A market in Rangoon, Burma, November 18
Monday (in Asia!):
ICT (12 hours ahead of US EST):
9:0 AM: The President departs Bangkok, Thailand en route Rangoon, Burma
****
MMT (11.5 hours ahead of US EST):
9:40 AM: Arrives Rangoon, Burma
10:25 AM: Meets with President Thein Sein of Burma
12:05 PM: Meets with Aung San Suu Kyi
12:35 PM: The President and Aung San Suu Kyi deliver remarks
1:05 PM: The President meets and greets with United States Embassy personnel
2:15 PM: Delivers remarks at the University of Yangon
3:20 PM: Departs Rangoon, Burma en route Phnom Penh, Cambodia
****
ICT (12 hours ahead of US EST):
5:40 PM Arrives Phnom Penh, Cambodia
6:05 PM: Meets with Prime Minister Han Sen of Cambodia
6:35 PM: Attends the ASEAN-U.S. leaders meeting
8:30 PM: Arrives at Diamond Island Convention Center for the East Asia Summit Dinner
Details here
****
Tuesday: The President will remain in Cambodia for the East Asia Summit. In the evening, he will depart en route Washington, DC.
****
AP: The soldiers began to shoot students at Rangoon University at 6:30pm. Hla Shwe watched, cowering in a nearby building, as his friends died. “I heard the shouting,” he recalled. “They shot whoever they saw.”
It was July 7, 1962, the day rage at the military’s recent coup boiled over and a date now seared into the memory of Hla Shwe, who is 75 years old.
“I got the idea that if they used the gun against students, why shouldn’t we use guns to fight them?” he said.
When President Barack Obama speaks at Hla Shwe’s alma mater Monday, he will be treading on ground heavy with political and historical significance….
… “Obama knows very well about the history of Yangon University, I think. This is an enemy place for the authorities,” said Hla Shwe, who fought with Communist insurgents and spent 25 years as a political prisoner. “The American government is trying to show in a delicate way that they are not only working for the government but will also take care of the Burmese people.”
More here
The Obama Diary 
Hi friends
Helloooooo Libra!
He looks delicious!
He always looks good when he winks at me. That’s not simply my opinion – it’s a cold hard fact.
🙂
🙂
Ah, the delusions of age! Who am I to argue with them? I will simply say that wink makes *me* feel really good and hope that does not detract from your ‘cold hard fact’, Hf. 😛
🙂 I know better than to fight with you over that wink, hopefruit (I’ll just quietly take possession of it)…
🙂 When I’m “done with it.”
hi chips welcome back
Thank you OMF!!
Chips, I hope your ankle is feeling much better. You never missed a step in the volume of your posts. You must be a very tough cookie when it comes to dealing with pain. As always, I came here late, but I thoroughly enjoyed the pics and the coverage of the President’s visit to Thailand. Take good care.
Congrats libra!! Love the T-shirts, Chips!!!!
#FORWARD
Yes indeed, Romney blew all of that money like he messed up Massachussetts.
Unfortunately, it’s probably like throwing a few pennies in a wishing well to them. Wish they’d lost so much that it hurt them a little.
Oh, it may not be ‘that much money’ to them, but I assure you it put a big gaping hole in their agenda and you know they are not happy campers these days. 4 years of President Obama unencumbered by ever running for office again probably has them in a tizzy. 🙂
Bob, re-electing President Obama was my number one goal. The fact that we were able to re-elect the President despite the massive money poured into the election by billionaires like Koch and Adelson, made the victory even more gratifying. We the people were able to defeat the plutocrats.
“We the people were able to defeat the plutocrats.”
Yes We Did!
… and despite the massive attempts at voter suppression! I’m even happier that we beat that out, in most regards, and have four years to fix it. Plus, we’re all even more fired up to fight back immediately, when we see things going off the track due to the Rs. Yeehaw!
great meaning conveyed on the T-shirts
Thanks Chipsticks for the coverage – it’s EXCELLENT!!
Oooooh, not as much as I’d have liked today GGail, will try to catch up properly tomorrow – but thank you, you honey bunny!!
Press On you lovey dovey 🙂
I have no rhymes left! 😆
Good because I didn’t either – LOL!!!!
1-1 – it’s a tie!!!! 🙂
I’m doing the Happy Dance – I was able to hang with “the Great One” – 😆
What?! PBO is in here?! Where?! Ah…. I also suspected he used the name Bobfr on TOD 🙂
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
I…..um….I…..um……(at a loss for words)
Hello PBO!!!
Gail, Chips … you’all are soooooo funny!!!! I do hope PBO occasionally checks in at TOD because he’s obviously got a great sense of humor and would find lots to enjoy here thanks to you folk!!!
