In the Know: Situation In Nigeria Seems Pretty Complex:

“We are here to kick the Taliban out. Why are you not helping us?”

“What can we provide for you? You have planes, tanks and guns. What do we have? We’re simple people…. If you can’t win, how can we?”

If you don’t mind hearing dim-witted rednecks say “governance” and “violent Islamic jihadists” every 20 seconds, this Frontline video is an exceptional look into how very lost is the war in Afghanistan.

In the latest round of confrontations with the hard-right Israeli government and their Washington-based AIPAC sycophants, Obama has pursued a deceptively forceful manner in dealing with Middle East policy.

As the Freeman appointment proved, you cannot take on the Israel lobby in broad daylight. They are too powerful, too controlling, too knee-jerk in their hysteria to be confronted in a manner that says unequivocally “you are no longer in the drivers seat”.

Instead, as Obama has done, the Israel Lobby must be confronted with smiles, with assurances of fairness and dignity for all life, and refrains for peace and prosperity for both Israel and Palestine. But the refrains are now a twist on old platitudes — peace no longer means Israel inflicting an apartheid state on Palestine, prosperity no longer means increasing settlements for Jewish fanatics in the West Bank, peace no longer means an eager belligerence to wage war on civilians. Most Americans agree on a 2 state solution and humane co-existence until that point, so what serious person could publicly disagree if Obama sincerely pursues it. Obama’s words on ‘peace and prosperity’ are refreshing because they no longer serve merely as an empty vessel through which Israel cashes its blank check from American power.

I know a lot of people are getting hell-bent over the current discussion on torture (I certainly have). But certain elements of this discussion have concerned me, mostly the idea that America has lost its ‘moral compass’ during the Bush years and through the torture and extraordinary rendition scandal.

To this, I simply respond What moral compass? America, in it’s 220 years of existence has succeeded precisely because it’s geo-political and economic strategies have no moral element to them. The short-sightedness of this debate is that the Bush years were some sort of anomaly in the trajectory of American goodness, while the truth is the narrative of America has been one of human rights abuse, economic exploitation, and disregard for the lives of non-Americans.

A small smattering of America’s ‘moral compass’ just from the past 50 years:

• Covertly overthrew President Salvador Allende in Chile and replacing him with Augusto Pinochet who would kill and torture over 100,000 people
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