The beginning of the end for Robert Gates?

Gates expected to push Israel-Palestinian talks
By MATTHEW E. BERGER
WASHINGTON

The nomination of Robert Gates as the next US secretary of defense was met in the US with restrained optimism that new blood would be able to bring different ideas to the Middle East.

But at the same time, supporters of Israel were quietly raising concerns that Gates's associations with members of President George H. W. Bush's foreign policy team would reignite calls for active US engagement towards the end of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

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As I suspected Gates is on board with James Baker. Baker and Bush 41 are the only American politicians that ever tried to make a move to pressure the Israelis into stopping the settlement of the occupied West Bank. These guys apparently get that solving this problem is the only hope for settling the region in the long run.

You can expect to see a concerted effort from the AIPAC/JINSA/Weekly Standard axis to undermine any efforts to address the Arab-Israeli conflict.

When the confirmation process for Gates begins you should expect to see some serious reservations about his qualifications and his record at the CIA to begin appaering from the usual Neocon mouthpieces.

The Neocon spin machine will now turn against this appointment, unless Gates sells out behind the scenes.