About our damn table manners

It is with a sense of increasing wonder that I have been reading the CNN story where U.S. Defense Secretary urges Israel to get back to the [damn] table. It was my damn understanding that the damn table was offered to our damn partners for more than two damn years, with or without damn freeze on the damn settlements, and damn me if I understand what damn Mr Panetta expects the damn Israel to do right damn now. Short of getting up onto that table and performing an enticing belly dance, of course, which measure may be the last ditch effort to get our partners closer.

As for this:

Panetta said Israel could "reach out and mend fences" with countries such as Turkey, Egypt and Jordan, countries he said share an interest in stability in the Middle East.

I know that we are currently doing more than just mending fences with Egypt - we are even building a damn long brand new fence on Egyptian border, fully expecting that with the soon-to-come brand new government of Egypt, full of fundies that don't recognize Israel and want to rescind the peace treaty, we shall need that fence and much more on that damn border.

Re Turkey: it shouldn't take a person of such extensive experience in intelligence as Mr Panetta (three years or so as a lieutenant in that oxymoron called Military Intelligence and more than two years as CIA chief) to know that the current PM of that country is hell bent to destroy the last vestige of normal relationships with Israel and that he planned this from his day one in the office. No matter how many "gestures" we make at Turkey and how extravagant these gestures are, Mr Erdogan has chosen his course long ago and isn't going to change it anytime soon.

"If the gestures are rebuked, the world will see those rebukes for what they are -- and Israel's moral standing will grow even higher. And that is why Israel should pursue them," Panetta said.

While being quite straightforward with that damn table, Mr Panetta has chosen a roundabout way of conveying this part of his message. Let me see: if Bibi (for example) travels all over our neighboring capitals and allows each local chief to publicly deliver a swift kick or five at his posterior - will it raise our damn moral standing high enough? Just asking...

Well, I know that the answers to my confusion are not coming anytime soon, so I shall just display that confusion image for now:



P.S. There is at least one positive outcome from reading this damn CNN article: I now have a permanent frustration image for future use:

Yup.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com