[Peace-discuss] Richard Falk and Gaza

[David Green]

I guess I'm confused about the nature of this thread, or I've lost an appreciation for sarcasm, or at least for Hegelian sarcasm.

It's never (or at least since I was forced to think about this) seemed helpful to me to argue that because of Israeli, Jewish, or Israel Lobby influence, the U.S. pursues policies that are not in the geopolitical interests of the people who run this country, generally speaking. Not everything Israel does supports their interests, but their state of permanent war with the Palestinians and Hizbollah (and Iran) is perfectly consistent with our permanent state of war against Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, etc. And Israel's neoliberal policies, including neo-colonial ambitions relating to the occupied territories, are consistent with their general approach to the accumulation of wealth and power.

Since Obama had nothing to lose in political (funding, electoral) terms (at least during the general election) by firmly supporting the international consensus relating to U.N. Resolution 242, I can only assume it's because he views it in our "vital national interests" to support Israel's behavior regarding occupation, etc., or at least to tolerate it. That is, there would be more to lose than gain by challenging the occupation, and perhaps changing the propaganda dynamics of the "war on terror". The people Obama is working for and with like Israel the way it is--a militarized state that is dependent on our own largesse, and has historically been quite loyal to our policies--in Latin America, Africa, etc. I can't imagine that some Israelis wouldn't want to do business with Cuba, for example.

There's no reason to believe that Obama actually cares about the dire plight of the Palestinians, and has to somehow fight back the urge to alleviate their suffering due to the influence of the Lobby. There is absolutely nothing the Lobby can do at this point to damage him--in fact, they would just make themselves vulnerable to being exposed as paper tigers--yet there is no sign of his desire to do what is absolutely politically feasible; that is, a two-state settlement; that is, if Obama demands it.

Mearsheimer and Walt are from the "realist" school of U.S. foreign policy analysts. I've never known that they were aligned with the general antiwar movement regarding opposition to U.S. hegemony in the region. Mearsheimer was very clear before the Iraq invasion that he didn't think it was strategically advisable; he didn't say it would be morally wrong. I'm not sure why the antiwar movement thinks that it's helpful to understand our behavior in the Middle East as dictated by the Israel Lobby (for reasons of ethnic/religious identity, no less), when that trivializes an important analysis of global capitalism, resources (oil), the Cold War/War on Terror, neoliberal policies, corporate globalization, multinational elites, etc. M/W are saying that the Israel Lobby throws a wrench into our general pursuit of "vital national interests," but do not question the pursuit of those interests, as far as I can tell. 

None of this is meant to mitigate Israel's responsibility for its criminal behavior; it exacerbates our own, but doesn't motivate it.

Just my two latkes.

DG



________________________________
From: Bob Illyes <illyes at uiuc.edu>
To: peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 11:55:12 AM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Richard Falk and Gaza

Mort writes: "Those who call Israel a puppet to its puppet master USA like to see
only the U.S. as behind all the evil in Middle East affairs. This is a weird attitude."

The source of the confusion is that you're a trained and experienced scientist, Mort. If you will just stop insisting that evidence be prior to theories, all will be clear. And then, through the magic of Hegel's synthesis, the Revolution (and also possibly the Second Coming) will be revealed to you.

Bob

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