i'm very interested to see how this plays out

and............ IT'S ABOUT TIME!

Obama is looting the country blind, but he seems to be doing good foreign policy wise

I seriously doubt that Netanyahu will yield to Obama's innitiatives on solving the Palestinian problem. For one thing Israel prepared for this split in relations to happen back when they understood that Obama is going to be elected in 2008. That is also partially the reason why Israel rushed to undertake it's incursion into Gaza before Obama took office.

If Netanyahu has to choose between siding with Obama or siding with the majority of Israel's population, he will no doubt choose the later. Doing otherwise could pave for the demise of his party and leadership. The question is can Israel continue to maintain course if its relation's with Obama's administration suffer a split, and for how long? I think that it has a strong enough lobby in the US and extensive connection with the US defense industry and Congress to be able to do that.



As for US - it is really not losing anything by trying out this new strategy of "sucking up" to the Muslim world. A temporary split in relations with Israel won't really come back to haunt it, because Israel depends on the US far more than US depends on Israel. I still doubt though that Obama's overtures will be successful. No matter how charismatic or likeable he is, there is still extensive distrust of America in the Muslim world. He will not overcome this distrust by simply taking a stance against Israeli actions. In addition to this Obama might make some enemies among the powerful pro-Israeli lobby in the US (and that includes members of Congress).

[edit on 5-6-2009 by maloy]

I am looking forward a big lecturing of a muslim country in the next days, maybe on Iran's nuclear, just to balance things.

I was thinking the same thing.
The relationship between the two go back so far that any movements would ruffle feathers.

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
Obama is looting the country blind, but he seems to be doing good foreign policy wise

His short-term ambitions to alter the US foreign policy seem like a pie in the sky. How long can he maintain his charismatic momentum before he runs into a wall? Instead of setting such ambition goals as curing America's relations with the Muslim world, why not set some more realistic goals and give them some more time to materialize?

Plus Obama started making the same friendship overtures to Russia, yet besides talk there is no actual action to lower the tension between Russia and US. Maybe all this Middle East tour stuff is more of the same "talk". Untill actual actions are seen it is too early to call whether he is for real.

I must really be missing something here because all I hear in lamens terms are,

"Darn it you guys the US is running out of money. We can't be the watchdog forever. Now get up off your lazy buts and make some agreements with each other to support each other because we are through trying to do it for you. So you have disagreements big whoopdee doo stop crying and killing each other over stupid ideals and start doing what's in the best interest for your people because the US is through with mediating your whinny adolescent buts."

Or at least that's what I heard anyway.

Notice how just prior to his Middle East trip, Obama first met with Netanyahu in Washington. I think that meeting and its result is the key to Obama's tone and rhetoric during the ME visit. Obama did not achieve what he wanted meeting with Netanyahu, so his innitial plans on becoming the new Israel-Muslim peacemaker didn't materialize. I don't know if that result was expected or not, but I can guess that it left Obama and his administration pretty sore at Israel.

I really think it’s time to radically alter the United States relationship with Israel and to drastically curtail the power of the Jewish Lobby in Washington.

Sadly it seems often the people of Israel have better access to U.S. Congressional and Senatorial representatives than U.S. citizens do who have concerns and needs about things going on here that effect them right here in the United States.

If Israel is smart it will back down and stand down for a while. They have pushed successive administrations and congresses in the U.S. long and hard now for decades and won a lot, things in my humble opinion that frankly they should have never won or been granted.

At the end of World War II we were the shining example of a non-Colonial power in the Islamic world. The people of the region saw us as fair and unbiased and not intent or even interested in empire. The influence of the Israeli lobby in foreign policy has changed all that and that is the reason we have a problem with terrorism.

We need to get back to running the U.S. of A. and not an Empire, and we need to get back to not taking sides. People find better solutions quicker when they don’t have a guaranteed safety net.


[edit on 5/6/09 by ProtoplasmicTraveler]

Originally posted by Darthorious

Or at least that's what I heard anyway.

I think you heard correctly.

The US is positioning itself before the next wave of challenges happen. With china's growing influence in the region. The political map is do to change over the next 20 to 30 years or so.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
If Israel is smart it will back down and stand down for a while. They have pushed successive administrations and congresses in the U.S. long and hard now for decades and won a lot, things in my humble opinion that frankly they should have never won or been granted.

Agreed, Israel's best move would be to take a time out for a while, and that includes abstaining from military operation. I think this is exactly what Israel's strategy will be. The question arises however - what if Hezbolah or Hamas use this opportunity to launch provoking attacks on Israel? The situation in Israel is very delicate, and a slight change in power balance could lead to a new conflict there. In that case there is no predicting what Israel's or US's moves will be.

Well I was afraid of this. And I gaurantee you Israeli top officials know a lot more about what's going on than us nobody's at ATS.

Yes this IS going to be interesting. And I've got to start sticking to my gut senses they were there for a reason.