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| Join Daniel Pipes on a Fact Finding Expedition to Israel (For full details click here) Please take a moment to visit and log in at the subscriber area, and submit your city & country location. We will use this information in future to invite you to any events that we organize in your area. Obama's Leftist Conundrumby Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2011/11/obama-leftist-conundrum
Barack Obama suffeers from an inherent policy contradiction, especially in foreign affairs. On the one hand, as a Leftist he despises the United States and sees it as a force for ill in the world. On the other, as president, is judged by how well the country fares during his tenure. Ideology vs. interests; this Leftist conundrum goes far to explain why Obama's Leftist comrades despise his time in office, for he has on occasion ditched his worldview to try to make things work (the base at Guantánamo) or he adopted a muddled middle ground that pleases neither side (the war in Iraq, Arab-Israeli diplomacy). The same consideration applies to domestic policy as well (higher taxes or lower employment?) but not so starkly as in foreign policy. (November 27, 2011) Related Topics: US policy This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL. UNRWA, Favored by Israelby Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2011/07/unrwa-favored-by-israel
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency may harm Israeli interests in two major ways (its anti-Zionism behavior and its keeping Palestinians in a perpetual refugee status), close observers have long known that the government of Israel prefers to keep UNRWA funding in place rather than face possible disruption. This knowledge was, however, abstract. No one had cut funding, so one did not know what exactly the Israeli response would be. Well, now it has happened and Jerusalem did protest, as we learn from Lee Berthiaume, "Israel asked Canada to reverse decision on funding for UN Palestinian refugee agency," in Embassy. Canadian taxpayers have forked over moneys to UNRWA since 1950, amounting to C$10-15 million annually of late. In 2009, however, Ottawa ended this funding and, for reasons of efficiency, redirected all funds to emergency needs in the West Bank and Gaza, primarily nutritional.
"The announcement of this targeted funding has provoked a number of reactions from countries in the region," reads a document dated Aug. 24, 2010, "and in discussions with the US, Israel and the UN Secretary General, Canada has been asked to resume funding the General Fund." Under pressure, the Harper government has returned to funding UNRWA, sending C$5 million to the West Bank and $10 million to Gaza. Comment: That the Israeli government, and specifically the Ministry of Defense's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories wish to continue payments to UNRWA points to its stunningly short-term vision and fits my larger argument that Israel's leaders are adrift, dealing with crises as they arise, lacking strategic goals. (July 6, 2011) Sep. 15, 2011 update: It's worth noting that the Government of Israel also advocates for aid to the Palestinian Authority. It is urging the international community to continue aid to the Palestinians just as U.S. lawmakers are contemplating a cutoff of about $500 million in annual aid if the Palestinians press for statehood at the United Nations. An Israeli government website on Thursday carried a report saying the Palestinian Authority already faced economic and fiscal woes, in part due to a decline in donor aid. Israel calls for ongoing international support for the PA budget and development projects that will contribute to the growth of a vibrant private sector, which will provide the PA an expanded base for generating internal revenue. The economic slowdown can be attributed largely to the fiscal crisis currently plaguing the PA, which is due primarily to a decline in donor aid, and the inability to obtain loans from the banking system to finance the shortfall. Related Topics: Arab-Israel conflict & diplomacy This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL. "Ah, the Devil Himself"by Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2011/05/ah-the-devil-himself
I did not know who else would be on the panel until arriving at the studio, when it turned out to be Zead Ramadan, board president of CAIR's New York office. On American television, I would strictly refuse to appear with an employee of the Council on American-Islamic Relations or any other Islamist; but looser standards apply for Middle Eastern television, so I accepted a debate with him.
To my amusement, on entering the studio and seeing me, Ramadan muttered out loud to no one in particular, "Ah, the devil himself." Even more amusingly, being far shorter than me, he demanded something to sit on and was brought a wooden box, which he sat atop and thereby managed to look as tall as me.
During the course of the next hour, Ramadan made a series of whoppers, such as:
If I did not know who my debate partner would be, Ramadan clearly did, for he plopped a piece of paper on the table in front of him full of negative quotes about me. During the course of the hour he referred to these quotes whenever he wanted to score a criticism. In particular, he repeatedly cited John Womack, a Marxist professor of Latin American studies (no less), about me. I replied by ridiculing Ramadan for coming on set with a sheaf of quotes about me when the topic was supposed to be U.S. attitudes toward Islam. I also had some fun at Ramadan's expense when he whined about "Islamophobia" in the United States. I asked him: "Why are Muslims continuing to immigrate?" And I noted that "Americans hate not Muslims but Islamists – like yourself." (May 26, 2011) Related Topics: Council on American-Islamic Relations, Daniel Pipes autobiographical This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL. | ||||||||||||||
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For more than a year, many have suspected that the Harper government's decision to stop providing direct budgetary support to the UN agency responsible for helping Palestinian refugees in the Middle East was made at the behest of Israel. However, newly released CIDA [Canadian International Development Agency] documents appear to turn that notion on its head as they show Israel was one of a number of countries actively lobbying Canada to reverse its decision last year to focus its funding on emergency food aid.
I took part today in a panel (in Arabic) about American attitudes toward Islam to be aired on Abu Dhabi Television's "
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