Netanyahu Speech

Obfuscation: the concealment of intended meaning in communication, making communication confusing, intentionally ambiguous, and more difficult to interpret.

Since Bibi Netanyahu lacks the intestinal fortitude to tell Barack Obama to go to hell, he instead chose to give a speech outlining how he will consider a two-state solution if the arabs lay down their weapons, cease all terrorist activity, have the PA take power over Hamas in Gaza, keep Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, and have a completely demilitarized Palestinian state.

He may as well have told Obama to go to hell.

Bibi has in the past been hostile towards settlement growth, so his current determination to reassure America that he opposes any new settlements is not a new development. However, he did refuse to say he will end the "natural growth" policy, which means he took at least some kind of stand against Obama's unwanted arabist encroachment. In some respects he did a masterful job of backhanding away Obamessiah's demands, while at the same time, on the surface at least, throwing in that "two state" bone to allow America's dearest dictator to save some face.

I am expecting very little good from Bibi, who ultimately is a self serving pragmatist capable of much deeper concessions than he gave, so what I received from the speech was about the best I could hope for from a nationalist perspective. What it boils down to, politically, is Bibi will continue the status quo, which, though imperfect, is a marked improvement over the Kadima/Meretz policies of unconditional surrender we've seen under Sharon/Olmert/Livni.

~MZ