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Wednesday, April 9, 2014



Sec State John Kerry’s “Reality Test” of Middle East Negotiation Failure—Predictably a Failure from the Very Beginning!
Nothing spells failure as loudly as the public pronouncements of Sec State John Kerry’s insistence of personalizing the Palestinian-Israeli Peace Negotiations.  In over thirty years in the psychological profession of helping to develop the strategy/tactics for peace treaties,   I have never heard more narcissistic possessiveness of a diplomatic engagement than the one that John Kerry tried to implement between Bibi [Israel] and Abbas[ Palestine].
All that one could hear in the media was the constant travail of the poor Kerry flying in splendor from Washington D.C. to all points Middle East and elsewhere.   The intense media coverage encouraged by the self-aggrandizing Kerry,  who was the first Vietnam combat veteran to bring a camera crew into the war to film his ‘presumed warrior skills’,  never abated.   Therefore,  everything that Kerry did or did not do was dramatized into front page news when in fact very little was accomplished. 
  No one in the White House was willing to control this ‘Flying Dutchman of Narcissus’ seeking the ever evasive Nobel Peace Prize which his former junior Senatorial colleague,  Obama,  received for doing absolutely nothing.   Oops,  sorry about that,  Obama did start a war in Afghanistan just after he had grabbed the Swedish farce of a symbol.   Trust me no country can be as hypocritical than the so-called “neutral Swedes” who funded and armed the Nazi machinery ad infinitum.   Thanks to the nefarious Wallenburg family!!
Now back to our Prince Charming,  John Kerry……
Never once throughout his peace initiatives was there any hint of a clear strategy or clearly formulated outcome.   What became obvious to me, as well as other national security professionals,  was an interminable process of meetings held throughout a nine month gestation period characteristic of birth through procreation.   Instead of some type of Memorandum of Understanding [MOU],  Kerry achieved in that nine month gestation period a well-documented obituary replete with vituperative slanders from both Israeli and Palestinian officials,  pleading for a respite from Kerry’s impolitic intrusions into their nations’ respective progress.
Plainly stated: Kerry made a bad situation exceedingly worse.
In contrast to Kerry’s spectacular defeat,  let me offer you a narrative of someone who created a very successful peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.  Of course,  I am talking about the septuagenarian,  former President Jimmy Carter.
  In 1978,  Carter decided to appoint then Secretary of State Cyrus Vance,  a discreet, effective diplomat to organize and lead a team of experts who could help the President to develop the impossible task of creating a peace treaty between the former belligerent enemies—Israel, led by Menachim Beguin [Likud] and Anwar Sadat [ Egyptian Military, President].
 

Unlike Kerry’s fiasco,  Vance ordered a ‘gag order’ on everyone so that there would be no discussion with the press from any source other than Vance or Carter.   Silence and discretion prevailed throughout the preliminary preparations on the American side.   All relevant agencies were included in the development of a clear strategy accompanied by a matrix of possible negotiation strategies and tactics.   We had developed this negotiation matrix in order to counter any and all possible obstructions toward a successful outcome.   There was no ‘showmanship’ or ‘self-aggrandizing’ allowed or tolerated.
 

