#15301

The best guide to what Donald Trump would do as president appears to be what he said he would do as president.

#15302

The Democrats can't seem to get their act together after their stunning 2016 losses.

#15303

George W. Bush didn’t do this. Bill Clinton didn’t do this. We shouldn’t tolerate Biden and Schumer doing it, either.

#15304

By the end of his second week in office, President Donald Trump has discovered it is actually possible for him to do something that garners applause from the mainstream media. Though Democrats seem more interested in futile gestures of “resistance” to his government than in normal opposition, all Trump had to do to gain a modicum of respect from the New York Times and other denizens of the liberal echo chamber was to preserve rather than reject the policies of his predecessor. Or at least that was how the Times and the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC perceived the new administration’s statements about Israel, Iran, and Russia this week. In reality, the claim that, as the front-page headline in Friday’s Times put it, “Trump Reverts to Pillars of Obama Foreign Policy,” is actually dead wrong when applied to the Middle East.
The Times story treated administration statements about Israeli settlements, sanctions against Iran, and Russian aggression against Ukraine as proof that Trump was backing away from efforts to reverse President Obama’s policies. The jury is still out on what direction the administration will take toward Russia, though this week’s statements from U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley signaled the administration’s continued opposition to Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine, which should give hope to those who believe the president’s crush on Vladimir Putin needs to be nipped in the bud.
With respect to the Middle East, however, the effort to interpret administration statements as an embrace of Obama’s policies — namely his unprecedented pressure on Israel and his desire for détente with Iran — are simply false. The argument that Trump is embracing Obama’s approach centers on one statement from White House press secretary Sean Spicer:
While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful.
That can be reasonably interpreted as opposing the creation of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank. But its first clause is a complete and total rejection of the repeated assertions of both Obama and former secretary of state John Kerry that settlements are the primary obstacle in the way of a peace deal.
Spicer’s words are actually a declaration that Trump is embracing the terms of President George W. Bush’s 2004 letter to the Israeli government, in which Bush said that changes on the ground since 1967 would have to be taken into account in any peace agreement. In practice, Bush made it clear that meant Israel would keep parts of Eastern Jerusalem as well as the major settlement blocs erected near the 1967 lines, where more than 80 percent of West Bank settlers live. Just as important, he signaled that new construction in those areas would not be considered an issue by the United States. Bush’s position was explicitly rejected by Obama, who consistently blamed Israel for the failure of his efforts to broker peace no matter what the Palestinians did, and advanced the belief that 40-year-old Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem and the blocs were just as “illegal” as the most remote hilltop settlement in the middle of the West Bank.
As to the question of “new settlements,” according to the Obama administration, Israel never stopped building them in vast numbers. Indeed, in December Obama’s deputy National Security Council adviser actually defended the administration’s decision to allow a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel to pass by claiming that the Israelis had been constructing “tens of thousands” of new settlements. The claim was, of course, rubbish.
In fact, there are only approximately 230 settlements in the West Bank including those unauthorized by Israeli law. When Israel’s critics speak of its government’s building “new settlements,” they are referring to the erection of new houses or apartments in existing communities. So the announcement this week that Israel is building several-hundred new homes in Jerusalem and West Bank settlements does not actually fall under Spicer’s definition of construction that “may not be helpful” to the efforts toward a peace deal.
The new administration appears to understand, as Obama never did, that the biggest obstacle to peace is the Palestinians.
The timing is interesting, because this week Israel did announce legal authorization for what is, contrary to what the mainstream media might tell you, the first “new settlement” to go up in more than 20 years. But even that decision isn’t as bad as it sounds: The settlement was approved to house Israelis who have just been evicted from Amona, a controversial village built on land that wasn’t legally purchased and was ordered demolished by Israeli courts.
At worst, then, Spicer’s message may be seen as a mild slap on the wrist for the replacement of Amona. The notion that it is an embrace of Obama’s obsessive criticism of Israeli settlement policy has no basis in fact. The new administration appears to understand, as Obama never did, that the biggest obstacle to peace is the Palestinians, who have repeatedly rejected Israel’s offers of a two-state solution that would involve dismantling settlements. Had they ever said “yes” to Israel’s offers, those settlements beyond Jerusalem and the blocs would have been vacated years ago.
On Iran, those arguing that Trump has come around to Obama’s point of view are on even shakier ground. According to the Times, Trump’s decision to impose new sanctions on Iran for its violations of U.N. resolutions forbidding them to test ballistic missiles is proof that he is reverting to one of the “pillars” of Obama’s strategy. Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, however, was contingent on America’s agreeing to dismantle international sanctions. And while Trump has not torn up the deal — a move that would involve its other signatories — he has pledged to try to enforce it more strictly than Obama, and he appears determined to hold the Iranians accountable for non-nuclear misbehavior such as their support for international terrorism.
While Trump has not yet moved the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as he promised during the campaign, he has already made it clear that Obama’s quest for more “daylight” between the two allies is over. Only someone who expects Trump to take positions to the right of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on settlements and the two-state solution — Netanyahu has restrained the growth of the former and publicly backs the latter — could characterize the new administration’s policies as being reminiscent of Obama’s.
Predicting what Donald Trump will ultimately do in the Middle East or anywhere else is a fool’s errand. But if there is any one overarching theme to his foreign policy it is a rejection of his predecessor’s approach. Trump has already shown an understanding that Obama’s misguided Middle East preoccupations weakened the U.S. position and made the region a more dangerous place. He may make mistakes of his own in the next four years, but it is highly unlikely that he will repeat those of his predecessor.
— Jonathan S. Tobin is a contributor to National Review Online. Follow him on Twitter @jonathans_tobin.

