Okay, so it's not real news ... but I kind of liked having a cat as the First Pet in the White House. He wasn't the first, of course, but there was something about Chelsea Clinton's cat, Socks. Socks Clinton died today at the age of 19 from cancer. He will be missed.
I really can't have a pet -- too many bad memories from childhood that haunt me still -- but I kind of like cats more than I do dogs. Story goes that Socks and Buddy (Slick Willy's dog) just couldn't get along ... but you have to wonder if the cat knew something about Bill before Hillary and Chelsea found out.
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On a far more serious note, it's not really a surprise but Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud has been given a shot at forming a government in Israel. Some of his coalition partners, including Avigdor Lieberman of Beiteinu and Eli Yishai of Shas, are definitely going to pull the puppet strings; and the peace process could be set back quite a bit. Not surpringsly, Tzipi Livni of Kadima, who narrowly won the most seats but has fewer coalition partners to choose from, says she is not interested in a unity government (if that's who Bibi's going to partner with).
Unfortunately, even those who want a two state solution (like me) realize that there's no peace to be had no matter who forms the government -- not as long as there are whole countries that still refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist, let alone home grown terrorist groups. I think a lot of Obama's political capital is going to be spent on the Middle East file and thus drawing precious resources from two folders -- Africa where there has to be a definitive turning point on development and aid, and the EU where he'll have to figure out how to balance the bloc as a competitor to the States as well as keeping it as a trading partner against the growing Russian threat.
Four more years of war ... all we really need right now.
I really can't have a pet -- too many bad memories from childhood that haunt me still -- but I kind of like cats more than I do dogs. Story goes that Socks and Buddy (Slick Willy's dog) just couldn't get along ... but you have to wonder if the cat knew something about Bill before Hillary and Chelsea found out.
****
On a far more serious note, it's not really a surprise but Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud has been given a shot at forming a government in Israel. Some of his coalition partners, including Avigdor Lieberman of Beiteinu and Eli Yishai of Shas, are definitely going to pull the puppet strings; and the peace process could be set back quite a bit. Not surpringsly, Tzipi Livni of Kadima, who narrowly won the most seats but has fewer coalition partners to choose from, says she is not interested in a unity government (if that's who Bibi's going to partner with).
Unfortunately, even those who want a two state solution (like me) realize that there's no peace to be had no matter who forms the government -- not as long as there are whole countries that still refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist, let alone home grown terrorist groups. I think a lot of Obama's political capital is going to be spent on the Middle East file and thus drawing precious resources from two folders -- Africa where there has to be a definitive turning point on development and aid, and the EU where he'll have to figure out how to balance the bloc as a competitor to the States as well as keeping it as a trading partner against the growing Russian threat.
Four more years of war ... all we really need right now.
1 comment:
Aw. Good-bye, Socks -- that was a good long run.
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