for Democrats is this year, the map for Republicans in 2016 is even worse. GOP incumbents are up in seven states President Barack Obama won twice and two he won once, including Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, Rob Portman in Ohio, Ron Johnson in Wisconsin, Mark Kirk in Illinois and Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania.
Those senators, goes one thought circulating in the West Wing, would be under pressure to move toward the middle and be the bridge to larger deals with a caucus eager to show it can get things done.
Aides are discussing potential areas for agreement: tax reform, infrastructure, sentencing reform, renewing unemployment insurance, raising the minimum wage and expanding early childhood education.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/2014-elections-republican-senate-112214.html?hp=t1_3
Who the fuck is Republitico (nope, it wasn't a spelling error!) trying to kid? As long as Obama continues to Govern While Black, he'll receive ZERO cooperation from the Racist Republican Retroheads!
Profile Information
Name: Simon TGender: Male
Hometown: Kelly, KY
Home country: United States
Current location: KC, MO
Member since: Thu Oct 2, 2014, 01:54 AM
Number of posts: 396
