The unique perspective and provocative opinions of Joe O’Neill
Foreign Fodder
Thanks, 51st state. It’s beyond effrontery that Israel would choose Vice President Joe Biden’s fence-mending visit to unveil plans for new housing in East Jerusalem. Everyone knows the ultimate genesis of the Arab-Israeli/American animus is the Palestinian quagmire. It’s a long shot that the U.S., deeply invested in a two-state scenario, can be perceived as an honest Mid East broker with influence and leverage to both sides. But it’s a no-shot with unilateral, unconscionable acts such as the diplomatic smack-down of Biden. Then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu preposterously adds additional insult saying he was unaware of the timing. If so, what else is “Bibi” out of the loop on? Israel’s nuclear program?
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has formally distanced himself from the “(Colin) Powell Doctrine,” one that advocated “overwhelming force.” Mullen favors the use of measured and precise strikes in “adapting appropriately to the most relevant threats to our national security.” Makes eminent sense. But here’s hoping he doesn’t discard Powell’s take on the Mid East and the reason why he, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs and later as Secretary of State, still favored stopping short of Baghdad during the Persian Gulf War. He didn’t want the U.S. to be perceived, he presciently noted, as the “occupier of Muslim land.”
Let’s put that recent Iraqi parliamentary election in context. The turnout was approximately 62 per cent. That’s higher than any turnout for a U.S. presidential election since 1960. It’s also more than 10 times higher than that recent special election in state House District 58.
Change we can believe in? The U.S. and China have their issues. China’s under-valued currency and foot-dragging on Iranian sanctions among them. But we’re still selling weapons to Taiwan? The State Department’s rationale: the U.S. is obligated to provide the island defensive weapons under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. Oh.
It’s tough enough having to deal with the Iranians and North Koreans about, well, anything, but what the U.S. State Department surely doesn’t need are reckless and self-absorbed Americans trespassing across some of the world’s most sensitive, problematicborders. Such as that American missionary who crossed a frozen river into North Korea and the three American hikers who ventured into Iran. The predictable upshot: they immediately became grist for the diplomatic leverage mill – and helped renegade governments score domestic propaganda points. Let’s just say that behind close doors, the State Department language probably isn’t very diplomatic. Nor should it be.
Yemeni irony. The poverty-stricken country of Yemen is now rife with calls for secession from previously independent South Yemen. Southern Movement leaders speak of systematic discrimination, land expropriation and job expulsion by the North. They say they want independence and democracy and accuse the North of using jihadists as proxy warriors. They also say they are nostalgic for the 128-year British occupation of South Yemen. The Brits left in 1967. Imagine, nostalgia for the Empire! So much for the connotation of imperialism in 2010 Southern Yemen: the rule of law and a degree of prosperity have never mattered more.
Change of fortune? Corruption, riots and sectarian slaughters have been wreaking havoc in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. Moreover, President Umaru Yar’Adua has been incapacitated, and his status is uncertain and politically confusing. The Nigerian Acting President? The ironically-named, former Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.