Bill Richardson

Barack Obama's other candidate for the Secretary of State post is Bill Richardson who, despite the anglo-saxon name, would be the first Mexican-American and Hispanic individual to hold the position. Therefore, if he were appointed it would appear to be at least some indication of a further move towards a more inclusive United States. Moreover, Bill, who has been the United States Ambassador to the UN, appears to be the kind of man who talks to people and his travels have taken him not only to meet Saadam in Baghdad, Sloban in Belgrade, Castro in Cuba and Kim in Korea but also to lots and lots of other places and as a US Congressman, as the US Secretary of Energy and as the Governor of New Mexico, Bill has been behind some pretty decent liberal legislation.(1) So, there was me thinking; this might just be the man but then I stopped and thought; well, all of these pretty decent liberal and diplomatic things, like, adding sexual orientation and gender identity to New Mexico's list of civil rights categories, like supporting New Mexico's policy of giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, like talking to Saadam and Sloban before they got bombed, well, they are not really the sort of things that can upset America's military and industrial complex, are they?
Anyway, it was time to do a wee bit of research on Bill and try to get some indication of where he stands on the big issues and that led me to look at his views on the Middle East, views that he expounded when he decided to run for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. Well, he wants to talk to Syria and he wants a sort of carrot and stick policy towards Iran, while emphasising that there is no way that Teheran should ever have nuclear weapons. He also believes that the United States needs the solid support of the Europeans, China, and Russia in support of UN Security Council resolutions.(2) Yes, Bill does appear to be a bit of a diplomat, someone who is willing to talk to people. Unfortunately, when it comes to Israel, Bill appears to fully understand that his survival as a mainstream American politician is fully dependent on an absolute commitment to the Zionist state, a dependency that is expressed in statements such as the following; "For the past fifty years, the United States and Israel have been linked by common values and interests. I believe that our two nations also share a common future. Neither can prosper without the safety and security of the other." and "I will ensure that the United States uses its all of its power within the United Nations to protect Israel's sovereignty and national security."(3)
Now,this is the kind of drivel and double speak that you hear from every mainstream American politician. Firstly, why should the safety and security of Israel be essential to the United States own safety and security? If anything, I would think that the United States support for Israel is detrimental to her safety and security. Secondly, the bit about the US using all of its power in the UN to protect Israel, what does it mean? Well, it means that "Uncle Sam" will continue to make sure that international law is not implemented and you see that is the point, when "Uncle Sam", the Jewish Democracy and one or two others, including, "Blighty, talk about rogue states, it is all a wee bit like the pot calling the kettle black. Yes, Bill could be just the man, the man to talk Iran into giving up its nuclear programme, the man to talk the Syrians into making a separate peace with Israel and, maybe, even the man to give the Palestinians their Bantustan "state".
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Richardson
2 Ibid
3 http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/Richardson.html