O' mice an' men

Submitted by Michael S. (United States), Apr 15, 2015 at 04:33

Wow, Daniel! A meaningful interview! A real Q-A-Q-A session, instead of PPPPPPPPPPק-A-PPPPPPPPPק-A, with "Q" being "question", "A" being "answer", "P" being "propaganda" and "ק" being "slanted question". The interviewer seemed genuinely interested in and concerned about the things he talked about. Watching the video was an uplifting, thought-provoking experience.

Having said all that, my failing short-term memory is struggling to comment on the issues brought up.

First of all, Obama's "strategy" of smiling at enemies and smirking at friends. Obama had a different up-bringing from, say, George W. Bush, a man who smiled at friends and spoke frankly to enemies. In this respect, President Obama has introduced the "stupid" factor into a foreign policy that in other respects is not too different in direction from that of previous administrations. Consider this:

1. Iran has ALWAYS been helped by US foreign policy in the Middle East, regardless of the US President and his party. Iran prospered as a US ally under the Shah, for instance; but it also did well under Khomeini during the Reagan years (benefitting from the Iran-Contra affair), during the George H.W.. Bush years (obtaining aircraft and land concessions from a beleagured Saddam Hussein) and the George W. Bush years (benefitting greatly from the rise of the Shi'ites in Iraq, thanks to our overthrow of Saddam; and also being relieved by us of their enemy the Taliban in Afghanistan).
2. Israel has been losing ground under every US administration after LBJ: being forced to yield the east bank of Suez under Nixon, central Sinai under Carter and eastern Sinai under Reagan; being forced to suffer rocket attacks from Iraq without reprisal, under Bush 41, suffering Yassir Arafat into their midst and then quitting Lebanon under Clinton and losing Gaza under Bush 43, to focus on territorial losses

Obama has merely continued policies already in motion concerning Israel and Iran. His personal flourish to all this, though, has been the unintended creation of endless war and anarchy in Libya, Syria, Iraq and LIbya, and causing Hamas in Gaza to find itself fighting not just Israel, but Egypt as well. That continual warfare has actually helped Israel, in that not only are old enemies like Iraq, Syria and Lebanon too embroiled in internal conflict to be able to hurt Israel; but the Saudis, Jordanians and Egyptians are actually dependent on Israel to covertly help them against their enemies!

On another topic, you mentioned that you believed the tacit alliance between Israel and its Arab neighbors was very temporary. I wouldn't say that so confidently. Of course, you know I hope that the prophecy of good relations between Israel and Egypt and other neighbors (Isaiah 19) will come to pass in my lifetime. That prophecy noted that Egypt's change would come about not only because of a water and food crisis caused by loss of Nile flowage; but also because of a freeing of Egypt from oppression by fellow Arabs. These things might well already be in their nascent state with climate change, the Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia and the turmoil in the region. A sea change may also be happening in the hearts of Egyptians, especially in the pro-Sisi Cairo area, as more and more of them have access for the first time to the Bible and other non-Quranic literature on the Internet. Most Israelis would welcome a change of Arab hearts with open arms, and I believe everyone in the region would benefit.

Scottish national icon Robbie Burns said,

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

Burns seems to have had Mr. Obama in mind, hundreds of years before his time. This should be a reminder to us that , despite the awesome power of the US and other world powers, man does not control his own destiny; but the invisible hand of God never fails to accomplish what it has set out to do. Israel will survive Obama, and everyone else, because they are, as the Bible says, "the apple of God's eye".

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