Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League doesn’t think much of Obama’s peacekeeping efforts. He joins the ever-increasing crowd of many who share his sentiments, including yours truly.

Iran is a problem not just for the United States, but for the greater Middle East and the world, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told the Arabic television network Al-Jazeera in an interview being broadcast this week.

Gates long has wanted to speak with Al-Jazeera, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said, because the news network reaches the Muslim world in a way no other network can duplicate. The hour-long interview ran in its entirety yesterday and will repeat through the week.

If Iran builds nuclear weapons, it would create an arms race in the Middle East – a truly de-stabilizing move in a region not noted for stability, Gates said. Still, he added, the United States believes the best way to deal with the possible nuclear threat from Iran is through diplomatic and economic efforts, and U.S. officials encourage allies in the region to bring pressure on Iranian leaders to end their program.

“One of the pathways to get the Iranians to change their approach on the nuclear issue is to persuade them that moving down that path will actually jeopardize their security, not enhance it,” Gates told Al-Jazeera’s Washington bureau chief, Abderrahim Foukara.

“So the more that our Arab friends and allies can straighten their security capabilities, the more they can strengthen their cooperation, both with each other and with us,” he said, “I think sends the signal to the Iranians that this path they’re on is not going to advance Iranian security, but, in fact, could weaken it.”

In addition, America is working to strengthen diplomatic and military-to-military relations in the region, Gates said.

Iran has been a challenge for the international community for 30 years, the secretary said, and patience is needed. Still, Iranian leaders have threatened to destroy Israel, and the Iranian government has violated United Nations Security Council resolutions pertaining to its weapons program.

“We want them to adhere to these resolutions, and we are willing to acknowledge the right of the Iranian government and the Iranian people to have a peaceful nuclear program if it is intended for the production of electric power and so on,” Gates said. “What is central, then, is trying to persuade the Iranians to agree to that, and then to verification procedures under the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“That gives us confidence that it is indeed a peaceful nuclear program and not a weaponization program,” he said.

Source: AFPS

One thing is a fact of life these days: Jimmy Carter somehow manages to make headlines.  This one-and-done former president, while a busy man with his many endeavors, somehow tries to push his outdated – and quite frankly, dangerous – policies into the Democrats’ faces.  Even President Obama granted Carter an audience with him.

In any case, Carter – in yet another attempt to try and be relevant – is now trying to convince the Obama administration to remove Hamas, the renowned terroist organization, from the terrorist list.  As most people already know, Carter is a big fan of Hamas.  Recently, he made a trip to the Middle East as he talked with Hamas leaders in order to convince them to accept the international community’s conditions for ending its boycott of this Islamic militant group.

I realize that Carter has this tendency to be an attention whore; apparently it is part and parcel of who and what he is.  Yet, he – for whatever reason – thinks that by travelling to the Middle East, that things will improve between Israel and Palestine.  One thing you have to remember about Carter: during his time in the White House, he tried to utilize diplomacy in his failed attempts at foreign policy.  I just do not see how this man can be taken seriously.  He is a friend of Hamas (a dangerous thought there) and his idea of foreign policy is a failed one, at best.

If Obama actually takes Carter’s suggestion seriously, then this will prove once and for all that Obama is a one-and-done president.  We already know that Obama is clueless on foreign policy (among other things), yet he goes out there as a poser, thinking that “making nice” and trying to get friendly with questionable leaders will make things all better.  I am here to tell you that it won’t.

If anything, it will get worse.  As it is, the international community isn’t taking the United States seriously (thank you very much Obama) and our standing in the free world is taking hits, as a result.  By listening to Carter just proves that Obama is clueless.  As a matter of fact, Obama taking advice and counsel from Carter is akin to Larry of the Three Stooges taking advice from Curly.

But nonetheless, I wish Jimmy Carter would just simply go away.  The U.S. doesn’t need any dangerous rhetoric from this Georgia peanut farmer.  And Obama would be wise to not take any advice from him, either.