Chomsky and Bennis Want Policy Changes

Update: See also AP: Obama's Islam Success Depends On Israel and Arno J. Mayer's The Future of Israel and the Decline of the American Empire.

As President Obama moves on the Middle East these last few weeks, reactions are mixed.

The rightwing is predictably disingenuous. See National Review's Michael Rubin caught writing about Obama without listening to, or reading the speech and Charles Krauthammer.

Words matters, but action counts more.

Noam Chomsky and Phyllis Bennis remind us how far we have to go to inject some humanism in our foreign policy in that region.

Noam Chomsky:

A CNN headline, reporting Obama's plans for his June 4 Cairo address, reads 'Obama looks to reach the soul of the Muslim world.' Perhaps that captures his intent, but more significant is the content hidden in the rhetorical stance, or more accurately, omitted.

Phyllis Bennis:

The reality of power – that the U.S. is still the financial, military, diplomatic and political superpower patron on which Israel depends – was not reflected in the press conference that followed the meeting.