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<font size=4><b>Is Bibi the Bully wagging the American dog?</b> <br>
</font><font size=3>By Pepe Escobar <br><br>
<a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NC06Ak03.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NC06Ak03.html<br><br>
</a>Even before their fateful encounter at the White House this Monday,
US President Barack Obama made it clear, on the record, that Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu wouldn't face him
down. <br><br>
Or did he? <br><br>
No matter what the rhetorical gymnastics performed by Obama, a case can
be made that Bibi the Bully wags the American dog full-time. Worse; the
Likud-dominated Israeli administration, single-handedly, is playing with
dispatching vast spheres of the global economy into total depression, as
its hysterics progressively hurl oil prices towards the stratosphere.
<br><br>
The world is a hostage of Israel's whims even as the 120-plus members of
the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) support Iran's right to enrich uranium and
BRICS members Russia, China and India, as well as Turkey, dismiss the US
and the EU's oil embargo - a true declaration of economic war - on Iran.
<br><br>
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) get-together in
Washington takes place in an intimidating, cavernous Colosseum where the
wealthy crowd ululates in unison for Iranian blood. A passable tactician
but a lousy strategist, Bibi the Bully's only game in town is "Bomb
Iran". <br><br>
This is justified by the "existential threat" posed by
non-nuclear Iran to a nuclear-armed garrison state/settler colony that is
literally, graphically wiping a whole people (the Palestinians) off the
map. <br><br>
Still one more proof of the "existential threat" fallacy was
provided last week by Iran's Supreme Leader himself, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, even before the absolute victory of his supporters in Friday's
parliamentary elections - which effectively turned President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad into a lame duck. <br><br>
Khamenei's words must be reproduced again and again and again - because
the baying-for-blood US corporate media simply won't do it. <br><br>
He said, "The Iranian nation has never pursued and will never pursue
nuclear weapons. There is no doubt that the decision makers in the
countries opposing us know well that Iran is not after nuclear weapons
because the Islamic Republic, logically, religiously and theoretically,
considers the possession of nuclear weapons a grave sin and believes the
proliferation of such weapons is senseless, destructive and
dangerous." <br><br>
Mr president, tear down this wall <br><br>
Yet once again, the graphic proof that Israel exercises virtual complete
control of US foreign policy was the sight of an American president
defensively addressing the AIPAC Colosseum. Apart from a festival of
Orwellian intimations, to his credit at least Obama emphasized the word
"diplomacy", did not specify any "red lines", nor
endorsed the mere "capability" of Iran to build a nuclear
weapon as a casus belli. After all, he knows he already has more American
Jewish voters in the bag than among the US electorate as a whole.
<br><br>
But ultimately Obama did cave in to Bibi the Bully - as the rhetoric was
not unlike Tony Soprano's and the ominous "military component"
remained very much on the table. <br><br>
Still, Bibi the Bully - mimicking his voracity in devouring Palestinian
land - wants more. <br><br>
Whatever route they take - overflying Syria and Turkey, and even if they
hit the crucial targets of Natanz, Arak, Isfahan and Fordow - Israel's
Jericho missiles have zero chances of paralyzing, not to mention
destroying, the complex decision apparatus of the Islamic Republic.
Forget about "humiliation" and regime change. Even Major
General Amos Gilad, head of the Israeli Defense Ministry's
Diplomatic-Security Bureau, acknowledged last October that Israel cannot
win. That's why Bibi the Bully badly wants to extract a formal promise
that the US will do the dirty work. <br><br>
According to a recent poll in Israel, 34% are against bombing Iran. But
42% are in favor if the US is at least supporting it. How sweet it is to
enrol a superpower to fight your fictional "existential
threats". <br><br>
Bibi the Bully badly wants a Republican to take out Obama in November.
