It's not hard. Israel just forgot how useful additional parking would be. Maybe some new neighborhoods, shopping, some new public spaces, maybe a new boardwalk along the ocean. That sort of stuff. Just finish the job and start leveling in sections. That kind of investment would solve big problems and avoid additional pain and heartache into perpetuity.

^^^^^

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
And not a word of the US Citizens held hostage, by this admin.

Deja vu, all over again...

I think the question is still valid 6 months later, don't you? The lack of response, however, isn't just like the Americans still trapped in Afghanistan.

^^^^^^
They blowed it up real good!

The Biden Administrations lack of leadership and resolve is making the world a more dangerous place.

quote:

Casualties reported following Israeli strike in Yemen

IAF fighter planes on Saturday afternoon struck 12 Houthi military targets near Yemen's Al Hudaydah Port. The IDF thereafter raised the alert levels for the IAF and the Navy.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/393335

Good technical details on the attack, for serious avgeeks:

https://www.twz.com/air/israel...i-oil-depot-in-yemen

"IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the name of the Israeli attack on the Houthis in Yemen is "Operation Long Arm.", not "Long Johnson" as was earlier mis-reported...

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
"IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the name of the Israeli attack on the Houthis in Yemen is "Operation Long Arm.", not "Long Johnson" as was earlier mis-reported...

Ha !

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
And not a word of the US Citizens held hostage, by this admin.

Thats because the Biden Administration doesnt want the hostages back. If they are alive and they are returned to tell the tale of gang rape and torture the administration looks bad since a fair amount of dems are supporting Hamas. The left would rather the story go away and that the hostages are dead with it being an election year and thats pretty much what has happened.

So...

Can we reasonably predict how Israel's International outlook will improve, more or less, if President Trump makes it back into the White House ?

With so much crap to fix that uncle B royally screwed up or created from whole cloth during the last four years, all of them by nature emergencies begging for immediate attention, where in the lineup of fixit asap priorities will Israel's war with Gaza and Iran's proxies land ? I'm assuming Trump will begin working on the head of the snake first and expedite arms and munitions shipments and other support to Israel on a do it now damn the red tape basis.

What say you ?

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
So...

Can we reasonably predict how Israel's International outlook will improve, more or less, if President Trump makes it back into the White House ?

With so much crap to fix that uncle B royally screwed up or created from whole cloth during the last four years, all of them by nature emergencies begging for immediate attention, where in the lineup of fixit asap priorities will Israel's war with Gaza and Iran's proxies land ? I'm assuming Trump will begin working on the head of the snake first and expedite arms and munitions shipments and other support to Israel on a do it now damn the red tape basis.

What say you ?

Crazy Joe is more about the "fuck around" part with no "find out". Trump is the exact opposite. A little bit of "fuck around" will be met with a lot of "find out".

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
So...

Can we reasonably predict how Israel's International outlook will improve, more or less, if President Trump makes it back into the White House ?

Speaking from the Realist school of international relationships, not much should change. First, it wouldn't alter Israel's internal problems which are key, the lack of unity, manpower and economic stamina. Then, Realism holds that personalities don't impact the national interests driving relations between state actors. To a considerable degree, this is borne out by US-Israeli relations; allegations that some American president or other is "pro-" or "anti-Israel" are frequently based, and have their biggest impact, upon domestic US politics because the issue is a major ideological rallying point.

Examples: Obama was widely criticized as anti-Israel, yet presided over an increase of annual military aid to a record minimum of 3.8 billion Dollar. Trump was considered very pro-Israel and withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action restricting Iran's nuclear activities, which everyone in Israel was opposed to because it didn't include restrictions on its missiles, too. Of course that actually freed Iran from restrictions, and Trump didn't take the complementary step to fulfill Israel's biggest wish for joint military action against their nuclear program.

If there's an overarching theme to interest-based American policy towards Israel in the 21st century, it's one of disengagement from the Middle East due to different factors: 9/11 and the negative experience of the Iraq War, theoretical independence from ME oil due to the domestic shale oil boom, etc. It was already noticeable under George W. Bush, definitely under Obama, and continued under Trump with the major exception of the Abraham Accords between Israel and some Arab nations - though that ultimately followed the same theme, hoping that regional security arrangements sustained by American money could replace actual American presence and episodical interventions.

Of course Realism only goes so far in explaining the real world. As they say, all foreign policy is ultimately domestic, and of course personalities also have an impact. Broadly, what we see informing American policy towards Israel in domestic debate are competing, and sometimes inconsistent, opinions on Israel in particular, and the global role of the US in general. Personality-wise, it's hard to argue that the changes from Obama to Trump to Biden haven't left a mark on international relations, though maybe more in style than substance.