Huh, Bob, I’d have to put a few people around here in pending on the day PBO drops in. No names mentioned, but you can guess 🙂
Yes, and you could make some real $$$ by charging each of them for a ‘virtual naughty mat’ before you’d let them out of ‘pending’ 😀 😀
I will not be on that list as long as Chipsticks doesn’t post any of PBO’s pics like…..
Like???? 😆
I wonder how you plan to work that Ms Chips since you would be one of the main contenders who would need to be put on notice/pending? Don’t think *I* haven’t noticed that the stirring of the naughty mat waters starts at your end of the pool more often than not!
An outrageous allegation, VC!!! 😆
“Raindrops keep falling on my head/body”
A wee bit more than an allegation, Love, having carefully observed the naughty mat hustle on more than one occasion. However, I’m not pointing fingers; I’m only expressing curiosity as to how you plan to work the pending issue in a..ahem.. ‘fair’ way.
Are the networks covering the trip?
No time left with all the astute “reality” shows full of talentless, exhibitionist douchebags…..
Here’s the WH video of today’s press conference:
I was 15 in 1962 and remember the news reports of the killing of the students at Rangoon University. It is stunning that President Obama will stand in that auditorium in a few hours. But, the event that seems even more surreal is “5:40 PM Arrives Phnom Penh, Cambodia” – not only that he is the 1st US President to visit Cambodia but that it’s actually happening. The ‘Pearl of Asia’ rises from the horrors of Pol Pot & the Khmer Rouge enclave. Just amazing!
#FORWARD In_DEED!
What a poignant venue for his speech tomorrow, Bob, such a thoughtful and powerfully symbolic choice – “Obama knows very well about the history of Yangon University”.
Chips, I think you (and everyone) will enjoy this article published earlier this year about the restoration of Rangoon University …
http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/4695
#TrustBarack
Yes, Bobfr – KEEP HOPE ALIVE!
You know Bobfr, I was just thinking of the somber implications of this trip for President Obama and the World and it’s got me in quiet reflection at the impact it will leave us all.This trip is so important on so many levels.
God bless President Obama
Yes, Gail. Through the 60s & 70s, I never imagined any US President would journey to Burma or Cambodia, however I am not surprised that it is Barack Obama making the journey for all of us. So much healing needs to be done and he is doing so very much of it, for all of us.
#FORWARD
President Obama takes the bull by the horns, and he doesn’t shy away from these very thorny issues. I was impressed when he stepped into Cairo and told the world that the US is not at war with the Muslim world, and then told them to seek democracy (which they did). Now, he goes into this land where no other US President has ever ventured, and plans to deliver a speech in such a significant spot, including a discussion on human rights. He just continues to impress me.
I remember in History class that we had to do a report on an Asian country and I choose Burma. I at this age, still remember my report of their injustices and I’ve subconsciously have followed their march towards today and I’m so proud that President Barack Obama will be the first American president to recognize their progress towards democracy.
Romney has no curiosity about the world or history. President Obama is consumed with curiosity about everything.
So, so true Bill. Bush and Romney (and most of the GOP) share that same incuriosity about the world. And, of course, Sarah Palin is their mentor.,
Bob, I’m a couple years or so younger than you and I don’t remember Burma. But I very much remember Vietnam and had a friend who was drafted and killed by stepping on a landmine. Being a native Washingtonian and now living outside of DC, I have seen the Vietnam memorial more times then I care to remember. It literally takes your breath away when you see those 58,000 American names carved into the wall. The death and destruction to the Vietnamese people is unfathomable.
I’m just a few years younger than you Bob I don’t remember the Burma massacre but do have the same sense of “this is surreal” with respect to Cambodia. My boyfriend in high school was a couple of years older than me and was drafted. While he was overseas I was marching to end the war. There are days when it is mind boggping when we think back to all of the changes in our lifetimes, although I suspect every generation feels the same way. My daughter thought it was hysterically funny when I explained to her what carbon paper was, and how impressed we were when someone came in with a paper done on a Selectric typewriter that had justified margins:-)
I so agree Bob. I also remember the shooting and when the monks were setting themselves on fire. All those names are embedded in my heart and all my Vietnam Vet friends. My husband was sent to Korea. I have so many close friends who are vets and are really having a hard time with PTSD, the older they get the stronger the reaction. The names of Pol Pot and Phnom Penh are not names I associate with places I want to go to. This is why my heart aches for all these young men and the multiple tours. We have no idea what we are doing to them in their later years. They are always in my heart and prayers.
