Thoughts On Netanyahu's Speech: Much Ado About Nothing

This guy thinks pretty much the same thing I do of yesterday's speech from the Israeli Prime Minister.

From Drew at Ace of Spades:

My overwhelming reaction to yesterday’s speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is, “that’s it?” Maybe part of my reaction is based on having seen only part of the speech on TV but having read the transcript. 

Delivery and the setting can give an average speech a much bigger feel, which was the whole point of inviting him to address Congress. But mostly, aside from a few up to date reference to the current negotiations, I’d heard it all before from him. 

Go back and watch or read any of Netanyahu’s speeches to the UN or AIPAC over the last few years and it’s basically there. The problem is that while Netanyahu is right, it doesn’t matter. 

Obama has proven to be impervious to outside pressure when he’s committed to doing something stupid and or dangerous, which is to say most of the time. If anything Netanyahu’s high profile challenge to him will probably make it more likely that Obama will see himself as doing the right thing. 

Netanyahu’s speech amounted to “get a better deal”. Well that’s not on the table. 

As shopworn as Netanyahu’s speech was he has the better of the argument. What he doesn’t have is anything resembling enough pull to implement them. His only real course of action is a unilateral attack by Israel. The response by all parties, including the US, would be so costly to Israel would be devastating. 

We need to face a rather obvious fact: Iran wants a nuke and they won’t stop until they have one. We can’t negotiate them out of that because we simply don’t have anything they want more to offer them in exchange. They’ll bet, correctly, that once they have it they are safe and we’ll do business with them because reality will force us to. 

Netanyahu was right and has been for a while but the last best chance to stop Iran from going nuclear died with the fraudulent NIE in 2007. Once Bush’s hands were tied and Obama was elected, the die was cast. The rest is just killing time until the inevitable.

PASTORIUS COMMENT:

Here are my thoughts:

I was looking for a speech of visceral gravity, a speech that said,

"I've been here before, and I told you what the consequences are, and I told you what I would have to do considering the inevitability of the consequences. And, frankly, I'm through talking. You guys can talk. I have 6 million Jews to save. So I say to you what I think to myself 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, ever since I heard that Iran was building a Nuclear weapon, and simultaneously threatening to wipe Israel off the map:

NEVER AGAIN!

NEVER AGAIN!

NEVER AGAIN! 

Now, to my feelings about the speech:

I know we're all pulling for Bibi, but he did not give that speech.

And we're all the worse for it.

Frankly, I feel a sense impending doom equivalent to that which I felt when Israel pulled out of Lebanon in 2006, rather than hunting Hizbollah down and killing them.

There comes a time, I'm afraid, when you have to seize the moment. If you don't, the moment passes, and terrible doom befalls us.

Jews may be the canary in the coalmine.

But we are the miners in that metaphor.

And we're about to choke on poison.