What I care about is whether he can be trusted. Since the answer to that is a resounding NO, he can think that he's the Queen of the Nutcracker Fairies for all I care.
Abu Mazen is basically all the mendacity and thievery of Arafat, but without Arafat's charm or charisma. He's trying to follow the example of his unlamented mentor, saying one thing in English and its opposite in Arabic... but unlike Arafat, nobody really listens. The only reason anyone in the West takes him seriously is because they desperately need to have SOMEONE to take seriously... and, on the PLO/Fatah side, there's no one else standing.
And so it is, in the topsy-turvy world of Middle Eastern politics, that a known terrorist, a man who wrote a Holocaust-denying screed for his dissertation, a liar and a thief and a murderer, is called a 'moderate'. (Why? Because the alternative is worse. Both Fatah and Hamas want to destroy Israel, but Fatah at least is willing to lie about it... which makes them better, doesn't it? Doesn't it?)
How many times in the past have we had a discussion on taquiya and its use?
Even Clinton now uses it. One side of her mouth for AIPAC, the other side for Israel.
Abbas has been lying for as long as he's been around.
If he was sincere he would have accepted Olmert's offer. Instead he has gone along grabbing the openings Obama has given him to refuse to discuss anything with Israel. All he has to do is sit back and wait for the State Department, the UN and the rest of the world make it impossible for Israel to defend itself while Iran, Syria and Turkey let loose all the terror of their regimes.
And he and the West will put on a show of sackcloths and ashes for Jewish organizations in the States.
He takes his marching orders from the Arab League.
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A man who is happy to be fooled because it suits his "narrative"?
Shorter answer: us.
What does Mahmoud Abbas Really Think?
Why should I care?
What I care about is whether he can be trusted. Since the answer to that is a resounding NO, he can think that he's the Queen of the Nutcracker Fairies for all I care.
Abu Mazen is basically all the mendacity and thievery of Arafat, but without Arafat's charm or charisma. He's trying to follow the example of his unlamented mentor, saying one thing in English and its opposite in Arabic... but unlike Arafat, nobody really listens. The only reason anyone in the West takes him seriously is because they desperately need to have SOMEONE to take seriously... and, on the PLO/Fatah side, there's no one else standing.
And so it is, in the topsy-turvy world of Middle Eastern politics, that a known terrorist, a man who wrote a Holocaust-denying screed for his dissertation, a liar and a thief and a murderer, is called a 'moderate'. (Why? Because the alternative is worse. Both Fatah and Hamas want to destroy Israel, but Fatah at least is willing to lie about it... which makes them better, doesn't it? Doesn't it?)
What if he is sincere? Wouldn't it be wrong not to keep an open mind?
Aaaagh! Sophia,
How many times in the past have we had a discussion on taquiya and its use?
Even Clinton now uses it. One side of her mouth for AIPAC, the other side for Israel.
Abbas has been lying for as long as he's been around.
If he was sincere he would have accepted Olmert's offer. Instead he has gone along grabbing the openings Obama has given him to refuse to discuss anything with Israel. All he has to do is sit back and wait for the State Department, the UN and the rest of the world make it impossible for Israel to defend itself while Iran, Syria and Turkey let loose all the terror of their regimes.
And he and the West will put on a show of sackcloths and ashes for Jewish organizations in the States.
He takes his marching orders from the Arab League.