Barackface: Israel

Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Dear Ayatollah

My Dear Ayatollah.

Recently an online poll conducted by the leading contemporary American publication The Onion figured out I am the most appropriate candidate to represent the 300 million American people and the people of Laos in the international arena. I beat The Anonymous in the poll, mind you. That is no small feat. And in this day and age of email, who needs to spill ink, right? I don't know if you are dead or still alive, I have not had the chance to google you up yet. But either way, I bring peace. I come as a messenger of peace. Disregard the anti-peace email sent to you by a defunct American club called Da Senate Republicans. The only thing that group does these days is run a Whites Only golf club in Oklahoma. No, I don't know where that is either.

As you know, peace is all the rage these days. There is a Nobel Peace Prize Winner in the Black House, the formerly White House. (Ever since he moved in he has been spray painting the whole place, no wonder Da Senate Republicans are offended. He does not seem to realize it is a guest house, not his house, his house is in Chicago.) He gives good speeches. One of them was about getting rid of all of America's nuclear weapons. He gave THAT speech after he had already won the Nobel. Methinks he might be trying to win ANOTHER Nobel Peace Prize. But then, I digress.

I hope the email to you by Da Senate Republicans ended up in your spam folder where it belongs. And that is pretty much it. That one act alone will do much for world peace.

Peace Out.
The Opinion Man kept in high regard by The Onion

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

A Racist Act By The US Senate

Biden Rebukes Senate Republicans Over Letter to Iran

According to the US Constitution, it is for the President Of The United States to deal with foreign powers on behalf of the country. For that he/she gets an entire department, with presences all over the world. He/she is boss to them and works through a Secretary he appoints.

For the Senate Republicans to directly reach out to the Iranian leadership ---- first, it is an invalid step. I also would like to reach out to the Iranian leadership on behalf of America and Laos. What is the email address?

It is also racism. It is like saying, we don't care who is in the White House, because there is a black guy in the White House. And we don't accept blackness in the White House. Attitude!

These Senate Republicans might or might not be okay with blackness, but that they should think they actually have the option to not accept the US Constitution! And for avowed strict constitutionalists too! If you want the Republicans to stop being so anal about being strict constitutionalists, idea, put a black guy in the White House!

How many black guys do we need to put in the White House for them to get past the right to bear arms part! I want to know.

There are two Armageddon forces on the planet right now: ISIS and the Senate Republicans!

Barack Obama has done commendable work to deescalate the tension around that part of the world. Israel should appreciate. The Senate Republicans should get out of the way.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

The Unconventional Thinking On Making Fun Of Prophet Muhammad

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is not the cow. It is what the cow means to the Hindu.

It is China's tragedy that free speech is not in its arsenal. Free speech is the most fundamental tenet of democracy. Everything else flows from it.

But when was the last time I saw someone make fun of Jesus? When I was the last time I saw cartoons of Jesus?

Black people getting stereotyped is considered bad. Free speech but bad speech.

Islam is a religion like Christianity. And it deserves an equal pedestal of respect.

Western democracies are Christian countries. It is so obvious when you walk around. Islam is going to have a major presence in the Arab democracies, and I am talking democracies with rights for women, democracies with space for opposition. Modern democracies.

Talking shit about Islam has to be put in the same category as talking shit about black people. Muslims should not be made to feel out of place just because they are Muslim. Most Muslims, like most Christians, just want to share cat videos online.

Don't make fun of the Muslim religion if you are not making fun of your own. Have respect.

There is an Islamism that rhymes with fascism, and there is an Islamophobia that rhymes with homophobia.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

A One State Solution

English: Palestinian territories (West Bank and Gaza Strip) showing Israel's 1948 and 1967 borders (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At best it looks like soft apartheid.

Israel Elects a One-State President

Over time, a series of other Likud politicians have faced the contradiction between democracy and ruling over the Palestinians of the occupied territories, and have concluded that Israel must seek a two-state solution. Rivlin once described this as the equivalent of an ultra-Orthodox Jew turning his back on religion. To avoid this heresy, Rivlin has declared that Israel should annex the West Bank and give the Palestinians citizenship. He has become a one-stater..... the only possible democratic outcome for Israelis and Palestinians is a binational state ..... the one-staters of the right aren't at all interested in binationalism. And at closer examination, they aren't proposing a true shared democracy ..... a folksy, friendly president who "would prefer for the Palestinians to be citizens of this country rather than divide the land ..... "in the Land of Israel, whether we like it or not, both Jews and Arabs live. Thus any diplomatic solution based on separation is not feasible." You can't fault him for lack of chutzpah; he gave this speech at memorial ceremony for assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was killed for his commitment to the opposite view. .... The Jews would vote for a Jewish parliament and the Palestinians for an Arab parliament ..... Rivlin is committed to the three principles of the Whole Land, democracy, and a Jewish nation-state. He doesn't know how to fit them together ..... The single state would change its electoral system, designing voting districts to reduce Palestinian political power ..... She, like the others, leaves Gaza out of the picture, as if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can end with no change in the besieged coastal enclave. .... What Rivlin and the rest share is professed confidence that a single state from river to sea can be both democratic and Jewish, with a large Palestinian population that is denied national rights. ...... They do share a certain brazenness with those Palestinian one-staters who hope that with a narrow Palestinian majority, they can have a Palestinian state. .... neither group is giving up its national aspirations, and creating a single state would mean continuing the conflict under new conditions. To the extent that President Rivlin becomes a symbol of the potential for a one-state solution, he will be the friendly, good-humored symbol of a dangerous illusion

