Posts Tagged ‘Amerika’

Die islamistische Hamas trauert um den “heiligen Krieger”, die rechtsextreme NPD bedauert den “Mord” an Osama und die linksextreme Junge Welt bezichtigt Amerika des “Terrorismus”: Die Feinde der offenen Gesellschaft demonstrieren einmal mehr ihre Einigkeit.

Und, was macht das Deutschland der politischen Mitte? Es diskutiert die Frage, ob es ok ist, sich über einen der größten Erfolge im Kampf gegen den dritten Totalitarismus zu freuen. Jörg Lau fragt daher, und zwar vollkommen zu Recht, warum denn eigentlich nicht? Wie kann man darüber keine Freude empfinden? Wie kann man darüber nicht jubeln?

Amerika dagegen war auf der Straße, und, ja, es hat im Mondlicht gefeiert:

… we are Americans, despite our differences, our religions, our ethnicities, we are here all standing at midnight in Washington D.C., that is America!

Wie sagte Goethe doch: Amerika, du hast es besser.

Der EUobserver über WikiLeaks und den Reaktionen aus Brüssel:

“The reports that we have are crap compared to this. These are political, concise, incisive, almost literary,” one EU official told EUobserver on Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

“It sets a benchmark for diplomacy. Our reports are incredibly long and written in a kind of administrative jargon. We have no opinions. We hide our opinions behind bureaucratic language because we are not allowed to have opinions in a highly hierarchical structure.”

EUobserver: EU officials envy quality of US diplomatic cables.

Ein paar Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Umfrage (.pdf) vom Emergency Committee for Israel unter 1000 wahlberechtigten Amerikanern:

Sollte Jerusalem nach einem Friedensschluss mit den Palästinensern als ungeteilte Hauptstadt Israels verbleiben?

• Ja: 50,9%
• Nein: 20,4%

Sollten die Palästinenser Israel als jüdischen Staat anerkennen?

• Ja: 77,9%
• Nein: 6,0%

Falls ein palästinensischer Staat geschaffen wird, welche Folgen hat dies Ihrer Meinung nach für den Terror gegen Israel? Wird er zunehmen, abnehmen oder unverändert bleiben?

• Zunehmen: 25,5%
• Abnehmen: 18,7%
• Unverändert bleiben: 41,2%

Falls ein palästinensischer Staat geschaffen wird, welche Folgen hat dies Ihrer Meinung nach für den Antiamerikanismus in der arabischen Welt? Wird er zunehmen, abnehmen oder unverändert bleiben?

• Zunehmen: 22,1%
• Abnehmen: 15,7%
• Unverändert bleiben: 50,2%

Würden Sie eher für oder eher weniger für einen Kandidaten stimmen, den Sie als pro-israelisch wahrnehmen?

• Eher für: 52,7%
• Eher weniger für: 24,0%

Falls ein Kandidat mit Ihnen fast alle anderen Positionen teilt, würden Sie auch dann noch für ihn stimmen, wenn er anti-israelisch wäre?

• Ja: 31,6%
• Nein: 53,6%

Kommentare zu der Umfrage:
Ben Smith: Americans pro-Israel, scared of Iran, skeptical of outreach
William Kristol: The Real Israel Lobby – It’s the American people
Jennifer Rubin: Voters to Obama: Thumbs Down on Your Israel Policy

Senator Joseph Liebermann on the Iranian nuclear program:

We have now come to the moment in this long struggle when the Iranian regime must understand that we will not wait indefinitely for sanctions to work. As my colleague in the House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman, warned last week, we are talking about months, not years. I therefore hope that President Obama will conduct an assessment at the end of this year just as he did last year to determine if the current strategy towards Iran is working. If it has not produced meaningful change in Iran’s nuclear weapons policy by then, we will need to begin a national conversation about what steps should come next.

