Kim Jong-un says that North Korea will shut down its nuclear weapons program if America promises not to invade.

Did that missile just crash into the ocean again?

Courtesy of the NYT: 

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, told President Moon Jae-in of South Korea when they met that he would abandon his nuclear weapons if the United States would agree to formally end the Korean War and promise that it would not invade his country, a South Korean government spokesman said Sunday. 

In a faith-building gesture ahead of a summit meeting with President Trump, Mr. Kim also said he would invite experts and journalists from South Korea and the United States to watch the shutdown next month of his country’s only known underground nuclear test site. 

The comments by Mr. Kim were made on Friday when the leaders of the two Koreas met at Panmunjom, a village on their shared border, the spokesman, Yoon Young-chan, said on Sunday, providing additional details of the meeting. 

“I know the Americans are inherently disposed against us, but when they talk with us, they will see that I am not the kind of person who would shoot nuclear weapons to the south, over the Pacific or at the United States,” Mr. Kim told Mr. Moon, according to Mr. Yoon’s account of the meeting.

I'm sorry didn't he just fire missiles over Japan?

That's a little southish.

Besides the only reason that Jong-un is promising that he will not fire weapons at the United States is because his fucking missiles will not reach the United States.

And his promise to abandon his nuclear weapons program is most likely due to the fact that his testing site collapsed, and NOT because Trump scared him.

However the leader of North Korea has picked up on something that his former wives learned early on. If you shower Trump with praise ("Oh Donald it's the biggest I have ever seen.") he will give you whatever the fuck you want.

Essentially Kim Jong-un is playing Trump like a bloated orange tinted fiddle.

Does Donald Trump deserve credit for peace between North and South Korea? Not so much.

After this admittedly historic meeting, Donald Trump was quick to jump in and snatch the credit.

After a furious year of missile launches and Nuclear testing, a historic meeting between North and South Korea is now taking place. Good things are happening, but only time will tell!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2018

KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2018

But is it credit that he deserves?

What do you think?

Courtesy of The Independent:  

In a historic and opulent ceremony, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) to sign the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula during the Inter-Korean Summit and officially ended the war that began when the north and south split in a battle over communism and democracy that began on 25 June 1950.

Dr TJ Pempel, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley told The Independent while Mr Trump “deserves some credit but not as much as he’s taking”. While the United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang involved the US push from Ambassador Nikki Haley, that is “hardly the whole story”, Mr Pempel said. “China’s agreement to the sanctions was far more important,” he noted. 

The important point to note, he said, was that North Korea developed its nuclear programme considerably after Mr Trump took office. “The North is convinced that it has the upper hand in negotiations because of its nuclear and missile testing successes; the US thinks it has the upper hand because it believes Kim is negotiating because of the sanctions. It’s the combination that has triggered the North’s willingness to sit down”.

That is likely part of the explanation for Kim Jong-un's sudden cooperativeness, but this next story is likely an even bigger factor.

Courtesy of Forbes:  

North Korean president Kim Jong-un recently announced his country has halted its nuclear testing program. While it is unclear whether this is a political move in preparation for meeting with the United States president Donald Trump, recent evidence suggests the country may have been forced to halt testing. 

A recent study by a group of geologists discovered that the mountain used by North Korea for its nuclear bomb testing has collapsed as a result of the explosions. The collapsed mountain is raising concerns about radioactive fallout, which could make its way into China. 

Scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China believe this could be the true reason North Korean President Kim Jong-un announced the halt of their nuclear testing program.

So Kim Jong-un is not negotiating because he is suddenly all reasonable and shit, it's because he realizes that he needs to change tactics before his bluff is called and his enemies recognize that he is not the nuclear threat that he has made himself out to be.

He's like a thief who attempts to rob a liquor store, realizes that he forgot to load his gun, and then suddenly says "Look, Just give me a bottle of vodka and I will leave without taking your money. Deal?"

Donald Trump has a history of taking credit for other people's work, and this looks like one more example.

Donald Trump announces plan to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Does not go over well.

