Link to Thomas Friedman Column Today
And I cannot resist another dig at the Neo-conservative view of the proper American role in the international arena. For decades now, it has been a core belief of the neo-conservative view that the U.S.A. should do everything in its power to support the Saudi Arabian regime.
But as David Motadel, a British historian, writes in today's NY Times, there is a long history of Jihadist regimes trying to rise up and being crushed by neighboring Armies with an interest in seeing their demise. One reason for this success by the French in Algeria, the British in the Sudan and Russia in Chechnya is the absolute failure of the Jihadist regimes to generate a stable platform for a functioning economy.
The only successful regime is the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia (because they avoided some of the excesses and supported the "West" in WW II), but they provide both political cover and the money (from the West's oil imports) that support the modern Jihadist movement.
So while we need Turkey, Jordan and Iraq to defeat ISIS, the West must pressure Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the Emirates to cease the financial support for Jihadism.
The Ancestors of ISIS
And lastly, Jews in Europe are now paying the price of Israel's failure to find a path to a two state solution or at least a failure to find a way to have the world blame the Palestinian's for such a failure. There is a news article on how anti-Semitism is rising in Western Europe. It was inevitable that Muslims in Western Europe would become more vocal in their support for the Palestinians because the need for The State of Palestine has been apparent for over 50 years now and, yet, all Israel does is expand settlements and shrink the land available for such a state.
I used to think I was in the minority of Jewish Americans with this view, but I saw an article several weeks ago that stated that over 70% of American Jews agree with me on the settlements. So this issue is not a question of support for the State of Israel by 70% of American Jews, it is a question of the sanity of the current Israeli policy regarding the settlements.
As Netanyhu said: "If the Palestinians laid down their weapons, there would be no more war. If the Israelis laid down their weapons, there would be no more Israel." Also, never forget the images of Palestinians dancing in the streets on 9/11....
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