Trump & Middle East: Isreal & UAE Treaty

[OakRiver]

The media would have been demanding another Nobel Peace Prize if Obama had negotiated this agreement.

It's ok. They have another aspirational Nobel Peace Prize ready to be announced when the next Democrat takes office.

 

[NKBJ]

This really is a very interesting ball to keep an eye on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBRMkdSVCFI

 

[Alamo]

This really is a very interesting ball to keep an eye on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBRMkdSVCFI

Good post, thanks for the heads-up.

 

[NKBJ]

American organizations (including "religious" ones) that have been paid by the Israeli government to propagandize for Israel's foreign policy objectives and to pressure US politicians are now being outed through documentation supplied by the Israeli government.
US foreign policy can be impacted by this.

 

[Alamo]

Arab League rejects PA demand to condemn Israel-UAE deal

Oh my. Once again the pallies are told they don't steer the boat anymore. De facto recognition by the Arab League that being openly friendly with Israel is more important. More fallout from Trump's move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem.

 

[OakRiver]

Arab League rejects PA demand to condemn Israel-UAE deal

Oh my. Once again the pallies are told they don't steer the boat anymore. De facto recognition by the Arab League that being openly friendly with Israel is more important. More fallout from Trump's move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem.

That's a huge deal.

 

[Alamo]

In other news:

US sells ambassador home in [Tel Aviv] Israel, securing Jerusalem move

Asking price was $80M.

 

[Alamo]

Strategy Page's 29 Aug entry says the UAE and Israel are planning to set up a joint ELINT operation on the island of Socotra, which conveniently sits at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden which is the gateway to the Red Sea which is the path along the west coast of Saudi Arabia to both the Suez Canal (Egypt) and the Gulf of Aqaba (Israel's port of Eilat to the south). Interesting. Socotra also of course looks out over the Arabian Sea with the mouth to Persian/Arabian Gulf around the corner and Indian Ocean to the south.

This article from over a year agoThis article from over a year ago[/url] says the Israelis sold two business-class jets fitted out as ELINT/AEW aircraft, similar to what Israel uses, to the UAE and that they were flying out of Al Dhafra air base. It notes this deal for the two aircraft started 10 years earlier.

Al Dhafra is just outside of Abu Dhabi, and has a lot of ramp space. I spent a hot humid summer there in 2002 as executive officer of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing. The US has long had a presence there, but it was basically a small quiet aerial refueler base hosting TDY KC-135s and KC-10s and maybe a couple hundred US personnel until 9/11/2001, when nearly overnight it turned into an Expeditionary Wing hosting up to 1000 USAF members and tankers, U-2s, and Global Hawks (there were some interesting stories about how that transpired). Since then E-3 AWACS and various fighters and UAVs have been added to the mix. The UAE also had a bunch of US-made attack helicopters there.

The article linked above has the following quote:

In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian in March, Jamal al-Suwaidi, founder of the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, confirmed that, as opposed to the past, the Palestinian issue is no longer at the top of the agenda in the Gulf states.

“The Palestinian cause is no longer at the forefront of Arabs’ interests, as it used to be for long decades,” he said. “It has sharply lost priority in light of the challenges, threats and problems that face countries of the region.”


Suwaidi added that the question of maintaining ties with Israel was not comparable to the “threats posed … by Iran, Hezbollah and terrorist groups.”

What he said.

Trump's movement of the US Embassy to Jerusalem was starting point for bringing the alliances of the Arab nations with Israel out into the open and telling the palestinians (and the Europeans) that they could not longer drive everyone else's foreign policy in the Mid East, that US (and everyone else's) foreign policy was in the ME is going to be very different in the future.

 

[OakRiver]

Another Middle East peace deal. This time between Bahrain and Israel

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump...UJp18Ld-y6-vqRJMrw5rR49nFwmuyoWQS-RHHG8ratk18

https://www.axios.com/bahrain-israe...ace-80fe7bdc-24f3-44e7-8050-c38879efb17f.html

 

[printcraft]

In other news:

US sells ambassador home in [Tel Aviv] Israel, securing Jerusalem move

Asking price was $80M.

The Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, has called the Trump administration’s decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem “short-sighted and frivolous,” but he has said he would not move it back to Tel Aviv if elected president in November.

 

[OakRiver]

Short sighted? The US has been promising to move the embassy for decades before Trump keep his promise.

 

[Expat]

I am surprised that America's first Muslim President hasn't praised Trump for bringing peace between the Muslim world and Israel.

 

[Alamo]

Breaking: Trump To Announce Bahrain Joining Agreement To Normalize Relations With Israel? Update: Axios Confirms

Whoops, didn't see Oak River's post.

 

[Alamo]

The Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, has called the Trump administration’s decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem “short-sighted and frivolous,” but he has said he would not move it back to Tel Aviv if elected president in November.

Hey, nobody knows short-sighted and frivolous like Slow Joe, you soldier-faced dog pony.

 

[OakRiver]

Hey, nobody knows short-sighted and frivolous like Slow Joe, you soldier-faced dog pony.

Hey man, c'mon. Here's the deal

 

[Alamo]

But wait, there's more:

Chad, majority muslim, to up their game with Israel and maybe open a mission in Jerusalem: https://www.timesofisrael.com/chad-...c-mission-in-jerusalem-israel-says/#gs.fw54d0. Chad is not a biggie in the muslim world, but this means they don't think they have to worry about the big guys leaning on them. They cut ties with Israel way back when because Kaddafi leaned on them.

The Emir of Abu Dhabi directed all the hotels to have kosher food available.

Imam of Mecca's Grand Mosque says muslims and non-muslims should get along and quotes times when the prophet had good relations with Jews. Are the Saudis getting ready to make the big leap? They already are letting El Al fly over Saudi territory.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/09/...t-normalization-with-israel-in-friday-sermon/

And... the Greeks, Cypriots, and Israelis signed a military cooperation agreement which will torque Turkey, who AFAIK is the only muslim nation to side with the palestinians and condemn the new recognitions of Israel.
https://gellerreport.com/2020/09/hi...-military-cooperation-program-trump2020.html/

 

[Phase2]

Also, S. Korea is near a free trade agreement with Israel that is now possible due to lesser fears of push-back from Muslim countries which will likely also lead to a similar agreement with Japan.

Prof. Glenn Reynolds describes a "preference cascade" as when more and more people/groups change their mind in a particular direction..

 

[Alamo]

You watch, the last entities to hold out against recognizing Israel will probably be California, Minneapolis, Madison, and Chicago.

 

[JTScribe]

Worst.
Hitler.
Ever.

 

[d.kaufman]

Worst.
Hitler.
Ever.