'Jerusalem is Israel's capital' - US President Donald Trump announces, overturning decades of official US policy https://t.co/HoqKpCq3Dv pic.twitter.com/zGhdvdX5NU

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 6, 2017

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

President Trump on Wednesday formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and setting in motion a plan to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to the fiercely contested Holy City. 

“Today we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital,” Mr. Trump said from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. “This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do. It’s something that has to be done.” 

The president cast his decision as a break with decades of failed policy on Jerusalem, which the United States, along with virtually every other nation in the world, has declined to recognize as the capital since Israel’s founding in 1948. That policy, he said, brought us “no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.” 

“It would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result,” Mr. Trump declared. 

Recognizing Jerusalem, he added, was “a long overdue step to advance the peace process.”

Yeah, I don't think Donald Trump understands what the word "peace" means, because this is not how you go about attaining it.

Courtesy of Al Jazeera:  

Mahmoud Abbas has lambasted the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, saying the Palestinian leadership refuses to acknowledge President Donald Trump's contentious move. 

Calling Jerusalem the "eternal capital of the State of Palestine", the president of the Palestinian Authority said on Wednesday the US could no longer be a mediator in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. 

His comments were in response to an earlier announcement by Trump during which he said the US was formally recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and would begin the process of moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to the city. 

"This is a reward to Israel," Abbas said in a televised address, adding that Trump's move encouraged Israel's "continuing occupation" of the Palestinian territories. 

Earlier in the day, Palestinian leaders called for three days of rage against the move.

Boy that sounds peaceful, doesn't it?

There was also this:

President Abbas just ordered his Palestinian team located in Washington DC to come home, saying that the United States has “withdrawn” from it’s role in the peace process. Abbas considers this to be the end of America acting as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) December 6, 2017

Trump had said earlier that he had the support of Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations, but according to news reports there is NOBODY on the Arab side who is cool with this, or anybody else for that matter.

Courtesy of the BBC:

The US decision comes despite vocal opposition in the Muslim world, even among US allies. 

On Tuesday Saudi Arabia's King Salman had said that the move "would constitute a flagrant provocation of Muslims, all over the world". 

Demonstrations have already taken place in Gaza and outside the US consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. 

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said it was "a moment of great anxiety". "There is no alternative to the two-state solution. There is no Plan B," he said. 

In other reaction: 

Prime Minister Theresa May said she disagreed with the US decision, which was "unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region" 

French President Emmanuel Macron said France did not support the move and called for calm 

EU chief diplomat Federica Mogherini voiced "serious concern" 

Boy color me confused.

Here I thought that Trump was just focused on trying to start a nuclear war with North Korea, but  it appears the tiny fingered multitasker is also going to try and create a conflagration in the Middle East as well.

What was it that Michael Caine said in that Batman movie?

“...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” 

I think Vladimir Putin and the deplorables have placed such a man into the White House.

Donald Trump thinking about pulling out of Middle East peace talks after his unqualified son-in-law screws up meeting with Palestinian leaders.

Courtesy of The Hill:

The London-based Arabic daily al-Hayat reports that Kushner's meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was “tense,” according to a translation from the Jerusalem Post, and Abbas was reportedly furious at Kushner relaying the demands of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Israeli newspaper Haaretz also reports that Palestinian officials were “greatly disappointed” by their meeting with Kushner and Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt. 

"They sounded like Netanyahu's advisers and not like fair arbiters," a senior Palestinian official told the newspaper. "They started presenting Netanyahu's issues and then we asked to hear from them clear stances regarding the core issues of the conflict." 

The report also claims that the Trump delegation was also upset with Abbas for refusing to denounce a recent stabbing attack in Jerusalem. 

A Palestinian official reportedly told al-Hayat that Kushner will report back to Trump on the meetings and Trump will then make a decision on continuing with the talks. 

“(Kushner) will submit his report to the president and, after it is submitted, Trump will decide if there's a chance for negotiations or it might be preferable to pull out of peace talks," the official said, according to a translation by the Post.

