I am sure that the majority of my former colleagues at the State Department are besides themselves. Cries of "He did what?" "Jerusalem? He gave it to Israel!" "It's the end of the world!" or something more radical than that are echoing the long increasing desolate and irrelevant halls of State in the wake of President Trump's announcement that the US would now recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Israel, after all, is the only country in the world "not allowed" to designate its own capital.
Change is not something State does or deals with well. I remember being in a meeting back in the early 1980s at State when a senior official of the Reagan Administration told a group of us that the Reagan Administration fully intended to "roll back" the Soviet empire and put an end to the Soviet threat. The President, he said, was adamant that we would not be prisoners to past policies. Soviet Communism could and would be defeated, not merely managed. I remember thinking "Wow!" or something equally as profound; some of my colleagues afterwards, however, were scoffing, and making comments about how the Reagan people were "really, really dumb." The USSR, they said, was not going anywhere; we would have to deal with them, in essence, forever. Ah, yes . . .
We are now seeing another moment of apoplexy by the bien pensants who tell us that the world is going to end because the President has recognized the capital of Israel as the capital of Israel. Facts are hard things for certain types. Trump's acknowledgment of reality, they tell us, is going to get us all killed; it is going to put an end to the "peace process," and give the Muslim world YET another reason to murder us in our own cities. OK.
So, if the President merely had gone along with the past 70 years of fantasy, and with the giving in to the Islamic crazies, peace would have broken out? We've had so much peace in the MidEast over these past seven decades, I guess, that it would be irresponsible to put that at risk. Is that the argument? Not too convincing.
I also guess it was anticipation of Trump's 2017 decision that led to 9/11, 7/7, Nice, Paris, San Bernardino . . . yeah, sure. I am sure that the European countries now loudly opposed to Trump's decision have nothing to fear from radical Islamic terror, no way would the Islamists hurt their "friends."
President Trump did the right thing.
Yeah!
ReplyDelete"Free at last. Great God almighty, w are free at last !"
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to like this Trump- He's a WILDMAN!
ReplyDeleteAlso i have become very concerned by the extra-constitutional efforts underway at election-nullification.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/12/is-the-deep-state-attempting-a-coup.php
Trump should follow up by changing our capital to Fargo. Freeze the damnable Swamp Creatures!
ReplyDeleteI watch back over the campaign and the first year, and all I can think to myself is that Trump is an outstanding magician. He's a master of distraction. He left the GOP wondering why the heck it nominated him, and then left the media spinning around in circles watching what it *thinks* is his sleight of hand, but *really* only seems to be their own tails they're chasing.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's taken almost another year (kinda like the primary and the general election cycles respectively) to fully distract the entirety of congress, and allow some sanity through there.
He really seems to be a master at this stuff, and seems to be pushing his 'middle of the road of america first' agenda while laughing at the media and political circles spinning in.. well. circles..
Apparently it's got some sort of 3-month cycle of: "Oh.. now THIS is really gonna get him.." only for the whole thing to be dropped in the next cycle.
- reader #1482
"We'll have so much winning, you'll get bored with all the winning"
ReplyDeleteI am far from bored, lets have many years more-of course some of it will be at Canaduh's expense but I can even live with that.
Lame stream media in dissarray.
Hollyweird and entertainment industry dangerously in decline.
Democrat party disintegrating. Clinton crime family defunded.
RINOs panicing. Swamp creatures futures are short-term.
Universities, snowflakes and faculty totally confused and demoralized.
Illegals returning, welfare rolls declining, food stamp fraud declining.
Europe, Paleswine, UN, asking "what the hell?"
It's a thing of beauty, a president who is implementing his campaign promises..
Well stated!
DeleteShoot, where's that upvote button?
DeleteYes, well said.
-Blake
Comment of the week? Quarter? YEAR??
Delete"President Trump did the right thing": could be. But why did he do it? What domestic issues were involved?