Bobfr, in July of 1962 I was slightly older than you — three months before my 17th birthday — and I too remember the massacre of students at Rangoon University. 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile crisis, was one of those memorable and scary years when it seemed like the world was on the brink of catastrophe. With respect to Cambodia I am surprised to learn that President Obama will be the first U.S. President to visit the country. For me, I became aware of Cambodia after President Nixon decided to unless massive bombing of Cambodia, in 1970. I was a senior in college and I distinctly remember the massive protests rallies across the country demanding an end to the bombing of Cambodia. I was, of course, a grown man and working, during the time of one of the 20th century’s most horrific genocides– during Pol Pot regime, when, for the most part, the U.S. government and the UN did nothing, or very little, on behalf of Cambodian people. I am very happy to see the President go to Cambodia.
Nath and Bobfr, we all have so many memories of this very distinct moments in history, and to now see an American President actually be there on this visit is so amazing. I do believe that this time was made for our president.
My friends say that their experience centered around this trip alongside so many of the moments that we are seeing and hearing about POB’s trip is as beautiful as we are expressing in our minds here as we share. I will leave it there because of the position of my brother and friends who have so much to do and be watching history in the making, is just pure joy and an honor.
We keep holding POB and SOS Clinton and the traveling team of the administration up with positive and beautiful healing thoughts.
I recall my brother and the other guest taking me out for Pho’ the evening before their departure and hearing all of the history and seeing these young people so elated about what they were about to embark upon was just so sweet and amazing.
I am feasting on Pho’Soup for the duration along with another dish that one friend prepared in my home while having our beautiful visit.
I also mixed our beautiful visit with my version of the celebration of the “Festival of Lights” as we did our celebration of Diwali one day. Oh, the joy of being with a diverse group of beautiful human beings and sharing in your own home is such a delight. The colours, the food, and even the shopping. And never orget the sweets. It all lifted my spirit to a level that needed to rise in pure delight for the beauty of the soul as I found out that in making Pho’, it is the broth of the bowl of soup that makes it great eating along with the rice noodles. What a joy to be enjoying our lives and also having a president who shares so much with all of us to bring us closer together in sharing with each other as ‘world citizens’ for all to behold and learn.
We love you, Mr. President, and yes we know that you truly beleve in prayer and respect for others faith and private spiritual life in this world. We are blessed to have such a leader as our POTUS.HZ
HZ, I LOVE Pho! It tastes so good sliding down my throat that I eat bowls of it in a flash! I’m glad to know someone else who appreciates it!
Nath, Bob, I was 18 in 1962 and felt the terror of the Cuban missile crisis and then the continual news of massacres in places whose names were very exotic and remote to me. I, too, remember the self-immolation of the monks and the sense of horror and awe and incomprehension of that kind of sacrifice. The sixties were a terrible decade of war and terror and fear and and brutal assassinations. Vietnam kept growing as a great national nightmare and so many lives were lost for reasons no one could adequately explain. So much change and so many cataclysmic world events occurred in that decade that it changed all of us and ripped the US out of its post-war complacency. And. yes. MT Marilyn, for today’s young people, those were very primitive times and our tools of communication seem like cavemen cutting stones to our children and grandchildren. Though PBO was a child in those days, he is a student of history. He knows our past and has learned from it, which is why he is so brilliant at shaping the present. He is light years ahead of any political person of our time. It takes a good president to positively change the country during his time in office; it takes a great one to leave that positive imprint on the world.
Final count in the House, 201-238. At least we made it over the 200 mark!
201-234 Total 435
So, that means any left leaning bill would only need 17 Republicans to vote with the Democrats to get stuff done? Then the only encumbrance is getting stuff onto the floor, on the agenda. This is great!
Yep. And, many of those Rs know that we are not going to give them any hope of re-election in 2014 if they don’t side with Nancy Pelosi and force Boehner to bring legislation to a vote that can pass and demonstrate to the American people that the middle class is their focus. It’s just a matter of which Rs we put the resources to defeat to regain the House and it’s going to be really easy to make that list based on their legislative record.
It would have to be a centrist/moderate bill. No repub wants to support a left leaning anything.
Well, most of the bills brought forward by the Democrats have been originally sponsored by some Republicans, so hopefully, some of them can figure it out.
GoB, centrist/moderate would be a big step to the left for the current Congress. If the new Congress were even reasonable and stopped opposing everything, repealing health care repeatedly, renaming post offices endlessly, and offending women on a daily basis, we would all be ahead of the game. Maybe the greater number of female House reps will keep some of this idiocy in line. We have to hope so.
Wow…..Nancy Pelosi delivered.
Gives me hope for 2014! We want to give Leader Pelosi her well-deserved speakership back before she retires from politics.
yes we do!
Like Bobfr I remember much of this sad history and am so glad to see the progress and healing going on now.
“Beyond Rangoon” starring Patricia Arquette was a not bad H’Wood movie about the collapse of law and order and decency in what is now called Yangon. If it plays on TV in the near future people newly interested in this part of the world might find it worthwhile.
