The US screws the Arabs even more....
 

Israel and the US gives more ammo to the pissed off Arab world. It's no wonder they hate us- not that it's an acceptable excuse for terrorism, but it does not take a rocket scientist to see that we as a country need to change, as BHO is so fond of espousing, our unfettered kneel down worship of Israel.

What does take a rocket scientist to figure out?

If you look around the world you will find that we have a small handful of allies with whom we have special relationships. I would probably put Isreal, England, Germany, France(not always), Canada, and Japan on the list. These are countries with whom we have the closest relationships with and will likely never have a serious rift.

I read about half the article. It did not seem like we could do much else given the nature of our relationship with Isreal.

It would be good to have good relationships with all the Arab countries too but how reliable are they? We are probably one election (if applicable) away from a major change in any of their relationships with us.

I guess with G.W.B. not there any more, Australia is no longer on your list!
But then the short sightedness shows with Japan on your list!!:rolleyes:

A little spell check may be in order!!

Israel ;)

One way to racially insult a country is to spell its name wrong !! :eek:

Nope.

Never gonna happen.

All they are to us is just one big dumb gas station.

Nope – nor NZ, that ‘nuke-free zone’ thing killed the deal.

Of course Australia would be there. New Zealand too no doubt.

i didn't know you were the spell Nazi!;)

By show of hands, does anyone think that if Israel disappeared tomorrow the ME would be one big love fest and the US would be welcomed with open arms?

no.

but does the ME exist only to satisfy the whims of the US?

I am not sure what you are asking.

My point was to the OP that our support of Israel has little to do with the ME hatred of the US much less their hatred of each other. Even if the US and Israel disappeared I am not convinced that the issues facing the ME would disappear as well.

The only interest the US has in the ME seems to be oil. The sooner the US breaks it's dependence on oil the sooner we can move on.

What I don't understand, is how does Israel secure the oil of the ME? Why do we see it as a strategic pawn in such a claim?
Back on topic, the US is not and has never been a fair broker in terms of settling disputes between the Arabs and the Israelis. If it would even attempt, many politicians in the US that would have pushed for an honest approach will be discredited with some form of scandal or another. My 2 cents.
Got to get my tinfoil hat tuned...

democracy and despots
 

very correct assessment, but then all the despotic M.East regimes have been propped up and remote controlled by CIA S.Arabia since the late thirties is aprime example .

One of the problems that the ME has with Israel is that they(Israel) have a lot of influence on US foreign policy, through AIPAC and some higher ups who have dual citizenship, such as Paul Wolfowitz.

If we left the ME tomorrow, and left Israel to fend for itself, the "war on terror" and the "terrorism-industrial complex" would no longer be necessary.

I wouln't hold your breath waiting for this to happen.