A Brother's Eulogy For His Sister

October 14, 2013

The discovery that Gayle Fargotstein, my sister, had died October 8^th, 2013, has obviously unleashed a torrent of emotions among my fellow siblings, and each of us has our own way of dealing with not just her death and the way she died, but also with the way she lived her life - and how we reacted to her.

I loved Gayle very much, but she was not a person who was easy to love, and I could only love her at a distance. I can’t help but wonder how Gayle’s life (and Esta’s) might have been different had she not moved in with Esta – how all our lives might have been different. I wonder how Max and Esta - if they were looking down at the entire life of Gayle, would react to this last chapter of her life. How would they judge her - and how would they judge us? How would they judge themselves? Each of us will have to live with those unanswered questions. 

Gayle (and Esta) helped Kay and I get through our divorce by helping us with David, Sam and Molly. They would pick them up at school, feed them snacks and helped us mold them into the fine adults that they are today.  I have no doubt that whatever benefit my children got from being with Gayle, she received and equal amount of joy from their company, and truly loved them with all her heart – as if they were her own at times. Gayle, I will always be grateful to you for this, and my kids are grieving deeply over your death.

Looking forward there are lessons that I hope my siblings, kids and friends take to heart from the death of Gayle. Going forward we need to appreciate each other in a different light, and realize that we don’t have to win every argument between us. We need to end each conversation on a good note - because there is a possibility that it may be the last conversation we ever have together.

With all that said, destiny has a huge part in where life takes us, but we do have choices in our life, choices that can influence destiny. The concept of “family” (especially in a Jewish family) is traditionally extremely close, which is at odds with the societal demographic changes in America. Siblings live in different cities, connected by cell phones, the Internet or Facebook - instead of closely together in the same city, neighborhood or house. You have to invest in a relationship to maintain it, and a hug is so much more intimate than a cell phone call. I pray that my fellow siblings will remain close in the future, and also that the many nieces and nephews will learn from Gayle’s life and make the effort to maintain a close extended family far, far into the future.

Even though we bury Gayle today, her memory lives on in the family and all of the nieces and nephews who loved her. May she find the peace in death that she found so hard to find on earth.

Very Sincerely,

Shep Fargotstein

America has suffered enough damage from Obama’s amateurish Preisdency.

The idea promoted by President Obama and his supporters that the tentative agreement with Syria/Russia to consolidate and destroy Assad’s chemical weapons is a “breakthrough” in arms control and validates the threat of force is a deliberate dishonest attempt to misrepresent the facts to the American public.

Because there is a war on the ground in Syria and because President Obama gave Assad months to hide his chemical weapons, there is no way we will get anywhere near 100% of these weapons. Look at Libya. Years later we are still looking for his hidden chemical weapons. There is no debate that it would take thousands of trained workers and years to accomplish anything near a thorough search of the entire country. Meanwhile, Obama the “Nobel Prize Winner” leaves Assad in power to continue the slaughter of his people.

The most ridiculous of Obama’s claims is that the threat of force he used in amassing the fleet of Navy assets is what brought Syria “to it’s knees” and henceforth agreed to surrendering their weapons. That, once again, is a half-truth. Yes, the military armada was definitely a wake-up call for Assad and the Russians. In fact the Russians were evacuating their citizens and military all the way up until Obama got cold feet and went to Congress to avoid making a decision that was well within his right as President.

Now America’s primary, most vital and peaceful line of defense – the concept that America will use it’s military to back up its rhetoric is now no longer a deterrent to our enemies. Our enemies know now that our President has no stomach for even a “shot over the bow”, much less a serious military intervention. Our enemies know, like many American are just now realizing - that the substance of Obama’s character is no match for his eloquent rhetorical skills. The damage to the image of America in the eyes of the world is incalculable and at this very moment our most trusted allies are forced for the first time to question their alliance with the USA.

I am not advocating for or against American intervention in Syria. I am advocating that next time we elect a President, we elect someone who has experience in the halls of Congress or the White House. I doubt many people would want a novice surgeon to improve their learning curve using a new technique on their body. America has suffered enough damage from Obama’s amateurish Preisdency.

