Straight Platform Politics

The Dalai Lama Snub And Israel

President Obama decided not to meet with the Dalai Lama when the exiled Tibetan leader visited Washington earlier this month. What does that mean for Israel?  See previous post

Dennis Prager wrote, “According to the Jerusalem Post, as recently as six weeks ago, just 4 percent of the Jews of Israel regarded President Obama as pro-Israel. Even if exaggerated, it is likely the most negative Israeli view of an American president since Israel’s creation.” (Jewish World Review 10/20/09)

The snubbing of the Dali Lama “is particularly troubling to Israelis because it means that an American president is placing appeasement of strong dictators above America’s traditional defense of embattled small countries….The line between selling out Tibetans and selling out Israelis is a direct one.”

“Those who worry about good and evil know that if America decides that the world’s approval is important, evil will increase exponentially. Only an America willing to be disliked, even hated, will consistently support the smaller good guys against the bigger bad guys.”

“And if America now values getting along well with everyone above moral considerations, the days of strong American support for Israel are numbered.” And the Israelis know it.

Is this the change that the Obama campaign was talking about?

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Noticing The Dalai Lama Snub

The world took note when President Obama decided not to meet with the Dalai Lama when the exiled Tibetan leader visited the U.S. earlier this month. The administration tried to pacify China by not receiving this distinguished Nobel Peace Prize recipient. See previous post

Alison Smale noted in the New York Times (10/14/09) that when interviewing Vaclav Havel, a leader in the non-violent overthrow of communism in Czechoslavakia, he had a question for her. “Was it true, he wanted to know, that President Barack Obama had refused to meet the Dalai Lama in Washington?”

Ms. Smale told the former Czech president that President Obama would meet with the Dalai Lama after the President’s visit to China. His response? “It is only a minor compromise….But exactly with these minor compromises start the big and dangerous ones, the real problems.”

Maureen Dowd, also of The Times, weighed in with this: “The tyro American president got the Nobel for the mere anticipation that he would provide bold moral leadership for the world at the very moment he was caving to Chinese dictators. Awkward.”

Awkward, indeed. The Dalai Lama, the Nobel Peace Prize, and human rights were forced to take a backseat to a dictatorship. And that’s what the world noticed.

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Dangers Of The Dalai Lama Snub

The Dalai Lama visited the U.S. earlier this month. Unfortunately, the Obama administration needlessly postponed the president’s meeting with this exiled Tibetan head-of-state and fellow Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Will this be used by the Chinese to further disparage the Dalai Lama? See Previous Post

Several people are concerned that this put-off could set a precedent and increase China’s arrogance. It could also make it more difficult for the Dalai Lama to have meetings with leaders of other countries. China has already put pressure on other leaders not to have the Dalai Lama visit their countries.

The Dalai Lama’s meetings with past presidents were usually private visits. But President Bush in 2007 met publicly with the Dalai Lama who was being honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’ highest civilian award. The postponement by President Obama could easily be described as a rejection of the Tibetan leader.

This administration may have emboldened the Chinese by snubbing the Dalai Lama but it won’t secure a better relationship with them. It has just placed the U.S. in a position of being viewed as a country led by a weak and compromising and easily manipulated administration.

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The Dalai Lama Snub

The Dalai Lama visited the United States earlier this month and was snubbed by the President. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, who fled China in 1959, has visited the U.S. ten times since 1991. This was the first time he has not met with the president during his visit.

President Obama did not want to meet with the Dalai Lama until after the president’s visit to China in November. John Pomfret reported in the Washington Post (Oct. 5, 2009) that the decision to postpone the meeting “appears to be a part of a strategy to improve ties with China that also includes soft-pedaling criticism of China’s human rights and financial policies.”

But according to Pomfret, the Chinese had already concluded that the meeting would take place in October and were interested only in how the president would receive the Dalai Lama: would it be a private or public visit. Thus, Obama officials needlessly postponed the president’s very important meeting with the exiled leader.

"’We’ve got the classic case of a Western government yet again conceding to Chinese pressure that is imaginary long after that Chinese pressure has ceased to exist,’ said Robert Barnett, a Tibetan expert at Columbia University. ‘The Chinese must be falling over themselves with astonishment at what Western diplomats will give them without being asked.’”

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American Jews – Part 4

In A Quandary

Almost 80% of American Jews voted for Barack Obama and they do not want to admit that they helped elect an enemy of Israel. But they might have to.

Melanie Phillips, a British journalist and author See Part 3, has written, “For most American Jews, the horror of even entertaining the hypothetical possibility that they might ever in a million years have to vote for a Republican is so great they simply cannot see what is staring them in the face – that this Democratic President is lethal for both Israel and the free world.” (7/6/09)

She has explained why she thinks President Obama is no friend to Israel. She notes his words and his actions See Part 1 not only toward Israel but also toward Arabs and Muslims. The comparison is telling.

