Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Bibi Revisited

I watched and listened to each and every word yesterday. It was time well spent. While Mr. Netanyahu is not a soaring orator who treats public speaking as a show biz opportunity, he is a sincere and powerful speaker. Plain spoken and truthful. I doubt that anyone was asking. "what did he mean by that?", when he finished speaking. 

Mr. Netanyahu looked his audience directly in the eye, not down his nose, and spoke from the life experience of having the Mediterranean Sea at your back and an onslaught of enemies staring you down from the front. Enemies that are thousands of times bigger and richer. Enemies that are dedicated to wiping your country from the face of the Earth and killing every Jew that draws a breath.

But, President Obama said, "he brought nothing new to the table". Of course he didn't. He is not party to the negotiation. If he had brought new ideas about the process, I guarantee, he would have been accused of interfering in the negotiations and possibly jeopardizing them.

The Prime Minister was painting a picture for America of the situation with Iran as seen through the eyes of those most threatened. I think he did that beautifully. No shouting. No flights of fancy. Just plain simple facts. Very frightening facts. Not just for the Middle East but for the world.

The reasons that this treaty is so important to Obama and Kerry are multiple, but not always well founded. The simplest is that by promising a treaty that the Ayatollahs will like is to get them to be an ally in the fight against ISIS. Iran is Persian and Shia. ISIS is Arab and Sunni. They are as natural enemies as a mongoose and a cobra. Both want to lead the new Caliphate. Persians look down on Arabs. This war was inevitable.

Obama and Kerry seem to think that a stopgap treaty will lead to permanent peace as Iran sees the benefits of the calm and peaceful life. Will not happen. The Shia of Iran are twelvers. They believe in the twelfth Imam, the Mahdi. They believe that the world as we know it will end soon in chaos. The Mahdi will appear and lead the Shia to world dominance under Iran. They thrive on this.

Our intrepid negotiators seem to think they can trust Iran's negotiators. They are being manipulated like little children. They are in a game that gives them no winning path. Their arrogance blinds them of that fact.

One last thing. Mr. Netanyahu was a guest in our house. He is the Prime Minister of one of our greatest allies. Our President and his weak minded minions treated him rudely. They disgraced themselves, their party, and America.

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