Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
The Explosive, Inside Story of How John Kerry Built an Israel-Palestine Peace Plan—and Watched It Crumble
July 20, 2014
By Ben Birnbaum and Amir Tibon
So Kerry concocted a grand bargain. Under the deal, Israel would release the fourth tranche, free another 400 prisoners of its choosing, and halt all new settlement announcements throughout the West Bank (though not in East Jerusalem). In return, the Palestinians would agree to extend talks for another nine months and Netanyahu would get a prize that Israeli prime ministers had been seeking for decades: the release of convicted Jewish-American spy Jonathan Pollard. Netanyahu was prepared to go along with the deal, and Abbas was signaling that he was, too. There was just one problem: President Obama was against it.
Kerry had first proposed using Pollard as a bargaining chip to Obama months earlier. The spy, serving the twenty-seventh year of a life sentence, was fewer than three years away from his parole. Why not get a diplomatic return for him and move the peace process forward while he still has value? Kerry thought. But Obama knew that Pollard was a third rail in the intelligence community; when President Clinton had toyed with a pardon, then–CIA director George Tenet had threatened to resign. Obama wasn’t going to touch the option unless it facilitated a true breakthrough.
Kerry was becoming desperate, though. At the Ritz, he explained to Obama and Rice that, without Pollard, the talks were days away from collapse (in part because of his initial miscommunication with Netanyahu). Obama wasn’t pleased. But late at night, after hours of talking, he gave Kerry the go-ahead. “I’m not doing this because I want to, John,” Obama said. “I’m doing this for you.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118751/how-israel-palestine-peace-deal-died
----------------
There were rumors, at the time, about Clinton's phone being tapped by Israel. Also rumors that Monica was set up by Mossad.
Who knows? The article is interesting...probably plausible that Clinton could have been blackmailed and maybe that's why his legislation was so "Republican" like in his second term. Repeal of Glass-Steagall, Commodities Futures Modernization Act, FCC Deregulation of Airwaves, Welfare Reform and a few other thing.
I blamed it all on his persecution by Republicans from the time he was elected. It was relentless and I defended him for years after he left the White House because I didn't yet realize the impact of the terrible legislation he'd signed onto during the scandals in his second term. Nafta as his first betrayal hadn't registered with me as what was to come.
That he could have been blackmailed would make sense and also why he has seemingly overcome all the scandals and has prospered since leaving the White House. Was he blackmailed and bailed out with rewards for going through all that to come after he left the White House? Or he was always a DINO and blackmailing and Lewinsky had nothing to do with any of his policies.
July 20, 2014
By Ben Birnbaum and Amir Tibon
So Kerry concocted a grand bargain. Under the deal, Israel would release the fourth tranche, free another 400 prisoners of its choosing, and halt all new settlement announcements throughout the West Bank (though not in East Jerusalem). In return, the Palestinians would agree to extend talks for another nine months and Netanyahu would get a prize that Israeli prime ministers had been seeking for decades: the release of convicted Jewish-American spy Jonathan Pollard. Netanyahu was prepared to go along with the deal, and Abbas was signaling that he was, too. There was just one problem: President Obama was against it.
Kerry had first proposed using Pollard as a bargaining chip to Obama months earlier. The spy, serving the twenty-seventh year of a life sentence, was fewer than three years away from his parole. Why not get a diplomatic return for him and move the peace process forward while he still has value? Kerry thought. But Obama knew that Pollard was a third rail in the intelligence community; when President Clinton had toyed with a pardon, then–CIA director George Tenet had threatened to resign. Obama wasn’t going to touch the option unless it facilitated a true breakthrough.
Kerry was becoming desperate, though. At the Ritz, he explained to Obama and Rice that, without Pollard, the talks were days away from collapse (in part because of his initial miscommunication with Netanyahu). Obama wasn’t pleased. But late at night, after hours of talking, he gave Kerry the go-ahead. “I’m not doing this because I want to, John,” Obama said. “I’m doing this for you.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118751/how-israel-palestine-peace-deal-died
----------------
There were rumors, at the time, about Clinton's phone being tapped by Israel. Also rumors that Monica was set up by Mossad.
Who knows? The article is interesting...probably plausible that Clinton could have been blackmailed and maybe that's why his legislation was so "Republican" like in his second term. Repeal of Glass-Steagall, Commodities Futures Modernization Act, FCC Deregulation of Airwaves, Welfare Reform and a few other thing.
I blamed it all on his persecution by Republicans from the time he was elected. It was relentless and I defended him for years after he left the White House because I didn't yet realize the impact of the terrible legislation he'd signed onto during the scandals in his second term. Nafta as his first betrayal hadn't registered with me as what was to come.
That he could have been blackmailed would make sense and also why he has seemingly overcome all the scandals and has prospered since leaving the White House. Was he blackmailed and bailed out with rewards for going through all that to come after he left the White House? Or he was always a DINO and blackmailing and Lewinsky had nothing to do with any of his policies.