No wonder American Jews are in a quandary. The handwriting is there on the wall for all to read. How long do they think they can ignore it?

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American Jews – Part 3

The Jitters

Some American Jews are not getting jittery - they are already jittery. Almost 80% of American Jews voted for Barack Obama and they do not want to admit that they helped put an enemy of Israel into the White House.

People like Alan Dershowitz desperately try to sooth the uneasiness and anxiety by either ignoring facts or twisting truth – but it is not working. See Part 1 Non-American Jews have studied President Obama’s attitude toward Israel and are willing to tell the world the truth.

One example is Melanie Phillips, a British journalist and author. In her article Dershowitz doesn’t get it (7/6/09) , she tells her readers, “Many if not most American Jews have a highly sentimentalized view of Israel. They never go there, are deeply ignorant of its history and current realities, and are infinitely more concerned with their own view of themselves as social liberals See Part 2 , a view reflected back at themselves through voting for a Democrat President.” A president she describes as being lethal to Israel and to the free world.

No wonder American Jews have the jitters. The man they overwhelmingly helped put in the White House has been observed and his words and actions toward the people and state of Israel have been found wanting.

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American Jews – Part 2

Out of Touch with Reality

Too many American Jews think that giving Israeli territory to the Arabs will bring peace to the Middle East. They should know better.

American Jews should have learned a lesson in 2005 when they contributed $14 million to buy greenhouses for the Arabs in the Gaza Strip. Jewish settlers owned these greenhouses and had turned a desert project into a thriving international business. But they were forced off their land and out of Gaza as part of the 2005 Mideast peace plan.

The $14 million was collected within 48 hours. Save the greenhouse. Turn them over to the Arabs. Improve the living standard of the poor Arabs. Peace.

Didn’t happen. Within hours of the evacuation, mobs of Arabs started destroying most of the greenhouses. Parts of Gaza became piles of rubble – millions upon millions of dollars worth of rubble. Then the Hamas did what it said it would do: started firing rockets into Israel from Gaza.

Clinging to fanciful ideas cost these Jewish philanthropists $14 million. But ignoring reality when it comes to future peace accords will cost much more. Israeli security and Israeli lives are at stake.

See Part 1

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American Jews – Part 1

Having Second Thoughts

Many American Jews are having second thoughts about voting for Barack Obama. His current harsh approach toward Israel as President of the United States does not jive with his endearing rhetoric when he was Candidate Obama.

Alan Dershowitz defends the President in his articles, Has Obama Turned on Israel? (07/03/09) and It Takes Two (07/09/09). But he shows an unusual lack of understanding of the Israeli-Arab situation when he alludes to an Arab recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and an Arab acceptance of a demilitarized Palestinian state.

Such thinking is fantasy. Arab hatred for Jews and for Israel has never been hidden, disguised, or denied. And it has never weakened.

In the latter article, Dershowitz says twice that he takes the President at his word. But then later in the same article, when he mentions President Obama’s pro-Arab Cairo speech, Dershowitz states that he judges administrations by their actions more than by their words.

So, which is it? His words or his actions?

Either way, many American Jews are listening and watching the President and are having second thoughts.

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College Education – Part 1

College Education: its worth

More and more people are reevaluating whether a college degree is worth the expense, the time, and the effort. The debt accrued by college students, the decrease in job availability, and the unattained earning potential that so many new grads are experiencing are causing many to question the value of a college education.

Megan Twohey writes in Is college worth it? (10-14-08), “Money is only one of the reasons to go to college, of course. But with college costs skyrocketing and the economy worsening, the question of whether higher education is a worthy financial investment is no longer a no-brainer. For decades, the earnings gap between college graduates and high school graduates grew and grew. Get a bachelor’s degree, and you were almost guaranteed to be a lot better off.”

The title of Kathy Kristof’s article in Forbes (2-2-09) is The Great College Hoax. She observed: “While the premium that college grads earn over high schoolers has remained relatively constant over the past five years, the cost of acquiring a degree has risen at twice the rate of inflation, dramatically undermining any value a sheepskin adds.”

However, while more and more people are questionimg the value of a college education, President Obama wants more students to attend college. A part of his education strategy for America is to ‘provide every American with a quality higher education, whether college or technical training.’

Richard Vedder, a professor at Ohio Universtiy, was asked by the Associated Press (2-28-09) whether this was realistic. He answered, “Not everyone can or should go to college…. Fulfillment of President Obama’s goal would lead to many students failing, resources being squandered and the quality of post-secondary education being diluted.”

But the same thing can be said about universal healthcare, universal pre-school, or universal anything: money is squandered and worth decreases. For future college students, this is not good news.

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