I can say that the CIA, under Admiral Stanfield Turner,  provided all types of relevant intelligence regarding personality differences; possible political and economic quagmires; and historical imperatives.   However,  the most compelling contributions from my point of view were from the so-called, highly maligned State Department “Arabists”. 
  Famous US Foreign Service Officers like Herman Eilts [Egypt];  David Newsom;  Frank Wisner;  Arthur Houghton;  Nick Veliotes;  Dean Brown were essential to the understanding the Arab/Palestinian consequences of the Camp David Accords.   Unfortunately,  these experts and FSOs like them had been attacked by the Neocons,  like Robert Kaplan and other Jews,  who had never really ever worked intensively on any treaty or accord dealing with two completely different cultures and personalities.
Back to the main success story-Camp David Accord,  1978.
The real hero of this major success story is the oft forgotten and purposefully overlooked President Jimmy Carter.   Vance asked me one final question before he,  Zbig Brezinski [National Security Advisor]  and Carter went to Camp David:  “What do you think will happen,  Doctor Steve?”
“I can predict Begin’s  and Sadat’s behaviors.  They will want to go down in history as statesmen and not ‘terrorists’.” 
Then I hesitated.  Ironically,  I could not predict the following person:
“Quite frankly,  I don’t know how President Carter will respond.”
As many of you had learned from my previous blogs,  I had been insubordinate to POTUS when attempting to the save the lives of five hundred hostages in the infamous Hanafi Muslim Hostage Seige of Washington, D. C. in 1977.   As it turned out,  even I was surprised to discover that President Carter had singlehandedly manipulated both Begin and Sadat into an agreement that lasted almost half a century.
Never once was that agreement entitled Carter’s Initiative or  Vance’s Israel-Egypt Agreement.   The treaty was called correctly the Camp David Peace Treaty.
  What have we learned since then?
  Clearly,   our so-called leaders do not rely on the expertise of those who have succeeded in the past to create treaties or effective strategies to counter aggressive overtures like Putin in Crimea.   American leaders want to re-invent the wheel over and over again.
  Recently,  I saw President Jimmy Carter on the Stephen Colbert Show,  Colbert asked him a very penetrating question:
“Has Obama asked you for advice?”
“No,” Carter politely answered with some southern charm.
  That ‘no’ resounded loudly in my ears.

If this administration or any other Presidential administration does not ask advice from it’s own distinguished predecessors, whatever their political affiliation, then America will have to rely on the likes of “The Kerry Flying Dutchman”,  wandering about in a worldwind of meaningless process.  Our leaders are ignoring and wasting a valuable American asset if they continue to ignore our past foreign policy successes.  Politicians must put egos aside and tap into this expertise from those that were on the ground and who are still among us.
  Please note that Putin of Russia and Xi Jipeng of China are all waiting to return to the main stage of foreign policy.  They will return on their own terms.
All that money we have spent on electronic surveillance and force structure can never compensate for good old fashioned experience,  competency and discretion.
  

America! do not allow your leaders to exhibit foolish,  childish,  self-adulation,  signifying much of nothing more than a Malignant National Narcissism.  If we do not hold leadership accountable,  America will be the loser.



14 comments:

  1. It seems to me, based on my limited understanding of the situation, that Kerry has a detached understanding of the actual situation on the ground in the region. Abbas might be the public government figure head of Palestine, but isn't Hammas really running things in the west bank? Shouldn't that be the focus of any real peace strategy? And maybe I don't understand the thought process behind this, and I'm open to corrective criticism on this, but how is the idea of Israel releasing terrorist a good idea to improving peace in the region? They want less bombs going off and less attacks on civilians etc, so lets release the ones convicted of destabilizing the region? I don't know, I'm still green in a lot of the science being political strategy internationally, but I don't get the thought process behind these talks, its no wonder they fell apart.
    Dr. Pieczenik, I agree 100% with your warning of our leaders not looking to the success of the past to base their current strategies on. It worked before, why not now? To make a great peanut butter and jelly sandwich, its widely trusted to use peanut butter and jelly. So why is Kerry trying to make up his own ingredients for peace now? I suggest someone in this administration call President Carter or yourself for a lesson in foreign relations, they sure need the help. -David.

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    1. Everyone knows that the Israelis will never leave the present occupied areas.

      The purpose of any American President is to carry on a process which will look like they're trying but which they know won't accomplish anything.

      All this activity is just about getting the process the going, not actually accomplishing anything once it's begun.

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    2. Carter is a sincere man, but he was very ignorant when he became President. Watch the debates in 1976 with Gerald Ford and see how utterly uninformed he was on any issue.

      It would have been better if the Camp David meetings would have ended with no agreement. Begin was a cold-blooded murderer, hated and reviled in Israel at the time for his barbarism, who used the agreement with Egypt to begin permanent colonization of "Judea and Samaria." Sadat's treachery was repaid later when he was assassinated on a reviewing stand. Sadat sold out all principles for a promise from Carter for 1 billion dollars a year in aid, and all kinds of diplomatic support and aid.

