Rubin Reports

When I read the platform I am shocked and disappointed. I can pick at the issues of popularity, Afghanistan and Iraq. But the failure to deal with revolutionary Islamism is ridiculously glaring (they didn’t use the tiniest fig leaf to cover themselves), making a mockery about the democracy and human rights’ pretensions. The treatment of Middle East allies is shockingly insulting. The issues of Syria and Egypt are simply dodged. There is not a single mention of the opposition in Iran. All terrorists not involved directly in the September 11, 2001, attacks are ignored. There is not the slightest hint that any regional strategy exists at all.

The less you know about Islam, the better. Ignorance is strength.

It’s the age of revolutionary Islamism, especially Sunni Islamism. And you better learn to understand what this is all about real fast.

An Egyptian friend visited China a few years ago and asked a counterpart, “China has been the victim of so much oppression and imperialism. How do you deal with that?” The response was, “We got over it.” My friend was astonished, but he realized that his own society would be far better off if it eschewed the politics of revenge and bitter hatred. In contrast, Israel and China share a focuses on positive national construction, raising living standards, and seeking peace.

If you are really being so hurt by the existence and growth of settlements then make peace fast and get rid of them.

Over and over again I’ve written about what President Barack Obama should do. Now the voters have given him a whole new chance. He could take it and change his policy. I don't believe he will do that but let me lay out both what he's been wrong and what he should do, just in case Obama is seeking a different approach.

In the 6400 words used by Obama, Islam only constitutes three of them.

Despite Obama's disastrous Middle East policy, in practice, there have been no real, material, or huge problems in direct U.S.-Israel relations.

No Jew need ever starve, because they always make a good living as a critic of Israel.

There is a debate over the causes of terrorism and anti-Americanism in the world. One possible view is that the principal problem is that of genuine conflict. The adversaries hold certain ideological ideas—say, revolutionary Islamism—to which American society and policies are antithetical. The collision (as with Communism, Nazism, and aggressive Japanese militarism in earlier decades) is inevitable. The United States is inconveniencing the totalitarians both because of what it does (policies) and because of what it represents (freedom, democracy, capitalism).

Rowhani will have little power.

One of the factors in British policy was a hope that if the Germans were flattered and treated properly, they would not be aggressive.

Mitt Romney gave a speech at the Virginia Military Institute today which focuses on U.S. Middle East policy. There are some good points in this speech that are definite steps forward. Romney sounded like a president should, someone who grasps power politics, deterrence, credibility, supporting allies and opposing enemies, and all the basic principles that have been largely vanished by the Obama Administration in exchange for unworkable and dangerous concepts. (Watch video)

After going along with Obama, it is now said in the United States that Netanyahu tried to undermine Obama or didn’t cooperate.

Many Americans, and particularly Jews, are starting to receive mailings encouraging them to vote for or donate to the reelection campaign of President Barack Obama by arguing that he is pro-Israel. Several readers have asked me to provide them with responses. Here is a brief answer.

If 2011 was the year of the Arab Spring, 2013 looks to be the year of the Arab Fall.

I have been working hard to explain to people that Iran’s nuclear weapons are not the major threat to Israel.

Is there no one who remembers this recent history?

In 2012-2013, the vultures in the Middle East are coming home to roost. Of course, the main cause of developments in the region is the long, failed legacy of radical Arab nationalism which is now being replaced by what we’ll be calling in 20 or 30 years the long, failed legacy of revolutionary Islamism. But the secondary cause is the mistaken policy of President Barack Obama.

If they could have pressed a button and Israel would have disappeared, almost none of them would have hesitated.

The next era in the Middle East will be dominated by the debate over whether Islamism is the way to go. Islamists will radicalize the regional scene, carry out terrorism at home and abroad, and inflict repression on their own people wherever they get power.

The current voluntary, but not inevitable, decline of the United States places many US allies at risk.

The Obama Administration's policy toward Syria is turning into a scandal on both strategic and humanitarian grounds.

Why have those who govern Syria followed such a pattern for more than six decades under almost a dozen different regimes?

The difference between the Muslim Brotherhood and “Salafists” is purely tactical. The Brotherhood has learned how to maneuver politically, an advance similar to what Lenin instituted for the Marxists of his day. You can’t just declare a revolution and change everything overnight. And just as Lenin planned to get the capitalists to sell him the rope with which to hang them, the Brotherhood plots the same course with the infidels.

If the US cannot depend on its new “allies,” despite the supposed popularity of Obama and its policies in those places, then how can they be said to be allies at all?

Romney must respond to attacks like Gingrich or New Jersey governor Chris Christie would. A gentlemanly, gloves-on strategy will not win this election. This does not mean Romney should call Obama a socialist or Marxist. Instead, he should show that he’s the mainstream candidate while the Obama administration is out of step with historic, successful American practice.

Obama must learn now about the dangers of Islamism or his administration will continue to be a net minus for Israel.

Whatever happens, there will be a Muslim Brotherhood regime in Syria and Obama will support it.

Janice Fiamengo’s brilliant article, “The Unteachables: A Generation that Cannot Learn,” fits my past experience teaching at American universities. But I realized that her account applied perfectly to…something else.