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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Obama demands Netanyahu's peace answers by Saturday
2010-03-26
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will convene his senior ministers on Friday to discuss the demands made by US President Barack Obama and his overall trip to Washington -- a trip that, because of negative atmospherics and amid a paucity of hard information, has been widely characterized as among the most difficult in recent memory.

Officials in the Prime Minister's Office continued to throw a blackout on the Netanyahu-Obama meeting, as well as give only very sketchy information about the commitments that the US is demanding of Israel as a precursor to starting the proximity talks with the Palestinians. The US, according to officials, wants these commitments by Saturday so it can take them to the Arab League meeting in Libya and receive that organization's backing for starting proximity talks.

According to a Palestinian Authority official in Ramallah, the US administration on Thursday informed the PA that the Netanyahu meetings in Washington did not produce any agreement on the issue of construction in east Jerusalem.

The official said that PA President Mahmoud Abbas met in Amman with David Hale, US deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, who briefed him on the outcome of Netanyahu's talks with Obama.

"The American envoy said that the two sides failed to reach agreement on settlement construction in Jerusalem," the PA official said.

Hale also told Abbas that the US administration would continue its discussions with the Israeli government in the next few days and weeks, in an attempt to solve the crisis that has erupted between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government.

Prior to leaving Washington late on Wednesday night, Netanyahu tried to put a positive spin on the meetings, saying that the two sides had made progress in finding a "middle path" between the "traditional policy of all Israeli governments [regarding building in east Jerusalem], and our will to also find a way to renew the peace process."

US officials indicated on Thursday that Israel had bridged some of the gaps between the two countries during their marathon consultations, even though no final resolution was presented after Obama's and Netanyahu's staffs toiled late into the night on Wednesday for a second straight day.

"I think we're making progress on important issues," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters on Thursday afternoon, but he declined to go into specifics.
Posted by:Fred

#17  #15 Former presidents have Secret Service protection for life, as do their spouses, IIRC.

Wasn't the law changed to 10 years? And the size and scope of the detail is much smaller. After his term his life will be like a canary in a cage. And he will always have to wonder, will one of my enemies get lucky today.
Posted by: Don Vito Uleash   2010-03-26 23:03  

#16  Former presidents have Secret Service protection for life, as do their spouses, IIRC.

Those SS employees who are not allowed to resign in disgrace are transferred to the Carter detail
Posted by: Frank G   2010-03-26 20:19  

#15  Former presidents have Secret Service protection for life, as do their spouses, IIRC.
Posted by: lotp   2010-03-26 20:14  

#14  
Obama and Biden both will one day have that "clear out your desk" moment. And then they have to find a way to get out of the building....and what then?


The street people from the city of Dacca will be waiting. Well, their American equivalent...for sure.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man   2010-03-26 13:48  

#13  We have three more years of Mr. Obama.

There is no nice way this is all going to end.
Especially for Mr. Obama. WHAT is he going to do when he steps down?

And what if he gets knocked down? Biden is next up then. There is going to be a war eventually. It moves closer every day. Things happen to people in a war. A lot of people go in and fewer ( sometimes a lot fewer) come out.

Where is Biden going to go? Tomorrow always comes and sometimes they let you off in a bad neighborhood. The head of Pak Intelligence in Dacca was captured alive after the city fell when the Indian Army took the city. He was released alive before the city was stabilized, they just put him off in the street. The people on the street knew who he was...

What was left of him after a short chase in the alleys was collected and buried in a public privy.

Obama and Biden both will one day have that "clear out your desk" moment. And then they have to find a way to get out of the building....and what then?

Najibullah in his final days was left without Security guards in the Palace in Kabul when the Russians pulled out and left him high and dry. The people off the street came into the Govt. Palace looking for him. He hung naked for a week ( or more ) from a rope around his neck with cigarette burns all over his arms and legs and a wad of worthless currency stuffed between his buttcheeks while the birds landed on his face and ate his eyes. His name meant "favored of God".

What does Obama's Name mean...I mean, really?
Posted by: BlackBart   2010-03-26 08:40  

#12  Obama does not necessarily consider friends of the US to be his friends. Nor does he necessarily consider adversaries of the US to be his adversaries.