      Camp David set the stage for the stalemate which occurred thereafter, and Carter in the last thirty years keeps reminding the public that under the agreement with West Bank was supposed to be deat with at a later time........the definition of kicking the can down the road......

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    3. In the years of Director Turner CIA operators had to detach themselves from the government and set up entirely private enterprises. By that time such operators as Shackley, Phillips and others had built up substantial networks with finance and the like....

      Then in 1981 when Director Casey came in all was reversed and went back to largely the way things had been, although there were still oversight laws, restrictions and the CIA attornies to deal with.

      I would say that the 1970s though were the years of greatest activity for CIA operators despite the revelations in Congress, etc.

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    4. Among Carter's greatest errors was the total misunderstanding of the motives of the USSR in their occupation of Afghanistan. By the time it happened he was branded as weak and ineffectual on so many areas including Africa, Iran and other places. When the media reported that Soviet troops had invaded Afghanistan he had to appear to be tough, but I think he really did believe the Russians had aggressive motives [which they did not].

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  2. OT: FORT HOOD SHOOTING

    As expected, there's a new Livingonplanetz YouTube video:

    The Strange Case of the Fort Hood 2014 Fake Shooting
    livingonplanetZ
    Published on Apr 9, 2014
    Could it really be this easy? Exposing the entire fake shooting replay, from beginning to end, is just "target practice" now, for those who reveal the truth.

    The modus-operandi or 'method of operation' of the mass-shooting stage managers is so well known and repeatable, that this appears to be the case. Research is ongoing, but already there is a flood of dazzling information on the real nature of this event.

    And yet, each time they do something like this, new secrets and connections are revealed, showing us who the people behind the scenes really are, and who they work for.

    For a more complete demonstration of the Boyd connections to Sandy Hook, the air line business, and the Boyd "camper" murder [in addition to Malaysian Flight 370 and the hiring of Crisis Actors for the Fort Hood event], see -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thtD3...

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    1. Ft. Hood is right up the road from me here and I know a lot of people there....

      You're simple wrong about there being any crisis actors involved in this recent shooting. It wasn't a conspiracy.

      Even when soldiers deploy they still are not given ammunition until they have to walk off into combat.

      The American military has always known that they can't be trusted with lethal weapons.

      A lot of American soldiers are just fucked, and everyone who knows this understands that they cannot be trusted with weapons on base, or ammunition once deployed.

      Americans are a fucked up people. Not just their "elites," but all of them.

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  3. NOW FOR SOMETHING IMPORTANT......................

    Today here in Austin Jimmy Carter was here as well as Barak Obama and Bill Clinton. They have been hanging around the Lyndon Johnson Library giving speeches praising Johnson for his civil rights legislation passed fifty years ago............

    In the 1950s when he was the Majority Leader in the Senate Johnson had blocked all civil rights efforts, including voting against lynching laws, but suddenly after he killed President Kennedy he had a conversion and launched legions of benevolent programs as a smoke screen for his many crimes, including the carnage in southeast Asia, Brazil, Indonesia and the like [which Kennedy would never have permitted].

    Being the congenital liar he is Obama gave a speech today claiming that Johnson grew up poor in the Texas hill country where I grew up......LOL.

    Johnson was never poor, and came from a middle class family just like all the rest of us. He was a juvinile delinquent who avoided any hard work and actually shot a mule to death when he got frustrated with it's obstinacy.

    Carter on the other hand gave a speech observing that the status of blacks in real terms has not improved much. He pointed out that their unemployment is a catastrophy, they rare have jobs with livable wages, and that their schools are underfunded, etc.....

    He is of course correct but I agree with Johnson, who told others around him that he didn't really believe the civil rights legislation would change much if anything.

    Andrew Young and John Lewis also spoke, saying that they were personally offended by the outrage of segregation, and their outrage motivate them to action.

    But what does all this mean....really?

    If separation of the races makes the blacks feel inferior I think they have no justification for such. They have no reason to care what white people think of them. I know I don't care what colored people think about me.