In other news: Two different groups in my neighborhood have announced meetings to promote the going forward agenda. If the GOP is counting on Dems going back to sleep for the 2014 elections they will once again be rudely awakened by reality.
And finally, I love PBO his family his administration TOD and everyone who is working for a better country and world for 100% of us.
Great news about your neighborhood. I found a similar desire to keep working in our progressive meeting this week. In 2008, everyone thought their job was done and were happy to go back to cocooning. Not this time, I was glad to see. We all felt we had to be on guard and keep fighting to make sure our efforts paid off.
David Plouffe is on C-Span talking about the election.
Thanks for this. I didn’t catch it from the beginning, but as soon as it ends on TV, I’m going on C-SPAN to watch the entire program. So freaking glad David Plouffe is on our side.
Wow. The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is on TBS right now. Damn, they don’t even wait until after Thanksgiving anymore. Early or not, I’m watching it now…lol. I love that movie.
I’m seeing Christmas decorations going up everywhere. They’re not waiting until after Thanksgiving.
So we actually get to see PBO’s arrival (hopefully) in Burma because it will be around 9:30 this evening. 🙂
I misse seeing PBO daily….sometimes more can once a day…the campaign spoiled me…..
I agree with you prettyfoot58, I also miss VP Biden and First Lady Michelle. The last time I have seen the First Lady was on election night. I guess she has taken afew days off because she work her butt off for her husband re-election and I was so proud of her. I am so glad we have four more years of such a wonderful First Lady.
I just could not imagine Ann Romney as First Lady, never, never, never, never, never, never.
Wise words from Bill Clinton at DePauw U., my youngest daughter’s alma mater. He was there with DePauw grad and friend, Vernon Jordan.
What ho, good peeps?
Thursday will be a momentous day at Casa de LL. We are conducting our first ever Thanksgiving! Usually we go to mother’s house, or fly to Indiana for wife’s family. But both of my brothers are going to their inlaws, so it’s just me, wife, and mother. And then I realized that 3 of our very good friends have no family in town, so they might be coming. We have pre-seasoned turkey, ham, and various side dishes. I feel like such an adult!
Oi, what about invites for us??
Shit, I’ll need more turkey.
You have a huge one: Torres. /runs
Sorry, not defending that $80m bust. Sell his ass. I’m on Team Hazard!
I can’t help but think of
every time I hear his name.
I need to get out more.
Vice President Joe Biden joked Sunday that he told President Obama on election night that he wants to take a trip to Ireland, who said he’d like to join in.
“I turned to him I said, ‘Barack, now that this election’s over, I’m going to Ireland,'” Biden said at Hudson Tavern, a pub owned by deputy national security adviser John Brennan’s brother Tom, in Hoboken, N.J.
“You know what he said to me? He said, ‘Would you take me with you? I want to play golf.’ I said I’m not so sure. But I’m going. I’m going to see where my mother is from and my mother’s father and my mother’s mother.”
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/11/biden-says-he-wants-to-go-to-ireland-obama-jokes-hell-149892.html
Wooooooot! 🙂
Oh my gosh!!!! What a wonderful trip that will be!!!!
They are so cute – those two!!
Maybe Cousin Henry can take them both golfing!
It would be a great trip for the Obama family, this time take the girls with him. Maybe on his next foreign trip Michelle and the girls could go.
ROAD TRIP!!!
Pack your bags GB, we’re heading to LL’s!
Yahoo!! Packed. Ready. Waiting. 🙂
Me too! LL, we’re on our way 😎
I’ve already done my Google Map from my house in LA to his house in Venice.
Note to self…..eat a light breakfast on Thursday 🙂
That’s so cute!!!
Isn’t that what the Nazi’s said about the Jews?
+ 1,000,000,000. What repulsive hate speech from that rag.
And of course, who owns JP? Isn’t it Rupert?
Just read the op-ed and it is vile. These are human beings he’s talking about. These are men, women, children. These are innocents. What a repulsive animal.
And it’s what so many of these hateful Israeli RWers have in common, they choose to characterize Palestinians as mere animals. As Tien Le said, isn’t that what the Nazis did too?
Yes, as someone noted, he is proposing a holocaust, said Gaza should be flattened. Obliterated.
It should not be Gaza, it should be Hamas. We might see a Arab Spring inside Gaza if Hamas keeps fucking up!
Just saying!
So, when Iran says they want to drive Israel into the sea, what’s the difference between that and what this Gilad Sharon just said? Both completely vile.
I’m sure you folks have hashed this already, but on willard’s recorded conference call he also whined about the primary debates and OF COURSE the evil media for reporting that those refuggg idiots are idiots. There were too damn many of those asinine debates, but with willard anything that involves answering questions or explaining one’s plans, well………………
yes–that was interesting. he’s basically saying the primary process provided voters with too much information about the candidates. can’t have that!
