Wednesday, October 29, 2014

"Senior Obama official: Israeli PM Netanyahu is 'chickenshit'"

"A senior Obama administration official recently described the Israeli prime minister as “chickenshit,” according to Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic."
The list also includes descriptions such as "recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, pompous, and 'Aspergery,' " according to Goldberg.

“The bad thing about him is that he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states," the official said. "The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat. He’s not [Yitzhak] Rabin, he’s not [Ariel] Sharon, he’s certainly no [Menachem] Begin. He’s got no guts."
The White House is leaking fast and furious... see what I did there?... Never mind.

If that's what they think of Netanyahu, I can't wait to hear what they think of Putin.

May you live in Confucius time ;)


25 comments:

Chip Ahoy said...

I expected the juxtaposition between young Obama and young Netanyahu; pot smoking Panama hat wearing cool guy VS desert warrior.

Chickenshit, now that there's whatchacall smart diplomacy, an exquisitely delicate diplomatic touch.

Warmonger if Netanyahu attacks Iran, chickenshit if he doesn't. As they say, we're in the best of hands.

Shouting Thomas said...

I think that what Netanyahu actually fears is the annihilation of Israel and the genocide of its people.

edutcher said...

Define projection...

The Choom Gang complaining about traits that have defined them since '08.

Chip Ahoy said...

I expected the juxtaposition between young Obama and young Netanyahu; pot smoking Panama hat wearing cool guy VS desert warrior.

You want it, you got it.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

(1) That's a nifty song. Never heard it before, so thanks.

(2) I'm now listening to a lecture series on Benjamin Franklin. So the connection is Benjamin. The Graduate (1967). He drove an Austin-Healey, or was it an M.G.? Anyway, there was a rat named Benjamin, too. Michael Jackson.

(3) Chickenshit is one of those strange putdowns. I mean, there aren't so very many people out there who even know what chicken shit actually looks like. It's something people say because they heard somebody else say it. Monkey see, monkey do.

(4) I'd have gone with the Jewish thing, myself. Call him "small potatoes." The problem with that, of course, is that he isn't. See the problem? That's why it's generally best to just keep your fucking trap shut. Never happen, though. They get paid the big bucks to yammer and who wants to argue with success?

(5) I find it annoying when these beer aficionados describe a beer as "dank" or as "juicy." Just wanted to get that in there.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Politico had an article from sources in the pentagon calling Rice and Hagel bumblers.

Maybe this is payback.

Unknown said...

My favorite comment at Insty regarding the loser Obama administration:

"It's Potemkin tough guys all the way down"

jep

Unknown said...

OT:

Vote fraud already started in Boulder Colorado:

ricpic said...

Who knows what it means when a hard left Obama minion calls Netanyahu chickenshit? What would that minion call Netanyahu if he had ordered the IDF to push the Palestinians out of Gaza, or if he were to order the bombing of Iran's nuclear power plants? Because then Netanyahu wouldn't be chickenshit, he'd be something even worse, like a....patriot.

bagoh20 said...

I bet Netanyahu could make more than 2 hoop shots out of 22, and he's a Jew for Christ's sake.

Amartel said...

Big Talk from a bunch of toddlers. Where ARE the children picking up such language?!?

Aridog said...

Whoever called Netanyahu a "chickenshit" should step up and serve at least one full enlistment (8 years) in Sayeret Matkal a special forces part of the IDF (or MOS 18 in the USA Army)...the one who did the successful Entebee raid, in fact. "Bibi's" brother Yanaton was commander of that Entebee raid and the only IDF soldier killed in it. Leading from the front can do that to you.

Israel has a very confusing political mix...always a coalition to govern, never a mandate per se. The opposite of the "duopoly" some dislike here...and at times I agree. It forces all parties to the table, there are no Harry Reids. I have friends in Israel, and though conservative, they criticize "Bibi" now and then...just not for cowardice.

Edutcher posted a photo, above, of Bibi's Sayeret Matkal days of service.

Footnote: Anyone interested in some real straight talk about Israel, in ordinary English, and Israeli politics should make of habit of reading Anne's Opinions

ndspinelli said...

At least they didn't call Bibi "a cheapskate."

ndspinelli said...

Then they would be anti-Semites.

Amartel said...

And there it is.
From Commentary (link at Ace of Spades):

"It was easy at first to miss anything but the string of insults directed from Obama to Netanyahu, including the casual accusation of autism. (It’s arguable whether this represented a new low for the president, who has a habit of demonstrating his grade school playground vocabulary.) But once the initial shock at the further degrading of American statecraft under Obama wore off, it was easy to see the real purpose of the story. The Obama administration wanted to brag through its stenographer that the president had protected the Iranian nuclear program from Israel:


I ran this notion by another senior official who deals with the Israel file regularly. This official agreed that Netanyahu is a “chickenshit” on matters related to the comatose peace process, but added that he’s also a “coward” on the issue of Iran’s nuclear threat. The official said the Obama administration no longer believes that Netanyahu would launch a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in order to keep the regime in Tehran from building an atomic arsenal. “It’s too late for him to do anything. Two, three years ago, this was a possibility. But ultimately he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. It was a combination of our pressure and his own unwillingness to do anything dramatic. Now it’s too late.”