    Could it be that the whole issue is nothing more than a drive by certain blacks who feel inferior to seek to achieve a fantasy life in which there is no differences between the races, and they are interchangable?

    That has never happened and never will. Africans in this country have their own values, culture, dress, speech, standards, etc., which are very different from other cultures including European culture, Hispanic culture, Asian culture.....

    What's wrong with being "separate but equal" anyway?

    Trying to achieve the impossibe goal of genuine integration of the races sets an expectation which is unrealistic, and even unnecessary.

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  4. Oh and just one more thing......

    Obama spoke of Johnson having to endure the suffering of having to pick cotton....an image always raised by the left when criticizing slavery in the south.

    The truth is the opposite.

    The cotton crop comes in only once a year.

    Both my parents and their cousins, etc., including every single person able bodied until the 1940s went out and picked cotton to get the crop in.

    In every town they cancelled school for two weeks so everyone could do this.

    Like in the slavery days of the anti-bellum south people only had the druggery of picking cotton for less than a month and then the rest of the year you did other things..................

    I'm really getting angry with all these ignorant leftists and their falsehood and ignorance.

    I'd like to see Obama's skinny mulato ass out picking cotton instead of spending his hours gleeming over death lists of who he's going to kill next.....

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  5. I never liked Cyrus Vance. He was a milk-toast diplomat who lacked the manly qualities needed in foreign affairs......

    It takes a confident man with strength and a steady hand to avoid the use of force when weaker men and women are clammering for it.

    And it also takes someone of strength and masculinity to not shrink from the few istances where force might be needed.

    Vance was just a bureaucrat, and his resignation after the failed hostage rescue matter was a disgrace.

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    1. This was one of the things that bothered me at MIT. The other grad students were too much like Bill Gates or someone like that. They just didn't have a normal mature personality and only found their importance by participating in the study of these extremely violent issues.............................

      That bothered me a lot.

      It's no wonder all those guys did nothing to about the Iraq war or Afghanistan....

      They were a bunch of turds.

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  6. Most of these jackasses are a bunch of self aggrandizing bullshit artists. However after meetting (after attending a funeral of a mutual friend) Andrew Young, their fight was for equality under the law. This was the same politically connected friend I alluded to in my earlier post if you recall, who I referred to as a mentor, who happened to be a M.D. educated in the South in 1958, when some white patients refused to let him treat them while in hospital. Bert was his name. He spoke of participating in civil rights rallies where the only way out afterwards was to escape in a casket (alive) in a Hearst. Bert's father was a share cropper who ploughed fields with a mule team. Bert's life was a real inspiration to me, & besides being a real academic, his life was a rags to riches Horatio Alger story come true. He taught me discipline, the importance of; family, of education, character, conviction of belief in racial equality under the law, and a great capacity to forgive. Before dying from complications of diabetes he managed to put 2 of his girls thru medical school, and 1 son thru medical school, and 1 girl thru veterinary medicine. Left quite a legacy as a surgeon as well. Still people would see him watering the park like yard of his estate, pull their car over and ask him for his "gardening business card". We had many good laughs about it too, Cuz he'd always tell them thank you, but he's "all booked up and couldn't manage any more lawns".

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  7. Bert had a backbone. Unlike AG Holder who lies about Fast & Furious. And unlike Hillary who lies about Benghazi. And unlike Lerner who lies for the IRS. And unlike Obama that tolerates that bullshit. I was lucky I had wonderful mentors. Bert was one of them. He stood and delivered. Didn't just pay lip service to imagined accomplishments behind a podium like some of these aforementioned sorry excuses for real men, who like to rewrite history when it suits their purposes, like the Benghazi attack or gun running to Mexico cartel members. Assholes Cuz they unecessarily contributed to the deaths of Americans. Holder will resign before long is my guess. Obama will be mercenary and accept his resignation perhaps like he did with HHS Sebelius. So his image and "legacy" isn't tarnished (tongue in cheek).

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  8. Otherwise all of them will be held in contempt.

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