Mondoweiss has the story, and it’s a very interesting one.
I tend to believe that Petraeus remains at heart (or, perhaps more accurately, in his head) a realist and definitely not either a Wilsonian or a Likudnik. (See the latest by Mark Perry.) But it’s clear he still feels it necessary to appease the neo-cons, in this case, in the person of Max Boot.
What is particularly remarkable is the alacrity with which he felt compelled to respond to M.J. Rosenberg’s observations about his testimony and Perry’s earlier story and that he brings up the Holocaust in reassuring Boot about his views regarding Israel’s strategic value to the United States. This was six weeks before Petraeus received the 2010 Irving Kristol Award at the Annual Dinner of the American Enterprise Institute.
Since 2001 the CIA has listed the I/P conflict as the greatest incitement to terror. I really liked Ike, the best president to come from Texas, LBJ being the only other contender. Bush hails from your neck of the woods Jon.
Pat Cockburn has an article on CounterPunch regarding Israeli leadership and has an interesting take on Turkey:
“Turkey’s progress towards becoming a regional power in the Middle East moves nervously forward as it fends off allegations that it is “turning to the east”. It is surprising that its increased influence is so late in coming, given Turkey is more powerful than any of its neighbors, including Iran. Divisions within Turkey are deepening, not evaporating. The long battle between the mildly Islamic but democratic AKP party and its secular but authoritarian opponents is, if anything, hotting up. So too is the struggle between Kurdish guerrillas and the central government in the south east of the country. “The Turkish government displays a taste for moderation and mediation abroad that it seldom shows at home,” says one diplomat acidly.
With the European Union on its sickbed, it is surprising anybody still wants to join it. Turkish enthusiasm has been ebbing fast. Its economy is expanding faster than many EU members. But the main reason for Turkey joining the EU is political rather than economic. Seeking EU membership has been a potent antidote to military coups, torture, arbitrary arrests and censorship of the media in recent years. This could all go into reverse if Turkey’s EU membership application is finally pronounced dead.”
I would like your take on this Jim, or better still if you’d throw this issue to your stable of contributors; you stud. You’d make a convincing cowboy, “Tumbleweed” would fit. Post THIS! I dare you. lol
I see, you’re like Russia and China; letting me out there with enough rope to hang myself. Damn you!