Andrew Sullivan has a thought-provoking essay in New York Magazine about how we’re killing off liberal democracy and not just in Poland or Hungary or the United States either. This elite condescension toward challenges to their power stems, philosopher John Gray recently argued, from a fundamental and demonstrably false assumption that
Continue readingTag: Netanyahu
The Disaffected Lib: And the Trudeau Government’s Reaction Is?
A tweet. That’s how the government of Justin Trudeau responded to yesterday’s massacre of Palestinians by Israeli snipers and Justin’s bestie, Benjamin Netanyahu. Deeply concerned by violence in Gaza Strip. We are saddened by deaths + injuries that occurred today + over past weeks. It is inexcusable that civilians, journalists
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Who Will Decide Canada’s Policy on Israel, Barack Obama or Donald Trump?
When US secretary of state, John Kerry, proclaimed that Israel had to choose – it could be a Jewish state or a democracy, just not both, Washington’s abrupt epiphany must have caught Justin Trudeau and Steffie Dion with their short pants down. If Washington can say the emperor has no
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: How the Leader of the Free World Became the Leader of the Global Right Wing.
AmeriKa’s president, Donald Trump, will not be the leader of the free world. He will, however, be the leader of the global right wing. Across Europe, the radical right is embracing the next US leader as one of their own. Donald Trump validates their ugly bigotry, racism and xenophobia. He
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What Now? What If the US Senate Scuttles the Iran Nuclear Deal?
All 54 Republicans in the US Senate will vote against ratification of the Iran nuclear pact negotiated between Tehran and the P6 nations. They’ll need 13 Democrats to vote with them and the deal is effectively stillborn. Democratic senator Chuck Schumer could deliver the Republicans the votes they need. Israeli
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Hair’s ‘Politics of Division’
Asking a voter why s/he is going to vote for the Conservatives this fall can cause a rising anger. The anger is hardly directed at the voter. This person has been had. They have been duped. The anger can only be directed at the Prime Minister—he of the Hair! And
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Did Bibi Spy on Barack? Easy Answer? Of Course.
Israel has never been reluctant to spy on its global benefactor, the United States. Now Washington is accusing Israel of having spied on American negotiations with Iran for a nuclear enrichment treaty. The apparent decision by the White House to leak the allegations is the latest symptom of the growing
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Netanyahu’s "Dog Whistle" Might Have Fetched the Hounds
Maybe some day Benjamin Netanyahu will be known as the founder of the state of Palestine. Strange things are happening. From the Sydney Morning Herald:Already the US is hinting that it might support a United Nations Security Council resolution that recognises Palestine along pre-1967 borders. Until now it has repeatedly
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Netanuyahu’s Win Could Be Israel’s Greatest Defeat
Tossing ideas around yesterday I came to a “What If” moment. What if, I wondered, Israeli prime minister re-elect, Benjamin Netanyahu, has destroyed Israel’s lifeline – the backing of the president of the United States of America. It’s been the American president, who alone controls his country’s veto at the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Bye, Bye Bibi – Bye, Bye
Israeli Arabs are reported to be turning out in unusually large numbers to vote but, overall, voting is lighter than normal in the Israeli elections. This, according to Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, is a bad omen for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desperate hopes to cling to power. Bibi, sensing disaster in
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Netanyahu Promises Israeli Voters – There’ll Be No Palestinian State On My Watch.
With Israelis heading to the polls, Benjamin Netanyahu is running scared. He’s seen Likud’s numbers and all the polls show he’s in trouble. He’s in deep enough that he’s pulling out all the stops and scrambling for the hardliner vote.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau said Monday that if he were to
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Israel’s Real Demographic Nightmare
Israel holds the Palestinian people captive because it believes it has no choice. While no Israeli leader will come right out and say it, there’s no way the country will restore the Occupied Territories to the Palestinians. No Israeli government is prepared to see their country withdrawn to its pre-1967
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Can Israelis Save Israel?
Tens of thousands of Israelis flooded Rabin Square in Tel Aviv Saturday night to call for the ouster of Benjamin Netanyahu.Organised under the banner, “Israel wants change” and dubbed an “anti-Netanyahu” event, the rally was headlined by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, who told the crowd Israel is facing the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Rise and Fall of America’s Indispensable Ally – Israel
Israel has always been America’s indispensable ally in the Middle East. That may be changing. Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech yesterday to the US Congress might have been less of a bold stroke and more an act of desperation. The Sydney Morning Herald’s international affairs columnist, Paul McGeough, writes that Israel’s influence with
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Real Threat Facing Israel
No one expected Benjamin Netanyahu to win the gushing approval of the editorial board of Israel’s liberal newspaper Haaretz but they were decidedly unimpressed by their prime minister’s speech to part of the US Congress yesterday. Their view is that Netanyahu deliberately avoided any mention of the real existential threat
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Netanyahu Has Screwed the Pooch for Israel
Even if the next US president is a Republican, what Netanyahu is doing this week will cost Israel far into the future. What the Israeli prime minister has somehow failed to grasp is that he is targeting the office of the president. Even those who wish him luck now will
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: "He’s Acting Like Someone Who Has Nothing to Lose"
The editorial board of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz looks at the country’s prime minister and sees a one-man wrecking ball winging his way to Washington. The paper concludes that Israel badly needs a new prime minister. On the eve of Israel’s election, Netanyahu is insisting on damaging Israel’s most important relationship.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Video Every Member of Congress Needs to Watch
Thanks to a White House that’s willing to stand up to him, Benjamin Netanyahu is finally being exposed as a manipulative, chronic liar. For starters there’s this clip recorded surreptitiously in 2001 in which Netanyahu boasts of his prowess at twisting American legislators to do his bidding. The Washington Post
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Netanyahu’s High-Risk Gambit
What? I Stepped In What? With just three weeks to go, Israel’s national election has turned into a real nail-biter. The governing Likud party of Benjamin Netanyahu is in a dead heat tie with the rival Zionist Union party, each of which stands to collect 24-seats according to the latest
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Is Netanyahu Being Targeted for Regime Change – By the White House?
Barack Obama may have had enough of Benjamin Netanyahu’s stunts. It might just be time for Bibi to go. Foreign Policy’s Aaron David Miller writes that Obama is pursuing regime change in the upcoming Israeli elections. Welcome to regime change, Obama-style. There are few opportunities to change the mullahcracy in Tehran.
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