September 17, 2007
Obama, Brzezinski, and the 'Israel Lobby'
The contentious debate over The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, the new book by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen W. Walt (of the University of Chicago and Harvard University respectively), continues to play out -- sometimes in the most unlikely places.
The latest flashpoint centers on Zbigniew Brzezinski, who is serving as a foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama. Last week the ubiquitous Alan Dershowitz called for Obama to distance himself from Brzezinski because of an essay the former national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter wrote for Foreign Policy [subscription only]. In the essay, Brzezinski said Mearsheimer and Walt "have rendered a public service by initiating a much-needed public debate on the role of the ‘Israel lobby' in the shaping of U.S. foreign policy."
The tension was compounded when The New York Sun reported that the Obama campaign had raced to take down a small ad for the campaign's Web site that appeared as one of several "sponsored links" on the Amazon.com page for the book.
"The ad has been removed from the site because the views of the book do not reflect the views of Senator Obama on the U.S.-Israel relationship," an Obama spokesman told The Trail, a blog of The Washington Post.
"The idea that supporters of Israel have somehow distorted U.S. foreign policy, or that they are responsible for the debacle in Iraq, is just wrong," the spokesman said.
Evan Goldstein | Posted on Monday September 17, 2007 | PermalinkComments
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The double standard we have to live with makes me dizzy sometimes. I respect, and actually like Alan Dershowitz because of the kinds of things he does, and has done over the years. Of course, I may disagree with some of them, but I still like and respect him. However, I am disapppointed at his recent call for the Obama campaign to distance itself from Zbigniew Brzezinski. Isn’t free speech about hearing different and opposite views? Isn’t this all about democracy? Or is free speech and democracy ok, AS LONG AS it is in line with our views? Someone help me with this. What am I missing, or is it naivity? I certainly don’t think so. Common sense, yes everybody has one for their level, dictates that you cannot solve any dispute between two parties by declaring that one party to the dispute is incapable of taking part in the solution. .....Fellow citizens, I give you a “forever” problem with no solution “forever”.
— Anene Sep 17, 03:10 PM #
What you are missing is that Dershowitz is counseling a naive Obama. He’s saying, “Watch out!” Brzezinski and Carter share worldviews on Jews; to wit, that they have awesome powers to change the course of rivers, move the moon and stars, and control a nation’s politics to benefit their nefarious plans for world domination.
— marci Sep 17, 03:32 PM #