The announcement last week by the United
States of the largest military aid
package in its history – to Israel – was
a win for both sides.
Israeli prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu could boast
that his lobbying had boosted aid from
$3.1 billion a year to $3.8bn – a 22 per
cent increase – for a decade starting in
2019.
Mr Netanyahu has presented this as a
rebuff to those who accuse him of
jeopardising Israeli security interests
with his government’s repeated affronts
to the White House.
In the past weeks alone, defence
minister Avigdor Lieberman has compared
last year’s nuclear deal between
Washington and Iran with the 1938 Munich
pact, which bolstered Hitler; and Mr
Netanyahu has implied that US opposition
to settlement expansion is the same as
support for the “ethnic cleansing” of
Jews.
American president Barack Obama,
meanwhile, hopes to stifle his own
critics who insinuate that he is
anti-Israel. The deal should serve as a
fillip too for Hillary Clinton, the
Democratic party’s candidate to succeed
Mr Obama in November’s election.
In reality, however, the Obama
administration has quietly punished Mr
Netanyahu for his misbehaviour. Israeli
expectations of a $4.5bn-a-year deal
were whittled down after Mr Netanyahu
stalled negotiations last year as he
sought to recruit Congress to his battle
against the Iran deal.
In fact, Israel already receives
roughly $3.8bn – if Congress’s
assistance on developing missile defence
programmes is factored in. Notably,
Israel has been forced to promise not to
approach Congress for extra funds.
The deal takes into account neither
inflation nor the dollar’s depreciation
against the shekel.
A bigger blow still is the White
House’s demand to phase out a special
exemption that allowed Israel to spend
nearly 40 per cent of aid locally on
weapon and fuel purchases. Israel will
soon have to buy all its armaments from
the US, ending what amounted to a
subsidy to its own arms industry.
Nonetheless, Washington’s renewed
military largesse – in the face of
almost continual insults – inevitably
fuels claims that the Israeli tail is
wagging the US dog. Even The New York
Times has described the aid package as
“too big”.
Since the 1973 war, Israel has
received at least $100bn in military
aid, with more assistance hidden from
view. Back in the 1970s, Washington paid
half of Israel’s military budget. Today
it still foots a fifth of the bill,
despite Israel’s economic success.
But the US expects a return on its
massive investment. As the late Israeli
politician-general Ariel Sharon once
observed, Israel has been a US
“aircraft carrier” in the Middle East,
acting as the regional bully and
carrying out operations that benefit
Washington.
Almost no one blames the US for
Israeli attacks that wiped out Iraq’s
and Syria’s nuclear programmes. A
nuclear-armed Iraq or Syria would have
deterred later US-backed moves at regime
overthrow, as well as countering the
strategic advantage Israel derives from
its own nuclear arsenal.
In addition, Israel’s US-sponsored
military prowess is a triple boon to the
US weapons industry, the country’s most
powerful lobby. Public funds are
siphoned off to let Israel buy goodies
from American arms makers. That, in
turn, serves as a shop window for other
customers and spurs an endless and
lucrative game of catch-up in the rest
of the Middle East.
The first F-35 fighter jets to arrive
in Israel in December – their various
components produced in 46 US states –
will increase the clamour for the
cutting-edge warplane.
Israel is also a “front-line
laboratory”, as former Israeli army
negotiator Eival Gilady admitted at the
weekend, that develops and field-tests
new technology Washington can later use
itself.
The US is planning to buy back the
missile interception system Iron Dome –
which neutralises battlefield threats of
retaliation – it largely paid for.
Israel works closely too with the US in
developing cyberwarfare, such as the
Stuxnet worm that damaged Iran’s
civilian nuclear programme.
But the clearest message from
Israel’s new aid package is one
delivered to the Palestinians:
Washington sees no pressing strategic
interest in ending the occupation. It
stood up to Mr Netanyahu over the Iran
deal but will not risk a damaging clash
over Palestinian statehood.
Some believe that Mr Obama signed the
aid package to win the credibility
necessary to overcome his domestic
Israel lobby and pull a rabbit from the
hat: an initiative, unveiled shortly
before he leaves office, that corners Mr
Netanyahu into making peace.
Hopes have been raised by an expected
meeting at the United Nations in New
York on Wednesday. But their first talks
in 10 months are planned only to
demonstrate unity to confound critics of
the aid deal.