When you call for the annihillation of a People…that is Genocide….
With the elimination of a murderous terrorist and the destruction of Hamas’s long-range missile stockpile, the operation was off to an auspicious start, but what now? This must not be allowed to end as did Operation Cast Lead: We bomb them, they fire missiles at us, and then a cease-fire, followed by “showers” – namely sporadic missile fire and isolated incidents along the fence. Life under such a rain of death is no life at all, and we cannot allow ourselves to become resigned to it.
THE DESIRE to prevent harm to innocent civilians in Gaza will ultimately lead to harming the truly innocent: the residents of southern Israel. The residents of Gaza are not innocent, they elected Hamas. The Gazans aren’t hostages; they chose this freely, and must live with the consequences.
We need to flatten entire neighborhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. The Americans didn’t stop with Hiroshima – the Japanese weren’t surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too…..
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=292466
This is where I am.
I remember watching the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. At the time I thought it was a just cause. In some respects I still do. I still believe that after the history the Jews have lived through, they deserve a national homeland.
But do they deserve a uniquely Jewish state? At the expense of an indigenous population that had nothing to do with their oppression and genocide in Europe?
I believe that the two-state solution is dead, killed both by the Israeli right wing and militants like Hamas. Neither wanted peaceful coexistence, due to religion and ideology.
I think it’s time for a radical idea: a one-state solution, where both Jews and Palestinians have a national homeland, but share the governance of that homeland. The land is too small to have two discrete national states. Jews won’t be accepted as a legitimate part of an Arab oikumene; Palestinians won’t be allowed to be autonomous enough to be a true nation. The basic law of such a state will have to recognize the historical claims of both peoples to the land, and create a political system which won’t devolve to the oppression of either group.
Right now it’s the only solution left. Even if the Left takes over in the January elections, the well has been poisoned. A radical idea for peace is the only chance to avoid the Armageddon that the Israeli right, Hamas, and Christian evangelicals yearn for.
I don’t think the hate that has been fostered for “the other” among some in that region will allow for a one-state solution. I think they need a border between them. I also don’t think that the Jerusalem question would be resolved so easily. I think if we’d seen a halt to the settlements, we might have seen both parties at the table for serious discussions, but the day that Netanyahu permitted continued settlements, while saying from the other side of his mouth that he wanted to sit down and talk peace, was the day the peace talks died.
This is a very valid question: “But do they deserve a uniquely Jewish state? At the expense of an indigenous population that had nothing to do with their oppression and genocide in Europe?” – and it might be too late to ask it.
If there’s one thing that keeps me up at night, it’s the Jewish-Arab conflict. It’s really the only thing that has the potential for Armageddon.
Yes – me, too.
And I agree, the one-state solution is an impossibility. But, in my opinion, so is the two-state solution. Unless, unless, the right is defeated decisively in the next election. But that might lead to a Jewish civil war, which also happened during the Jewish War of 66-70 AD, where Jews fought each other as well as the Romans. God, what a fucking mess.
This can’t be about religion. I think the parties have forgotten why they’re fighting. And they just want to “win”, whatever that means at this point. Neither side can look at the pictures of dead babies and declare that they are winning or even defending anything worthwhile.
I remember when Yitzak Rabin was assassinated. It truly felt like a path to peace was shut off decisively. Shimon Peres, for all his good traits, is not a strong leader. The vacuum would be filled, disgustingly enough, by those who called for his head. I even remember where I was: at my mother’s house. And the first call I made was to my girlfriend at the time, who was Jewish. She started to cry on the phone.
I have to admit, I don’t know enough about this region, and a lot of the battle just perplexes me, because it seems so irrational. I’m sure the Irish felt the same when they had the battles between North and South – and that’s what gives me hope.
Theo, I could never see an end to the trouble in Ireland, so that’s something hopeful to cling to, but this situation just seems utterly ‘unfixable’, it’s so hard to ever see an end to it.
That’s why we’ve got President Obama. Thank heavens for the Nov 6 sanity!
As I intimated, I’ve followed the region since I was a wee lad. First as a secular Zionist, then becoming disenchanted, and now heartsick at the death and destruction.
As difficult as the Irish situation was, it was gravy compared to this. You have two groups whose religions say that the land is sacred, to the exclusion of anyone else.
The only hope is that the secular Israelis say “enough”, and come out in strong enough numbers to shut down the Right. Tel Aviv getting rocketed may be enough for that to happen.
Thanks for some of the additional background, LL.
Yeah, I’m a founding member of #nerdland. Was reading the NY Times when I was 11.
