In the July/August 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs, Walter Russell Meade writes an immensely thoughtful essay about what drives the foreign policy of the United States with respect to Israel. Unlike certain other people, Meade does not believe that U.S./Israel policy results from the insidious machinations of some well-funded "Lobby" representing a minority of the population that is acting against the interests of the United States.
Rather, says Meade, U.S. foreign is and has always been driven by the will of the majority of the American people. That logically leads to the question of why the majority of Americans tend to support Israel while the majority of the rest of our beloved planet clearly does not (and is so receptive to the message of Messrs. Walt and Mearsheimer, linked to above).
Well, I'm not going to spoil it. Read the essay. It's THAT freaking good. I swear, I didn't chuckle at all until the last page, when Meade hilariously suggests that the Arab leadership might one day end terrorist attacks and embrace non-violent civil disobedience (Michael Moore made the same suggestion in one of his books). Suffice it to say that if such a mentality was even possible, we probably wouldn't be in this pickle. But other than that this essay is great. If nothing else, you'll learn that Adam Clayton Powell raised money for the Irgun, which might be the single biggest badass fact I've learned about Israel in like five years.
So stop reading this blog, and read the essay!
Hat tip: DeProgram Program
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment