Together with Brazil, Turkey has arranged and signed the Tehran Declaration of a nuclear fuel swap deal with beleaguered Iran. This declaration derails the Israeli plans of sanctioning Iran to death prior to bombing it. The sanctions plan was already on its way to the Security Council; allegedly Russia and China had been pressured to agree. At the last moment, like a deus ex machina - like divine intervention in the medieval theatre - these two new great powers of Turkey and Brazil entered the stage and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. All the plotting of Israeli lobbyists in the US and Europe was wiped out in an instant.
Israel received the news of the Turkey-Brazil-Iran agreement as a heavy blow. "We were defeated by the crafty Turks and Iranians," read the headlines of Israeli newspapers. Not so fast. The US State Department had tried to minimize the damage, effectively asking: "Who cares what these lowlifes agree about? If we have decided to bomb somebody, bomb we shall. We shall never allow facts to confuse us." Thomas Friedman in the NYT was disappointed why "a Holocaust-denying thug" is allowed to live. However, world policy-making has changed, and decisions are not made exclusively in Washington, London or Moscow any more. Mid-size countries - regional powers - are back in vogue, and it is much better for all of us.
Russia's position remains somewhat doubtful. There are persistent rumors that Russia had agreed to support the sanctions despite the Tehran swap deal declaration, and these rumors had caused Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to issue a strong warning. "We do not know whether Russia is a friend or a foe," he said. 'Surely a friend', replied the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, adding that Russia is well pleased with the Declaration and wishes it to succeed. Nothing is final in our world, but meanwhile it seems that Turkey and Brazil, Erdogan and Lula, succeeded in killing the Israeli-American aggression plan.
After derailing the sanctions against Iran, the indomitable Turk sent his vessels to relieve the siege of Gaza. A whole flotilla of small and medium boats is on its way to Gaza now, and among them, a large boat from Turkey, accompanied by a boat bought and equipped by another great friend of Palestine, Mahathir Mohammad of Malaysia.
Free Gaza did sail boats to Gaza over the past two years with differing results; they had some important persons aboard, notably our friend, the wonderful Cynthia McKinney, but this is the first time that the steering of this freedom regatta has passed from the hands of nice European volunteers to the locals, to the peoples of the region. This is a vast change, and a change that means a lot. While the Palestinian cause was only the cause celebré of Europeans with conscience, it was containable. Now, when it has become the concern of the local region, the countdown for the freak Zionist mini-Empire has begun.
And speaking of ships, there are clear signs that the biggest ship of all, the United States of America, is turning as well. Big ships cannot stop on a dime, advises the Nautical Almanac. They may require as much as 5 miles to stop, with gears in full reverse. Big ships may need 5-10 miles to turn. Now, what is true for supertankers and aircraft carriers is equally true for America.
By the time of Obama's inauguration, the lobby had an impressive influence over America, influence that some experts would define as total control. The lobby was closely connected with the Israeli right-wing establishment. Its roots went deeply into the coffers of Wall Street. Its fingers orchestrated the US media. Europe was in constant fear of the Jews.
Within one year, the lobby has lost much of its position:
• Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was publicly humiliated and sent back home running from the White House's back door.
• President Obama uttered an unheard-of call for Israel to join the NPT (nuclear nonproliferation treaty);
The US "accepted Arab demands to pressure Israel over its atomic program."
• A secret historical document revealing Israel's attempt to sell nukes to the South African Apartheid regime was published by the Guardian.
• Threats have been sounding that the US will stop blocking anti-Israeli resolutions in the Security Council.
• Jews are extremely unhappy with Obama, for Obama, in his inaugural address, mentioned Muslims ahead of Jews, "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and nonbelievers." (Read this craziest ever hilarious list of complaints!)
It appears that President Obama is a cool customer, who knows when to go forward and when it is good to wait. He probably has learned how to catch the big fish. Meanwhile he is undoing the financial basis of the lobby.
• The Madoff affair was a painful attack of the lobby's purse. That criminal managed the funds of many Jewish organizations. For mysterious reasons he admitted his crime, and the dominoes began to fall. An old and venerable American Jewish Congress went down, as well as many smaller bodies and individuals.