If Mr Obama really wanted to pressure
Mr Netanyahu, he would have used the aid
agreement as leverage. Now Mr Netanyahu
need not fear US financial retaliation,
even as he intensifies effective
annexation of the West Bank.
Mr Netanyahu has drawn the right
lesson from the aid deal – he can act
against the Palestinians with continuing
US impunity.
- See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2016-09-19/palestinians-lose-in-us-military-aid-deal-with-israel/#sthash.fL4Eq28N.dpuf
Donald Trump Caught on Hot Mic Bragging
About Sexual Exploits
Video
Posted
October 08, 2016
Donald
Trump Apology Video
Republicans rush to condemn
Trump — and distance themselves — after lewd
video of Trump emerges
October 08, 2016 "Information
Clearing House"
-
"Washington
Post"
-
NEW
YORK — Republicans and Democrats denounced
Donald Trump, and down-ballot Republican
candidates braced for impact after new video
of the Republican presidential nominee
speaking lewdly about women emerged on
Friday afternoon.
“No woman should ever be described in these
terms or talked about in this manner. Ever,”
said Republican National Committee Chairman
Reince Priebus in a statement, a rare
condemnation from the party's chairman who
has stood by Trump through several other
controversies.
House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., both sharply
denounced Trump's comments in statements.
Ryan also asked Trump not to appear at a
scheduled campaign stop in his home state of
Wisconsin on Saturday.
Republican strategists warned that the new
revelations would be likely to hurt Trump,
especially with women voters. Meanwhile,
vulnerable GOP down-ballot candidates and
sitting lawmakers either sought to distance
themselves quickly or remained eerily
silent.
“His comments are totally inappropriate and
offensive,” said Republican Sen. Kelly
Ayotte (N.H.), who is locked in one of the
most competitive Senate races in the
country.
The graphic comments, which Trump made in
2005 on a bus and on the set of a soap
opera, feature him bragging about his sexual
pursuit of a married woman.
“And when you’re a star they let you do it,”
Trump says. “Grab them by the p---y. You can
do anything.”
One by one, Democratic challengers moved
quickly to tie their Republican opponents to
Trump's newest statements.
By the time Ayotte released the curt
one-sentence comment, her Democratic
opponent, New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan,
had already sought to tie her to Trump,
reminding voters that at a debate earlier in
the week, she called Trump a role model.
“These vile comments from Donald Trump
cannot be excused,” Hassan said in a
statement. "It is beyond comprehension how
Sen. Ayotte could continue to support this
man for the highest office in the land, let
alone call him a role model.”
One by one, Democratic Senate candidates in
key races, including Arizona and Ohio,
joined in.
"Everyone in America is disgusted and fed up
with Donald Trump — except Senator Portman,”
said a spokesman for Ohio Democrat Ted
Strickland's senate campaign, David
Bergstein. "Senator Portman's continued
support for Trump is equal parts pathetic
and offensive, but that's what Ohioans have
come to expect from a lapdog like Portman.
"If Portman won't stand up to Trump, there's
no way Ohioans can trust him to stand up for
us in the Senate,” he added.
Other Republicans warned that the comments
combined with the timing — just days before
the second presidential debate in St. Louis
— could leave a mark.
"This one will cause real damage,”
Republican pollster Frank Luntz said.
Women are already a challenging demographic
for Trump in many battleground states, and
Republicans' swift reaction to these latest
revelations signal how damaging they think
it could be for the party and the Republican
nominee.
[Billy Bush was already polarizing. His lewd
Donald Trump conversation makes things much
worse.]
Longtime Trump foe Jeb Bush signaled that
Trump's couched apology was insufficient.
"As the grandfather of two precious girls, I
find that no apology can excuse away Donald
Trump's reprehensible comments degrading
women,” Bush tweeted.
Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) who has long been a
vocal critic of Trump, exploded on Twitter.
"DJT is a malignant clown — unprepared and
unfit to be president of the United States,”
Kirk said.
And former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a
Republican who recently said he would vote
for Trump, called for Trump to resign.
"In a campaign cycle that has been nothing
but a race to the bottom — at such a
critical moment for our nation — and with so
many who have tried to be respectful of a
record primary vote, the time has come for
Governor Pence to lead the ticket," Huntsman
told The Salt Lake Tribune.
