My argument is with the Israeli system of government, not with Israelis. Just as arguments made here about the majority of Americans being idiots are not usually taken seriously, so goes the arguments that Steele inserts in his analysis. -- omooex

Wrong several times on that one, you are. Of course, these may just be small quibbles.

I would think that you would be against the actions of the government of Israel, not the "system of government" which looks, to outsiders at least, to be a parliamentary democracy of some type. Most here are in favor of Democracies, and admit that the USA form (even if not exactly a democracy) is not necessarily the best form. In short, many argue that parliamentary democracies have advantages over the USA system. Your augments have tended to take issue with the actions of the government of Israel in the past, and I would think that is what you really mean.

If that is so, then that brings up a question. To what extent do Israelis living in Israel share in complicity with the government that they apparently control? The proprietor of "Desert Peace" is an American born Jew living in Israel and he rails against the actions of the government on a near daily basis: and, he highlights that most in Israel are supportive of the governments actions. If so, do "the people" share in the blame?

Then, there is a semi-separate issue. Many "settlers" came from around the world simply to steal land. Are they to be judged for their motivation at all?

Then you say that calling the majority of Americans idiots is not taken seriously here at UT, even as a few regulars did so on this thread. It is a question that bedevils democracy: if the government continues to do stupid things over and over --- are "the people" exempt from being labeled stupid. (or whatever word one prefers)

I think you are right, Glenn, in condoning the Pavlovian defense by Obama supporters of any action of the president-elect whatever its merit. I was also encouraged by the NIE's statement. However, concerns are legitimate as witnessed by IAEA's Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei's statement to the Board of Governors on November 28, 2008:

There remain a number of outstanding issues, relevant to the alleged studies and associated questions identified in my last report to the Board, which give rise to concerns and need to be clarified in order to exclude the existence of possible military dimensions to Iran´s nuclear programme. Regrettably, the Agency has not been able to make substantive progress on these issues. Iran needs to clarify as a matter of transparency the extent to which information contained in the relevant documentation is factually correct and where, in its view, such information may have been modified or relates to non nuclear purposes. Iran should also provide the Agency with substantive information to support its statements and provide access to relevant documentation and individuals. Unless Iran provides such transparency, and implements the Additional Protocol, the Agency will not be able to make progress in its efforts to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran. I also still regret the fact that the Agency has not been able to share with Iran documentation provided by Member States. I call upon the Member States concerned to authorize the Agency to do so. (http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2008/bog271108.html)

Does that justify Obama's wording on Stephanopoulos' program, particularly, if you consider the last two sentences of the quote? Certainly not but I would not play down the nuclear threat by Iran as much as you do. After all, the Iranians are no dummies, and they will certainly ponder the lesson from Irag/North Korea: Get the bomb and you won't get invaded ....

The UN resolution on a ceasefire in Gaza might have achieved unanimity only for the fact that Olmert gave indirect order to Rice on how she should vote. If she'd had any real courage or compassion she'd have stood her ground. She might have left political life with a few shreds of integrity to protect her from the withering scorn she has brought down on her own carefully-coiffed head. Instead what we get is the upstart Olmert sending his commands through Bush to an American Secretary of State. Former PM of Britain, Tony Blair, was mocked long and loud in Britain and elsewhere for supporting the American invasion of Iraq, being labeled as "Bush's Poodle" for doing so but the whole horrible plot has gone a stage further as you'd have to be insane now if unable to understand that the United Staes has metamorphosised into Israel's poodle. It was so interesting to hear that Obama has decided that a dog called a Labradoodle would suit his family's needs and that it's a Portuguese breed (really?). It sounds more like a cross between a Labrador and a poodle, an intelligent dog despite the connotations of Parisian frivolity associated with it. I liked the Portuguese link as Portugal, of all the 27 countries in the European Union, is the only one to come out in favour of accepting some (are there 72?) detainees due for release because they are not a risk to American security. With Portugal's colonial history, perhaps it's time to make amends but that's another story.

The Potemkinisation of Israel is now so glaringly obvious that I'll throw up if I ever have to read again that Israel is a democracy when it does its utmost to quell any political party within its borders that represents the despised Ay-rabs. The Israel Supreme Court may find that this extreme tactic was illegal but that can take its time and, fortuitously enough, the general election in Israel is just a month away.

Potemkin-Israel has enforced a media blackout on the western media except for allowing a few harmless eejits to photograph the histrionics of settlers in southern Israel throwing fits when one of those Hamas rockets shatters the window-panes and uproots the rose bushes in their pretty little gardens. Meanwhile over 900 people have been killed in Gaza in 16 days, not to mention the dreadful injuries and burns many more have suffered. Not only has "democratic" Israel tried to muzzle the world media but it's also censoring its own media so that not one discordant voice can upset the triumphalism of its people. The soldiers had their cell-phones confiscated before setting out on their divinely-ordained missionm Operation Cast Lead. Everything has been thought out and planned. Well, almost everything. The Internet, the humanitarian agencies, the two Norwegian doctors working in Gaza, Chris Gunness, John Ging and others of UN RWA cannot be so easily suppressed. What Israel wants now is that some headstrong and enraged young Muslim men, born in Europe, will vent their anger on airports and transport systems in the European centres of population, as has already happened in London and Madrid after the bloodbath in Iraq. It's ironic that a closed society such as Israel can cause this ricochet effect and destroy the lives of people completely innocent of any involvement in the Middle Eastern due-to-the-death, as they travel to work, to social activities and a variety of human activities. This radicalisation of Muslim/European youth will suit Israel's purposes perfectly. What does it matter to Israel if a Polish woman and her 8 month old baby were killed, among many others, in the Madrid train bombing? What does it matter to Israel if English and other people were blinded, paralyzed and lost limbs in the bombing of the London transport system? It's all grist to the mill of Zionist prpaganda about the inhumanity of THE OTHER. Hasn't the holy Bible given the Jewish people inalienable rights which supersed the rights of all the other humans on this planet so shut up your criticism because you're an anti-semite and you must never have heard of the Holocaust or heard Oprah on the subject.

Obama and Iran? Same old claptrap and, by heaven, when he's not giving high-falutin' speeches, isn't he boring as he drones on with a hiatus of "uh" for a little bit of variety!