I was watching the Bionic Woman and Six Million Dollar Man… 🙂
“As difficult as the Irish situation was, it was gravy compared to this”
Can’t disagree, even though I used to think they were similar.
Regarding the one-state solution, I think that’s a little bit naive in that you cannot put these two warring factions together. You cannot expect them to share the same land without a border. You cannot expect them to have the same governing power. It will ultimately lead to more chaos and catastrophe. If a one state solution occurs, who becomes the ruling body? Who controls the elections? Who writes the laws? Who comes up with a new constitution? If one sides wins overwhelmingly in an election, the other side will cry foul. What will the new government look like? What guarantees that both sides will have equal representation? Endless questions abound.
It has to be a two state solution with borders that divide both sides and with laws that allow both sides to form their own government and have a democracy chosen by their own people and be recognized as individual states with rights. A one-state solution blurs the lines and does a disservice to the Israelis and Palestinians who deserve a government working for them and recognizing them as people and not just part of the masses.
I think the thing is there is no easy answer. If Rabin hadn’t been assassinated, we would probably be at a two-state solution right now. But powerful forces on both sides want a solution where they win and the other side is eliminated. Is the one state solution naive? Perhaps. But as it currently stands we have people in power who want no solution except absolute victory, whatever that means. It’s quite a cock-up.
Have to agree with that UT, both ‘sides’ deserve their own homeland, and they simply cannot live together – it must be a two state solution.
Agree, UT. It is either a 2 State solution soon or, for Israel, given its demographics, the situation will either be apartheid or a non-Jewish State. Many folk forget the scale and rate of increase in Arab Israeli citizens, who currently have the right to Vote, that would only be exacerbated by any notion of a shared democratic Nation with Palestinians as enfranchised citizens.
My hope is that, because of the exceptional bonds between President Obama and President Peres, and Livni’s astute politics, that President Peres can be persuaded to accept her proposal of a coalition to defeat Netanyahu/Likud in January, 2013.
you speak wise words…LL….but who would guarantee the rights of either…and could they really live in peace side by side in the same nation..with both having a stake..or would those in power turn the country into a jim crow/apartheid kind of governance
I can only shake my head at this vile speech. I wouldn’t want to belong to a group that condones this kind of language. As Benjamin Franklins said, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety”.
I do not have a good feeling about any part of the Middle East at this point in time. All of the leaders there seem so determined to escalate to claim their positions that the thought of any negotiated peace seems farfetched. And of course Iran sits there in the middle feeding weapons around the region. I fear we are going to see many lives lost in the next year.
Tomorrow –
2:30: Michelle Obama speaks about the importance of after-school and out-of-school arts and humanities education.
excellent! i was hoping she’d expand her portfolio, and curious to see what she’d take up next. arts education is a winner!
Wonderful, you can bet I will be following FLOTUS.
To see what her next four years will be.
This is great; it is one of the things that I have long believed in and spoke about in my school. The benefits of this type of education enriches lives, makes better citizens, and helps with test scores (the only thing that my state cares about). I am totally onboard for this.
If you haven’t seen any of Chuck Grassley’s tweets on twitter, WHERE THE HECK HAVE YOU BEEN? Chuck Grassley is the reason Twitter was invented. 😀
“Them twitters” I believe you meant to done said…..
Umm, OK!
Got ’em on the internets……
It’s funny because he tweets just like he talks. Just pure gibberish! The stuff today about deer was gross.
I often wonder if Chuck read “Twitter for Dummies”.
Chuck Crassley is another old fool like John McCain.
I meant Grassley.
Totally guy comment: Faith Hill is HAWT. That is all.
Blast furnace.
Super brainy heads? Do the times in this schedule – ie converted in to US EST – look right?
Sunday
9:0 PM: The President departs Bangkok, Thailand en route Rangoon, Burma
****
10:10 PM: Arrives Rangoon, Burma
10:55 PM: Meets with President Thein Sein of Burma
Monday
12:35 AM: Meets with Aung San Suu Kyi
1:05 AM: The President and Aung San Suu Kyi deliver remarks
1:35 AM: The President meets and greets with United States Embassy personnel
2:45 AM: Delivers remarks at the University of Yangon
3:50 AM: Departs Rangoon, Burma en route Phnom Penh, Cambodia
****
5:40 AM Arrives Phnom Penh, Cambodia
6:05 AM: Meets with Prime Minister Han Sen of Cambodia
6:35 AM: Attends the ASEAN-U.S. leaders meeting
8:30 AM: Arrives at Diamond Island Convention Center for the East Asia Summit Dinner
If it’s translated from ICT, then yes. I still can’t believe that China, a country the size of the US, is only one time zone.
Thanks LL – that’s amazing about China, didn’t know that!
