Actions

Blog/November 2012/Nov 2nd

From RonWareWiki

< Blog‎ | November 2012
Nov 2nd (See this week's devar torah) Comments or questions? Click here!


Hi, again!

Wild weather and wacky politics combined to forge a "perfect storm" this week. Here in the Land, our opening salvo of cool and wet weather gave way to well-above-average warm and dry. Not what we wanted at the end of October, but it is what we got. Fortunately, the temperatures here are trending downward and by the beginning of next week we should be having seasonal weather again. The unsettled weather appears to have unsettled our immune systems as well; I've been fighting a losing battle with a "cold" this week, and seem to have infected my family as well...

Unless you've been on a desert-island somewhere, you know about The Storm (a.k.a. "Sandy", a.k.a. "Frankenstorm") which wreaked havoc all across the eastern seaboard of the United States. Now that we have close family in that area, we're paying close attention to these things. Daniela and Jeremy in Manhattan didn't lose power (they were in the half of Manhattan which didn't black-out), though they did lose the internet connection. Our in-laws in Baltimore also didn't lose power, B"H! So for our "kids" it wasn't too bad... except that with the area flooded, the subways and trains out of commission and so many power outages, they could neither go to work (well, neither could anyone) nor get any fresh food. Still, their plight was relatively minor, and by Thursday Daniela returned to work though Jeremy was still unable to. Since he's stuck at home, he was making the shabbat meal: apricot chicken, "deli roll" and sweet-potato pie.

Sarah's completed her second week of "orientation" at school, and took her first tests. She's got a ton of information to assimilate, a lot of it very technical. So it's a real challenge for her, but she likes it -- soon she'll know all sorts of things we don't! The downside is having to watch inexplicable films...

The Israeli political scene heated up even further since last week's announcement that the Likud and Israel Beiteinu parties will run on a joint ticket. One of the most popular MK's of the Likud announced a few weeks ago that he was "leaving politics for a break", for personal reasons. Now it appears he's going to create a new "centrist" party. The left-wing Labor party (e.g. Socialists) have been inundated with "new blood" wanting to join them -- a number of well-known but not-so-seriously esteemed people. To be fair, even though I despise her politics, I respect Shelly Yacimovich, the current head of Labor, for being an honest person. A flock of puffed-up wannabes has formed another new party, Yesh Atid ("there is a future"). And there is also drama surrounding the "nationalist" parties on the Right of the spectrum -- nobody knows just what is going to be available at the ballot-box in January! The only thing everyone knows is that Likud/Israel Beiteinu will have a commanding role in the new government in January.

And in the Goldene Medina the political scene is scarcely less volatile than it is in the Land! The two main parties have been duking it out for months now, but the Storm gave them both opportunities to posture. Obama made a show of "Big Brother takes care of you", while Romney made a show of "I'm here to help you". Doubtful that either will derive much benefit from their actions this past week, as it appears most people really do have their minds made up. Several of my correspondents inundate me with pro-Obama propaganda, but so far have not rebutted any of the facts with which I responded. As I told one of them, it seems true that "a liberal is one who never lets facts get in the way of his opinions". That saddens me, because true liberalism means keeping an open mind and considering information from all sources, and that is what the foundation of a "liberal democracy" actually is.

One of the statements made is that Obama is not "throwing Israel under the bus", because:

  1. the US and Israel are currently conducting the biggest joint-military exercise ever
  2. with the Iron Domes which America paid for, and that
  3. the US was the only country in the UN Security Council to veto the PA request for UN entrance. How is that "anti-Israel"?

These assertions demand a response, which I gave:

The US and Israel regularly conduct joint drills, and have done so for years. Even before The One, there were joint military exercises. But you might ask why the Obummer administration chose to cancel the previous drill this past spring, and why they chose to go ahead with one now. Might it have to do with the upcoming election and the "Jewish vote"? The US military's relationship with Israel is a huge benefit to the US, which gets the chance to field-test equipment under development and implement improvements Israel has made.

It is inaccurate to say "the US paid for Iron Dome". Israel funded and performed all the initial R&D and paid for the first two systems on its own. The US decided to provide funding ($205 million) for additional systems (at Obama's request, actually, for which he is thanked). This was the first and so far only US investment in the project. Israel is investing another $1 billion (of its own money) in further development. So while the sound-bite sounds nice, it is not accurate.

The veto in the UN was in keeping with long-term US policy, and we Israelis appreciate the US's vetoes. However, one asks why the Obama administration joined the UNHRC, one of the most rabidly anti-Israel bodies in the UN? Why did Obama introduce his 2010 address to the UN General Assembly with a call for Palestinian statehood and membership in the UN (notwithstanding the aforementioned veto)? Why did he ask for a waiver of a ban on UNESCO -- a ban enacted by US Congress in keeping with US law, for UNESCO's premature recognition of the PA as a "state"?

As to the original assertion that Obama has thrown Israel "under the bus", there is certainly ample proof of that claim:

  • His first trip outside the US was the infamous "apology tour" of the Muslim Middle East. He made it to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iraq -- but he has yet, as President, to visit Israel. Israelis noticed. So did her enemies.
  • He asserted in July 2009 that he was deliberately pursuing a policy putting "daylight" between America and Israel. Rest assured, Israelis noticed, as did our enemies.
  • He made "settlements" a major stumbling block in advancing the so-called PA/Israel "peace process". He put unremitting pressure on Israel to unilaterally cease all construction in Jerusalem and other areas which are certain to remain in Israeli control in any agreement. Even the PA never asked for the construction to stop; as a result, the PA became even more intransigent so as not to "lose face". After all, they could scarcely be less extreme than Israel's purported "friend"! Again, Israelis took note of this (and so did our enemies).
  • He treated our Prime Minister, the democratically elected and quite popular leader of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, as a pariah. He treated him insultingly and with derision, while bowing to his apparent king, Abdullah of Saudi Arabia; further, he declared Assad of Syria a "reformer" and Chavez of Venezuela his "friend". Apparently he understands that he has much more in common with the despots of the world than with truly democratic leaders. Indeed, Israelis of all stripes became furious with the Obumbler over his mistreatment of Netanyahu.

Before the election in the US, I ask my USAn friends and family to carefully consider whether the US and the world can stand another four years of such "leadership". Obama should be impeached over his handling of the Benghazi episode. OK, enough politics -- next week we'll all know what the fate of the US and the world-at-large is to be.

And in slightly odd culinary news: last week we discovered that a bag of cabbage was starting to "go bad". So instead of throwing it away, we decided to turn it into sauerkraut. It will take another week or so before the cabbage has fermented enough, but in the meantime it looks pretty cool!

A very small shabbat meal for us this time around; we want to get the colds fixed up: chicken soup, garlic chicken, rice, tuna salad, parve bean cholent, and chocolate-chip cookies.

Until next week,
shabbat shalom!


Top: Blog Prev: Oct 26th Next: Nov 9th


Retrieved from "https://ronware.org/w/index.php?title=Blog/November_2012/Nov_2nd&oldid=8216"