I believe that Obama's political philosophy is Jeremiah Wright's. He's just learned to smile and make no sudden moves (as he wrote in his book.)

Now, after his health care triumph, he's free to let the mask slip a little.

Remember "God damn America!" ?
Posted by: Jolump the Wide5539   2010-03-26 08:20  

#11  Weak leader:
Failing to learn from mistakes
Failing to be flexible
Failing to listen
Failing to accept criticism
Failing to be modest
Failing to realize that leadership is not forever
Failing to delegate responsibilities to experience
Failing to make fine distinctions
Failing to remember “You only get what you give”
Failing to set right priorities
Failing to accept personal responsibility and accountability
Failing to influence attitudes & thinking
Failing to breed positivity

Check ...

The sin of an excessive ego is admirably demonstrated in this simple fable:

A frog asked two geese to take him south with them. At first they resisted; they didn't see how it could be done. Finally, the frog suggested that the two geese hold a stick in their beaks and that he would hold on to it with his mouth. So off the unlikely threesome went, flying southward over the countryside.

It was really quite a sight. People looked up and expressed great admiration at this demonstration of creative teamwork.
Someone said, "It's wonderful! Who was so clever to discover such a fine way to travel?"

Whereupon the frog opened his mouth and said, "It was I," as it plummeted to the earth.


Posted by: Oscar   2010-03-26 07:15  

#10  Actually people, this is good news---think about it.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2010-03-26 03:34  

#9  So be it. Obama wants the the hard fucking core GOD to correct him.

Does that kid even know really what is real or not?


Hey Obama, I demand you shut up and sit down by Saturday. You cursed stupid communist moslem idiot @hole.

You are nobody, and that shall be proven handily by a GOD ABOVE YOU.

You are little more than a little gangster. Flesh and blood like me. Are you hearing me ?
Prophet this bitch.
Posted by: newc   2010-03-26 02:16  

#8  Netanyahu is no one to trifle with. These Chicago, schoolyard bully tactics will do nothing for our intelligence sharing capabilities in the region I can assure you. We may have just turned off one of our best sources in the middle east.
Posted by: Besoeker   2010-03-26 02:09  

#7  Obama, I may demand your answer TODAY.

You Picked the wrong everything to fuck with.

I AM pissed with you.
Posted by: newc   2010-03-26 02:00  

#6  I wonder if Saturday was chosen by accident or on purpose.

Definitely NOT by accident. Remember a few months back when Ogabe threw Poland under the bus by caving in to Putin's demand to abandon the Eastern European BMD program? He announced that on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland. I'm still wondering what he's got planned for the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo)   2010-03-26 01:44  

#5  Bibi should photocopy his ass and give to Obama as an answer.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2010-03-26 01:19  

#4  Even Carter was better than this fool. Every single relationship, every single theater, every crisis, has been made significantly worse by this vain and ignorant little man's bumbling, ass-backward approach to interstate relations. China laughs at him. Russia laughs at him. The Saudis, Iranians, Syrians, Turks and Palestinians all ignore him. The allies are infuriated by his "naivete" (Sarko) and his outright contempt for them (cf Britain).

I have never been so appalled by the lack of intelligent, competent US leadership on the world stage. Even the many mistakes made by W, Clinton, and Carter pale next to this arrogant little twit's amateurishness.

What a f***ing embarrassment this man is.
Posted by: lex   2010-03-26 01:05  

#3  The President is systematically alienating his allies and even the tyrants have no respect for him.

It will only be through individual contacts that we will maintain communication with allies. What an embarrassment! What an unstable situation the world is finding itself in. We are heading for multiple showdowns and war, and the President is living in his little world govt socialist fantasy pipe dream.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2010-03-26 00:32  

#2  I wonder if Saturday was chosen by accident or on purpose.
Posted by: gorb   2010-03-26 00:24  

#1  and the tantrum begins.... little fists pounding the carpet and little feet kicking in the air all while screaming and thrashing his little head.

Posted by: abu do you love   2010-03-26 00:17  

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