Obama: Please Stop Digging

         

It amazes me how POTUS Obama has made so many blunders in regards to Syria – and he’s still piling them one on top of each other!

Obama’s off-the-cuff “red line” comment a year ago was the start, but If he had just fired off a few cruise missiles at Assad when he did use chemical weapons – much like his predecessors Clinton and Bush had done with Libya this whole affair would be a distant memory by now.

But no, POTUS Obama could not make even a small decision that he would “own” – so he had to go to Congress to get approval for an action that he already had the authority to make under the war powers act. Obama’s advisors knew that Congress would not approve the act because it was not thought out and he couldn’t get anything through Congress anyway. Obama’s political strategy was to be able to blame Congress for not authorizing action and hopefully the whole affair would go away. Obama elevated what should have been a minor decision to fire some cruise missiles into a deliberation worthy of WW3 – and it isn’t about to go away.

Now that Obama has been thrown a razor blade covered life preserver by Russian President Putin, Obama has effectively pivoted away from all of the US allies in the region and has effectively rendered the US impotent from a political and military perspective in regards to Iran. Unfortunately for Obama, the story isn’t about to go away anytime soon. The whole chemical weapons inspectors fiasco will last years while Assad resumes slaughtering his people, and each massacre will now have Obama’s name associated with it.  The former allies of the USA  (like Egypt Saudi Arabia, etc.) in the Middle East will be reassessing their relationship with the USA and form alliances that met their national interest – which may not coincide with USA interests. Why wait for Obama to throw them under the bus like foormer Egyptian President Mubarak?

Even as I write, Obama is being manipulated by both Russia and Iran in what may be the most humiliating foreign policy fiasco in the history of the USA. There is an old saying that when you are in a hole, the best course of action is to stop digging. Would someone please take the shovel from Obama’s hands?

The Naivety of the Exporting “Democracy”

They say history is the record of the victor. If that is the case, then the story of the rise and fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt should become a textbook example of how NOT to promote “Democracy” and/or U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast.

The Obama administration’s rational behind pulling the rug from under long-time Egyptian ally Hosni Mubarak and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood – an organization with solid terrorist credentials was the mistaken belief that there was a material difference between the paramilitary terrorist arm of the MB and the political arm of the MB - disregarding that the only difference between the MB and the Nazi party was the symbol of a crescent instead of a swastika. The “Obama theory” was that if the MB could be “co-opted” by participating in a democratic voting process (one man, one vote) that there was a good possibility that “political Islam” would be forced to moderate it’s total world view and in a domino effect, would usher in a wave of moderation across the middle east.

The Obama “Democracy Doctrine” hit opposition from almost every U.S. ally in the region immediately. Israel, of course, had a peaceful border under PM Hosni Mubarak solidified by a treaty that was effectively enforced for over 40 years. The U.S. pressure to oust Mubarak took them by surprise and immediately raised the threat level on their southern front. Being a dutiful U.S. ally - and also with awareness that they could not/should not have any affect on internal Egyptian politics, they had to lay low and let events outside their border play out over time. In usual fashion, the Israelis prepared strategies to react to different political and military possibilities.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Kuwait on the other hand had a much different reaction to this “embrace” of political Islam. To them this was clearly a Trojan horse for the MB to organize politically and eventually force them out of power and reduce the influence of Sunni Muslims to a subservient role across the Middle East in their grandiose ambitions of Iran to be the torchbearer of Islam across the world. They immediately lobbied Washington to reverse course, but to no avail. They considered Obama an inexperienced meddler in their world and immediately started making plans which would be executed at the right time and place – hoping on events to organically take place that would give wind to their plans.

It is in this scenario that the MB took office. One of Egyptian President Morsi’s first acts was to dismiss the leadership of the Military. His second act was to re-write the constitution in such a way as to vizierate the opposition and install ultra-conservative Muslim religious laws into civil law. His arresting of opposition leaders, restriction on alcohol and turning a blind eye towards the killings and abuse of the Christian minority were also “not so democratic” and angered the “Egyptian street”. This brings to question why President Obama never protested these abuses of power. Is one man, one vote all there is to democracy? Obama’s lack of interest in the “quality” of Egyptian “democracy” delegitimized his “Nobel Prize” claim to the moral high ground when preaching human rights and pro-democracy efforts around the world. It is no surprise that there was an overwhelming organic movement to oust Morsi. If the same set of circumstances happened here in America against Democrats or Republicans, I would not be surprised to see millions marching in Washington - and our saving grace being our mature liberal democracy which has impeachment embedded and respected within our constitution.