ReplyDeleteNone, really. The easiest thing for him would have been to sign another waiver.
DeleteThe primary domestic "issue" here is that this was a campaign promise. Well, it's been a campaign promise for many presidents, but this president is making a fetish of _keeping_ them. Very puzzling.
DeleteDon't neglect to factor in the groundswell of change being implemented by the crown prince of KSA.
DeleteIf the GCC can roll up Hezbollah in Lebanon we could be looking for peace in the holy land and Iran isolated and weak.
Don't ever stop fighting Mr President, we will never tire of winning!
The price of Sabra Humus will be discounted in honor of the statement.
ReplyDeleteDavod
I believe that Trump did the right thing too. Only Israel can guarantee the security for people and historic monuments in Jerusalem. People should ask themselves, do I want to tourist in Israel or in Gaza ? Easy answer, isn´t it. Muslims have ravaged and destroyed so many historic remnants and relics in so many countries. The extremists simply cannot accept history before Muhammed. They have the same attitude as Pol Pot, year Zero. And they do not tolerate other religions. I remember that I was very upset when I read that armed palestinians were occupying the Holy Church in Bethlehem. They simply do not care about Christian important places. Why not shoot from the golden domed Mosque instead ? Probably unthinkable.
ReplyDeleteSwedish lady
Yes, what was he thinking? We were THIS CLOSE to peace. . , Not.
ReplyDeleteIt will certainly bring to a head some issues.
ReplyDeleteYep! Glad you are getting settled so we can see more cogent and informed analysis of current events.
ReplyDeleteThe only peace you ever get in the Middle east is the 4 or 5 years it takes for the Arabs to rebuild their armed forces after each butt kicking the Israelis give them. More intense defeats might mean a longer peace interlude.
ReplyDeleteJust think, three more years. We may run out of exploding heads.
ReplyDeleteHow did so many people in the State Department get so wrong-headed?
ReplyDeleteAsk Alger Hiss.
DeleteWell, Anon, I left the DoS in 1999 and even during that time (before I became a real conservative) most of my colleagues were liberal. They have become more and more so. Let's not forget, Foreign Service Officers are reported to be "the best of the best" (this is, sadly, very often not correct) and so therefore their worldview is clearly FAR superior to those of us who are non-government peons. I imagine Dip would agree.
ReplyDeleteAbove, I mean that Dip would agree that FSOs THINK their worldview is far superior, not that it IS superior..... :)
ReplyDeleteI entered the State Department in 1989, a bit before Deng ordered the troops to shoot the demonstrators in China. At the same time, the Soviet Bloc was starting to crumble although it was before its final collapse. I recall people walking around Main State muttering to each other, "What the F_____ is going on?" So much for the Great American Conspiracy (or, if there was one, it didn't seem to involve State).
ReplyDeleteAs for recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, it's a matter of recognizing the de facto. Our prior policy was basically to signal that we accepted the UN Partition Plan of 1947 and the pre-1967 status of things. But, I ask, is there any chance we'll every recognize that China is divided at the Taiwan Strait, and that Taiwan is not a part of the PRC?
What I never have understood is why, I am assuming sane people at state, think another economic basket case, xenophobic, Arab kleptocracy is the best way to ensure lasting peace in the middle east. Don't we have too many of those in the first place?
ReplyDeleteHave you seen this?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.weaselzippers.us/366996-report-state-department-refuses-to-recognize-jerusalem-as-israels-capital-on-official-docs-despite-trumps-announcement/
So the State Dept. won't write, "Jerusalem, Israel" on its passports. Big surprise. The last time I renewed my passport in D.C. there was an Arab woman with kids in tow moaning that, "the U.S. doesn't recognize my country" - probably a "Palestinian" effort to register a passport as, "Jerusalem, Palestine". I wonder if fear of the scene at the passport office if "Jerusalem, Israel" passports are issued had a hand in this decision?
ReplyDelete