Washington Reaffirms Sanctions on Syria as Gift to Israel

Professor Josh,

Perhaps if the Syrians showed some flexibility, the US will send a “gift” to Syria as well. Why is it so difficult admitting that the actors (including Syria) are quite happy where they are?

Otherwise, instead of your weekly/monthly “good news” describing the big shift in US policy in favor or Syria and the subsequent weekly/monthly “let-downs”, why not just wait until there really is a shift? It’s already a bit too psychotic reading all these articles.

WASHINGTON reaffirms its sanctions on SYRIA because as Professor Petras stated in his latest commentary:

Bended Knees: Zionist Power in American Politics
by James Petras*

This is probably the most well-rounded and complete article by James Petras on the configuration of Zionist power – at all levels of the US political system and society – that far outweighs its numerical strength.

More than a lobby, the ZPC has acted over the past fifty years as an agent in the interest of a foreign military power. Its influence is already deeply entrenched in many other regions of the world.

Despite a few dissenting voices, Obama continues to take his marching orders from Tel Aviv on all major issues promoted by the ZPC.

* James Petras, Ph.D. is a Proffesor at the University of Binghamton in New York.

(Dr. Petras is on Google)

Akbar Palace,

Please define the word “flexibility”.

I think that you ought to expand on what specifically you mean when you write that “Perhaps if the Syrians showed some flexibility”.

More videos from ‘Red Ashura’.

Notice the people’s body language, notice that the police starts
to fear the people, and see how angree people gradually but undauntedly
loose their fright, and fight back.

here
http://enduringamerica.com/2009/12/29/latest-iran-video-the-ashura-protests-27-december-3rd-set/

here
http://enduringamerica.com/2009/12/27/latest-iran-video-the-ashura-protests-27-december/

here
http://enduringamerica.com/2009/12/27/latest-iran-video-the-ashura-protests-27-december-2nd-set/

compare with body language, 4 months ago:

and analysis about Red Ashura here
http://enduringamerica.com/2009/12/29/latest-iran-video-parsi-sadjadpour-on-the-meaning-of-ashura-protests/
.

Please define the word “flexibility”.

Eshani2,

I’ll try to the best of my ability, despite the fact that I’m a pro-Israel Zionists, and that most (but not all) of the posters here are pro-Assad apologists.

There is no doubt that thorny issues remain between Syria and Israel, however, it seems to me there are issue between Syria and the US government that are completely different and really do not affect Israel at all. It seems to me if Syria wants better relations with the US, the GOS (Government of Syria) should do its best to please AMERICAN policy makers.

For example, there are plenty of articles that discuss American foreign policy between the Obama administration and the GOS.
Apparently, the GOS doesn’t want to ehlp the US on the issue of foreign fighters in Iraq.

Meanwhile, an interview Aug. 25 in the Lebanese daily An-Nahar with a senior U.S. official made apparent Washington’s frustration with Syria, most notably its smuggling to Hezbollah of increasingly advanced weaponry across the Lebanese-Syrian border, which Damascus still refuses to demarcate despite promising to do so.

The formation of a government, the delineation of the Syrian-Lebanese border, and shutting down the Syrian-dominated PFLP-GC bases are three urgent issues that require U.S.-Syrian cooperation. All three are more useful barometers for gauging Syrian intentions than the Assad regime’s murky relationship with al Qaeda and former Iraqi Baathists, as the former can be more easily benchmarked and verified. And most importantly for Washington and Damascus, progress on all three is more likely to lead to tangible improvements in U.S.-Syrian relations in the year to come.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/08/28/syria_clenches_its_fist?page=0,1

Here’s another article by someone who doesn’t seem like a “likudnik”:

http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/09/01/is_something_brewing_with_syria

Near as I can tell, Assad doesn’t seem very motivated or “flexible”. Considering the bad state of affairs his country is in you’d think he’d embrace the USA with a bear hug. But, for some strange reason, he never has.

Akbar,

Hallelujah to what you said here, and on your comment about the brave
Iranians.

It looks to me, after I watched Obama speaking in several occasions,
that he knows certain facts that he does not share with the wider
public.
Listen to his speech when he received the Nobel prize. It was
a “warish” speech rather than peaceful. This and more; in his speeches
lately, he’s tougher and aggressive towards America’s enemies,
and his language is less compromising and with greater threatening
tone. I presume that it is because he knows (from his intelligence
daily briefings) some informations, that he won’t share with us.
.

