Fault Lines In The Borg?

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/episode/pbs-newshour-full-episode-july-14-2015/

In this episode of "The Newshour,"  we have evidence of cracks in the usually seamless nature of the policy collective.

- Susan Rice ( 13:34 ) makes a clear eyed and (for her) impassioned defense of the Iran nuclear agreement.

- OTOH we have the baying of a panel of the "usual suspects" assembled evidently for the purpose of having Judy Woodruff feed them "set up" lines so that they could declaim against the deal. (20:30)

Michael Haydon's denunciation of the deal was a bit of a surprise, but of such material are generals made these days.  Perhaps he is not on good terms with Hillary or simply thinks that she will implode eventually, weighted down by her plasticized campaign and that Obama will be succeeded by a faithful servant of Natanyahu.  

Sandy Berger made a few fitful attempts to inject just a little balance into the discussion but was treated with barely concealed disdain as a perhaps "reformed" kleptomaniac.  (Berger was apprehended some years ago while trying to steal documents from the US National Archives.)

Woolsey is a long time, big time neocon operator and Dennis Ross, well, he is on record as being a faithful son of Israel.  (They, are, he said, my people.)

IMO The Newshour has become the most sophisticated mechanism in the hasbara network.  Gwen Ifill is an excellent reporter but she is really fronting for the controlling interest there.

The Borg is splitting over this.  How much farther will the cracks spread?  pl

Comments

[Margaret Steinfels]

Yes, Judy Woodruff is pitiful, especially with that little worry frown she sends with her vacuous questions.

One surprise, Dennis Ross, when speaking of the critics of the agreement of whom he is certainly one, said, (I paraphrase): The critics have to say what the alternative is. But, of course, Judy ended without the critics having to say! Woolsey is certainly operating past his sell-by date.

[Matthew]

Col: Wait until the Chambers of Commerce start realizing that the Iran train is leaving the station. The Usual Suspects are going to cost American business a lot of market opportunities.

When my sister visited Iran three years ago, she was told that the Iranians much preferred dealing with Americans and Europeans--as opposed to Russians and Chinese.

Let's hope our business leaders don't let this opportunity slip away.

[Tyler]

Sir,

You call it the Borg. Over in the neoreactionary side of the house, they call it the Cathedral. I think you and some others here will appreciate the similarities and observation.

Scroll down, but the entire thing is worth reading.

http://home.earthlink.net/~peter.a.taylor/moldbug.htm

[nick b]

Col.,

Why the surprise at Hayden? He was part of Jeb Bush's exploratory committee and endorsed Bush back in May. I doubt he'd stray any significant distance from the Bush position on this deal. Last I read Bush had declared the agreement as "dangerous, deeply flawed, and short sighted deal...This isn't diplomacy – it is appeasement."

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Michael-Hayden-Jeb-Bush-endorsement/2015/05/04/id/642511/

http://www.nationaljournal.com/2016-elections/iran-deal-republican-presidential-candidates-20150714

Is this a crack in the 'borg' or just Presidential campaign politics?

[turcopolier]

Margaret Steinfels
Ross is clever. IMO he said that to establish some modicum of credibility. pl

[LeaNder]

I agree on Dennis Ross. What I found interesting is that he suddenly added the Houthis to the usual suspects. I doubt he often found it important to specify among the sea of other Arabs out there. North-and-South-Border-wise so to speak. Not much much more necessary.

****

I had these feeling often before, the strange agreement creates goosepimples. Couldn't one create one's enemies with this constant hammering rhetoric of distrust after all. ... I have no idea.

[GulfCoastPirate]

Colonel,

Saw Wilkerson via an online news service last night. He said in his remarks the reason Bibi and the Israelis want this deal dead is it gets in their way of creating a 'greater' Israel that encompasses all the biblical land they claim. They're going to go after land now part of Iraq, Syria, Jordan and continue their colonization of the West Bank and the Palestinians.

That's some penance he was given if he thinks it's now time to tell the truth we've all known for many years now.

[The Beaver]

Margaret

You are right about Woolsey - I guess my blood pressure went up whilst watching them last night

[Richard Armstrong]

Tyler-Very nice link. Seriously. ra

[mbrenner]

This is simply the hole that Obama has dug himself. In his characteristic fashion, he has adopted and then disseminated the thoughts of his far-Right critics while offering himself as a pragmatic alternative who can achieve the same results with less mayhem. Thus, the frame of understanding and analysis is slanted fully in the direction of the ultras. Consequently, the so-called debate that ensues is between two versions of the same story. The MSM lap it up since that absolves them of doing any thinking except for brief refresher "brain rinsings' about every decade.

