Koz and Effect

On chess moves.

I normally keep politics out of my blogging, but it might be time to drop that rule.

I was reading the news out of Israel today for the building of 1,600 new homes. This comes a day after VP Biden starts touring the region spouting the U.S. and Israel’s “unshakable” ties.

I can’t help but feel like we just got played. Not more than a day later after Biden said “There is absolutely no space between the United States and Israel in terms of Israel’s security”, a whole swath of homes are approved on Palestinian land, no doubt for “security” reasons.

The move is admirable in it’s cleverness. If we object, then suddenly the “no space between” comment rings hollow. If we don’t, then we’re even more hated by the Middle East. It’s masterful in it’s deviousness.

Deviousness isn’t usually a trait between allies though. Sooner or later, the U.S. is going to get fed up of maintaining perpetual combat in the mid east because of our “unshakable” ties to a country even more obnoxious and heavy-handed than we are.

UPDATED: Biden has decided to sacrifice the pawn, and has rebuked Israel.