More thoughts on US foreign policy, Israel, the Israel Lobby, Saudi Oil, China and Jonathan Pollard

Sometimes, something inspires me to get a deep thought, well, it can seem like it at that moment. But occasionally that idea develops staying power and explains something about the real world.

In the introduction to Rashid Khalidi's new book "Brokers of Deceit," about the USA's dishonest role in the Palestine/Israel negotiations, Khalidi points out that the USA's alliance with Saudi Arabia is the key strategic one in the Mideast (and maybe in the world) because of oil. The alliance with Israel has benefited the US, as a proxy military arm and testing ground for new technology in controlling, maiming and killing people. But If the two allies of the US in the region clash too much, the US would slap Israel down (as it did over selling US weapons to the Saudis). Luckily for Israel's Zionist rulers, the Saudis really don't care about what they do to the Palestinians, neither does the US government, and besides, the Israel lobby has a lot of clout in domestic politics. So, there's no incentive to reign Israel in.

Taking this line of thought further, China really needs oil and is going to increasingly encroach on US turf in the Mideast and central Asia. How far can the US trust Israel in this coming clash? Israel has a history of playing its own games outside of US control. US intelligence agencies have had their suspicions about how Israel has used US intelligence and US technology behind Washington's back, especially in terms of secretly selling information to China. Which brings up the question of why has the US--which endorses in advance everything Israel does and says--been so hard and unforgiving of Israel's jailed-for-life spy, Jonathan Pollard?

The Israeli government, AIPAC & the whole lobby, senators and representatives, all have appealed for a presidential pardon, but no dice. Perhaps this is a warning to Israel to not screw around with US military and technological assets that could endanger its position of dominance over Mideast oil. If the Israelis becomes a serious hinderance to the US in its coming clashes with China over who has hegemony over energy supplies and who has the military edge, the US won't hesitate to throw them overboard. Even Alan Dershowitz won't be able to save them.