[OPE] The whacky world of Western diplomacy...

Nazi Israel symbolAkiva Eldar http://www.donteverstop.com/files/apn/upl/images/PU_Copy_of_Akiva_Eldar.jpg one of Israel's top "thinking journalists" (also author of the book "Lords of the Land") describes in Haaretz how decisions get made in the political class these days: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1055966.html

"Inquiries with people uninvolved in the spat between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reveal that his version of the lead-up to America's vote on last week's Security Council resolution is closer to the truth than hers. Last Wednesday, the only proposal on the council's table was a completely one-sided Libyan resolution. Since it was clear to everyone that the United States would veto it, Israel had no reason to worry. But then, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, a former senior World Bank official, decided that this was the moment to make use of his Washington connections. Advertisement
 
Fayyad persuaded the Americans to support a softened version of the resolution, which called for a prompt cease-fire, hoping that such a resolution would speed up the ongoing truce talks. He asked the British and French for help, and they agreed. Rice signaled her French and British counterparts, Bernard Kouchner and David Miliband, that she was on board. European diplomats, UN officials and a senior PA official all said Thursday that as of last Friday night it was clear to almost everyone that the U.S., like the other 14 Security Council members, would vote for the softened resolution. They said Rice had promised as much to her European colleagues.

In Jerusalem, however, officials went to sleep thinking the Americans had only agreed to support a 48-hour humanitarian cease-fire. At 1 A.M., final confirmation came from New York: The U.S. had promised that no cease-fire resolution would be brought to a vote any time soon. An hour and a half later, however, it became clear that not only was the Security Council due to vote on a cease-fire resolution at any minute, but Rice had ordered America's UN ambassador to support it. Olmert promptly telephoned U.S. President George Bush to complain about Rice's behavior and demand that he restrain her. What Bush said to Rice remains unknown. What is known, however, is that the U.S. suddenly changed its vote from "yes" to "abstain."

The whole story would have ended well had Olmert behaved like a responsible adult and restrained his own impulses. Even his close associates admit that he would have done better to skip the public boasting about how he persuaded Bush to overrule Rice. Quite aside from the fact that this embarrassed the U.S. administration, Olmert's associates understand all too well that this story merely provides fresh ammunition to those who claim the Jews are the ones who really control America."

More stories about the events e.g. here: http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/63298/olmert-says-he-embarrassed-rice-prevented-un-vote.html http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/20266

The UN Security Council resolution 1860 is here: http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N09/204/32/PDF/N0920432.pdf?OpenElement
D'Escoto's statement is here http://www.un.org/ga/president/63/statements/onpalestine150109.shtml

If the UN does nothing, then effectively they're saying, like the Bush administration did, that international law is an "ass" you can slap around a bit at will. The trouble with that style is, that it undermines the authority and privileges they still have, and that ultimately impacts on their ability to extract rich helpings of public money supporting their opulent lifestyles and harems.

In the bourgeois view, the IDF attack on Gaza is portrayed a bit like going to the dentist's: "Sorry, but this will only hurt a little bit". The idea in this surgical operation is that there are good teeth (innocent civilians) and bad teeth (Hamas), and then you drill holes in the bad teeth, moving around the good teeth. True, some force is involved, but then you can also have wonderful things like "humanitarian corridors" when e.g. a bomb or rocket falls on your neighbour's house. The bourgeois anxiety is actually whether "our boys" can still keep people under control with hi-tech military force, whether you can beat people into submission, short of exterminating them, so they do what they are told. If you can't, you really have a problem.

I found a new motif on the net symbolizing the state of Israel (see attachment): a star of David with a swastika inside it, holding it all together. The subtlety in this "gimmick" is, that the swastika could mean all kinds of things. True, it is still a swastika, a Nazi symbol, but when you consider all the different meanings it could have, the argument goes, then you are bound to see it in a different light. With more understanding, you realise that really the inclusion of the swastika is a very appropriate symbolization, that really it should have been in there all along...

Israel "has become a rogue state... A rogue state habitually violates international law, possesses weapons of mass destruction and practises terrorism - the use of violence against civilians for political purposes. Israel fulfils all of these three criteria; the cap fits and it must wear it." - Avi Shlaim http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/07/gaza-israel-palestine It's sort of like Scorcese's movie "Gangs of New York", but then it's "Gangs of Jerusalem".

Speaking of which - Ehud Barak has ordered the IDF to set up a team of intelligence and legal experts that will collect evidence related to IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, that could be used to defend military commanders against future lawsuits. (...)The decision to set up the team was made as part of IDF preparations for a wave of international lawsuits related to Operation Cast Lead, which Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz warned last Sunday would be filed against soldiers following the operation. http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/63303/idf-team-gathering-gaza-evidence.html Nine NGO's have called on Mazuz's office to investigate the situation in Gaza, given that no international tribunal exists to conduct an inquiry into the war.

Jurriaan

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