Cambodia is ICT (12 hours ahead of US EST), but Burma is 11.5 hours head – just to challenge my math-fuzzy-head a little bit more 😕
I think that’s right. I did this about a half hour ago for Pacific time and it made me loopy.
Here’s your loopy sister Meta, I need a calculator to figure out 1 + 3. My #arithmetic is as impressive as Willard’s. Who? Oh, just a failed US politician who is now history. 😎
And not a moment too soon. Man, he was insufferable.
Truly! He’s just like a bad dream now – I hope we never have to see his weasel face again.
I’m having such a hard time with the Gaza conflict. Any comment is somewhat misconstrued as condemnation / support of either side by proponents / critics of both sides… It is such a mess. I hope for peace but the damages have been so grand, the bitterness and outright hate so entrenched, it’s hard to see how it’s going to come about…. Can the U.S still be an honest broker for peace?
I think people WANT to trust President Obama in this Gaza business, so that’s what will help broker a deal. Things may look bleak, but I think he’s holding both sides together behind the scenes.
Oh, I’m sure that every spare moment he has from this trip is spent in telling both Netanyahu and Hamas to settle this shit NOW.
Here’s another radical proposition: Just as only Nixon could have gone to China, only a re-elected Democratic President could tell Israel, “You’re on your own.”
I just can’t see him doing that, though. Not with the Arab nations going through transition. It would be too combustible.
“Can the U.S still be an honest broker for peace?”
I honestly don’t think so Melissa, much as I would give anything for PBO to help achieve some kind of peace there in his second term, which would be the greatest of all legacies, the US is just too closely associated with Israel for there to be any real trust from Palestinians and the Arab community generally in the region. I’m not sure who can be an honest broker there – it sure as hell won’t be Tony Blair – but I just believe the best thing the US can do is step back and stop blindly supporting Israel, no matter what they do.
I agree with you 100% Chips. Which is what depresses me. Anytime PBO has uttered even a minimal criticism of Israel, he’s been excoriated in the press and Congress, including his own Democratic members. He gets no allies in that venue. Sad state of affairs indeed.
Maybe the Arab nations in the region can do the job? The President started these peace talks by bringing in Jordan and Egypt to help negotiate, and he’s said before that he believes that Arab countries need to play an active role in managing the few extremists who give the region a bad name. I think he probably knew that there would be limitations to his ability to act freely, and that the Palestinians needed the additional support of other Arabs in the area to help get them a just conclusion and to also help manage Hamas. I read something on twitter earlier today that President Obama is working behind the scenes with regional players to help negotiate this current crisis.
The Arab nations will definitely need to play a big role. Unfortunately, there’s just too much distrust of the U.S in that region for it to be effective. Arab League (and others) will have to bring Hama to reason, and western powers do the same with Bibi. Gee, ask for the moon, why don’t we, eh?
“Maybe the Arab nations in the region can do the job?”
I hope so Theo, but I always sense there’s endless hypocrisy from many of the Arab nations about the Palestinian issue – not least in the way so many of them have treated their Palestinian refugees over the years, while at the same time condemning Israel for its treatment of the same people. I suspect having this issue remain a festering sore suits the interests of the extremists in the region, it’s their rallying call, a lasting peace settlement is their worst nightmare because many of them would be rendered irrelevant by it.
We can be certain President Obama is working behind the scenes on this, no one would know better that America has to tread lightly here, but how on earth anything can be done while Netanyahu is in power I just don’t know. To me, he’s as big a part of the problem as Hamas.
The Israeli Government and IRS People has taken advantage of their History, to manipulate the US and the West.
What happened to them in the past was dreadful, and what Iran and by Proxy Hamas and Hezbollah wants to do to them is terrible.
But, this has been going on for thousands of Years, between the Jews and Arabs/Persians.
Then, 2k years for Christians, all for that one piece of Land Jerusalem.
Everybody has thought, what we have, and yet, it continues…
Hi Jovie, I honestly don’t blame Israel for using its history to win support from the west, particularly America. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the state’s history and what was done to the Palestinians in its creation, the simple reality is that they are now largely surrounded by countries deeply hostile to them, which must leave them living in fear for much of the time – they’re incredibly vulnerable, despite they’re military power. That, for me, doesn’t remotely excuse the treatment of the Palestinian people, but probably explains why creatures like Netanyahu are elected. As long as he’s in power, it’s just impossible to ever see there being peace.
Both sides don’t want Peace. All they want is Jerusalem.
I’m with you on the Arab nations in the region line of thinking. They have to step up to the plate and become central players in brokering a peace deal. It is way past time. One president cannot do it alone. This reminds me of the Libya conflict and how Pres. Obama was able to get the other countries in the region and other powerful countries to step up and share responsibility since the outcome would also affect them. The same can be applied here; Arab nations need to stand up and do something.
p.s. I also believe that a lot is occurring behind the scenes that we are not privy to and I am in a wait and watch mode.
