Do G-8 and Obama goals misread ‘Arab Spring’?

The Middle East has come unglued, and obviously, G-8 leaders are hoping for the best. Assorted media reports indicate leaders of the G-8 countries are embracing a policy based on wishful thinking and chance. Debt forgiveness, foreign aid and Israel’s borders were topics for discussion in France, and the upshot is that the leaders’ plans could most definitely go awry.

Click to read more ...

Netanyahu politely but firmly sets Obama straight

Old City of Jerusalem from CIA World Fact Book/US Government. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set President Barack Obama straight on a matter of contention about Obama’s speech on Thursday. Appearing with Obama after they’d met, Netanyahu declared in a polite but firm manner that Israel will most definitely not go back to 1967 borders in negotiating peace terms with Palestinians.

Netanyahu had first thanked the president and First Lady Michelle Obama for their “gracious hospitality” during this visit. That hospitality sharply contrasted with what most perceived as a snub of the Israeli PM during a prior visit to Washington.

In a speech on Thursday, Obama endorsed the idea of Israel reverting to the 1967 borders.

Click to read more ...

Obama's call for Israel concessions, more aid to Arabs

Updated on Friday, May 20, 2011 at 11:32AM by Kay B. Day, Editor

Pundits are weighing in on President Barack Obama’s speech on the Middle East. On Anderson Cooper’s 360 show on Thursday, a couple of unremarkable “experts” projected Obama’s remarks as pro-Israel.  Conservatives disagreed, and analysts like Charles Krauthammer took a very dim view of Democrats’ current approach.

The Daily Caller published remarks made by Krauthammer to Fox News, “What Obama did today is something that no American president has ever done, which is to endorse the return to the 1967 lines which as you said would reduce Israel to a country with a waist eight miles wide.”

Click to read more ...