The bad news is that the Ebola virus is deadly, infectious and incurable; and we're in the midst of the worst outbreak of the disease in history with over 1,300 people infected and more than 700 dead in West Africa, primarily in Liberia where an American doctor (Dr. Kent Brantley) was infected. And given that in a globalized world, diseases are also global, given our transportation systems, and everyone should be concerned as Director & CEO of the Cleveland Clinic Dr. Toby Cosgrove explained on the program.
The good news is that the virus is not as infectious as others, also pointed out by Dr. Cosgrove, and it can be contained. Also, the chases of an outbreak in the United States is slim, but with that the government is taking precautions regardless. Not as much good news, we admit - that seems to be the tread these days.
However, take heart because the U.S. government takes these situations incredibly serious as you can tell, having the Director of the Ceners for Disease Control Dr. Tom Freiden making the rounds on the Sunday talk show circuit to get information to the public as to not cause alarm. (They outlined on the program, via graphic, that all major points of entry in the U.S. have medical personnel on hand for any emergency.) This is where the United States is the undisputed leader in our opinion. No other country is as prepared for such emergencies as the United States and act as quickly. To this point, Dr. Frieden said that the CDC was sending experts to West Africa to assess the situation and assist in containing the disease - a 'surge in response' he called it. And Dr. Cosgrove stated that he was very confident in all the actions the CDC has taken.
Just another existential threat to throw on the pile.
[Thank you David Gregory for asking Dr. Cosgrove about the toxicity of the drinking water because of what's happening to Lake Erie. The toxic water is from an algae build-up in Lake Erie caused by fertilizer run-off from farms - the further price the environment pays under the weight of economic 'progress.' This worries us more than the spread of Ebola!]
Stopping the Spread... Israeli/ Palestinian Violence
In considering the two sides of the crisis in Gaza and the points made by the foils appearing on today's program, Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer for Palestine to the UN and Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer respectively, it's easier to understand why Israel has a clear conscious about this.
Mr. Mansour is a UN representative to the UN for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, not Hamas in Gaza; therefore leaving the PA with no leverage or influence a decrease in the violence. However, as Mr. Dermer pointed out and what we all know, the PA and Hamas do not see eye to eye and actually have different goals, yet have a supportive pact with one another. And as the ambassador explained, when Mr. Gregory asked Mr. Mansour about Hamas and their tactics, he could not condemn their actions.
Mr. Mansour said that the international community must empower the PA as to govern Gaza, but our question would be: How does that empowering get done? For that to happen, that means you have to take on Hamas and the only ones doing that are the Israelis. And in a round about way, Mr. Mansour is saying he agrees with Mr. Dermer when he said that the road to peace goes over Hamas not through it. Everyone knows this and that's why Arab leaders in other countries are quietly routing for Israel.
And even if you agree with Mr. Mansour when he stated that Hamas using the civilian population as human shields is false, you would have to agree with Mr. Gregory's use of the phrase 'exploiting civilians' because that certainly is the case. You can not lose site of the fact that it was Hamas who initiated this latest conflict, indiscriminately firing rockets into Israel.
By the way, we aren't studied up on the nuances of the Israeli appropriations bill to continue funding for Iron Dome, however, we disagree with Rep. Ellison's no-vote on the funding. We should encourage and support the signature defensive measure the Israelis have to protect themselves from rocket fire. Mr. Ellison needs to remember that rockets can not only come from Hamas in Gaza but also from Hezbollah in Lebanon. What you would vote 'no' on would be giving Israel free offensive military weapons. More cynically, don't give them money to buy weapons, have them use their own money to purchase them.
From what we've outlined above, it's easy to understand that the Israeli response is going to be disproportionate to what Hamas can retaliate with, and the Israelis should do what ever they can to mitigate civilian deaths - they're not targeting civilians, yet there are more and more protests around the world against Israel's actions. In last week's column we displayed pictures of the devastation in Gaza City, which at that level is completely unacceptable and punitive response is intolerable, but Hamas, given the history, has left Israel little choice. The rest of the world knows that it is not Hamas that is going to stop the spread of violence - it's a fact that the world has to come to realize.
And you can certainly take one thing, if anything, from the joint interview with Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and John Thune (R-SD) and that is that the United States, no matter how unpopular that actions, the United States will support Israel... as it should.
Round Table: Carolyn Ryan, Washington Bureau Chief, New York Times; Mike Murphy, Republican Political Strategist; Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN); and Kristen Soltis Anderson, Partner & Co-Founder Echelon Insights
One Last Thing...
We here at The Meet-The-Press Opinion do not think that anyone from the program actually reads this column. Why would they, right? However, today's program was refreshingly sharp and informative - cruising through the hour. There weren't any distracting prerecorded segments; with the exception of Chuck Todd there were no other correspondents; there were serious guests on either side of serious issues; and Mr. Gregory 'owned' the hour. What's odd it that today's format and pacing reflected an outline we had put together in a previous column. (http://meetthepressopinion.blogspot.com/2014/05/51114-short-sighted-separatists-in.html)
We'd be incredibly, humbly flattered if we didn't know for a fact it was coincidence.
But then we went to the Meet The Press web site this morning and saw this:
Coincidence is all good with us.
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