From: backon@vms.huji.ac.il
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Re: american opinion
Date: 31 Dec 92 06:59:28 GMT
Distribution: talk,world
Organization: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

In article <1992Dec30.1777.21802@channel1>, wayne.mcguire@channel1.com (wayne mcguire) writes:
> To: Harry Mamaysky
>
> Harry,
>
> That was a fine piece of analysis and writing you just posted on
> the background of U.S.-Israeli relations, and on Israel's role as
> a strategic American strategic asset in the Cold War.
>
> I don't strongly disagree with any of your points; on the
> contrary, they all make sense. But I would put a slightly
> different spin on some of them.
>
> There has always been vigorous debate in the American national
> security community about whether Israel was more a help or a
> hindrance in countering Soviet influence in the Middle East. A
> strong case can be made that our siding with Israel helped push
> strategically important Arab countries into the arms of the
> Soviets. And never have the State and Defense Departments lost
> sight of the reality that the real strategic prize in the Middle
> East is oil and access to oil, plain and simple. Take away the
> petroleum reserves, and the region shrinks in strategic
> significance.
>

Wayne,  do your homework. Check out the following terms:
a) mechanochemistry of solids;
b) the chemical physics of water;
c) buckminsterfullerene

Soon there *won't* be any strategic oil prize in the Middle East. There won't
be any need for petroleum reserves, and the Middle East will *rapidly* shrink
in strategic significance.

And then, ALL OF A SUDDEN, Israel will be viewed as America'a best friend and
super ally. I'm just dying to see the egg on your face when this happens.



> I think the Israeli lobby has played a more significant role than
> you give it credit for in boosting the level of American aid to
> Israel to astonishing levels (both relatively and absolutely).
> The Congress, which is heavily influenced by AIPAC, has regularly
> voted to increase the level of aid that was specified by the
> White House. There are three well-documented and persuasive books
> on this subject--by Paul Findley, Edward Tivnan, and George and
> Douglas Ball--which go into all the details.
>
> Overall the Gulf War was quite damaging to the myth that Israel
> is America's most important strategic asset in the Middle East.
> During the course of the war it became evident that Saudi Arabia,
> and not Israel, was America's aircraft carrier in the Middle
> East. Israel was viewed by the U.S. as a nuisance that had to be
> kept out of the way of the action.
>
> Although you are right that the end of the Cold War was a major
> factor in the recent chilling of U.S.-Israeli relations, I think
> you are underestimating the role of the growth of messianic
> Jewish extremism, particularly among the settlement movement, in
> alienating American and Western democratic opinion. Increasingly
> the picture that has come across on the tube is of fanatical

"across the tube" ?  Ah, you mean MEDIA BIAS.


> Israeli settlers driving innocent Palestinians from their
> rightful land. I understand that the situation is a good deal
> more complicated than this, but that is the image that is coming
> across to the world, and it is a direct result of policies that
> were initiated by Menachem Begin since Likud first came to power.

You mean those mean LIKUD people who made very serious peace feelers with
the PLO in August-September 1981 ? Interesting.


> Every time an Israeli or Israeli supporter presents ideological
> and messianic rather than pragmatic arguments for Israeli
> policies, you can see the light of world support for Israel grow
> dimmer. With the exception of Christian fundamentalists, most
> Americans are not interested in getting sucked into a Mideast
> holy war on the basis of any side's messianic fantasies.
>
> Whether Israel can adjust to the new realities remains to be
> seen. All its promises to revamp its moribund socialist economy
> have proven to be empty. Extremism continues to grow in Israeli
> society.

Of course. Wayne *obviously* has lived in Israel for many years and has first
hand knowledge of daily life here. His Hebrew is impeccable  :-)


> I can picture a situation in which Israel manages to
> polarize the entire world against itself and the Zionist
> experiment collapses out of sheer inability to deal with reality.

Wayne, this must be your pipe-dream. A Freudian would call this *wishful
thinking*.


> Before you scoff at this possibility, take a look at other failed
> messianic movements in Jewish history. More and more Zionism is
> taking on the look and feel of a false messianic movement, in
> which the rhetoric grows ever more shrill as the ability to
> control material events grows more feeble.
>
> I want Zionism to succeed in the way its most enlightened
> founders imagined it. I want Israel to be a normal and prosperous
> state, living at peace with its neighbors, and serving as a kind
> of world center of Jewish genius and culture. But my skepticism grows
> day by day that this dream is going to be realized.
> ---


Wow ! We ought to make Wayne Mcguire an honorary member in the Zionist
Organization of America.

Josh
backon@VMS.HUJI.AC.IL
>  ~ OLX 3.01 31-2557 ~ Policy wonks do not create wealth.
> --
> Channel 1 (R)   Cambridge, MA
Xref: sparky talk.politics.mideast:24360 talk.politics.soviet:10075 soc.culture.greek:11952 soc.culture.europe:10895 soc.history:10444 soc.culture.soviet:11678