Obama Speaks -Pressures Israel while he excuses inaction on Syria in part due to fear of offending Muslims

 
Bloomberg News' Jeffrey Goldberg interviewed US President Obama:

OBAMA: I believe that President Abbas is sincere about his willingness to recognize Israel and its right to exist, to recognize Israel’s legitimate security needs, to shun violence, to resolve these issues in a diplomatic fashion that meets the concerns of the people of Israel. And I think that this is a rare quality not just within the Palestinian territories, but in the Middle East generally...

Read the whole article and interview HERE

The Globe and Mail's Patrick Martin is a failure at understanding world events

The Saudi leadership was humiliated at the news of a woman being sentenced to lashing for the "crime" of driving a car earlier this week. That story made headlines all over the world and was being used as another stick to castigate the Gulf monarchy's medieval rule.

King Abdullah reversed the sentence for an obvious reason. Because it being publicized was an embarrassment. Not because of some trend towards liberalization going on in the Wahhabi kingdom.

But you wouldn't know that from reading Patrick Martin in the Globe and Mail. Martin seems to view his role as a columnist as being a press agent for terrorists and tyrants. Prosecuting and beating a woman for driving is a gross violation of human rights, and a minor act of clemency for an infraction that the civilized world was mocking is described by Martin as an indication of  "just how serious the Saudi ruler is about enhancing the civil rights of women in the Kingdom."  Or it could be an indication of how serious the Saudi ruler is about trying not to look bad in the international press, and it's a good thing he has boosters like Patrick Martin to help spread that message.

This comes in the wake of the Saudi leadership giving women minor enfranchisement privileges. Yet the Globe and Mail didn`t seem to have much to say about how that move came only a couple of weeks after Saudi embarrassment over the exposure of how they tried to suppress `Ethical Oil` ads which highlighted the abusive, unfair treatment of women in Saudi Arabia.

The one thing that keeps the Saudi rulers in place is the wealth they derive from oil, and Canada illustrating how their product is the equivalent of `fair trade`` petroleum was bad for Saudi business.

That`s what is going on in Saudi Arabia right now - not a blossoming of a women`s rights movement but some press releases by one of the world`s largest oil producers.

This is not the first time Martin has acted as an apologist for the worst elements in the world. In a`radio interview in which he discussed a Globe and Mail series on Gaza a few months ago, Martin dismissed Hamas rocket attacks on Israel as being `firecrackers.` This vapid, hypocritical comment shows the level of analysis Canada`s``national newspaper` is giving its readers. Or if I`m wrong, Martin might be willing to demonstrate it by standing in a room while a few of those `firecrackers`that can level a house are lobbed in his direction. I wouldn`t bet on him volunteering for that any time soon.

Showdown on the Korean Peninsula shows the value of not appeasing dictators

Just hours before it took place North Korea threatened to launch an attack on South Korea if the military exercise Yeonpyeong Island went ahead as scheduled yesterday.

The exercise was a response to the unprovoked shelling of Yeonpyeong Island by North Korea in November, in which  four people were killed.

The belligerent dictatorship of Kim Jong-Il has been distinguished by threats and provocations, including the torpedoing of a South Korean ship in April that caused the deaths of 46 South Korean sailors.

The mad little dictator and nuclear proliferate seemed to think that he could bully the West into easing sanctions with threats. He might even have succeeded, since there are many in the West who haven't learned the lessons about the appeasement of dictators from fascist era of the 1930s.

Dictators and fanatics only see appeasement as a sign of weakness and are emboldened by such behavior.

But like most bullies, when confronted, they usually back down and that was precisely what Korea's Little Kim did yesterday when South Korea went ahead with its scheduled maneuvers.

Now, if only Obama would grow a backbone and take the same stand with the maniacs who rule in Iran.