I remember that President Clinton worked so hard to broker a deal before he left office and Arafat pissed it away. Once GWB got into office and Arafat wanted the “Clinton” deal, he had to deal with that “war” idiot Bush. What a waste….
The problem is that it is not just the Arab-Israeli conflict at this point in time. Israel is firing into Syria as well, Morsi is not strong in Egypt, and I’ve read that Turkey is not happy with PBO because they think the US should have done more to help the Syrian opposition. PBO has worked hard on the Turkey alliance and that now has been damaged as well. At this point, there does not seem to be a player in the region that is strong enough to bring this mess to a conclusion. We have the strongest bargaining position with Israel but that is limited by opinion here in the US and the way we are viewed in the region. And whatever you think of PBO’s drone policy, that has become almost as much of lightning rod as Guantanamo.
+ A gazillion.
I’m not well versed on politics in Israel but how hard is it to get Bibi out of office already? Do the Israeli people really want him in power? Do they support these wars?
but I just believe the best thing the US can do is step back and stop blindly supporting Israel, no matter what they do.
THISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!
Anybody know of a streaming site for PBO’s departure from Thailand?
Hear the drones and the explosions and the cries …. talk about ‘citizen journalism’ in the age of Twitter, well, here it is ….
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1066486
Off to Burma:
That photo of PBO and SOS preparing to board AF1 on the way to an historic visit to a country in which careful sustained diplomacy (skillfully brokered by Hillary in the past few years) has brought them on the road to a recognition of human rights and democracy, fills me with so many emotions and thoughts that I can barely express. This is huge on so many levels. My heart is full with awe and thanksgiving and tears are in my eyes. We do, indeed, live in interesting times.
And now for a regularly scheduled moment of cuteness:
😆 Cute, thanks, Meta. There are so, so many little Americans who will grow up to discover they had their own personal, and often special, documented moment with the greatest president in their life time. Lucky little rascals!
When they say no matter where Pres. Obama is; be it land, air, or sea, that he can communicate with anyone in the world, they really mean it.
By now the Dream Team leader and SOS are on their way, I’d guess.
bye richard, and thanks for your reportage!
Simple truth.
actually, in his case, he’s been too old since he was young.
Love it!!!!!
We went to all the trouble of figuring out the time zones but I don’t think anybody’s broadcasting it…..
Didn’t watch much TV today, but maybe an hour off and on of CNN early evening and saw NO MENTION of PBO’s trip, even when ol’ Don Lemon was reporting “Top Stories.” My son said he did see coverage earlier in the day. The media has done this on so many of our President’s important trips … I still don’t know how they live with their sorry selves.
and the irony is that the media has a ton of reporters travelling with the President.
I remember one trip in the past when Chuckie Toad reported from another country where he was accompanying the President, and never mentioned the President. They are godawful losers.
A dust Devil? Cool!
Here’s a livestream in Burma:
http://www.livestation.com/channels/66-democratic_voice_of_burma_burmese
Its really lousy reception for me but maybe for others?
Next twitter account to follow for live tweeting of President Obama’s visit to Burma: @usembassyburma
Wow, seeing live in Burma…ain’t technology great!
New post everyone:
http://theobamadiary.com/2012/11/18/president-obama-in-burma/
i read about a documentary film being made, detailing the women’s liberation movement, and thought–huh. funny, but i don’t think i’ve ever seen a film on that topic. and why the hell is that, anyway?
(rant rant rant about rethugs nasty hideous venomous attempts to pitch women back to the dark ages)
okay, anyway, the film is titled ‘she’s beautiful when she’s angry’, and here’s a link to the website. http://www.shesbeautifulwhenshesangry.com/
also, a fundraising page. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1299423713/shes-beautiful-when-shes-angry
and some of dominique browning’s beautiful description of why she’s supporting this project:
‘ I cannot even believe this story hasn’t been told on film before–and maybe that’s why those bozo politicians think they can get away with telling women how their bodies are supposed to respond when we’re raped, or why we shouldn’t be able to get contraception, or why we’re sluts if we need it. They have no idea how hard we fought, way back when the storks hadn’t found them yet, to get where we are today. We’re not done.
~
We were “consciousness raising”–one of my all time favorite phrases. We were hell-raising. We were asking for raises. We were raising our fists. We were marching in the streets. We were getting arrested. We were given detention and being grounded. We were arguing, writing, screaming and yelling. We were mad. We were thrilled.
And we sure were beautiful. We still are. ‘
http://www.slowlovelife.com/
No doubt a dumb question (I do live a long way from the US) – but is there any chance that Hillary Clinton will stay on as Sec of State? Perhaps until the mid-terms?