Tom Edsall had an OK piece on Huffpo about Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul and One-Jerusalem guy and funder of the rightwing Freedom's Watch, in which he pushed the demand on Freedom's Watch to disclose the extent of Adelson's contributions. I say the piece was just OK because any piece that fails to describe Adelson's religious agenda directly–greater Israel– is not all that helpful. Imagine the Christian right getting this sort of pass when it comes to abortion rights or stem-cell research. You can't. And the poverty of the journalism here is that: Adelson's largesse may well have insured the hiring by Bush of Douglas Feith in 2000, to the immense detriment of children and other living things, and may well have played a role in McCain's hiring of neocon/Georgia boy Randy Scheunemann as his top foreign policy adviser. The press is indifferent.
Adelson also funded a lot of Israel's 60th birthday celebration in May. That's a little pathetic, isn't it? A friend who's been in Israel recently says Adelson's largesse has contributed to demoralization among the people about the future of Israel. A lot of folks leaving, doing reverse aliyah to the U.S. And an American casino mogul having to pay for the birthday bash. Here is Dan Levy saying that Adelson intends to buy Israel's next P.M. (Netanyahu) and quoting Nahum Barnea of Yediot Ahranot on the theme:
from Las Vegas who bought my country’s birthday with three million
dollars. I thought with sorrow: Is the country worth so very little?
While Haaretz reflects the humiliation in this anecdote:
himself a 60th birthday party at his home in north Tel Aviv. President
Shimon Peres was invited and was asked to say a few words to the
birthday boy. Peres started with Beilin but very quickly moved to
himself.
Peres talked about projects he was working on. The guests soon
understood that he was referring to the conference he sponsored in
conjunction with Independence Day last month, and the criticism that
was leveled at the fact that it was paid for almost wholly by a group
of moguls, headed by Sheldon Adelson. In a bitter tone, Peres told the
dozens of party guests: "I have reached the conclusion not to ask for
donations from tycoons anymore, but only from the poor. From now on,
when I want to launch initiatives and projects, I will seek out only
the poor, because this 'Yachimovichit' is sitting in the Knesset and
saying it is wrong to take money from the rich. What nonsense."
paul craig roberts deciphers the georgian russian war vis a vis the neoconservative movement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOJiVqg9_20
There is something of a rift bewteen Israelis and American Jews. I worked on a kibbutz that was having a rough spell financially, and had my head bitten off when I jokingly suggested that they resort to American Jews for donations to cover their debts. Apparently, Israelis have no problem having American taxpayer (largely Gentile) money extorted and presented to them as "loans."
Nothing like a casino tycoon to buy nations. Last night the other half of the equation spoke up: McCain gave answers as bipolar as Ahmadinejad would have to the question of Evil. Obama was a different species. Anyone who watched that Saddleback thing could not notice how McCain simply delivered (often prematurely, as if he knew the questions ahead of time) canned attack the black hats speech, while Obama, at least in clear comparative distinction, actually thought about the questions before and as he answered.
I was thinking of the sociopathology of the NA Jewish community in general when I put up The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, but Duddy's father like Sheldon Adelson's was a cab driver albeit in Montreal.
“The press is indifferent.”
I think “indifferent” grossly misstates the state of the press. “Afraid to call attention to facts that may offend ‘Jewish sensibilities,’” is how I would describe it, for most. And “Complicit in propaganda disguised as journalism,” for the rest.
Doppler
The same thing can be said in America…
"I saw a gambling tycoon from Las Vegas who bought my country’s birthday with three million dollars. I thought with sorrow: Is the country worth so very little?"
The question then is: the validity of Capitalism. The whitehouse (& many Western Govts) are also run by private corporations, which are owned by the rich, which drive the lobbies. China and Russia have been doing quite well with state run oil companies. Rememeber the Kibbutz ideal, well it failed. Now it is predatory capitalism. Justice is often based on the human desire for money. Billionaires with the right to wage wars, it all very dangerous. Surely there is a trend, Iraq, Afghan, Georgia, all with oil &/or pipelines. Yes Afghan has a pipeline in the works, and Karzai (before the war on terror) represented the oil companies. If it is a trend. What is next?
The difference between neo-colonialism and straight dictate is the former twists the knife in with a prayer for you, while the latter twists the same, but with a prayer for the twister. Sort of like the German and the American tussling to the end in that late scene in Saving Private Ryan.
Who's the tool? I think Mrs. Ryan once asked that? Or was that the Gold Star Mothers?
Adelson invested $11 billion dollars in a Macao casino development last year. It is apparently not doing well today. His stock prices are down %70 from last year. Maybe he will run out of money.
If he's losing money, it's for a reason like, some bigger people want it that way. …The pendulum is swinging s l o w l y.