Bibi Netanyahu and his Republican friends claim that they see the Iranian nuclear threat clearly and President Obama does not. They claim they are saving Israel from catastrophe by urging the US to keep ratcheting up the sanctions without negotiations whether the other major powers go along with it or not. The reality is that the US under Obama has maintained strong sanctions and has led the International Community in doing so. If the US were to go along with Bibi and the Republicans to go it alone, the sanctions would not work because without the cooperation of the International Community the sanctions would have gaping holes in it and therefore be not effective. Unfortunately nuclear technology, like all other technologies, has been growing and the danger of it falling into the wrong hands keeps getting greater. Our best hope of containing it is by keeping technologically ahead of the bad guys and uniting the world community against the danger.
As for a 2 state Israel/Palestine solution. Bibi says no Palestine during the election to win over his base and then a demilitarized Palestine after the election for damage control. One does not know which is the real Bibi, but contrary to what one hears from the Radical Right, the damage control Bibi is not so different than Obama. Neither the real President Obama or the Damage Control Bibi demands an immediate militarized Palestine. Both the real president Obama and the possibly fictional Bibi see a gradual evolution of the status of Palestine. However the real Bibi seems to want no progress at all. The only action of Netanyahu is to authorize settlement expansion which creates facts on the ground which interferes with a solution, makes it difficult for neighboring Arab states who need good relations with Israel to bring those relations out from under the table without fomenting domestic rebellion, and gives cover to Iran to demonize Israel and move toward a nuclear bomb as well as helping anti-semites all over the world.