This inevitably will involve consideration of military options. I agree with President Obama that the use of military force is not the “ideal way” to stop the Iranian nuclear program. But nothing is more corrosive to the prospect of resolving this confrontation peacefully than the suspicion among our friends and enemies in the Middle East that in the end, the United States we will acquiesce to Iran’s acquisition of a nuclear weapons capability. If a nuclear Iran is as unacceptable as we say it is, we must be prepared to do whatever is necessary to prevent the unacceptable.

It is time for us to take steps that make clear that if diplomatic and economic strategies continue to fail to change Iran’s nuclear policies, a military strike is not just a remote possibility in the abstract, but a real and credible alternative policy that we and our allies are ready to exercise if necessary.

It’s time to retire our ambiguous mantra about all options remaining on the table. It’s time for our message to our friends and enemies in the region to become clearer: Namely, that we will prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability period — by peaceful means if we possibly can, but with military force if we absolutely must. A military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities entails risks and costs — I know that — but I am convinced that the risks and costs of allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapons capability are far greater.

Council on Foreign Relations: Sen. Lieberman Addresses U.S. Power in Middle East

Rasmussen Telefonumfrage unter 1000 erwachsenen Amerikanern:

Manchmal, wenn ein Land angegriffen wird, stellen die Vereinigten Staaten diesem Land militärische Unterstützung zur Verfügung, um bei der Verteidigung des Landes zu helfen. Nun lese ich Ihnen eine kurze Liste von Ländern vor. Bitte sagen Sie mir jeweils, ob die Vereinigten Staaten diesem Land militärische Unterstützung zur Verfügung stellen sollten, um das Land im Falle eines Angriffes zu verteidigen.

Die Ergebnisse der Umfrage:

The human right to health care requires that government be accountable for fulfilling that right. Health care is a public good, not a commodity and a healthy society benefits all of us. The government has a duty to ensure that the right to health care is being met; it does not have an obligation to provide private sector insurers and middlemen with increasing profits, as the current Wall Street driven model dictates. Through public financing and administration of health care we can minimize the profit incentives to deny care and instead guarantee access to quality care for all.

Amnesty International USA Blog: Human Rights Missing from Health Care Debate

Certainly we have no desire or ability to intrude massive forces into Iran or any other country to determine the outcome of domestic political issues. This is something that we have no intention of ever doing in another country. We’ve tried this once in Vietnam. It didn’t work, as you well know.

(Barack Obama Jimmy Carter)

Far from being the great Satan, I would say we are the great protector. The United States rebuilt Europe and Japan after World War II, defeated Communism and fascism and the only land we ever asked for was enough land to bury our dead.

(Great Satan – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The regime will claim American intervention no matter what Washington does and there will be no gratitude for America’s standing by and letting the opposition be crushed.

Talking Iran Crisis Blues: What’s Wrong with Western Passivity. By Barry Rubin.

When Ronald Reagan went before the Brandenburg Gate, he did not say Mr. (Mikhail) Gorbachev, that wall is none of our business.

(Mike Pence)

United States House of Representatives condemns Theran crackdown on Protesters (via):

WASHINGTON (AP) – In the strongest message yet from the U.S. government, the House voted 405-1 Friday to condemn Tehran’s crackdown on demonstrators and the government’s interference with Internet and cell phone communications.

The resolution was initiated by Republicans as a veiled criticism of President Barack Obama, who has been reluctant to criticize Tehran’s handling of disputed elections that left hard-liner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power.

Btw: Who the fuck is Ron Paul?

Nachtrag: Das Weiße Haus will von einer Klatsche nichts wissen:

Shortly after the House vote on Friday afternoon, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the resolution’s language is “very consistent” with what President Obama has said since the chaos began.

“Obviously, we welcome the resolution,” Gibbs said, adding that he believes “that it echoes the words of President Obama throughout the week.”

Except that’s a lie: the White House has not condemned the Iranian regime. Perhaps someone should ask the president personally to do so.