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee who
has vocally criticized Trump said that
Trump's comments "corrupt America's" image
to the world.
Hitting on married women? Condoning assault?
Such vile degradations demean our wives and
daughters and corrupt America's face to the
world.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) October 8, 2016
But Trump's Virginia campaign chairman Corey
A. Stewart insisted that women voters
wouldn't be moved by Trump's comments.
“When people voted for Donald Trump, they
knew he wasn’t an angel,” said Stewart, a
2017 contender for Virginia governor and
chairman of the Prince William Board of
County Supervisors. “They are not concerned
that, at times, Donald Trump acts like a
frat boy. Sometimes he does, but that’s
okay.”
"They know he’s not an angel. They know that
he can save the country, though,” he added.
Florida-based Republican strategist Al
Cardenas questioned whether these remarks
might become yet another controversial
remark from Trump that failed to move the
needle in this election.
"The query is whether after 50-plus
outlandish, offensive comments towards women
and minorities by Mr. Trump, is this one so
over the top over the others that it will
finally make a difference with voters where
others have not?” Cardenas mused. "It does
seem to reach new lows.”
Trump was expected to appear for the first
time on the campaign trail with House
Speaker Paul D. Ryan in Wisconsin on
Saturday. But Friday night, Ryan, in
condemning Trump's comments, said that Trump
would no longer appear at the event.
“I am sickened by what I heard today,” Ryan
said in a statement. “Women are to be
championed and revered, not objectified. I
hope Mr. Trump treats this situation with
the seriousness it deserves and works to
demonstrate to the country that he has
greater respect for women than this clip
suggests.”
Meanwhile, Trump's running mate, Mike Pence,
campaigned in Ohio and reporters noted that
a small group of journalists who usually
travel with the Indiana governor were
abruptly ushered out of a restaurant where
he was eating and campaigning. He did not
respond to questions shouted by reporters.
Hillary Clinton's aides expect the issue to
be a major one in Sunday night's debate at
Washington University.
Before then, however, the campaign has been
galvanizing supporters with the new
revelations, encouraging them to register to
vote and to donate to the campaign.
Top Clinton aides and Congressional
Democrats also indicated that they would
seek to hold Republicans accountable for
failing to rescind their support for Trump.
"This is a moment of truth for Republicans,"
said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid,
D-NV. "It is time for every Republican
elected official in this county to revoke
their endorsements of Donald Trump and state
that they will not vote for their party's
nominee, who has been caught on tape
bragging about routinely sexually assaulting
women.
"There is no way to defend the indefensible.
In the name of decency, Republicans should
admit that this deviant - this sociopath -
cannot be president," he added.
And how Trump handles the questioning at the
debate on Sunday could help determine how
much of an impact it has on voters, said
Sarah Isgur Flores, a Republican strategist
and former deputy campaign manager to
presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina.
"It's an understatement to say this now
means Trump heads into Sunday's debate on
defense, which hasn't worked out well for a
candidate that has trouble staying on
message even under normal circumstances,”
Flores said. "That being said, there's a
huge overlap between Trump voters and voters
who already think Trump is a risky bet.
"So unclear whether this alone will move
numbers, but it does make his ability to
handle it at the debate in 48 hours wildly
more important,” she added.
[Donald Trump’s woman problem just got much,
much, much worse]
In a statement, Trump described the
recording as "locker room banter” and
apologized "if anyone was offended.”
But allies of Hillary Clinton called it
something else: sexual assault.
"Donald Trump apparently thinks he has the
right to sexually assault women because he's
famous,” said NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Communications Director Kaylie
Hanson Long. "Never mind consent, he doesn't
think he needs it.
"He's not a role model, he's vulgar and
dangerous, and his disregard for women has
never been more clear,” she added.
Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of
Planned Parenthood Action Fund, predicted in
an interview that it would sink his
candidacy.
"If someone, quote, grabbed someone by the
p---y, to quote Donald Trump, on a subway or
on a bus or at a school, they would be in
jail. They would be arrested and prosecuted,
and they would go to jail,” Laguens said. "I
think we are now moving to the end of the
end of Donald Trump.”
The Clinton campaign's deputy communications
director Christina Reynolds added: "This is
horrific. We cannot allow this man to become
president.”
Sean Sullivan and Laura Vozzella contributed
to this report from Washington.
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