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Apartheid In Israel

[Israel] (Photo credit: edoardocosta)

Kerry warns of 'apartheid' without Middle East peace

Israel is a remarkable story of survival. No ethnic/religious/cultural group in human history has been of such a small number with such an outsize influence and identity. And then there is the blemish of the Holocaust, the largest state crime in history. Tech in Israel is inspiring. The state of Israel is a leader when it comes to dealing with day to day terror acts.

But that does not change the fact that Israel today is an apartheid state. Either there is a two state solution, or all people living in the disputed territories of the West Bank and Gaza strip become full citizens of Israel. There is not a third option.

It is the most complex geopolitical knot on earth. That is there. Some of the larger changes that could help the situation is if there were a near total spread of democracy across the Arab world.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Israel Can Defend Itself

English: Map showing the maximum territorial extent of countries under the direct influence of the Soviet Union — between the Cuban Revolution/21st Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union/Sino-Soviet split. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For Iran to say if the US attacks Syria, Iran will attack Israel is kind of like suggesting a few things. One is that Iran and the US are equivalent powers, like the Soviet Union and the US back in the days. I have a hard time believing Iran is the new Soviet Union. It is a little itty, bitty state.

During the Cold War it would have been like the Soviet Union saying to the US, if you attack Cuba, we will attack your ally Turkey. That was proportionate talk somewhat. This talk by Iran is outlandish. Oh really? You are going to attack Israel?

I don't mean to take sides, but objectively speaking, in terms of sheer military capability, Israel could take Syria and Iran at once. Or Israel would not have been talking - like it has for years - in terms of going solo into Iran to take out its nuclear sites.

This is kind of like if Poland threatened a trade war with the United States. China threatening a trade war would be plausible. But Poland?

The president should not worry about Israel and do right by the people of Syria.

Thursday, November 08, 2012

Bibi

The Likud Party led by Benjamin Netanyahu wins a narrow victory in the Israeli general election (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Netanyahu Rushes to Repair Damage With Obama

Over the past several years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has on several occasions confronted or even undercut President Obama, taking his message directly to the Israel-friendly United States Congress, challenging Mr. Obama’s appeal to the Arab world, and seeming this fall to support his opponent, Mitt Romney. ...... Netanyahu still maintains strong ties to members of Congress, particularly Republicans ..... Jerusalem is worried that Washington will agree to direct talks with Tehran, and go easier on the Palestinian Authority’s quest this month for upgraded status in the United Nations. ....... “Given what Netanyahu had done these recent months, the question is: Does our prime minister still have a friend in the White House?” Mr. Olmert asked at a meeting with Jewish leaders in New York. “I am not certain of this, and this might be very significant to us at critical points.” ...... “My sense is that he both dislikes and distrusts Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and that he is more likely to use his new momentum to settling scores than to settling issues.” ..... Obama was loath to take on a new Middle East military operation ..... “a decade of war is ending.” .... the bid for nonmember state status in the General Assembly

Can Republicans Adapt?

A coalition of aging white men is a recipe for failure in a nation that increasingly looks like a rainbow. ...... America needs a plausible center-right opposition party to hold Obama’s feet to the fire, not just a collection of Tea Party cranks. ..... the Democratic Party embraced the pragmatic center-left Bill Clinton in 1992 after three consecutive losses in presidential elections. ..... primary voters are their party’s worst enemy. ...... the profusion of right-wing radio and television programs. Democrats complain furiously that Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity smear the left, but I wonder if the bigger loser isn’t the Republican Party itself. Those shows whip up a frenzy in their audience, torpedoing Republican moderates ......... an ideological black hole that no light can enter. ..... After this election, a record 20 senators will be women, almost all of them Democrats. Opposition to same-sex marriage used to be a way for Republicans to trumpet their morality; now it’s seen as highlighting their bigotry. ...... An astonishing 45 percent of Obama voters were members of minority groups .... Many others were women or young people. ...... if the Republican Party remains a purist cohort built around grumpy old white men, it is committing suicide. That’s bad not just for conservatives, but for our entire country.