But if we get down to that level, we'd also have to know the Israeli side; i.e., whether Netanyahu will still be there for a Trump-47 presidency, and whether he can get back on his good side after he apparently pissed him off terminally by being first to congratulate Biden for his win in 2020. Then again, Trump has a reputation for agreeing with the last guy who talked to him, and Netanyahu has a well-established record for slick maneuvering between contrary coalition interests in volatile Israeli politics, making him the longest-serving PM by, as many Israelis say, ultimately avoiding any decisions that would piss off anyone he needs. So who knows.

Banshee, Trump understands politics. And he knows who The Enemy is.

quote:

Originally posted by BansheeOne:
Then again, Trump has a reputation for agreeing with the last guy who talked to him, ...

I wasn't aware Trump had this reputation. Can you provide some examples of this?

Notable examples were the "Saudi sword dance" in 2017 (followed by the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar even though the latter hosted US CENTCOM and the biggest American military base in the Middle East), Macron's invitation to the Bastille Day parade the same year, and the meetings with Putin and Kim Jong-un ("stopping provocative joint American-South Korean military exercises") in 2018. At that time conventional wisdom in German political circles was that if you wanted something of Trump, you talked to Ivanka, which would persuade her father after all the official advisors had left. A more recent case would be the change on aid for Ukraine after House Speaker Mike Johnson's visit to Mar-a-Lago; though arguably this again makes the point that domestic and international interests guide political decisions much more than personalities.

Specifically, Ukraine faltering due to a Republican blockade of aid in Congress in an election year was ultimately recognized to endanger victory by alienating pro-Ukrainian Republican and independent/fence-sitting voters in swing states. Despite the partisan rhetoric for domestic consumption, it also wouldn't have been good for the global role and reputation of the US with all its benefits for the nation (as I noted before, how well and just those benefits are used within the nation is OTOH entirely a subject for domestic debate). Interestingly, this is very similar to how bi-partisan change towards NATO expansion happened in the 90s: both parties were vying for voters of Eastern European descent in swing states, and it was also feared that the EU would fill a security vacuum in Eastern Europe to the detriment of US influence.

So while personalities play a role, I don't think you can pin everything on them, just like you can't entirely exclude their impact on politics otherwise guided by national interests. But frankly, to me it looks like a particular American obsession to either credit or blame either the current or previous occupant of the White House personally for any bag of rice tipping over in the world, depending upon ones personal politics; probably informed by domestic polarization and an actual importance of US power in world events, which however still tends to be overestimated. Which BTW opens the way for foreign interests to influence American politics by framing them in partisan terms.

After all, random American voters didn't come up with the idea that "the US made Russia invade Ukraine by staging a coup in Kiev to take down a good conservative like Putin a notch", or "the US is supporting Israeli genocide in Gaza after Israel provoked an act of resistance by Hamas through 75 years of Apartheid". These are fundamentally anti-American narratives spread by international movements (typically both of them by the same ones), and introduced into American discourse by sympathetic or cynical domestic actors in pro- or anti-government terms. As I recently thought, somehow Americans have been convinced that Ukrainians are Democrats and Israelis are Republicans, and react to either according to their respective personal politics. Even though both are fighting very similar fights under very similar conditions, except the scale being rather different.

Of the thousands of decisions Trump has had to make, these few are the ones that you are going to use to as your claim that he is easily swayed by his most recent interaction?

What you posted is your perception of Trump, not a supposedly accepted statement of fact. Just because you don't like the man doesn't make your negative opinion of him a factual tenet.

The Germans don't think Trump is a strong leader. Got it.

If you search the history of Germany, they have willfully fallen behind authoritarian rulers.

Someone like Donald Trump (who is much, much more intelligent than the American and international politicians he dealt with and will deal with again) knows how to get what he wants. All the while working in the constraints of the Constitution and using the liberal American and international mainstream media to his advantage. They literally don’t even realize what hit them until it’s too late.

Hezbollah rocket strikes Israeli playground killing 10 people, including children

This is the deadliest attack since Oct. 7.

https://justthenews.com/world/..._campaign=newsletter

A Hezbollah rocket was launched into northern Israel and struck a playground on Saturday, resulting in 10 people dying. It was in a village in the Golan Heights.

Many of the victims are children, according to reports.

Officials say the death toll is expected to increase, according to the New York Post.

At least 29 others were injured, according to CNN.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz, after discussing the matter with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declared that “Hezbollah crossed all red lines," later adding that Israel is "facing an all-out war” with the terrorist group.

This is the deadliest attack since Oct. 7.