Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Anatomy of a decline

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/anatomy-of-a-decline-1.328145
Anatomy of a decline
President Obama emerges from the WikiLeaks cables as a weak leader,
whose good intentions dissipate in the face of the stubbornness of his
Middle Eastern counterparts.
By Aluf Benn
Beyond the gossip, the indiscretions and the petty lies, the cables
released by WikiLeaks tell a sad story. They depict the fall of the
American empire, the decline of a superpower that ruled the world by
dint of its military and economic supremacy. President Barack Obama
emerges from the cables as a weak, flimsy leader, whose good
intentions and lofty visions dissipate like dust in the wind in the
face of the conservatism and stubbornness of his Middle Eastern
counterparts.
The days when American ambassadors were received in world capitals as
"high commissioners" are long since gone. The diplomats who wrote the
WikiLeaks documents are tired bureaucrats: Nobody rises in their honor
and clicks their heels when they enter a room. They spend their days
listening wearily to their hosts' talking points, never reminding them
who is the superpower and who the client state that needs military or
financial aid from America.
The legacy of the storied secretaries of state of days gone by - John
Foster Dulles, Henry Kissinger and James Baker - has long since
disappeared into archives and memoirs. The America of Obama and
Hillary Clinton doesn't dare pound on the table and knock heads
together when its friends and rivals do as they please. It takes
notes, files them and moves on.
There is nothing new in the Middle East. Regional leaders, both Arab
and Israeli, are busy with their own affairs and ignore America's
interests and wishes. And Obama's election changed nothing: It's hard
to find differences between the minutes of diplomatic talks held under
George W. Bush and the cables sent by representatives of the current
administration.
Obama's Ankara and Cairo speeches, his moving calls for a new
relationship between America and the Arab and Muslim worlds, even his
quotations from the Koran, were all greeted with utter indifference.
The rulers in Riyadh and Cairo, Abu Dhabi and Amman, Damascus and
Jerusalem heard Obama and didn't change so much as a comma in their
well-known positions. The Israelis don't trust the Arabs, the Arabs
are suspicious of the Israelis and both of them are terrified of Iran.
In its editorial on Tuesday, the New York Times praised Obama and his
team as outstanding diplomats who stood up to Arab and Israeli
pressure on America to attack Iran and "cut off the head of the
snake," in the words of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. What naivete.
It's hard to believe that experienced leaders like King Abdullah, the
emir of Bahrain, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Defense Minister
Ehud Barak really imagined that Obama would read the cables from the
Middle East and hasten to arm his stealth bombers and declare war on
Iran. They knew Washington was unenthusiastic about bombing Natanz and
Bushehr.
Their pressure on the administration had a completely different goal:
thwarting Obama's efforts at rapprochement with Iranian leaders Ali
Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and ensuring that America would
maintain a hard line against Tehran and its rulers. And this goal was
fully achieved, with some help from the Iranians, who openly thumbed
their noses at the U.S. president.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the first world leader to
leverage the WikiLeaks revelations for his own purposes. At a press
conference on Monday, Netanyahu used the leaked cables to trash
Obama's position and advance the agenda of "Iran first." The cables
prove, he said, that there's no truth in the narrative that the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the greatest threat to the region and
its future.
The doublespeak of the Arab leaders, who publicly attack Israel while
warning against Iran in closed forums, helps the prime minister
repulse the American administration's claim that solving the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict takes precedence. It provides confirmation of
Israel's assertion, which the West has disbelieved for years, that the
Palestinians aren't important.
The Arab leaders didn't ignore the Palestinians. They raised this
issue over and over in their talks with American representatives. But
the Egyptians and the Gulf emirates share their Israeli counterparts'
view of the conflict as a nuisance that must be managed, not a problem
that can be solved.
None of them fantasized about a Palestinian state, about freedom and
independence for Gaza and Nablus. All they wanted was to get this
annoying nuisance off their backs, and they didn't care how. They
viewed Obama as a pest and his envoys as bothers, not as spokesmen for
the global superpower. Or perhaps that's no longer what America is.

 By Aluf Benn
Sarà il caso di ricordare che Aluf Benn, il grande giornalista militare
di Haaretz è un solido esponente del "campo della pace"
-- 
Tb (bieco illuminista)

 di Haaretz è un solido esponente del "campo della pace"
Namib pero' insegna che ci sono contraddizioni logiche tra essere un
giornalista militare e stare nel campo della pace.
Antola gli chiede sarcastico se Aluf Benn non esista.
Persio osserva che si tratta comunque di una inquitante creazione dei
media sionisti.
Work in Progress avvia una conversazione con Persio per dimostrargli
che lui stesso, Persio, non esiste
Jonathan Pine si inventa un fake per dire che Aluf Benn e' un
convertito,
Bildung rimarca che Persio sembra convinto di non esistere
Tonibaruch ricorda al gruppo che e' un pirla
MMAX spiega che un mondo senza pirla sarebbe un gran bel posto e che
sono tutte ragioni per votare Laburista, ma lui sta pensando a
Kadima,
io chiedo Ka...che?  e segnalo un articolo di Ynetnews, in cui la
Livni che si arrabbia per le lettere minatorie - che invece di
arrivare a lei arrivano allo Shas.
Persio sta cercando di dimostrare che il Vangelo spiega che Usenet non
esiste
rosaluxemburg mi azzanna perche' solo se si divide Gerusalemme allora
si riuscira' a battere Berlusconi e posta un link a un editoriale di
Repubblica, firmato da Sandro Viola, ma che lei e' convinta sia
scritto da Amos Oz
la Redfliddler, senza leggerlo, butta giu' due parole su una su Parigi
ed una a proposito della alta valle dell'Olona (dove lei abita,
insomma).
Work in Progress e Bildung hanno portato Persio mano nella mano in un
terrirorio di paradossi che puo' venire esplorato solo con
l'alpenstock di Aluf Benn. Sta comunque facendo una figura da pirla.
Logi, per non essere da meno, scrive una roba a proposito di Betlemme
dove rabbini pedofili uccidono banchieri massoni impiccandoli al ponte
dei frati neri (stava scritto in wikileaks) dal che si deduce che
Fanfani non e' antisemita e Pio XII un santo e per ammazzare Begin in
culla c'erano comunque ottime ragioni.
Persio si e'  incaprettato, e si dibatte. Tonibaruch chiosa che e'
proprio un pirla.
Febo spiega che anche il giudizio storico sul nazismo andrebbe
rivisto, ma finche' gli USA continuano a vendere armi ad Israele c'e'
poca speranza che venga alla luce la verita'. E mette un link al suo
blog, sperando di fare incazzare i lettori
Non ci riesce: io cutto il delirio del Logi, quoto l'espressione
"Black Friars" e ossero che c'e' un paradosso nel celebrare in
Inghilterra Hannukka, la forza militare ebraica,
amalric abbocca e vomita qui quelle tre cazzate che Comment is Free
gli ha censurato per questioni grammaticali
Giovannino conclude con una sega.
si', a volte questo gruppo mi manca.

Il 01/12/10 10:02, נחום ha scritto:

Tornaci, è sempre uno spasso...
Tb (bieco illuminista)
-- 
La vida te da sorpresas (sorpresas te da la vita)


La Gemara e' comunque meno prevedibile.


E allora torna a frequentarlo regolarmente.
-- 
*Sunspot*
Strength Through Unity, Unity Through Faith.


Mi sono offeso
PP

 Giovannino conclude con una sega.
se vuoi passo ai facial....

 PP
-- 
MGOK


wrote:

la vita e' dura [cit.]