Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
No. of Recommendations: 3
This is why having competent President matters, as opposed to the dedicated husk we’ve had enabling about the place for the last 4 years.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/arab-official-trump-...Arab officials: Trump envoy swayed Netanyahu more in one meeting than Biden did all year
No. of Recommendations: 15
Arab officials: Trump envoy swayed Netanyahu more in one meeting than Biden did all year
I wouldn't uncritically accept what those "Arab officials" say. They've got every incentive to give Trump all the credit (he's going to be in charge for the next four years and loves flattery), and no incentive at all to give Biden anything (he's out the door in five days). So even if the agreement was the result of months of hard work over the last several months by the Administration (along with the Egyptian and Qatari governments), and reinforced by Biden's refusal to cut of weapons despite the political price he was paying within his party....no one's going to say that. Even if it's true. It will be the Big Beautiful Trump and his One Meeting.
No. of Recommendations: 3
I wouldn't uncritically accept what those "Arab officials" say. They've got every incentive to give Trump all the credit (he's going to be in charge for the next four years and loves flattery),
The more your compatriots play the Hitler card, the more wonderful quotes like this will get posted :).
No. of Recommendations: 11
The more your compatriots play the Hitler card, the more wonderful quotes like this will get posted :).
That still doesn't make the "wonderful quotes" informative or correct. Again, we would expect Arab officials - and perhaps all officials in the region - to assign credit to Trump regardless of how much, or how little, he was actually responsible for getting the agreement done. Everyone's got an incentive to suck up to him, and he really likes when people suck up to him....so there will be a lot of public sucking up to him. It would be a mistake for any intelligent observer (which I imagine you believe yourself to be) to think that the public sucking up is an indication of who actually was responsible for the deal being made. If you want to ignore that in order to needle people who "play the Hitler card," it's certainly within your right to do so...it's just not a great look.
No. of Recommendations: 4
That still doesn't make the "wonderful quotes" informative or correct.
No, it makes them a jab to throw at the HitlerHitlerPutinNaziHitler crowd.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
No. of Recommendations: 3
I wouldn't uncritically accept what those "Arab officials" say.
I'm having flashbacks to 1981 and another set of hostages, miraculously released within hours of an inauguration.
--Peter
No. of Recommendations: 2
It hasn't changed much
One of the Arab officials said that the three-phased hostage deal currently being finalized between Israel and Hamas is largely the same as the proposal that was proposed by Israel last May.
Advertisement
“A deal could have been reached much earlier, but both sides led to talks falling apart at various times,” the Arab official said.
The official rejected repeated assertions from the US that Hamas has been the only obstacle to a ceasefire, arguing that Israel has also thwarted talks over the past several months. The Arab official said Netanyahu walked away from the phased proposal he authorized in May, trying to instead prioritize the first phase of that offer so that Israel could resume fighting in Gaza immediately afterward.
Now both parties have agreed to once again get behind the phased framework and are doing so simultaneously — arguably for the first time, the Arab official said.
While the deal has three stages, the terms of the second phase will not be negotiated until the first phase is underway.
No. of Recommendations: 1
I'm having flashbacks to 1981 and another set of hostages, miraculously released within hours of an inauguration.
Perhaps you should. It’s similar in the incoming administration was competent and replacing an outgoing incompetent one.
No. of Recommendations: 4
No, it makes them a jab to throw at the HitlerHitlerPutinNaziHitler crowd.
To what end? Remember, the joke that underlies the "beatings will continue until morale improves" is the fact that the beatings are useless, and indeed counterproductive. Praising Trump excessively will not discourage anyone from criticizing him, any more than beatings will improve morale.
No. of Recommendations: 3
Praising Trump excessively will not discourage anyone from criticizing him, any more than beatings will improve morale.
It’s called beating them up with reality. It should be obvious that most/many/all the left wingers on this board are in such a state of Distraught that any good news for the country should come with a Trigger Warning.
No. of Recommendations: 7
It’s called beating them up with reality.
Again, that's only true if the things you beat them up with are reality. My point to you was that it's pretty unlikely that the "arab officials" are accurately relaying what went on in the proceedings, since they have every incentive to exaggerate Trump's role and mischaracterize Biden's.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Again, that's only true if the things you beat them up with are reality.
Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. But the fact remains that there was no deal and now there is a deal.
The thing we don’t know for a fact is if it’s a *good* deal or not.
No. of Recommendations: 3
There was only a deal when Bibi felt he kicked enough Religion of Peace butt.
Only when he was mildly satisfied did the "deal" happen.
But hey, the other side did ok too. They kidnapped, raped, and tortures Israelis and now they get their city remodeled.
Dang I need my kitchen redone. Naaaah I won't snatch Israelis.
No. of Recommendations: 4
Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. But the fact remains that there was no deal and now there is a deal.Sure. After months of effort by the Administration and Egypt and Qatar and others - and even longer before that of Biden paying a political cost to make sure the weapons kept flowing - we now have a deal. How much of that is due
solely to the handful of meetings Witkoff had is an open question....
The thing we don’t know for a fact is if it’s a *good* deal or not.
....but there it is. Netanyahu's cabinet members and coalition allies apparently weren't in the loop in the very final negotiations. As information about what's in the deal spreads, the right-wing members of his government are super-pissed about it. No one bothered to tell poor Tom Cotton that Trump was going to take credit for the deal, rather than
blame Biden for forcing a bad deal on Israel, either - so he got way over his skis and savaged the deal in a public statement earlier today:
https://collive.com/senator-tom-cotton-criticizes-...So we may very well find ourselves in the classic, "Trump seizes the credit if it turns out well but passes the blame if it doesn't" situation. Once he threatened hell to pay if the hostages weren't released before he took office, he wanted them released. But he's not going to be thrilled when Hamas declares victory by outlasting the Israeli army and forcing them to withdraw, and holds a celebratory parade to honor the terrorists that they got Israel to release. If a lot of people that he wanted to like him decide later that this
wasn't a good deal...well, then it's going to become
Biden's deal; but if those people decide that is
was a good deal, he's going to claim it was 100% his doing and demand his Nobel Prize.
No. of Recommendations: 1
but if those people decide that is was a good deal, he's going to claim it was 100% his doing and demand his Nobel Prize.
That’s politics for you.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Albaby: If you want to ignore that in order to needle people who "play the Hitler card," it's certainly within your right to do so...it's just not a great look.
I salute your civility, sir.
In 2017 I asked a recently retired editor from the WAPO why they used so many euphemisms to describe Trump's incessant, blatant, self-serving lies.
He said it would they don't want to be impolite by calling him a lying liar.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Hopefully this Democrat Deal doesn't unravel.
Hopefully Trump has enough time to fix it.
Mind you, Democrats left us bird flu, some new virus from Blue State China, all sorts of stuff.
Add this to the list.
