A Virtual World

Der Spiegel is not impressed with George W. Bush's last minute Israel-Palestine efforts:

The world in which politicians smile at each other, in which all kinds of promises are made and donations are pledged, is merely a virtual world. Next to it stands the real life arena of terrorists, settlers and fanatics. The real and virtual worlds are totally separate -- like two parallel lines, they will only meet in eternity.

I tend to agree, but I've been convinced by people active in these issues that it's important to provide positive reenforcement. Bush is moving in the right direction and deserves to secure some credit for his troubles.

Comments

Re "Next to it stands the real life arena of terrorists, settlers and fanatics."
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Are the Germans complaining about the Republicans again?

Posted by Don Williams | January 12, 2008 1:23 PM

I've been convinced by people active in these issues that it's important to provide positive reenforcement.

Who? Why? What exactly did they say? Please advise.

Posted by James Gary | January 12, 2008 1:24 PM

Re "Next to it stands the real life arena of terrorists, settlers and fanatics."
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Are the Germans complaining about the Republicans again?

Huh? What's that supposed to mean?

Posted by pbloemeke | January 12, 2008 2:08 PM

1. As I have stated many times on this blog, the big impediment to a peaceful settlement of the Israel/Fakestinian dispute is the insistance of the Fakestinians that those living in refugee camps are entitled to relocate in what is now Israel. This assertion has been denied by many of the Israel bashers on this blog. Now, see the attached link where a spokesman for Fakestinian leader Abbas states that President Bushes' proposal for compensation to refugees in Fakestinian refugee camps is unacceptable; only relocation is acceptable. As I have also previously stated, no Isreali government could accept such a demand and survive for as much as 10 minutes.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1199964901673&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

2. President Bushes' proposal for compensation for Fakestinians living in refugee camps is only acceptable if compensation is also provided for Jews who were expelled from Arab countries in 1949, and their descendants.

Posted by SLC | January 12, 2008 2:17 PM

At this point, the only way Bush could get any credit from me would be by confessing to war crimes, begging forgiveness from G-d and the world, realizing in a long-overdue epiphany of remorse and self-loathing that he is unworthy of continued existence after all the carnage and depravity he has wrought, and committing seppuku, thus bringing his wretched life to an honorable conclusion. Otherwise, forget it.

Posted by Gator90 | January 12, 2008 2:36 PM

President Bushes' proposal for compensation for Fakestinians living in refugee camps is only acceptable if compensation is also provided for Jews who were expelled from Arab countries in 1949, and their descendants.

Do we get to count the yearly subsidy the US taxpayers have been paying to Israelis for years?

Posted by justinb | January 12, 2008 3:01 PM

Re justinb

Do we get to count the yearly subsidy provided by the European Union, the US, and the UN to maintain the Fakestinians in refugee camps?

Posted by SLC | January 12, 2008 3:04 PM

He's moving in the right direction of a goal he will see to it he never reaches! He deserves no credit on any grounds.

Posted by Rick Howe | January 12, 2008 3:09 PM

First, we who have closer contact with the present Administration have known from the beginning their distain for 'reality based' thinking. So SPEIGEL calling it 'virtual' is both late and benign. More accurately they can be called delusional. As in: 18months ago the Israeli-Lebanese War would 'clarify' matters in the MidEast but now MidEastern leaders yearn for peace.

Ah, yes--now take your pills, Mr President, and you'll feel better.

Second, Mr/Ms SLC seems to think that 'entitlements' have anything to do with anything, a really 'quaint' notion. What counts is power. And the power to disrupt is unpleasant (esp to those who are disrupted) but is real power nonetheless. So to avoid future disruption we deal with them. That is reality. Please spare us from your unbelievably stupid and naive opinions; electrons are cheap but not THAT cheap.

Posted by JohnMcC | January 12, 2008 3:13 PM

Spiegel is complaining that real power comes from violence on the ground and not ritual negotiations?

They are aware, aren't they, that civil tranquility in Germany and Israel and everywhere else always depends on preference for ritual negotiation over violence on the ground. All power flows from the barrel of a gun and that applies as much to Liepzig as Hebron.

Posted by Brian | January 12, 2008 3:31 PM

"Fakestinians" This is a horrible ethnic slur that must be stopped. What sort of deranged maniac would use such a term repeatedly? Stop this, you rotten maniac.

Posted by Jennifer | January 12, 2008 3:39 PM

SLC, stop being a degenerate racist. Stop it.

Posted by Jennifer | January 12, 2008 3:42 PM

The author in this case has a valid point.

The history of talks, negotiations and processes in this area have dealt with the Israel-Palestine issue in name only. The parties involved could have been discussing any other subject, say cooking or theoretical space travel, and produced the same result. At this point the only purpose of these "negotiations" is to provide a political stage for various world leaders or dignitaries to prop up their own image or legacy (this includes Israeli and Palestinian leaders).

The actual effect on the ground is now meaningless. In fact, its probably not a stretch to say that as of today all sides involved in the Israeli-Palestine "peace process" have no interest in seeing any sort of change or result whatsoever. Either forward or backward. This conflict in perpetuity is now an institution of its own, and produces its own warped form of political capital that has become a tradition year after year.

If the situation on the ground were actually impacted then it might upset the delicate balance that allows the talks, negotiations and processes to be a political staple year after year.

