'Toontime: The Israeli Threat to US Security

credit: Jeff Danziger

Perhaps international leaders can chalk up Netanyahu's irresponsible rhetoric to the exigencies of an apparently close parliamentary election. But US Person thinks Netanyahu's retraction of his 'no Palestinian state' pledge is disingenuous and that no land settlement with the Palestinians actually represents his personal policy. There can be no Middle East peace unless the Palestinians are given a state guaranteed by the world's powers. What the oppressed Palestinians have right now is little more than a Jewish run gulag. Netanyahu may please racist Zionists and their political enablers in the US, but he is a stumbling block to peace, and entangles United States' policy in the world's most volatile region. Moreover, he threatens his own state's fantastic democracy. His election is nothing but a victory for an unacceptable status quo.

On another front of the near permanent battlefield that is the Middle East, the Pentagon told reporters that the touted, imminent retaking of Tikrit from ISIS will now take more time. The Iraqi advance has stalled. Somehow this news is not surprising to US Person. The Iraqi military is corrupt and dysfunctional as Iraqi leaders readily admit. Only the incorporation of Shia militia has gotten it this far in resting strategic Tikrit from the extremists. One has to keep in mind that Tikrit is a Sunni-dominated city, so Shia motivation to fight hard for the city is limited. ISIS is conducting a determined defense, blowing up access routes and bridges. US advisors estimate between 400 and 1,000 fighters are facing 23,000 Iraqi troops. The Washington Post reported that everyday 60 Iraqis were dying in the seige. Everyday of stalemate is a propaganda victory for ISIS.

credit: Lisa Benson