• For obscure reasons, Lehman Brothers was allowed to fall, starting the financial crisis. Lehman Brothers was a prominent Jewish institution, actually a reincarnation of the famous Kuhn, Loeb bank. It went down. Such a collapse could not take place without the Obama administration's blessing.
• Now there is a lasting and sustained attack on Goldman-Sachs, one of the biggest and power-connected financial groups. Goldman-Sachs was described by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as an institution whose list of partners reads like a list of East Side Synagogue donors, all Jewish. Now there are daily reports of misdeeds and crimes committed by GS in the US and elsewhere. GS can be tried, found guilty, dismantled and its executives sued. If it goes down, and this is possible, the lobby will find itself in a harsh and inhospitable world. Obama is closely connected to GS, the body that infiltrated all power structures, but apparently he is not going out of his way to save them.
In Israel, there is a feeling that the Dubai debacle was played up by Obama. Israeli security services took a proper lashing in Dubai. They had planned a small and neat trick: the assassination of a Hamas official. But this crime provided Dubai with an opportunity to out many Israeli spies, who apparently were using the Gulf merchant city as their forward HQ in preparing an action against Iran. From Dubai, it is possible to enter Iran even without passport control. Dozens of Israeli spies weren't there just to kill a Hamas man; they were after bigger prey.
Now, not only have they been outed, but the modus operandi of Israeli services who cloned European and American passports wholesale was made public as well. After the UK, Australia expelled an Israeli 'diplomat' representative of the Mossad. In France, where the Zionists were at peak strength, now there are big changes. President Sarkozy (despite his Jewish roots) has expressed his lack of patience with Israel. One of the best known political writers of France, Regis Debray has published a book attacking not just Israel, but even the French Jewish community and its synagogues for their support of Israel. In the UK, a politician that has constantly criticized Israel has become the deputy prime minister.
In the old argument of Dog and Tail, the Dog decided to downgrade the Tail, while the pathetic attempts of the Tail to order the Dog around had failed miserably, and not for lack of trying. Apparently, somewhere within the US establishment it was decided that the American imperial interests are not being served by Israel, and moreover, that the Jewish establishment has become too overbearing and bitchy for its own good. It was decided that the Jewish shrew must be tamed, and so she shall.
I doubt the Israeli wet dream of attacking Iran will materialize now. The chances are 80 to 20 against such a move. However we will have a storm warning: if and when Tzipi Livni joins the government, the chances will go up to 50:50. Israel has never entered a war without the substantial support of the left, and Ehud Barak's presence is not sufficient.
Taming is not breaking. A cautious President Obama did send signals that he is not looking for an all-out war with the organized Jewry. He met with Elie Wiesel and comforted him. He invited more Jewish leaders to the White House - and at the same time he allowed Israel to take a substantial beating. Obama is devious, observers in Israel feel; he is playing a tricky game of embracing with one arm and pushing away with another arm. It appears that there is a forthcoming weather change: at least the older generation of Jewish leaders - conservative, belligerent, aggressive, suspicious - will give way to a new generation, that of Dan Axelrod, Rahm Emmanuel, J-street and the like. Whether it will be a change of style or of substance, it is too early to say - but style is substance, too.
Sure, this will not be enough for many of our friends. People began to pour out their disappointment with Obama within 24 hours of his inauguration. "Wot! A whole day has passed and the American troops are not out of Iraq yet, Israel still gets American support and the bankers are being bailed out?" However, this was to be expected. The US was fully geared to go in a certain direction; even if Obama would like to change course, it would take a longish time.
An interesting sign of this change can be observed in the Hollywood movie Prince of Persia. It is a fable of the Empire's assault on an innocent state (the US attack of Iraq?). The assault was caused by a bald Jewish-looking neocon of a king's brother who lied and supplied false information of WMD because he wanted to become the King. The bad neocon used evil assassins (surely Israelis?). Eventually the main character, the prince, born in the gutter and elevated by the king for his merit (Obama?) stops the war, makes peace with the enemy, even marries the princess.
It was noticed that the US film industry often produces films presaging changes in the policy. Bombing of Serbia, 9/11 and Afghan war were shown in Hollywood movies before they occurred in real life. Judging by the Prince of Persia, the childish Americans are being prepared to a big change.
— Israel Shamir is an internationally acclaimed columnist and writer.