Earlier Trump had said this about Middle East peace:  

“I want to see peace with Israel and the Palestinians,” Trump told Reuters Thursday. "There is no reason there’s not peace between Israel and the Palestinians — none whatsoever.”

Trump also claimed that making peace would be a lot easier than people claimed.

So with this in mind he sent a trust fund baby with absolutely no experience to negotiate a peace deal which has eluded expert negotiators for decades, and now that it has hit a snag he is considering just saying fuck it to the whole thing.

Gee, no wonder the Russians wanted this guy in charge of our country. 

In a move certain to piss off conservatives Black Live Matter to receive national peace prize.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

The Black Lives Matter social justice movement has been recognized with a global peace prize that in the past has highlighted the work of South African civil rights activist Desmond Tutu, renowned philosopher Noam Chomsky and former Irish President Mary Robinson. 

The Sydney Peace Foundation announced last week it was giving Black Lives Matter its 2017 peace prize during a ceremony scheduled in November for Sydney. The award recognizes the work of the founding leaders of the social justice activist network: Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, who began working together after Florida neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013 in the death of black teenager Trayvon Martin. 

"This is the first time that a movement and not a person has been awarded the Peace Prize—a timely choice. Climate change is escalating fast, increasing inequality and racism are feeding divisiveness, and we are in the middle of the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Yet many establishment leaders across the world stick their heads in the sand or turn their backs on justice, fairness and equality," the Sydney Peace Foundation said in announcing the award. 

Right Wing radio and Fox News have worked extra hard to identify BLM as a racist hate group, so this announcement is sure to cause a major freakout among the heavy set, lily white, personal mobility scooter crowd.

I am sure that just as soon as they have plastered some placards with misspellings, and found enough handicap parking places, they will all take to the streets to roll, amble, and stumble along to express their outrage.

Remembering when we had hope.

The other day this song popped into my head and I suddenly remembered how inspired I was at the promise of a better tomorrow in America.

These days I know we often feel such despair that is it hard to remember when we had hope.

Well we certainly did and this song was our theme song.

So you take a moment to hear the words and remember how inspired we were to stand up for our country, stand up for our freedoms, and stand up for ourselves.

"Always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change. Yes we can."

Sarah Palin's book promotion goes from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Courtesy Anarchy Oakley's Facebook page:

JESUS WOULD FIGHT FOR OUR SECOND AMENDMENT 

Taking concrete defense measures (ie. arming ourselves) away from the good guys? Yeah... that... we don't want that.

Jesus would fight for our second amendment?

Has she even read the book she is plagiarizing?

Is this the man who would fight for the 2nd Amendment?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[a] 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. Matthew 5:38.

Or this man?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Matthew 5:43-44.

Because that's the man who the religion that Palin claims to adhere to is named after.

I find it beyond ironic that I would feel the need to defend Christianity, but let's face it this woman, and MANY of the loudest voices seeking to represent her religion, seem to HAVE no idea about it's central theme.

But here's a hint.

I does NOT involve shooting first and asking questions later.

You know as an Atheist I would love to give all of the credit for people leaving the church on the fact that we have access to more information and are better educated today than in years past.

However the truth is that it is exactly people like Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, and Ted Cruz who wrap themselves in the cloak of Christianity, while preaching messages of hate and divisiveness, that is causing people to run screaming from the religion in droves.

So I guess for that I should tha.....I should than....I should offer Palin my tha.....you know what I'm trying to say.

After all she is unwittingly doing a public service, while trying with all her might to do something completely different.

Much like she tried to help reform the Republican party and instead damn near destroyed it.

P.S. Oh yeah I almost forgot, Palin also linked to this parody song attacking the President over his calls for gun control. I assume that Billy Joel will be contacting his lawyers later today. 

GOP candidate Ben Carson accuses President Obama of antisemitism.

Here let me tell you about something else I don;t understand.

Courtesy of Bloomberg:

Ben Carson has a way with words. 

 In a Sunday interview with Fox News, the Republican presidential candidate doubled down on his assertion that a speech given by President Obama intended to sell the American public on his nuclear deal with Iran contained "coded innuendos employing standard anti-Semitic themes.” 