Obama knows he can't be defeated by King of Flip Flop Mitt Romney or
Ayatollah Rick Santorum. But he can be defeated by the proverbial US gas
pump. The problem is, submitting or not to Bibi the Bully's absolutist
demands, oil prices go up; they have already have by 20%, and this growth
may reach 50% or more if speculators deem an attack imminent. <br><br>
Tehran may hold the key to defuse the whole psychodrama - and the
demented speculation on oil prices. By late March or early April, with
his authority immensely strengthened, negotiators on behalf of Ayatollah
Khamenei will be back on the table discussing the nuclear dossier with
the P5+1 - US, France, Britain, Russia and China, plus Germany. <br><br>
Obama himself may also hold the key. He could pull a Nixon - as in going
to China to meet Mao in 1972 - and offer a face-to-face to Khamenei. The
industrial-military-media complex, Big Oil, the Israeli firsters and
especially Bibi the Bully will be seeing all shades of red. But it does
take balls to really earn a Nobel Peace Prize. Obama, will you tear down
this wall (of mistrust)? <br><br>
</font>This is the section of Obama's speech at AIPAC centered on Iran:
<br>
<dl>
<dd>Today there is no doubt - anywhere in the world - that the United
States will insist upon Israel's security and legitimacy. That will also
be true as we continue our efforts to our pursuit of peace. And that will
be true when it comes to the issue that is such a focus for all of us
today: Iran's nuclear program - a threat that has the potential to bring
together the worst rhetoric about Israel's destruction with the world's
most dangerous weapons. <br><br>
<dd>Let's begin with a basic truth that you all understand: no Israeli
government can tolerate a nuclear weapon in the hands of a regime that
denies the Holocaust, threatens to wipe Israel off the map, and sponsors
terrorist groups committed to Israel's destruction. And so I understand
the profound historical obligation that weighs on the shoulders of Bibi
Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, and all of Israel's leaders. <br><br>
<dd>A nuclear-armed Iran is completely counter to Israel's security
interests. But it is also counter to the national security interests of
the United States. Indeed, the entire world has an interest in preventing
Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. A nuclear-armed Iran would
thoroughly undermine the non-proliferation regime that we have done so
much to build. There are risks that an Iranian nuclear weapon could fall
into the hands of a terrorist organization. It is almost certain that
others in the region would feel compelled to get their own nuclear
weapon, triggering an arms race in one of the most volatile regions in
the world. It would embolden a regime that has brutalized its own people,
and it would embolden Iran's proxies, who have carried out terrorist
attacks from the Levant to southwest Asia. <br><br>
<dd>That is why, four years ago, I made a commitment to the American
people, and said that we would use all elements of American power to
pressure Iran and prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon. That is
what we have done. <br><br>
<dd>When I took office, the efforts to apply pressure on Iran were in
tatters. Iran had gone from zero centrifuges spinning to thousands,
without facing broad pushback from the world. In the region, Iran was
ascendant - increasingly popular, and extending its reach. In other
words, the Iranian leadership was united and on the move, and the
international community was divided about how to go forward. <br><br>
<dd>And so from my first months in office, we put forward a very clear
choice to the Iranian regime: a path that would allow them to rejoin the
community of nations if they meet their international obligations, or a
path that leads to an escalating series of consequences if they don't. In
fact, our policy of engagement - quickly rebuffed by the Iranian regime -
allowed us to rally the international community as never before; to
expose Iran's intransigence; and to apply pressure that goes far beyond
anything that the United States could do on our own. <br><br>
<dd>Because of our efforts, Iran is under greater pressure than ever
before. People predicted that Russia and China wouldn't join us in moving
toward pressure. They did, and in 2010 the UN Security Council
overwhelmingly supported a comprehensive sanctions effort. Few thought
that sanctions could have an immediate bite on the Iranian regime. They
have, slowing the Iranian nuclear program and virtually grinding the
Iranian economy to a halt in 2011. Many questioned whether we could hold
our coalition together as we moved against Iran's Central Bank and oil
exports. But our friends in Europe and Asia and elsewhere are joining us.