[William R. Cumming]

The true Borg test will be after Labor DAY IMO when people may start to get interested in the relative nearness of Primary Season.

Could Hayden really have so mismanaged his affairs that he needs another Federal pension?

[Swampy]

Dark Enlightenment, huh. Interesting rabbit hole to fall through.

Here's the flop:

http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/03/03/reactionary-philosophy-in-an-enormous-planet-sized-nutshell/

https://web.archive.org/web/20150209130630/http://thebaffler.com/blog/mouthbreathing-machiavellis">http://thebaffler.com/blog/mouthbreathing-machiavellis">https://web.archive.org/web/20150209130630/http://thebaffler.com/blog/mouthbreathing-machiavellis

[Macgupta123]

The opposition to the Iran deal seems very vehement. Should we then expect some engineered unfortunate incident around Labor Day, with an "Iran" label on it, that serves to stampede Congress into voting against the Iran deal to punish Iran?

[turcopolier]

Macgupta123

It would be difficult to do that without the cooperation of the Executive Branch. pl

[Tyler]

Swampy,

Sorry, but Nick Pell had a pretty good take down on how the blowhard reactions by scared liberals are just that. "Muh civil rights aren't the end all be all of human existence??? Democracy isn't an unalloyed good???"

http://takimag.com/article/overreacting_to_neoreaction_nicholas_james_pell#axzz3g0aKwFei

"Mainstream liberal blogs have recently discovered the neoreactionary movement, also known as the Dark Enlightenment, which is a plucky collection of backward-looking upstarts that started to gel sometime in late 2012. The only unifying themes in coverage are an unfounded sense of hysteria and a complete inability to get the point."

Check and check. Both of your links are basically nervous laughter while saying "Could ANYONE believe anything so crazy, right? Are you some sort of Nazi Racist?"

[alba etie]

The Beaver
Woolsey was a big cheer leader for W invading Iraq . He has no credibility period.

[jonst]

It might be a slow day for me Col, but i am not easily following you here. WHERE is the split? I watched this same sorry spectacle, explained to the wife, what the hell I thought was going on here. But I did not see a split. I saw Rice, representing Obama, playing the--the recently taken on, part of guy saying...'we're outta here soon, and I'll say what I want'. But think the Borg is united and will kill this and the panel that followed only added to my conviction. I don't think he has the votes...I don't think he will be near it. Glad to be proven wrong. 'I can hear him say, 'fine, I negotiated it, you guys want to reject it, fine, its your business, I'm outta here and movin on to generational wealth.

I'll go back and reread your post.

[Charles I]

There's a primary and an election afoot so surely a lot of things are going to be said by a lot of people on every issue d'jour, who then go on to completely contradict themselves, as Donald Trump is being shown doing now.

What is clear that whatever the split, it will be compulsory to "compensate" our "allies", our "losers", unless war can still be expanded.

[russ]

A WOLF TALE AND JUDY
Almost 35 years ago, I was doing full time Middle East graduate studies at George Washington University in D.C made possible by DIA. While there, I was told repeatedly by several students that the student body was two thirds Jewish and one third other (including Jeff White and me and with Max Gross on the faculty teaching Islam). At least half of my classmates in Middle East courses self-identified as Jewish and they were among the people I hung out with between classes. One day one or more of these individuals invited me to a Hillel meeting which was to feature a presentation by Wolf Blitzer. At that time, he was the Washington or Presidential correspondent for The Jerusalem Post (an English language paper which had a reputation for relatively objectivity). I had never heard of Blitzer but I had read his paper and so went along. This far removed from the event, I can no longer remember the specifics of his remarks but do remember it as an unremitting harangue that instructed members of the audience to do everything they could to promote Israeli interests in the U.S. and a detailing of the viewpoints they should convey to appropriate audiences. And indeed several of the GW students I knew volunteered at AIPAC and in the offices of sympathetic congressmen. Suffice it to say today, I trust nothing that comes out of Wolf’s mouth about the Middle East.
If Judy Woodruff interviews people opposed to the Iran nuclear agreement she will need to be carefully scripted because she is not able to think on her feet and is nonplussed by “heretical” views she doesn't understand. We have also frequent observed her unable to recognize that the interviewee has answered her original question and so asks it again….
russ
apologies if you get this more than once the post button did not seem to be working

[Babak Makkinejad]

In a comment to a reporter, one of the Iranian negotiators in Vienna observed several weeks ago that Mr. Obama was on one side and the rest of US Government on the other.

Make of it what you will.

[Macgupta123]

I meant by say, Israel or Saudi Arabia.