Carson's claim first appeared in an editorial that the retired neurosurgeon published Sunday in the Jerusalem Post, and Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace pressed the candidate to explain what, in particular, he believed to be anti-Semitic about the president's remarks. 

"I think anything is anti-semitic that is against the survival of a state that is surrounded by enemies and people who want to destroy them," Carson said. "To act like everything is normal there and that these people are paranoid, I think that's anti-Semitic." Carson added that on a recent trip to Israel, he "couldn't find a single person there who didn't feel that this administration had turned their backs on Israel."

Gee I wonder who Carson was talking to in Israel?

Israel's warmongering prime minister Netanyahu and his staff perhaps?

So to be clear the deal that keeps Iran from developing a nuclear weapon for at least the next ten years, and therefore decreases their ability to threaten Israel, who already has nuclear weapons, makes the President an anti-Semite?

Gee that makes all kinds of sense. 

You know just because President Obama does not genuflect at Netanyahu's feet like the Republicans in Congress, does not mean that he is anti-Semite. It simply means that he is well aware that Netanyahu uses the possibility of Iranians getting nuclear weapons to scare his people into keeping him in power and has decided to take actual steps to protect the people of Israel rather than buoy up their Prime Minister's political power base.

By the way would you be surprised to learn that this idiot is now right behind Donald Trump in the most recent Fox News poll? Well he is.

Bibi Netanyahu goes hard right and sabotages peace negotiations with Palestine in order to win reelection. So of course that makes him Sarah Palin's hero.

Courtesy of the poor man's Queen Esther's Facebook page:  

Congratulations, Prime Minister Netanyahu. Thank you to the good people of Israel for supporting a leader who will stand up and fight for all the free world while other leaders sit down. The Heartland of America will sleep better knowing Bibi remains the voice of reason and strength in the beautiful nation of Israel; for when Israel is safe, we are safe.

 - Sarah Palin

Yeah I think Palin has that backwards.

When America is safe Israel is safe.  I think if Israel were bombed out of existence tomorrow most Americans would not even notice.

And speaking of bombed out of existence, that is exactly what Netanyahu did to any peace talks with the Palestinians. This from The New York Times:  

Benjamin Netanyahu was poised to return to power. But there was a cloud over his apparent turnaround, the result of an increasingly shrill campaign that raised questions about his ability to heal Israel’s internal wounds or better its standing in the world. 

He said there would be no Palestinian state under his watch. 

He railed against Israeli Arabs — because they had gone out to vote. 

From the capitals of Europe, to Washington, to the West Bank, to the streets of Israel, even while his critics said Mr. Netanyahu had reaffirmed his reputation as a cynical, calculating politician, it appeared that his approach succeeded in drawing votes from other right-leaning parties. 

But along the way he angered the president of the United States with a speech to Congress and infuriated European leaders eager to see the peace process move ahead to create a Palestinian state.

In one fell swoop Netanyahu has undermined any possibility of a lasting peace between Israel and their Palestinian neighbors. 

Going hard right and fomenting the possibility of military conflict in order to win an election. No wonder he has the support of Sarah Palin and the Republicans. 

Remembering 2014. There will be tears.

The minute Robin Williams starting speaking I was gone. So many feels.

What an amazing, tragic, and eventful year.

But also immensely satisfying. 

As Maya Angelou so beautifully put it, "I've had rainbows in my clouds."

Merry Christmas everybody!

To all my IM friends, here is wishing you the all time best Christmas day imaginable.

And in honor of Bishop Shrewsbury, who hates John Lennon, here is your Christmas song of the day.

Let us hope that we all live to see a day when there is no more war, no more hatred, and no more reason not to love everybody on this planet as if they were your brother or your sister.

Because you know what, they are. 

Other countries vote America the most significant threat to world peace. Well that's a little disheartening.

Source

Courtesy of RT:

The US has been voted as the most significant threat to world peace in a survey across 68 different countries. Anti-American sentiment was not only recorded in antagonistic countries, but also in many allied NATO partners like Turkey and Greece. 

