A Rubin Reports Daily Briefing

Note: Since the number of subscribers to this blog has been growing steadily, I’m going to do some very short briefings that might be useful to you, aimed mainly at subscribers. Hope you are finding these reports valuable. Feel free to encourage others to read and subscribe. If you like my doing these just let me know. Barry

Iran: U.S. will do something sometime

Today, here’s the basic state of play on Iran: Congress, dormant on foreign policy since Obama’s election, is now starting to press harder for increased sanctions. The administration is assuring Congress that it is preparing actions and will act if it concludes diplomacy doesn’t work.
All well and good. But nothing is happening, the days are going by. Perhaps the administration will act in 2010. Funny though how its patience here contrasts with its urgency on many other issues. At any rate, all of 2009 has been squandered. That’s not good.

Irony Alert

The UN is moving toward some new condemnations of Israel over totally unproven allegations—basically recycling Hamas propaganda—over the Gaza war. Who’s taking the lead in “upholding” human rights? Libya, of course. No wonder people think that the terrorists now have effective control over that international institution.

So far, the U.S. attitude has been productive, despite reports to the contrary. Officials are trying to avoid endorsement of the report by the UN and other groups as well as resulting sanctions on Israel. Urging that Israel investigate credible allegations—it’s hard to find any that are credible—is a supportive not a critical tactic.

Good article on Hamas

For some reason, the Washington Post is increasingly acting like a serious newspaper. Here’s a good article on Hamas and how it’s a barrier to piece, with no illusions about the group moderating or being misunderstand. The article also points out how Hamas is responsible for continuing sanctions on Gaza and is uninterested in trying to improve the living standards of is own people.