Netanyahu to skip Obama's nuclear security summit

[pauldun170]

Netanyahu to skip Obama's nuclear security summit
From Ed Henry, CNN Senior White House Correspondent
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Move could be sign of further tension between the United States and Israel
Israeli government is sending Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor in Netanyahu's place
RELATED TOPICS
Benjamin Netanyahu
Barack Obama
(CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has informed the Obama administration that he will not attend President Obama's nuclear security summit in Washington next week, according to a senior U.S. official familiar with the situation.

The move could be a sign of further tension between the United States and Israel and may distract from the Obama administration's attempts to highlight the unprecedented nature of a 46-nation summit aimed at reducing nuclear weapons.

The Israeli government is sending Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor in Netanyahu's place, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer announced Thursday.

"Israel is a close ally, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with it on issues related to nuclear security," Hammer said Thursday. "This is a summit focused on addressing the security of nuclear materials and geared toward having the participants take practical measures to ensure that terrorists cannot get access to those materials."

The news comes after Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a major nuclear arms treaty in the Czech Republic earlier Thursday. The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty -- known as START-- reduces the number of nuclear weapons held by the United States and Russia by about one-third, among other provisions.








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http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/...ex.html?hpt=T2

[AquaPython]

Obama is fucking up the middle east quietly for the last year, and nobody saw it or cared because of what was happening here.

Way to alienate the one country that has been helped and needed help for the last 60 years.

[Adeptus_Minor]

Will Matisyahu be sitting in for him?

[goof2]

Originally Posted by AquaPython

Obama is fucking up the middle east quietly for the last year, and nobody saw it or cared because of what was happening here.

Way to alienate the one country that has been helped and needed help for the last 60 years.

I agree and will add that Israel seems to have realized that they can do whatever they feel is in their nation's best interests and for foreign policy reasons the US doesn't have much choice but to support them. I also think they have realized that anyone running for president needs the Jewish vote to win, something they will not get if aid to Israel is cut off. It has reached the point where, for various reasons, Israel has decided we need them more than they need us.

[KSGregman]

Originally Posted by goof2

I agree and will add that Israel seems to have realized that they can do whatever they feel is in their nation's best interests and for foreign policy reasons the US doesn't have much choice but to support them. I also think they have realized that anyone running for president needs the Jewish vote to win, something they will not get if aid to Israel is cut off. It has reached the point where, for various reasons, Israel has decided we need them more than they need us.

To OUR detriment....what EXACTLY does the U.S. get out of being completely manipulated and taken advantage by those fuckers again?

Not much, in my opinion.

[goof2]

Originally Posted by KSGregman

To OUR detriment....what EXACTLY does the U.S. get out of being completely manipulated and taken advantage by those fuckers again?

Not much, in my opinion.

We have a country in the region with much better intelligence gathering than we have, enough military strength to keep other nations in the area somewhat in check, and we have been able to send them to the bargaining table every time our President decides to legacy build by declaring peace in the middle east. This is something every President since Carter has done with the exception of Reagan. You can add the whole "preventing another Holocaust" thing to the list if you want though that is probably less of a threat now than it was up until a couple of decades ago.

Israel is the worst country in the region with which to ally ourselves, with the exception of all the other countries in that region.

[smileyman]

Israel isnt concerned with our support cause so far the administration has been very hesitant to give it. Even thumbed its nose at big 'Net when he visited the Whitehouse. This is their way of saying fuck you back. They aren't scared of fighting thier own battles.

[pauldun170]

Originally Posted by smileyman

Israel isnt concerned with our support cause so far the administration has been very hesitant to give it. Even thumbed its nose at big 'Net when he visited the Whitehouse. This is their way of saying fuck you back. They aren't scared of fighting thier own battles.

Maybe one day they will actually pay for their own battles...with all the money we give them (almost said loans...but we consistently forgive loans to Israel)

[goof2]

Originally Posted by smileyman

Israel isnt concerned with our support cause so far the administration has been very hesitant to give it. Even thumbed its nose at big 'Net when he visited the Whitehouse. This is their way of saying fuck you back. They aren't scared of fighting thier own battles.

To be fair Israel announced they were building more settlements in Jerusalem, something this administration has "asked" Israel not to do. That they decided to make the announcement as Biden was arriving over there was a bit of a diplomatic "fuck you".

[goof2]

Originally Posted by pauldun170

Maybe one day they will actually pay for their own battles...with all the money we give them (almost said loans...but we consistently forgive loans to Israel)

They are estimated to get around $3 billion a year. At this point it seems to have more to do with our politicians needing the Jewish vote than it does with aiding Israel. That a decent portion of that money comes back to the US in the form of defense contracts doesn't hurt either. I doubt it would bother the Israelis too much if that aid was cut off but I doubt they would be buying much in the way of military hardware from America for a while either.