Political Israel does not understand the new world

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Kort gezegd: Amerika heeft de wapens, China de koopkracht en behoefte
voor de komende 20+ jaar.

Groet / Cees

PS. Momenteel buit Israel de tegenstelling Turkije/Griekenland uit
(inclusief de Cyprische tweedeling, die voortbestaat door het toelaten
van Cyprus tot de EU)

Political Israel does not understand the new world
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/political-israel-does-not-understand-the-new-world-1.292960
	Published 02:37 30.05.10
In no time, our leaders got addicted to a new kind of landlordship - a
world with a single power where Israel enjoyed the status of a regional
power under the aegis of the patron.
By Yitzhak Laor

Since the end of the 1960s, the alliance between Israel and the United
States has been an open one. Israel learned to reject any solution to
the conflict with the Palestinians with the aid of the "Soviet interest"
demon and turned itself into a stick. Its withdrawal from the
territories was the Americans' carrot to the Arabs. The peace with Egypt
was made possible only when that country abandoned its alliance with the
Soviet Union. But that world has disappeared.

In no time, our leaders got addicted to a new kind of landlordship - a
world with a single power where Israel enjoyed the status of a regional
power under the aegis of the patron. In this way, it received treasures
- 1 million immigrants, permission to settle them in the territories,
expansion of the settlements to catastrophic proportions, advanced
weapons, and a green light for three wars against a civilian population.

That chapter has ended and political Israel does not understand the new
world. From time to time, we hear hints that U.S. President Barack Obama
is "naive." But Obama was elected after the United States' failure to be
the sole superpower became obvious to all. That's where the discussion
about the Iranian nuclear program must take place.

The reaction in Israel to the Iranian-Turkish-Brazilian agreement
reflected a lack of understanding. It is true that no military power is
stronger than the United States, at least regarding its power to
destroy. It is true that its leaders still tell us occasionally that we
can rely on them. It is true that the United States is still the leader
of the West and the West is "the free world," even when it supports
starving the people of Gaza because they voted the wrong way in their
elections. But the United States also knows that it has the largest
national debt in the world, and, to a large extent, the economic crisis
of 2008 did not become a huge world disaster thanks to China's economic
prowess.

Moreover, China does not merely have important economic ties with Iran.
Since 2000, China has comprised almost half the world's demand for
concrete. Chile is flourishing thanks to the high price of copper,
Australia is flourishing, and even Brazil and Argentina have recovered
to a large extent due to Chinese demand for raw materials.

On the other hand, China has not replaced the Soviet Union, and a
bipolar world is no longer possible. Even Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman's "diplomatic variant" - "there is Russia, not just the United
States" - stresses just how much Israel is living in the past. Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev's meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal only
one day after embracing President Shimon Peres in Moscow stresses that.
And that time, too, we seemed to be amazed. In a world like this, Israel
looks like a decorated general from the previous century.

The stirring victory of capitalism paved the way for a hungrier world
but also the kind of world where there cannot be only one or two powers.
We are referring not merely to the United States and the European Union
but also to Brazil, Russia, India and China. And in fact, also to other
regional powers that rely on their own strength because that world, its
entire soul, is business - and business also means partnership at a time
of crisis.

And Israel? It still thinks in terms of "we have the House of
Representatives in our pocket." There is nothing better than the
colorful event in Dubai to show how far behind we are. Dubai? It's a
kind of small Bedouin encampment where it is possible to send assassins
with wigs and tennis shorts, as if it were Lillehammer, Norway, 1973.
The disdain for Qatar's proposals for ties is also a sign of the old
self-importance madness. As if the world were completely hypnotized by
the judges' reasoning at the Israel Prize award ceremony.

This is also where the powerlessness in Israeli terms is revealed
regarding "world public opinion." The apparent loss that we will face in
this campaign in the West dwarfs questions about public opinion in
India, Brazil or Turkey. If you would like an image: Ben-Gurion
International Airport's new terminal was built as a megalomaniac airport
for "the new Middle East." But its departure and arrival halls are
populated almost entirely by Israelis, and by security officers who wait
in the corners of the giant corridors for youths from different parts of
the world whom they suspect will want to go to Bil'in.

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