A global survey conducted by the Worldwide Independent Network and Gallup at the end of 2013 revealed strong animosity towards the US’s role as the world’s policeman. Citizens across over 60 nations were asked: “Which country do you think is the greatest threat to peace in the world today?” 

The US topped the list, with 24 percent of people believing America to be the biggest danger to peace. Pakistan came second, with 8 percent of the vote and was closely followed by China with 6 percent. Afghanistan, Iran, Israel and North Korea came in joint fourth place with 5 percent of the vote. 

The threat from the US was rated most highly in the Middle East and North Africa, those areas most recently affected by American military intervention. Moreover, the survey showed that even Americans regard their country as a potential threat with 13 percent of them voting the US could disrupt global status quo.

I cannot tell you how much I want to get all indignant and say "Nuh uh!"  But honestly I can't do that.

We are indeed the biggest threat to world peace and only a nationalist moron from America, or as we call them, a Republican, would think otherwise.

I hoped against hope that once we had Obama in the White House our policies would change so that the rest of the world would respond to us with respect instead of fear, however to my great frustration that simply has not been the case.

At least not yet. 

President Obama strikes historic deal with Iran to curb their nuclear program.

Courtesy of USA News:  

With the historic announcement out of Geneva on Saturday that Iran has agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for an easing of sanctions, President Obama scored one of the most unlikely — and potentially most meaningful — foreign policy victories of his time in office. 

The capture of Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALs was thrilling and brought some closure to many Americans' collective grief over the Sept. 11 attacks, but the al-Qaeda leader posed a limited threat to American security after escaping Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in 2001. 

By ending the Iraq War in his first term, Obama followed through on closing out an unpopular war and fulfilling a 2008 campaign pledge, but the endgame was inevitable and expected. 

Just six months ago, it was close to fantasy for even some of the most optimistic Iran watchers that Tehran would be willing to come to the negotiation table with world powers, let alone the country it once deemed the "Great Satan." 

This unlikely diplomatic route started with an exchange of letters between Obama and Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, this summer, followed with a telephone call between the two leaders earlier this year, and culminated with the agreement that was nailed down in the middle of the night in Geneva. (The White House also confirmed after the agreement was reached that senior administration officials secretly met on several occasions with Iranian officials in recent months.)

As could be expected Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu is less than optimistic about this deal:

"What was concluded in Geneva last night is not a historic agreement, it's a historic mistake," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters. "It's not made the world a safer place. Like the agreement with North Korea in 2005, this agreement has made the world a much more dangerous place."

But then again Netanyahu is the Jewish equivalent of a neo-con much like our Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, he needs there to be a great evil for his country to always be on guard against in order to justify his policies.

The fear mongers like Sarah Palin, Right Wing radio, and everybody over at Fox News will continue to claim that the President is being naive and that nobody can trust Iran. But many experts are coming forward with praise for this deal. It is far from perfect, but it is an important first step in convincing Iran to resist the urge to develop nuclear weapons and hopefully to develop better relations with the West.

Keep in mind that those who are speaking out against this deal, are those who have a vested interest in this President being an abject failure.  Much like the Affordable Care Act they do not worry that this will fail, they worry that this will succeed.

I do understand what love is.

I think we need a secular word for "Amen."

Because I really want to say amen to this.

Okay how did this young woman NOT receive the Nobel Peace Prize?

Courtesy of the Telegraph: 

US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle welcomed Pakistani schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai to the Oval Office on Friday. 

Mr Obama met with Malala on the same day the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. 

The Pakistani teen had been considered a front-runner for the prize and was in Washington to speak at two events. 

The teen said in a statement after the meeting that she was honored to meet with the president, who is a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. 

"I thanked President Obama for the United States' work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees. I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact," she said.

So much wisdom in such a young person.

I think that her opportunities to win that prize are by no means behind her.

I see her as a great leader for her people in the years to come and have little doubt that she will remain a symbol for peace and the importance of education.

Final image of the day, because the world needs a little more of this.

