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Category: USA

Britain USA 

The Brexit/Trump effect

Melanie

With the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States, a dramatic new era now starts for both America and the world. For those whose have reacted to Mr. Trump’s election with sustained hysteria, his arrival in the White House means that civilization, if not humanity itself, is about to come to an end. In Britain, the political climate has also suddenly changed with a similar reaction. Last June’s Brexit vote to leave the EU triggered unstoppable rage amongst those who wanted Britain to remain.…

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speaking USA 

Melanie in America

Melanie

I shall be on a speaking tour in the US in the spring and I still have some spaces in my schedule between May 4 and May 14. I expect to be talking in general about how the world now looks in these tumultuous times of revolutionary change. Much to discuss! If you are interested in inviting me to speak to your organisation, do please contact me at this email address: MelanieLatestBookings@gmail.com I look forward to hearing from you.

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woke Britain Israel USA 

Britain gets it right. Twice. What gives?

Melanie

Extraordinary! The British government has started making bold and good moves. No fewer than two such sets of developments have been spotted in as many days. On Sunday, at the Paris conference called to get the Middle East peace process back on track stick the knife into Israel good and proper before Obama leaves the White House, Theresa May’s government refused to sign its closing statement. “There are risks,” said the UK Foreign Office,“that this conference hardens positions at a time when we need to be encouraging the conditions for…

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Israel USA 

Change the nameplate now!

Melanie

How should anyone respond to threats, intimidation and blackmail? By giving in? Surely not. The appropriate response would be to bring the matter before an appropriate authority equipped to deal with this through condign action against the perpetrator. And what if the target of such threats, intimidation and blackmail is that appropriate authority itself? US President-Elect Donald Trump has said he intends to move the US Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In response, the Fatah Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has said such a move would “destroy the two-state…

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Israel USA 

The capital of nowhereland

Melanie

One of the more bizarre ways in which the west subjects the Jewish people to double standards is to tell them that they alone cannot decide for themselves the identity of the capital city of their own country. Thus we find General James Mattis, President-Elect Trump’s pick for Defence Secretary, telling the Senate Armed Services Committee at his confirmation hearing that as far as he is concerned the capital of Israel is Tel Aviv. “The capital of Israel that I go to, sir, is Tel Aviv, sir, because that’s where…

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USA 

Meryl Streep’s broken heart

Melanie

Meryl Streep is a very great screen actor. That is all President-elect Trump needed to say in response to her extremely disobliging remarks about him at the Golden Globes. Such public magnanimity would have made her look sour, mean and diminished by comparison. It would have been the smart thing for him to do. Instead he got down in the gutter, calling her “one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood”. Which she certainly is not. In revealing such a thin skin he displayed vulnerability and thus weakness. This will…

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USA 

Will Obama become the agitator-in-chief?

Melanie

After he was first elected president Mr Obama launched Organising for America, a formal infrastructure of activism built upon his campaign’s extensive database of supporters. In his second term, this turned into Organising for Action. In other words: agitating. This now has the potential for a permanent grassroots insurrection against the Trump administration involving many different constituencies. Who better to spearhead this in one form or another than America’s very own community organiser-in-chief, soon-to-be-ex President Obama? My column in The Times of London (subscription only)

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Britain Israel USA 

Mrs May’s screeching U-turn

Melanie

You can virtually see the skid marks. The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has issued what’s been called an unprecedented rebuke to the Obama administration over the Israel-bashing speech by US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday. The Prime Minister’s spokesman criticised him for not only attacking the composition of Israel’s government but disproportionately focusing on the issue of Israeli settlements “when clearly the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians is so deeply complex.” The US State Department said it was surprised since Kerry’s remarks “were in line…

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Britain Israel USA 

Obama’s malice, May’s shame. Drain the UN swamp

Melanie

President Obama’s refusal to veto the sickening UN Security Council resolution against Israel yesterday was an act of pure malice. The resolution, demanding an immediate halt to all Israeli “settlement” construction, was proposed by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal after its original sponsor, Egypt, had withdrawn. No-one can be in any doubt, though, that the resolution’s real sponsor was Obama, acting behind the backs of the US Congress and the American people. Clearly it makes a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinians very much harder, since the Palestinians…

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The western reset

Melanie

We don’t quite know yet what shape US President-elect Donald Trump’s foreign policy will assume. It’s a fair bet that at this stage, President- elect Donald Trump doesn’t know either. We know he thinks the nuclear deal with Iran was a terrible error. We know he admires the cut of Vladimir Putin’s jib while taking a dim view of China. We know he supports the State of Israel, and wants to try to bring peace there by up-ending previous American policy towards the Arab-Israel impasse. Beyond all that, what he…

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