Bruce said...

“It’s too late for him to do anything. Two, three years ago, this was a possibility. But ultimately he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. It was a combination of our pressure and his own unwillingness to do anything dramatic. Now it’s too late.”

Slight rephrase:

"We put pressure on him not to bomb Iran, and he listened to us!. Chickenshit sucker, actually listening to what we said."

Trooper York said...

It is not too late for Israel to pull the trigger. It will be a nuclear trigger but a trigger just the same.

Israel will not sign a suicide pact.

Never again.

Amartel said...

Or, alternatively, the quoted Obamabot does not know what he's talking about because Israel wisely did not tell Obama & Crew their actual trigger-pulling plan.

deborah said...

He's afraid of people to the right of Likud:

"Even some settlers, along with Mr Netanyahu’s centrist rivals, wonder whether the prime minister has gone too far. “It’s stupid to accelerate Israel’s delegitimisation with steps [annexing 1000 acres of West Bank terriory] which make Israel look radical and Palestinians level-headed,” says Yair Kahn, a rabbi at Har Etzion, a large yeshiva in Gush Etzion with a reputation for pragmatism."

Economist

Amartel said...

Deborah-So, clearly, even by the lights of his own domestic political rivals, Netanyahu is not "chickenshit." But Obama calls him "chickenshit" because he won't do Obama's dirty work, on Obama's command and Obama's timeline, in the Middle East. It should not take too much prompting to realize who is "chickenshit" in this situation.

Settlements is a whole other discussion and not anywhere near as clear cut as you think it is.

deborah said...

Amartel, caving to the hard right crazies does not seem a winning strategy to me.

Enlighten me on the settlements.

Amartel said...

Grr. Enlighten yourself! By not taking MSM talking points about Israel at face value EVERY TIME. "Hard right crazies," please! Question authority for once on this topic. Do a little research about these wing nuts that are supposedly holding up the peace process.

Here's a Link discussing how the MSM/US/UN game Palestinians by feeding unrealistic expectations of total Israeli capitulation and faulting Israel when these expectations are never met. The Palestinians, and their useful idiot backers throughout the world, are being manipulated as pawns, but not of the Israelis who understandably would prefer to get along with their fellow citizens and middle east neighbors. Figure it out!

deborah said...

Thanks, Am, I'll take a look and get back to you tomorrow...been an exhausting day :)

deborah said...

Amartel, I read the link (from a rightie site) and followed some of the links. What it often seems to get down to these days is which sites you read.

First, when I said hard-right crazies, I was not making any fascist allusions. I meant it in the US sense, ultra-conservative.

I meant those such as Avigdor Lieberman, ultra-orthodox Jews, and settlers not of the urban sort, who play for keeps.

"[Lieberman, born] 5 June 1958)[1] is a Soviet-born Israeli politician who has been Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2013. He also served as member of the Knesset and as Deputy Prime Minister of Israel. Lieberman's first term as Foreign Minister began in 2009 and ended with his resignation in December 2012, due to an investigation in which he was charged with fraud and breach of trust.[2] He is the founder and leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, whose electoral base are the immigrants from the former Soviet Union.[3] Following Lieberman's resignation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped in and served as acting Foreign Minister for the duration of Lieberman's trial.[4] Lieberman's trial ended with an acquittal on 6 November 2013,[5] and he resumed his post as Foreign Minister on 11 November 2013.[6]

...In November 2006, Lieberman, who described Arab members of the Knesset that meet with Hamas as "terror collaborators", called for their execution: "World War II ended with the Nuremberg Trials. The heads of the Nazi regime, along with their collaborators, were executed. I hope this will be the fate of the collaborators in [the Knesset]."[87]

The comment was attacked as racist by Eitan Cabel, a Labor party representative, and Ahmad Tibi, leader of the Arab party Ta'al and one-time advisor to Yasser Arafat, who demanded that "a criminal investigation be initiated against Lieberman for violating the law against incitement and racism".[87][88] Tibi strongly objected to Lieberman's [Foreign Minister] appointment, describing him as "a racist and a fascist". Labour minister Ophir Pines-Paz, who resigned over Lieberman's appointment, echoed Tibi's remarks, saying that Lieberman was tainted "by racist declarations and declarations that harm the democratic character of Israel".[89]"

IIRC, around 2006, Netanyahu formed a majority coalition with Lieberman's party (and others?), in the election Tzipi Livni won, but was unable to form a majority coaliton.

As I said, I love Jews and Judaism, and would think it very cool if I had Jewish roots from way back when, which one can find out with a genetic test. I have also said I think the current I/P situation is a case intertwined psychopathies. I got this idea from a book I heard of, can't readily think of the name.

If you and I were to agree the book is a legitimate source, shall we read it together and explore the issues?

deborah said...

I meant neuroses, not psychopathies. I'm searching for the book title.

deborah said...

Haven't found it yet, but this non-fiction book looks interesting:

The Lemon Tree