After so much violence and devastation the last few days perhaps it is time for all of us to take this young boy's message to heart.

With so much negativity today I thought I would leave you with something to inspire you, and make you proud of your country. At least the way your country is today.

President Obama with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu

Touring the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

Meeting with Palestinian children.

The children know, they always know.

And lest you think that the President's visit was all photo ops and inspirational speeches, there was also this rather amazing outcome:

Friday, on the last day of Obama’s trip to Israel, Netanyahu finally called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to apologize, as Obama has urged since 2010. The three-way call ended with a bit of goodwill and some policy changes: Israeli payment to the families of the victims, an easing of the Israeli embargo on Gaza (which the flotilla had sought to break), the “cancellation” of Turkey’s “legal steps” against the Israeli military and, most importantly, the restoration of full diplomatic relations. It’s a big deal.

Gee no WONDER Fox News refused to report on this visit. It must burn their ass to know they just lost one of the favorite avenues of attack.

I am proud of my President and I don't care who knows it.

What's more, I think ALL of us should be proud of the job he has done, and yes, that also means the Republicans, who if they were honest with themselves would HAVE to admit that the country is certainly a HELL of a lot better off today then it would have been if their candidate had won in 2008 OR 2012. ESPECIALLY in 2008!

(Photos courtesy of the Obama Diary.)

Imagine a World Without Hate.

It takes a moment to recognize the brilliance of this video, but once you do it hits right in the feels.

I think it was seeing Matthew Shepard that caused the catch in my throat.

Someday.

UN votes to implicitly recognize a Palestinian state.

Courtesy of RT News:  

The UN General Assembly has voted to upgrade Palestinians’ diplomatic status to a “non-member observer state,” thus implicitly recognizing a Palestinian state. This comes despite strong opposition from the US and Israel. 

The Palestinian bid has been upheld with 138 votes in favor, 9 against and 41 abstentions. 

Addressing the General Assembly on Thursday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the historic vote was the last chance to save the two-state solution. He also told the meeting that it “is being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine.” 

In his speech Abbas mentioned Israel’s deadly assault on Gaza that took place this month and stressed that the Palestinians would accept "no less than the independence of the state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital." 

The Israeli government has described Abbas’s speech, which was met with a standing ovation at the General Assembly, as “defamatory and venomous.”"The world watched a defamatory and venomous speech that was full of mendacious propaganda against the IDF (army) and the citizens of Israel," the Israeli PM’s office said in a statement. 

Israeli UN ambassador, Ron Prosor, warned the General Assembly that “the Palestinians are turning their backs on peace.'' 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged the parties to renew their commitment to negotiating a peace deal. 

However the US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice said the UN's vote on the Palestinians’ status places further obstacles in the path of peace. "Today's grand pronouncements will soon fade and the Palestinian people will wake up tomorrow and find that little has changed," she told the assembly with a somber voice. "This resolution does not establish that Palestine is a state." 

The vote could be seen as an embarrassing defeat for Washington, which has always been a staunch ally of Israel.

The other day I was watching a news program, you know like I am always, and one of the commentators mentioned that while it may seem to appear that America has always presented itself as a neutral arbitrator concerning the conflict that exists between the Palestinians and Israelis, such is not the case.

In fact the United State's unabashed support for all things Israeli, has made them favor Israel over the Palestinians is virtually ALL negotiations going back to the birth of Israel itself.

The effect of that is dramatically illustrated in the maps below.

So what does this mean? Well it means that the Palestinians can now go directly to the UN and have their voice heard. This recognition constitutes an important endorsement of the legitimacy of their claim to statehood, potentially strengthening their hand in talks with Israel on major sticking points.

In terms of substantive gains, it will assist a Palestinian attempt to join the International Criminal Court and to be able to ask the body to investigate acts committed by Israel as potential war crimes.

This is going to make it harder for the Israelis to dismiss them as simply a "terrorist network" and provide Palestine with the opportunity to present their case on a more equal footing.

To quote Joe Biden, it is "kind of a big fucking deal." Even if Israel and America refuse to publicly recognize it as such.