January 3, 2025
The late Jimmy Carter was an exemplary man. His honesty, modesty and good works set the mark for what American presidents should be like. He was the quintessential Christian gentlemen and a fine naval officer.
Unfortunately, this good man got embroiled in America’s colonial misadventures more often than the social welfare projects and peace plans that he sought to pursue. Chief among these thorny problems was, of course, the Mideast – no place for a decent, honest man – and, as well, the ugly imbroglio in Iran.
Carter directed and took credit for his administration’s flagship foreign policy effort, the much-ballyhooed Camp David Accords, a series of agreements that were supposed to end Arab-Israeli hostility, bring peace to the Mideast, and address the festering problem of millions of homeless Palestinians who had been driven from their ancestral homes by the US-backed creation of the state of Israel.
Long, torturous negotiations ensued in September 1978 at Camp David, Maryland that finally brought together Palestine Liberation chief Yasser Arafat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin. With great fanfare, agreement was proclaimed for Israel, PLO, and Egypt to recognize one another and embark on normal trade and diplomatic relations. The Palestinians of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza were promised autonomy. Egypt was given $1.3 billion by the US; Israel was given $3 billion annually. All sorts of diplomatic and military goodies were offered. Peace was about to dawn.
But the dawn never came. Egypt’s then ruler, Anwar Sadat, took the American cash (some of it in Swiss banks it was alleged) and supported Israel’s plan to pack Palestinian refugees into the open-air Gaza prison. Both Sadat and Begin were awarded the Nobel Prize.
It was claimed Sadat had been on the CIA payroll since the early 1950’s. My journalist mother, Nexhmie Zaimi, interviewed Sadat and described him as ‘a clown.’ But a clever clown. Most Egyptians viewed Sadat as a traitor or crook.
Meanwhile, Israel began back-tracking on the accords. It refused to grant any independence to its captive Palestinians, imposed tighter military controls over them and continued expropriating Palestinian lands and building new Jewish settlements. In short, Palestinians were screwed.
Shocked and dismayed by the selling-out of Palestinians, Jimmy Carter actually wrote a book, ‘Peace not Apartheid’ that accused Israel of apartheid South African behavior towards Palestinians. Predictably, he was blasted by a tsunami of vitriol by pro-Israel groups and, of course, accused of ‘antisemitism.’ In the media, the loveable, avuncular Jimmy Carter quickly became a hate figure.
In 2020, the then Trump administration cobbled together a ‘deal’ known as the Abraham Accords that paid off despotic Arab regimes like the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and basket case Sudan to make nice to Israel. It was a sleazy compact worthy of New York real estate promoters or gang chiefs. All the members, Sudan excepted, were scared to death of Iran. Morocco’s king was given a US imprimatur for his illegal annexation of Western Sahara.
Syria would not join this sell-out and was marked for regime change. Israel said all was ok until the mass eruption in Gaza began. Of all the Arab states, only dirt-poor Yemen acted to show support for the besieged Palestinians in Gaza.
In Washington, an addlepated President Biden let Israel and its American neocon fifth column take over his government and lay waste to Gaza. Many longed for the days of honest Jimmy Carter.
Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2025
This post is in: Uncategorized
…and from the BBC
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“While many ex-presidents spend retirement enjoying the benefits of their quasi-celebrity status, Carter built houses for the poor, helped eradicate lethal diseases and spoke out about thorny political issues, including by denouncing Israel’s use of apartheid against the Palestinians.
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As president from 1977 to 1981, historians say Carter also placed a rhetorical emphasis on human rights that set a new standard for other leaders around the globe.
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But historians also note that Carter showed a willingness to discard human rights concerns during his presidency when faced with abuses committed by US allies in countries like South Korea and Indonesia.”
From another source:
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“Carter played a significant role in dismantling New Deal legislation with the deregulation of major industries including airlines, banking, trucking, telecommunications, natural gas and railways. He appointed Paul Volcker to the Federal Reserve, who, in an effort to combat inflation, drove up interest rates and pushed the U.S. into the deepest recession since the Great Depression, a move that saw the start of punishing austerity cuts. Carter is the godfather of the pillage known as neoliberalism, a pillage fellow Democrat Bill Clinton would turbo charge.
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Carter fell under the disastrous influence of his Svengali-like national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Polish exile, who rejected the Nixon-Kissinger reliance on détente with the Soviet Union. Brzezinski’s life’s mission, one that meant he saw the world in black and white, was to confront and destroy the Soviet Union along with any government or movement he deemed to be under communist influence or sympathetic to it.
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Carter, under Brzezinski’s influence, walked away from the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks treaty (SALT II) with the Soviet Union, which sought to curb nuclear weapons deployment. He increased military spending. He sent military aid to the Indonesian New Order government during the Indonesian invasion and occupation of East Timor, which many have characterized as a genocide. He supported, along with the apartheid state of South Africa, the murderous counter revolutionary group, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), led by Jonas Savimbi. He provided aid to the brutal Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. He supported the Khmer Rouge.”
The sabotage of Jimmy Carter’s Iran hostage negotiations by several Republicans and candidate Reagan clearly led to his defeat in the 1980 election. The finance lobby then took control throwing Americans and much of the West into debt.
This is very much something Eric should write about. Control of money and debt shapes everything.
https://sustainablesociety.com/jimmy-carter-americas-worst-president-and-finest-leader/
I disagree…
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My God has a nice warm spot reserved for him. He will join Reagan, and Thatcher.
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Carter did more to unravel the good social work that FDR had done. The US is still suffering from his handiwork.
Who wouldn’t like Reagan? Don’t answer until you read the post in the comment above. Reagan released the dogs of finance on an unsuspecting American public and laid the groundwork for the decline of the Western democracies. I’m sure this wasn’t intentional BTW.