In the eyes of the new Israeli government and their US lobbying arm AIPAC the sovereign United States is simply a puppet to carry out their demands. Obama promises a show of backbone in dealing with Iran and the eternal funding for Israeli genocide programs, but the puppet masters are unimpressed.
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet at the White House, Monday, May 18. So far he's promised not to repeat his demeaning lecture to Clinton in 1996. However, NY Times, May14, 2009 reports, "Two weeks ago, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon E. Panetta, held a quiet meeting with Mr. Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Israel asked the United States to clarify benchmarks that would demonstrate that its diplomatic campaign was working." Complete article here.
I was under the assumption that Obama was elected by the people of the US, not appointed as a puppet governor for Israel.
Why in hell do we have to demonstrate that US foreign policy is working to the Israeli government?
Israel and AIPAC are dedicated to dragging us into a war with Iran; their US agents include the same fine folks that led us to glory in Iraq. The necons are beating the same drums and feeding the same frenzy that preceded the Iraq fiasco.
A few weeks ago Israel ordered the US to not participate in the World Conference on Humans Rights.
My warning to Minnesota Legislators apparently fell on deaf ears last week as the Minnesota Senate Finance Committee voted on Friday to go back to the Bush-Cheney neo-con agenda in ordering the Minnesota Investment Board to embark in making Mid-east policy by divesting from energy companies doing business with Iran. On Friday, one DFL Senator, Steve Murphy, actually interrupted a witness (who was trying to explain the economic impacts of such divestment) by going on the following tirade which Sen. Murphy proudly admitted was "beating the Republican drum." In doing so, Murphy not only voiced Republican Newt Gingrich's and Israeli extremist Avigdor Lieberman's agenda which is in opposition to the diplomatic approach that Obama has charted in dealing with Iran but, in referring to the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon as the reasons why he's voting for Senator Terri Bonoff's (AIPAC-inspired) divestment bill, Senator Murphy became equally unhinged:
This warning may be coming a bit late but there's still time to reverse course. An "Iran Divestment Bill", which is part of the "Divest Terror Movement" initiated by AIPAC and "Project for the New American Century" signatory Frank Gaffney Jr., has already passed the MN House and S.F. 131 is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Finance Committee tomorrow (Friday-May 1) morning at 8:30 am. Do MN legislators have any idea they are falling prey to a far right neo-connived plan that is antithetical to Minnesotans' economic interests?
(I happen to believe this is a completely misguided bill. At a time when we should be reaching out and using diplomacy with Iran, we're seriously considering punishing the people and workers of Iran? - promoted by TwoPuttTommy)
A stick in Iran's eye, sabotage Obama foreign policy, state of Minnesota looses up to half a billion dollars. Sounds like a hell of a deal! It is if you're AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) or JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Council). For the rest of us, not so much.
An atrocious bill (SF0131 and HF 0111) Divestment from Iran, is being highballed through the MN legislature. There's no basis for this action other than to poke a stick in the eye of the Iranians while Obama is laboring against all his naysayers to engage Iran on productive diplomacy. Iran is not now nor has it been a threat to the US. Iran has never started a war against anyone. One of the justifications for this bill is that Iran is a terrorist state?
The state has real problems. This isn't one of them. This bill costs the state $2 - 3 million in transfer fees and from $250 - $500 million in lost equity. A high state official described it is fiscally irresponsible.
The 1776 Declaration of Independence begins:
"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
It's long past time to declare our independence from Israel. Israel has dictated US foreign policy and many domestic policy issues for many years. Any question of this authority results in swift retaliation by AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the other Zionist enforcers. Ask former Congress members Pete McCloskey and Cynthia McKinney. Both were removed from Congress by AIPAC. If that wasn't enough punishment for McKinney, in late December 2008, the Israeli Navy rammed the small boat she was on. The boat was delivering medical supplies to Gaza. It could have resulted in more deaths at sea to add notches to Israel's gunstock. Naturally, there was no US diplomatic protest nor was there any apology from the Israelis.
The latest indignation to our sense of decency and humanity is our government's refusal to participate in the April UN Conference on Racism on orders from Israel. UN Ambassador Susan Rice pressed for US attendance as did Samantha Power, adviser at the National Security Council but they were no match against the power of AIPAC. The United States and Israel walked out of the first U.N. conference on racism in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, days before the September 11 attacks, to protest efforts to pass a resolution comparing Zionism to racism.
(I'm always a bit wary of organizations whose names follow the model "Concerned {Group of People} {For, Against} {Really important subject matter}" like "Minnesotans Against Terrorism". Vagueness in naming is a great way to conceal really nefarious purposes. - promoted by MNCampaignReport)
I never intended to post anything here about Sunday's Town Hall Forum with Senator Norm Coleman sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Israel Program Center, the Sabes Jewish Community Center, the Saint Paul United Jewish Fund and Council and a group calling itself "Minnesotans Against Terrorism" on "The Iran Crisis: How Should the United States Deal with Iran's Nuclear Ambitions and Hostility to the West."
Nope, campaign issues were the farthest thing from any of our minds when a group of us decided to caravan from Eagan and Apple Valley all the way up to St. Louis Park to get front row seats to hear our senator speak. Mostly we were just interested in seeing how Senator Coleman would run a public "town hall" meeting and what he would say about the dangers posed by Iran. I also thought it a perfect opportunity to hand-deliver a copy of the latest memorandum written by the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS--http://www.huffingto...) since the start of the Iraq War (and to which I had contributed) entitled "Denouement on Iraq: First Stop the Bleeding" (http://www.commondre...) just before Coleman and other senators were slated to take up the topic. (Unfortunately that effort proved for nought as Coleman voted Bush's way yesterday to "stay the course" despite what he's been saying about their failures.)