The Gulf States of the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia saw the massive demonstrations in Cairo, saw an opening which could be exploited to their advantage, and for the first time in the 65 year history of the Middle East, these countries executed their own regional military/political strategy against the wishes of their protector – the USA. These countries would have never considered this outcome IF THEY BELIEVED that the USA really had their back. The announcement that the USA was relegating the Mideast into a second tier area of US military/political concern also signaled a lack of commitment and created a vacuum. Either the Gulf state would fill the vacuum or someone else would do it for them.

Obama’s embrace of the MB was a strategic mistake and the reverberations of damage is best exemplified in the $13 billion commitment by the Gulf states to Egypt just for the month of July. The internal U.S. debate over whether to continue the $1.5 billion in assistance is a moot issue now. Egypt is spinning away from our influence along with the other Gulf States.

Meanwhile, President Obama has Secretary of State Kerry shuttling back and forth on another “make believe” foreign policy blunder that fortunately will only spin wheels and not pose a risk. There is virtually zero chance of a peaceful 2 state solution between the Palestinians and the Israelis – and both sides know it. The Palestinians don’t have any leadership that can deliver on their side of any agreement, and the USA and the UN have no credibility in making safety guarantees after the UN abandoned their Sinai and Golan Heights posts.

The best example of democracy in the Middle East is Turkey and the recent riots and brutal way the PM Endogen pacified Giza Park was not exactly conducive to a “liberal democracy”.  It’s time that Obama makes a distinction between a “liberal democracy” where minorities have rights and a “democracy”. After all, Hitler and his socialist party were voted into power too. Would Obama not consider their record  of human rights abuses  BEFORE they executed their “final solution” an abomination of a true democracy? I would hope not.

Obama's Mideast Strategy - if he even has one - is in ruins. How is he going to react now?

It was a total shock that President Obama literally threw America’s long-time ally – Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak under the bus when a hundred thousand disenchanted Egyptians protested his autocratic regime. Mubarak was clearly willing to hand over the government, but in an orderly fashion that protected the integrity of Egypt’s national institutions. President Obama forced early elections in Egypt, when no other group was organized other than the Muslim Brotherhood – who promised that they would not run for political office. Of course, they DID run and won a bogus election without any real competition. The MB won, they immediate focused on imposing their extremist religious values on the other 75% of the country – at the expense of letting the infrastructure of Egypt disintegrate and generally create a non-functioning state.

It is no wonder that millions of Secular Egyptians, Christians, and moderate Muslims are protesting the MB regime. The protester leaders have been jailed, any critic in the press is jailed, all organs of the government are led by extremist MB in posts where they are ill equipped to govern. Egypt’s infrastructure is destroyed, and the country is on the verge of civil/sectarian war and is likely to become a failed state like Somalia without global intervention.

Our President gave the Muslim Brotherhood credibility with his undeserved support. Most Mid-East scholars knew where this was heading, yet President Obama only surrounds himself with people who agree with him and rarely convenes advisory boards to supplement his decision making process.

President Obama is not responsible for the chaos in the Mideast, but he has certainly contributed to reversing 70 years of U.S policy and even to this day he is still committed to reducing U.S. influence to the point where our allies no longer have faith in America. Many people want to frame America’s place in the world, as a “has-been” as far as global leadership is concerned. The fact is that while we had suffered an economic setback in 2008 – and are in recovery now – when compared to the rest of the world, we are in the most advantageous position of any 1^st world economy. President Obama has many problems to deal with today with the NSA, Obamacare and the Mideast. To date he has only shown an ability to be reactive and place blame elsewhere. It would be nice to see some pro-active governance that helps shape the world, rather than letting the world shape America.