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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 22-Sep-2011
22-Sep-11 World View -- Obama delivers 'warmest pro-Israel speech ever' to UN

Web Log - September, 2011

22-Sep-11 World View -- Obama delivers 'warmest pro-Israel speech ever' to UN

Greece announces new austerity measures

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com.

* President Obama delivers 'warmest pro-Israel speech ever' to UN
* Palestinians back off on statehood bid -- temporarily
* Israel uses 'The Scream' as Palestinians demonstrate
* ECB 'dissidents' meet secretly to oppose liquidity policies
* Greece announces new austerity measures

President Obama delivers 'warmest pro-Israel speech ever' to UN

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Ramallah, West Bank, on Wednesday (AP)

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Ramallah, West Bank, on Wednesday (AP)

President Barack Obama gave what some analysts are calling the "the warmest pro-Israel speech ever given at an annual UN General Assembly meeting by any U.S. president, bar none." An excerpt:

"Let us be honest with ourselves: Israel is surrounded by neighbors that have waged repeated wars against it. Israel’s citizens have been killed by rockets fired at their houses and suicide bombs on their buses. Israel’s children come of age knowing that throughout the region, other children are taught to hate them. Israel, a small country of less than eight million people, look out at a world where leaders of much larger nations threaten to wipe it off of the map. The Jewish people carry the burden of centuries of exile and persecution, and fresh memories of knowing that six million people were killed simply because of who they are. Those are facts. They cannot be denied."

Things like the settlements and the 1967 borders were not mentioned, though they were major elements of Obama's previous speeches on the Mideast. This speech represents a major change in Obama's policy in the Mideast. Haaretz and White House

I first wrote about Barack Obama in 2007, in "Barack Obama to Boomers: Drop dead!" In that article, I quoted Obama as expressing his contempt for Boomers. This was when Obama and the loony left were doing everything in their power to cause America to lose and be humiliated in Iraq. In the end, it was the loony left that was humiliated, after the success of President Bush's "surge" strategy.

People have criticized me for being "anti-Obama." I've never been "anti-Obama," but I've been extremely critical of the ridiculous promises that he made. He said in 2008, "This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." He would be guided by facts, not like President Bush, who was guided by ideology and ignored facts. He would cure global warming, close Guantanamo, become friendly with Iran and North Korea, bring a two-state solution to Palestinians and Israelis, beat the Taliban and al-Qaeda, end the financial crisis, reflate the real estate and stock market bubbles and, of course, provide universal health care. He has not achieved a single one of these objectives, and many of them are total failures. Wednesday's reversal on Mideast policy is just the latest example. People who criticized me for criticizing Obama's policies were dead wrong, and I was right. Race was never an issue for me, and ideology was never a major issue. For me, the major criticism of Obama was that he was too young, too inexperienced, a nihilistic Gen-Xer who believes that if he destroys the world and rebuilds it, then it will be "healed." He's grown a great deal in his job, though he still has a lot to learn.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, none of this is surprising. It's a basic principle of Generational Dynamics that, even in a dictatorship, great events are determined by generations of people, not by the politicians. Obama may have different rhetorical skills than President Bush, but the policy results have been the same as if Bush had had a third term.

Palestinians back off on statehood bid -- temporarily

With enormous pressure being applied by the Americans, the Europeans, and even Hamas, to back off, Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have agreed not to rush the United Nations Security Council into reaching a decision on membership of a Palestinian state in the U.N. The Palestinians will give the UN Security Council "some time" to study their application for full membership in the United Nations. Like so many other political decisions these days, this one "kicks the can down the road" for a while, giving Western politicians time to find some formula that will derail the statehood bid entirely. Jerusalem Post

Israel uses 'The Scream' as Palestinians demonstrate

Clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in the West Bank on Wednesday amidst celebrations in support of the Palestinian Authority's UN statehood bid. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in order to disperse several dozen Palestinians who were burning tires and throwing stones at security forces, used "The Scream," a non-lethal sonic weapon that emits a deafening sound people cannot stand. Jerusalem Post

ECB 'dissidents' meet secretly to oppose liquidity policies

Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank (Germany's central bank) organized a meeting of "dissident" members of the European Central Bank (ECB) to strategize how to force an end to the ECB's "quantitative easing" policies -- purchasing near-toxic bonds issued by Spain and Italy. The meeting was secret, but not denied. Others attending were the central bankers of Luxembourg and Netherlands. If this movement grows, it will pit the countries with strong economies against those with weak economies. Capital.gr (Athens)

Greece announces new austerity measures

After many days of failing to come up with new austerity measures to convince the "troika" (the European Commission, the ECB, and the IMF) that it's deserving of the next bailout tranche, before going bankrupt in mid-October, Greece announced a new plan after a seven hour cabinet meeting. "These choices send the message to our partners and the markets that Greece wants and is able to fulfill its obligations, always remaining in the central core of the euro and the European Union." Most of the details were not announced, but they include a reduction in pensions, and in increase in taxes. No public sector workers are going to be laid off right away, but some 30,000 of them will be placed in a "labor reserve" by the end of the year, meaning that they will earn a reduced salary for a limited period before the government has the right to sack them or re-employ them. However, all of these measures still have to be approved by the Parliament. Kathimerini

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 22-Sep-11 World View -- Obama delivers 'warmest pro-Israel speech ever' to UN thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (22-Sep-2011) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 22-Sep-2011 22-Sep-11 World View -- Obama delivers 'warmest pro-Israel speech ever' to UN

President Obama delivers 'warmest pro-Israel speech ever' to UN

Palestinians back off on statehood bid -- temporarily

Israel uses 'The Scream' as Palestinians demonstrate

ECB 'dissidents' meet secretly to oppose liquidity policies

Greece announces new austerity measures

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 22-Sep-2011
22-Sep-11 World View -- Obama delivers 'warmest pro-Israel speech ever' to UN