#15305

Ayaan Hirsi Ali says on 'The First 100 Days' that Linda Sarsour is a supporter of Sharia law

#15306

A number of top Democratic lobbyists have significant ties to Russian interests, including the Podesta Group, Lanny Davis, and former Sen. John Breaux.

#15307

Diamond Reynolds and three others are in jail for the attack, awaiting charges.

#15308

Kendall Tietz A school district in Colorado was forced to cancel classes Thursday after nearly 1,500 employees called in sick to protest the actions of

#15309

The Trump administration canceled plans to probe Americans for their sexual orientation in the 2020 Census, nixing efforts by congressional Democrats who’d wanted a better picture of the country’s increasingly complex family and sexual dynamics.

#15310

City tax collector wants to post home addresses of drivers online.

#15312

Republican Trump supporter Benji Irby and his wife went to visit the North Carolina State Capitol when they happened upon a Black Lives Matter statue protest...with NO BLACK PEOPLE in attendance!

#15313

Three men jailed in connection with the rape of a 14-year-old Utah girl who drifted in and out of consciousness during the act — and that was recorded on video because one of the culprits thought "it was funny" — have been given probation.
What are the details?
Richard Djassera, 26, Dodjim Leclai...

#15314

"I don’t know what a “socially constructed idea” is, or how you would distinguish it from any other idea that just happened to pop into a person’s head."

#15315

"America's Got Talent" host Nick Cannon delivered a racist and anti-Semitic rant in a June 30 episode of his podcast, "Cannon's Class."

#15316

A good chunk of Donald Trump's base has taken to Twitter in order to vent their fury over the president's reported new deal with Democrats.

#15317

"Last night a Facebook notification showed up on my screen. A friend had posted a picture to my wall. What I saw disgusted me." That's how Zuri Davis, 19, describes the moment she saw a Facebook post targeting her for being a black, female supporter of Sen. Rand Paul...

#15318

There are consequences for backing the wrong horse.

#15319

U.S.—A new policy issued by the United States Department of Defense, in conjunction with online platforms like Twitter and Facebook, will automatically enlist you to fight in a foreign war if you post your support for attacking another country.People who bravely post about how the U.S. needs to invade some country in the Middle East or Asia or outer spac …

#15320

To the chagrin of some local Republicans, Trump may be speaking to a large crowd in Phoenix.

#15321

A Donald Trump-supporting beauty queen has been stripped of her title after being accused of posting "offensive" statistics on social media. Online conservatives have since rallied around he

#15322

Body language expert Nick Morgan breaks down the message the candidates were sending with their body language.

#15323

While markets suffer over the Fed's rate hike rhetoric, Trump claims to have all the answers to the country's economic woes and masterfully uses publicity to...

#15324

Here's our round-up of 14 fishy facts in the third round of GOP debates

#15325

They want to take over most of the state and cut off coastal urban areas.