Posted by Condor | January 12, 2008 4:24 PM

Hell, it's just a dumb neologism. The intuitive pronunciation (following "Pakistani", mostly) obscures the connection ("fake") you're trying to make.

Posted by Senescent | January 12, 2008 4:39 PM

I've been convinced by people active in these issues that it's important to provide positive reenforcement

Sad when you have to consult mental health professionals to find out how to react to something the president of the US does.

Posted by sunsin | January 12, 2008 4:51 PM

There must be something to that "blank slate" theory, because Matt's slate seems to be about as blank as it gets.

Let's review- at the beginning of the week, the Bush WH raised a fuss about Iranian speedboats being "provocative". Older readers may recall that in the 80s similar US Navy "missions" were carried out in the same waterways, supporting Saddam's war with Iran, and shooting down an Iranian airliner in the process.

IOW, it's business at the same old stand for Bush- bully the Iranians at sea, support terrorists in Iran, and hope that some "provocation" will occur justifying an attack on Iran.

This situation alone should make a blogger fighting mad, even before Bush says the Allies should have done something about Auschwitz- that's right, the Auschwitz where slave laborers supplied power to a steel mill Bush's granddad reaped profits from. A steel mill the elder Bush didn't invest in until the Nazis had set up Auschwitz to supply cheap power.

You might think Jewish people would be a little steamed by all of this, but Bush has miraculously found Jewish people who can overlook the origins of his trust fund.

And Matt thinks we should provide positive reinforcement to these people.....why? All of a sudden Bush is going to stop being a lying warmonger because doing the right thing just feels really good inside?

I kinda doubt it.

Posted by serial catowner | January 12, 2008 5:08 PM

Re John MacC

I have to confess to being thoroughly confused by Mr. MacCs' comment. I did not even use the word entitlement so I fail see what the point is. It would appear that Mr. MacCs' view is that power grows out of a barrel of a gun (a la Mao Tse Tung). Possibly, Mr. MacC would agree with a former UN official and Irish diplomat, Conor Cruise O'Brian who concluded in the 1960s that the best approach to Middle East peace was to let the parties fight it out. When they got tired of fighting, at that point they would be amenable to a compromise solution.

Re Jennifer

As my Syrian friend Ammar Kanaan says, Dr. SLC doesn't discriminate. He is prejudiced against everybody.

Re Condor

See response above to Mr. MacC.

Posted by SLC | January 12, 2008 5:09 PM

Don't look now, but there's political progress in Iraq: " Iraq to reinstate Saddam party followers"

Posted by Fred | January 12, 2008 8:02 PM

Since when do parallel lines meet in eternity?

Posted by eriks | January 12, 2008 8:18 PM

Since when do parallel lines meet in eternity?

It was probably Ewigkeit in the original German, which is usually translated as "eternity" but also connotes "infinity."

Posted by James Gary | January 12, 2008 8:56 PM

Do we get to count the yearly subsidy provided by the European Union, the US, and the UN to maintain the Fakestinians in refugee camps?

Sure, let's count both buckets of money, all aid, for both sides.

Posted by justinb | January 12, 2008 9:06 PM

I agree with Matt. Much as I dislike Bush, he does seem to be moving in the right direction. The explanation for this, as noted by Jim Clancy on CNN's "This Year at War," Dec 30, is that the Israeli occupation is "the golden recruitment tool" of the anti-American terrorists. And we all know our so-called war on terror is bankrupting the nation; just look at the falling dollar. Bush seems also to be finally aware that his Road Map policy is a dead-end. Core issue negotiations must come first, because violence will end only when there is a well-defined fair and just settlement.

Posted by J.E.Dundee | January 12, 2008 9:23 PM

What kind of country says separate but equal is not right for itself, and then goes around promoting separate and unequal as the goal for others? Two-states in one homeland was dead on arrival 60 years ago.

Posted by The Other Alan | January 12, 2008 10:45 PM

No, what we have here is Matt once again being thrown a bone, and immediately rolling over on his back with all four paws in the air.

It really is a disgusting spectacle, but Matt does it regularly here. In this case, at least, he doesn't appear to pissing on himself in desperate efforts to ingratiate.

Bush isn't doing anything, this has all been heard before, and nothing will come of it until Tel Aviv glows in the dark from one of their own nukes.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | January 12, 2008 11:48 PM

the last ditch efforts are just cover for the big military aid package he just asked for for the saudis. the sauids may need it or deserve it, but the new give peace a chance approach to mideast politics they have been promoting on this trip is a scam.

Posted by JC | January 13, 2008 1:47 AM

SLC, to be proud of spreading racist lies is beyond sickening. Stop being a disgusting degenerate racist.

Posted by Jennifer | January 13, 2008 7:22 AM

Do we get to count the yearly subsidy provided by the European Union, the US, and the UN to maintain the Fakestinians in refugee camps?

Yeah, we'll do that comparison on a per capita basis, SLC -- the one place Israelis haven't felt a lick of bias is in their coffers. You lose that one, brother.

Also, there's simply no way Jennifer isn't someone doing his best 'Jersey-slag-turned-PC-militant' impression. SLC's pun fails Paul Mooney's 'if you're going to be racist, you'd better be funny' test, plain and simple. Also, what's with the preternatural need to use the same tired quip every time? At least change it up, call them 'Poserstinians' or something -- you're out-Fording the man himself at this point.

Posted by EpicureanQuaker | January 13, 2008 8:14 AM