ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style2 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style3 { height: 69px; } .MsoNormal {} h1 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style4 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="133" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="300" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="2"> <td width="133" height="2">&nbsp;</td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style2">Israel&#39;s Collison Course</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright February 23, 2009<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style4">W</span>hen Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu was selected Feb. 20 by Israeli President Shimon Peres to form the next parliament, the White House groaned, uncertain about Mideast Peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton heads to Jerusalem and Ramallah March 3 to size up realistic peace prospects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>She knows that Netanyahu, whose Likud Party received 27 seats, is less inclined than Kadima Party leader Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to go along with a U.S.-backed two-state peace plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>While Livni s Party won 28 votes, Peres felt Netanyahu had the best shot a cobbling together a working coalition over the next six weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Defense Minister Ehud Barak s Labor Party, with whom Livi would partner, only won 13 seats, the worst showing in 20 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Avigdor Lieberman, ultra-conservative Yisrael Beiteinu Party leader, won 15 seats, dashing Livni s hopes..</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Netanyahu prefers forming a coalition government with Kadima, whose policies sync with the Obama administration s plan to negotiate a comprehensive Mideast peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Livni wants a power-sharing arrangement with Netanyahu in which both leaders would rotate two years as prime minister in a four-year term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>So far, Netanyahu rejects power-sharing, preferring to offer Livni another full term as foreign minister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Labor leader Ehud Barak has already signaled he intends to go in opposition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> The voters verdict has sent the Labor Party into opposition, said Barak putting more pressure on Livni to join Netanyahu s government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While Livni collected one more seat than Netanyahu, she knows that he has enough seats to form a government with conservative parties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Despite all of Netanyahu s bravado, he s far more accommodating than Lieberman and other religious leaders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Netanyahu learned a bitter lesson about electoral politics, losing prime minister May 17, 1999 to Ehud Barak, now defense minister and Labor Party leader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Ironically, Barak lost Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon Feb. 2000, whose conservative ways morphed into an unlikely peacemaker, resigning from Likud Nov. 21, 2005 and founding the moderate Kadima [meaning forward] Party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Sharon came full circle from a war hawk, indicted at the Hague for the 1983 Phalangist Christian Lebanese massacre in the Palestinians refugee camps Sabra and Shatila.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Sharon, who was then defense minister under Prime Minister Menachem Begin, was unfairly blamed for Christian retaliation of PLO atrocities 20 years earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Sharon learned that peacemaking involved compromise, forming the centrist Kadima Party in 2005, now headed by Livni, showing no signs of political compromise.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <![endif]>Meeting with Netanyahu Feb. 20, Livni refused to join his government, unless she shares prime minister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Though she cites irreconcilable differences, she s willing to put ideology aside if Bibi gives her what she wants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> She s spent the last week politicking, painting Netanyahu as a right wing fanatic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>She presented herself as the Obama administration s only hope of getting a Mideast peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While it s true she s campaigned as peacemaker, it s also true Bibi had to placate Lieberman and other right wing religious parties to win the election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Attaining 27 seats was remarkable when you consider Bibi couldn t draw crossovers from Kadima and Labor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Livni needs to stop playing politics and work with Netanyahu to form a new government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>She s far better off serving as foreign minister than trying to win a power-sharing arrangement that dilutes Israel s peacemaking efforts.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Livni may try to wait until Hillary s visit March 3 before committing herself to either joining Netanyahu s coalition or staying in opposition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>White House officials shouldn t assume Livni would make a better peace partner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Sharon fooled a lot of his critics becoming peacemaker, committing Israel to leave Gaza.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>No one expected the once conservative hawk to compromise on Gaza.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>beyond ironic that that decision resulted in Hamas 2007 takeover, leaving Mahmoud Abbas Fatah vulnerable to a coup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When Hillary arrives, it s doubtful she ll meet with Hamas in Gaza City.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>She s expected to meet with Israel s caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Netanyahu and Livni.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>She plans to visit Abbas in Ramallah to discus what can be done to bring about Palestinian unity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Clinton knows, like her predecessor Condoleezza Rice, that she can t negotiate peace with half the Palestinians.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Netanyahu appears to be moving in the right direction, moderating his stands to cobble together a more centrist government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>So far, Livni has pushed Netanyahu further into the hands of Avigdor Lieberman s Yizrael Beiteinu ultranationalist party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Livni hopes to isolate Netanyahu and wind up the consensus pick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Let s unite to secure the future for the state of Israel, addressing Livni and Barak after given the nod to form a new government by President Shimon Peres.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I ask to meet with you first to discuss a broad national unity government, said Bibi, asking his opponents to bury the hatchet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Livn still believes she can sabotage Netanyahu and end up prime minister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Hillary s visit promises to apply more pressure on Netanyahu by painting Livni s as the consensus pick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Like Sharon, Netanyahu will rise to the occasion, put ideology aside and work toward a reasonable Mideast peace. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analysing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He&#39;s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html"><i>Dodging</i> <i>The Bullet</i> </a>and <i> <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a>.</i></p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td width="133" height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="133" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>