And in 2012, the Iranian government faces the prospect of even more
crippling sanctions. <br><br>
<dd>That is where we are today. Iran is isolated, its leadership divided
and under pressure. And the Arab Spring has only increased these trends,
as the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime is exposed, and its ally - the
Assad regime - is crumbling. <br><br>
<dd>Of course, so long as Iran fails to meet its obligations, this
problem remains unsolved. The effective implementation of our policy is
not enough - we must accomplish our objective. <br><br>
<dd>In that effort, I firmly believe that an opportunity remains for
diplomacy - backed by pressure - to succeed. The United States and Israel
both assess that Iran does not yet have a nuclear weapon, and we are
exceedingly vigilant in monitoring their program. Now, the international
community has a responsibility to use the time and space that exists.
Sanctions are continuing to increase, and this July - thanks to our
diplomatic coordination - a European ban on Iranian oil imports will take
hold. Faced with these increasingly dire consequences, Iran's leaders
still have the opportunity to make the right decision. They can choose a
path that brings them back into the community of nations, or they can
continue down a dead end. <br><br>
<dd>Given their history, there are of course no guarantees that the
Iranian regime will make the right choice. But both Israel and the United
States have an interest in seeing this challenge resolved diplomatically.
After all, the only way to truly solve this problem is for the Iranian
government to make a decision to forsake nuclear weapons. That's what
history tells us. <br><br>
<dd>Moreover, as President and Commander-in-Chief, I have a deeply held
preference for peace over war. I have sent men and women into harm's way.
I have seen the consequences of those decisions in the eyes of those I
meet who have come back gravely wounded, and the absence of those who
don't make it home. Long after I leave this office, I will remember those
moments as the most searing of my presidency. For this reason, as part of
my solemn obligation to the American people, I only use force when the
time and circumstances demand it. And I know that Israeli leaders also
know all too well the costs and consequences of war, even as they
recognize their obligation to defend their country. <br><br>
<dd>We all prefer to resolve this issue diplomatically. Having said that,
Iran's leaders should have no doubt about the resolve of the United
States, just as they should not doubt Israel's sovereign right to make
its own decisions about what is required to meet its security needs. I
have said that when it comes to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear
weapon, I will take no options off the table, and I mean what I say. That
includes all elements of American power. A political effort aimed at
isolating Iran; a diplomatic effort to sustain our coalition and ensure
that the Iranian program is monitored; an economic effort to impose
crippling sanctions; and, yes, a military effort to be prepared for any
contingency. <br><br>
<dd>Iran's leaders should know that I do not have a policy of
containment; I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear
weapon. And as I've made clear time and again during the course of my
presidency, I will not hesitate to use force when it is necessary to
defend the United States and its interests. <br><br>
<dd>Moving forward, I would ask that we all remember the weightiness of
these issues; the stakes involved for Israel, for America, and for the
world. Already, there is too much loose talk of war. Over the last few
weeks, such talk has only benefited the Iranian government, by driving up
the price of oil, which they depend upon to fund their nuclear program.
For the sake of Israel's security, America's security, and the peace and
security of the world, now is not the time for bluster; now is the time
to let our increased pressure sink in, and to sustain the broad
international coalition that we have built. Now is the time to heed that
timeless advice from Teddy Roosevelt: speak softly, but carry a big
stick. As we do, rest assured that the Iranian government will know our
resolve, and that our coordination with Israel will continue.
"<br><br>
<br><br>
</dl>Pepe Escobar</b> is the author of</i>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0978813820/simpleproduction/ref=nosim">
Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War</a>
(Nimble Books, 2007) and
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Red-Zone-Blues-snapshot-Baghdad/dp/0978813898">
Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge</a>. His most
recent book, just out, is
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Obama-Does-Globalistan-Pepe-Escobar/dp/1934840831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233698286&sr=8-1">
Obama does Globalistan</a> (Nimble Books, 2009). <br><br>
He may be reached at</i> pepeasia@yahoo.com <br><br>
<br>
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