Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:
Wall Street Journal on Iran’s hand in Gaza:
More than 200 Palestinian rockets have descended on Israel in recent days, triggering an Israeli counteroffensive that was still taking shape as we went to press Tuesday. But as the drama plays out in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel, it’s worth noting the role Iran ”“ now under new and allegedly moderate leadership ”“ has played in this latest spasm of violence.
In March, Israeli naval commandos interdicted a Panamanian-flagged ship, the Klos C, off the Sudanese coast in the Red Sea. The ship’s cargo contained 40 M-302 surface-to-surface rockets, 181 mortar shells and some 400,000 rounds of 7.62 caliber ammunition ”“ all concealed under bags of Iranian cement. The weapons were almost certainly intended for Iran’s terrorist clients in Gaza.
Tehran denies any role in the shipment. But a recent classified report from the U.N. Security Council’s Sanctions Committee effectively confirms it, and we’ve seen the pertinent portions. The panel found that Bandar Abbas, a southern Iranian port, “is established as the origin of the shipment of 100 containers of cement, including the 20 containing weapons and ammunition.”
The panel based this finding on, among other things, the ship’s “cargo manifest dated 4 February 2014,” its “container stowage plan from Bandar Abbas” and “statements made by the captain to Israeli officials.” The manner of concealment, the panel added, “is consistent with several other cases reported to the Committee.”
The panel concluded: “The shipment of arms and related material found aboard the Klos C is a violation of Iran’s obligations under paragraph 5 of resolution 1747,” referring to an embargo on Iranian arms transfers imposed by the Security Council in 2007. The panel didn’t weigh in on the ultimate intended recipient of the shipment, yet previous such shipments have made their way to Gaza.
The Obama Administration and some of its European allies are openly contemplating a partnership with the Iranian regime to help stabilize the Middle East and deter groups like ISIS. The U.N. report is a fresh reminder, if one were needed, that the Islamic Republic abets the very terrorism and instability it is now being enlisted to stop.
Orange County Register, Santa Ana, California, on Obama’s deficit in statesmanship:
How the mighty have fallen. In a poll last week by Quinnipiac University, a plurality of voters declared President Obama the worst man to hold the highest office in the land since World War II.
That’s a decidedly ignominious distinction considering the failings ”“ real or perceived ”“ of several of the presidents that preceded Obama.
George W. Bush steered the nation into two separate wars, producing nearly 5,300 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq and costing American taxpayers more than $4 trillion.
Bill Clinton disgraced himself by having an adulterous affair with a White House intern young enough to be his daughter, which contributed to his dishonor of being the second president in U.S. history to be impeached.
Jimmy Carter is remembered for his impotence in securing the release of 52 American diplomats and others held hostage 444 days by Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, and for presiding over the worst economy since the Great Depression.
Richard Nixon was brought down by the Watergate scandal, becoming the only president to resign from office.
Yet none of those former presidents is held in as low esteem as the current occupant of the Oval Office.
Indeed, 53 percent of those surveyed disapprove of Obama’s job performance; 54 percent say his administration is incompetent in running the government, and a 45 percent plurality said the county would be better off if Mitt Romney was in the White House.
So what explains the precipitous decline in the president’s standing? Well, we think it attributable in no small part to Obama’s almost complete lack of statesmanship.
Yes, we understand the president’s frustration that his second-term agenda hasn’t gotten much traction on Capitol Hill, where the House is in the hands of Republicans.
But it’s almost as if Obama expected the House GOP to rubber-stamp his proposals as House Democrats during 2009-10, when they passed the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with next to no Republican support.
Now Obama finds he needs he needs the support of at least some members of the loyal opposition to get legislation passed ”“ like immigration reform. But the president has not bargained with House Republican leaders.
Instead, he has tried to bend House Republicans to his will by demagoguing those who differ with him on such policies as climate change ”“ as he did during his politicized UC Irvine commencement speech ”“ and by threatening to bypass the duly elected representatives of more than half the electorate by issuing executive orders and directives.
Bush, Cinton, Carter, Nixon and other of Obama’s predecessors may have left some presidential traits to be desired. But, arguably, none were less statesmanlike than the nation’s current chief executive.
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