Category Archives: foreign policy

Vladimir Putin’s Image

Posted on by
Reply

Nathan Hodge is concerned.  He’s worried that our deprecating the Russian Chief Oligarch is only strengthening him at home.

For Russian President Vladimir Putin, being cast in the West as a global supervillain is proving a boon for his image at home.

It’s not at all clear, though, why it matters that any moves in the West, much less by us, might enhance Putin’s domestic image. It’s not like Russians have any say in how their government is populated or what those government men do.

What does matter is whether the West succeeds in circumscribing the nation of Russia’s behavior.  Putin himself isn’t relevant to that.

The Decision

Posted on by
Reply

After President Donald Trump announced that the US would officially recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital—a long-standing fact away from which US administrations had been ducking away for over 20 years—global (or at least European and Middle Eastern) expressions of angst have been loud.

Out come the pop psychology analyses.

Martin Indyk, former US Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, former US Ambassador to Israel, and current Executive Vice President of the Brookings Institution:

It was an appeal to his evangelical Christian base, pure and simple[.]

Of course it was.

No, wait.  Steven Spiegel, UCLA’s Center for Middle East Development Director [paraphrased by Deutsche Welle]:

Trump’s inclination to shake things up….

That must be it.  Yeah, that’s the ticket.

It couldn’t possibly be simply because it was a right thing to do, especially after decades of failure to achieve peace while using Jerusalem as a bargaining chip.  Nor could it matter that the Palestinians aren’t interested in peace with Israel, and they’ll object—violently—to anything an American administration might do.

Mm, mm.

Feelz, especially feelz of European nations and those of the Middle East, must take precedence, must be obeyed.  Oh, the ego-driven horror of not being listened to on this.

Confirmation

Posted on by
Reply

…of Palestinian lack of interest in peace with Israel.  Here’s Hamas Politburo Chief, Ismail Haniyeh:

We should call for and we should work on launching an intifada in the face of the Zionist enemy. …  We want the uprising to last and continue to let Trump and the occupation regret this decision.

And

…10 Palestinians were arrested in East Jerusalem overnight after Molotov cocktails were thrown.

Notice that: this isn’t just protestation of a decision with which the Palestinians disagree.  This is deliberately violent protest.  The decision with which these terrorists disagree is nothing more, in their minds, than an excuse to murder Israelis.

That’s the Point

Posted on by
Reply

Six months after it went into force, China’s tough new cybersecurity law is still troubling US technology executives who fear that it will put the intellectual property of their companies and the data they collect in jeopardy.

And

…while the law went into effect June 1, the Chinese government is still drafting specific implementation rules.

And

Company and trade-group representatives are also concerned that the network-equipment security reviews could expose proprietary source code, jeopardizing their trade secrets[.]

The People’s Republic of China wants other nations’ intellectual and technology property, and it’s willing to steal it in any way it can.  Especially targeted are businesses the PRC considers “critical information infrastructure:” computer-network operations in telecommunications, energy, transportation, information services, and finance.

Notice that.  These technologies also are critical to the other nations’ security. But that’s why the PRC demands the accesses and is so…hazy…about its rules facilitating getting those accesses.

One more reason to restrict the amount and nature of any business dealings with the mainland.

The US Embassy to Israel

Posted on by
Reply

Deutsche Welle is fretting about the potential for the US, finally, to move our Israeli embassy to Jerusalem.

The status of Jerusalem has been a key stumbling block in previous peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

Sure, it’s been a stumbling block, but it’s not been the only one, nor even a key one, despite DW‘s angst.

And Naabil Shaath, a man of many portfolios within the Palestinian Authority and an advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas, is making veiled threats about the move:

We warned the American side that if the American government does in fact carry out that statement to recognize a unified Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and transfers the American embassy to Jerusalem, this is a step that will end any chance of a peace process[.]

Mahmoud Habash, another Abbas advisor, is even more blunt:

[T]he world will pay the price….

And

Hamas, the militant band of Palestinians that controls Gaza, has warned of a renewed intifada….

In fact, the Palestinians have no interest in peace with Israel in any guise other than after Israel’s destruction.  They’ve opposed or walked away from every discussion of peace in the past.  They’ve engaged in terrorist attacks against Israeli women and children whenever they’ve thought they could get away with them.

Moving our embassy won’t affect Palestinian behavior in the least, only Abbas’ and his cronies’, including Hamas’, rhetoric.  US law requires our embassy to be in Jerusalem.

It’s long past time to obey that law.