“If military force is ever employed, it should be done in a decisive fashion. The Iran government’s ability to wage conventional war against its neighbors and our troops in the region should not exist. They should not have one plane that can fly or one ship that can float.”

I very much agree with you a unitary state (Israel/Palestine) would require a very large change of attitude of the part of all concerned. And not likely to be obtained, in the near term at least.

Does Bibi Netanyahu assume that enough Palestinians can be forced to leave the country, so that overall Israeli control is retained? I wonder what Obama said to BN privately.

Thanks. I agree Iran has every right to develop nuclear power (within NPT). I agree with Dan Cooper and kooshy that Ahmadinejad is demonized by the Israel lobby because Iran, and the Iranian president, speak out vociferously in support of the oppressed Palestinians. Mainstream US media help Aipac et al. conduct their campaign of slander, misrepresentation, etc. etc. etc. and most Americans haven’t a clue as to what the real issues are, or even where Iran is located.

As regards your point about the administration and the military working separately toward similar goals, well, that’s pretty shrewd thinking. Could be. I tend to think, however, that the two will move in tandem if their goals are the same. It’s when the politicians and the military want different things that we see generals and admirals sneaking off the reservation. On Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the military itself is split. Is there a similar split over the value of the Israeli relationship? I don’t know. I don’t have active duty contacts anymore. I would be interested to know if anyone comes across any fresh reporting on this subject.

President Ahmadinejad is an enigma to me. He will voice truths that many in the West have never encountered or taken seriously (for example, his pointed question as to why the Palestinians have to suffer for European crimes against the Jews), but then turn around and say something stupid that makes him appear to be a Holocaust-denier. To put it mildly, he has not helped Iran’s chances of getting a fair hearing in the West. He needs a good PR firm!

If Mr. Obama really wants too, then he will first need, to get his B…released from the chief of staff hands, which has been holding them all along through that famous opening that we saw young Catharine Kennedy was crawling out.

Cheers

It certainly seems equally possible that the US, having categorically rejected Israel’s attempt to link movement on I/P with US movement on Iran, is itself using the threat of a deal with Iran as a lever to get Israeli concessions on I/P. If so, we will have an unmitigated disaster on our hands. Surely they can’t be so stupid ….. can they?

On the military – you may well be right. I don’t know; but is it necessary to have a comprehensive policy on the military itself simultaneously? Could it simply be that the military and the Administration’s interests genuinely coincide over Israel?

James, the unitary state could of course only come about over many years and via a phased approach which would require a two-state interim solution anyway. I think the circumstances required for a successful 2-state are probably 75% of the way toward a 1-state. It is interesting to contemplate what would have happened if the original 1947 Partition Plan had gone through as proposed. I think it would almost certainly have become a single state long before now.

Kooshy – I reckon Obama could quite like that formulation of Ahmadinejad’s. Maybe it won’t take too much to impress the Iranians after all?

Regarding Ahmadinejad’s comments:

“In the entire west, there is not even one brave political leader who is capable of standing up to the Zionist and their atrocities.”

I think Ahmadinejad is the only leader in the world who is brave enough to condemn Israel’s atrocities publicly.

This is the reason why Israel lobby and the western media daily demonise him.