Reading Jimmy Carter's new book on the Middle East

[West]

As someone who grew up not understanding the history/details behind the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, this book is really laying it all out for me. Recommend it to anyone in my boat (which is most people, I imagine).

[Felix_Nietzsche]

Oh God(slapping head)....
Jimmy Carter is a pathetic, little, little, little, man.

It amazes me anyone give him the slightest credibility...much less buys a book from him.

[HeavilyArmed]

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As someone who grew up not understanding the history/details behind the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, this book is really laying it all out for me. Recommend it to anyone in my boat (which is most people, I imagine).

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Since you admit that you have no historical frame of reference how can you assume Carter is telling you an honest history?

Carter has made numerous moves that shed favorable light upon the terrorist scum of the earth.

[West]

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It amazes me anyone give him the slightest credibility...much less buys a book from him.

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Coming from someone who I give zero credibility (you), this isn't surprising. He's one of the few public figures who I do give credibility to...

[West]

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Since you admit that you have no historical frame of reference how can you assume Carter is telling you an honest history?

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My best answer to that would be that I have read one of his other books, "Our Endangered Values", the subjects of which I have a much better frame of reference for, and which I found to be on the money.

[Felix_Nietzsche]

Unlike you...I lived through the Carter presidency with his 21% interest rates and disasterous foreign policy. The man is a first class buffoon. His only foreign policy "success" was the Camp David "peace" accords. The result was the USA pays annual payments to Egypt NOT to attack Israel. Egypt welched on several parts of the agreement including to recognize the state of Israel.

Carter had the choice of supporting a stable dicatorship in Iran or letting the religious nuts fight it out with the Shah. Carter abandoned our loyal ally the Shah of Iran and a religious dictatorship has taken over. Human right violations in Iran have increased. Shia terrorism is on the march and has spread throughout the middle east. Now these fruitcakes are threatening Israel with the atomic bomb. Everything Carter touches turns to ****. His negotiations with North Korea were a joke as well. North Korea took the tribute he offered and then promptly welched on their agreement and secretly continued to pursue the A-bomb. Carter is a completely incompetant man with regard to domestic and foreign policy.... Yet.....you drink from his well and find him insightful. This speaks volumes about your gullability...


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Coming from someone who I give zero credibility (you),

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Oh? Is having your credibility worth having?

[Bicycles_Biatch]

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It amazes me anyone give him the slightest credibility...much less buys a book from him.

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Coming from someone who I give zero credibility (you), this isn't surprising. He's one of the few public figures who I do give credibility to...

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I live in LA (a blue region in a blue state to say the least)... and when Carter was at Vromans book store in Pasadena for the release of this book, there was a fairly large protest.

I don't know all the ins-and-outs... but apparently some of his speculation is WAY out-landish, a few of his "ideas" are blatant plagerisms, and his maps / time-lines are comical.

Like I said, this isn't a political attack... it just seems like those who are in the "know"... don't give much crede to Carter's work.

On the other side of the coin... I'll read just about anything... but you might want to take it with a grain of salt.

[Actual God]

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It amazes me anyone give him the slightest credibility...much less buys a book from him.

[/ QUOTE ]

Coming from someone who I give zero credibility (you), this isn't surprising. He's one of the few public figures who I do give credibility to...

[/ QUOTE ]

I live in LA (a blue region in a blue state to say the least)... and when Carter was at Vromans book store in Pasadena for the release of this book, there was a fairly large protest.

I don't know all the ins-and-outs... but apparently some of his speculation is WAY out-landish, a few of his "ideas" are blatant plagerisms, and his maps / time-lines are comical.

Like I said, this isn't a political attack... it just seems like those who are in the "know"... don't give much crede to Carter's work.

On the other side of the coin... I'll read just about anything... but you might want to take it with a grain of salt.

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WRONG

I read the book, it's perfectly fair and not even very polemical. The title IS provocative but the people who protest this book are laughable and have obviously not read the book. His basic point is this: extremists on both sides are [censored]. Israel must stop denying Palestinians basic human rights or the threat of terror will never go away, and there will be a tragic and unending cycle of violence. And he blames terrorists, too.

[adios]

Here's a link to amazon regarding Carter's book, "Our Endangered Values." Does this give him credibility to write a factual rendition of Middle East history? Also West states that much of "Our Endangered Values" is "on the money." From the inside cover of the book:

In Our Endangered Values, Carter offers a personal consideration of "moral value" as they relate to the important issues of the day. He puts forward a passionate defense of separation of church and state, and a strong warning of where the country is heading as the lines between politics and rigid religious fundamentalism are blurred.

Now he describes his own involvment and reactions to some disturbing societal trends that have taken place during the last few years. These changes involve both the religious and the political worlds as they have increasingly become intertwined, and include some of the most crucial and controversial issues of the day - encapsulated under "moral values."


Many of these matters are under fierce debate. They include preemptive war, women's rights, terrorism, civil liberties, homosexuality, abortion, the death penalty, science, and religion, environmental degradation, nuclear arsenals, America's global image, fundamentalism, and the melding of religion and politics.

Perhaps West is only referring to Carter's knowledge of science, environmental degradation, and nuclear arsenals. But if West is using a "broader brush" to state that he know's Carter's views on things like preemptive war, the death penalty, etc. are the final word on these subjects then I think his logic for recommending Carter's work on the Middle East is very flawed at best. I assume that West believes that Carter does not have the last word on morality or that Carter's world view is not open to debate. So let's give West the benefit of the doubt and state that Carter's knowledge of certain subjects is very good and he expresses this knowledge accurately in the book, "Our Endangered Values." This doesn't necessarily mean that he is qualified and/or knowledgable enough to write a book about Middle Eastern history.

[adios]

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It amazes me anyone give him the slightest credibility...much less buys a book from him.

[/ QUOTE ]

Coming from someone who I give zero credibility (you), this isn't surprising. He's one of the few public figures who I do give credibility to...

[/ QUOTE ]

I live in LA (a blue region in a blue state to say the least)... and when Carter was at Vromans book store in Pasadena for the release of this book, there was a fairly large protest.

I don't know all the ins-and-outs... but apparently some of his speculation is WAY out-landish, a few of his "ideas" are blatant plagerisms, and his maps / time-lines are comical.

Like I said, this isn't a political attack... it just seems like those who are in the "know"... don't give much crede to Carter's work.

On the other side of the coin... I'll read just about anything... but you might want to take it with a grain of salt.

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WRONG

I read the book, it's perfectly fair and not even very polemical. The title IS provocative but the people who protest this book are laughable and have obviously not read the book. His basic point is this: extremists on both sides are [censored]. Israel must stop denying Palestinians basic human rights or the threat of terror will never go away, and there will be a tragic and unending cycle of violence. And he blames terrorists, too.

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Are you stating that West or anyone else would find this the makings of an insightful rendition of Middle East history????