Amir in Tel Aviv,

All I can say is what my favorite T-Shirt says:

“Welcome Back Carter”

And worse…

And believe it or not, the ME despots like Nejad and Assad can’t see the difference, and think Obama is another “likudnik”.

AP
Thou shall cuteth and pasteth not blindly, for thee can harm thyself.

Since August 25’th,
The formation of a government: Check

The delineation of the Syrian-Lebanese border: Check, Ongoing with urgency especially after little Hariri’s visit

Rewards to Syria: 0, and affirmation of sanctions

and shutting down the Syrian-dominated PFLP-GC bases: This is trickier. How can Syria do that while it has no soldiers in Lebanon. Also, PFLP-GC is a member of the PLO and of various bodies of the PNA, take the matter with Abbas, not with Assad. Finally, beware what you wish for, it seems that the eradication of all secular movements should be the last thing the US (oops) Israel should want, but I guess, Yossi and I were right thinking of the accord of entangled beards working in tandem on both sides, heck, it is both sides of the conflict.

Finally, beware what you wish for, it seems that the eradication of all secular movements should be the last thing the US (oops) Israel should want…

Off the Wall,

All I’m saying is that if you want better relations with a important country such as the United States (oops) Israel, you have to give up something (aka “flexibility”), after reading a number of articles, it doesn’t seem the US and the Obama Administration are impressed with the “flexibility” of the Assad government. This is my perception.

And that’s fine. Like I said, I think the actors are quite content where they are today. Some countries value their relationship with the US (I know Israel does), and some do not.

Also, the PFLP-GC is based and headquartered INSIDE Syria.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/pflpgc.htm

BTW, what did you mean when you wrote the following?:

Thou shall cuteth and pasteth not blindly, for thee can harm thyself.

there is no any zionist influence in policy of usa. what is more-usa press israel and latter is pretty helpless…

By what right can the US veto an Airbus deal?

Thank you Mr. Landers for this insightful article. I think you hit the nail on the head in this analysis. The US foreign policy is really under the control of AIPAC and the likes of AIPAC. Their # 1 mission, stifle any debates about the legitimacy of the foundation of Israel, the plight of the Palestinians, and the occupied territories.
And for those who say no influence of Israel on the US foreign policy, I say look at the track record of the US congress voting on bills related to Israel, and you will see that Israel is the only subject both sides of aisle come together on.

Israeli corporation is attempting to sell TSA a mind reading scanner to prevent terrorists from getting on American planes. Its been called an Orwellian device according to a report by AP.

“As far-fetched as that sounds, systems that aim to get inside an evildoer’s head are among the proposals floated by security experts thinking beyond the X-ray machines and metal detectors used on millions of passengers and bags each year,” AP’s Michael Tarm reports.

Tarm focuses on an Israeli company called WeCU Technologies (as in “we see you”), which is building a system that would turn airport waiting areas into arenas for Pavlovian behavioral tests:

The system … projects images onto airport screens, such as symbols associated with a certain terrorist group or some other image only a would-be terrorist would recognize, company CEO Ehud Givon said.

The logic is that people can’t help reacting, even if only subtly, to familiar images that suddenly appear in unfamiliar places. If you strolled through an airport and saw a picture of your mother, Givon explained, you couldn’t help but respond.
.
WeCU has already developed a prototype model of the mind-reading technology, which, according to an article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, has already been demonstrated to government security officials in the US, Germany and Israel. It was evidently from that demonstration that US agencies decided to fund the project.

“It sounds like science fiction,” WeCU CEO Ehud Givon told the Jerusalem Post. “But I can assure you that the technology is very real. We have accuracy rates that are higher than 95 percent.”

Supporters of mind-reading technology argue that it would reduce waiting lines at security checkpoints and reduce the hassle for travelers. But the risks to personal privacy inherent in mind-reading technologies are self-evident. AP reports:

Some critics have expressed horror at the approach, calling it Orwellian and akin to “brain fingerprinting.”

Being an ally is a two street as anony mous is quoted as saying.

http://rawstory.com/2010/01/tsa-funding-airport-min-reading/