The Boston Globe has a little piece following up the bogus controversy started by Jonathan Chait when he wrote that Steve Walt did not hurt his career by writing, The Israel Lobby. Chait is wrong, and either foolishly misleading, or fraudulently so. A statement on this matter from the New Republic, which called Walt an antisemite, has the same authority as, say, Roy Cohn's opinion on whether there was a blacklist in Hollywood. Now Daniel Drezner has taken up the issue, in a further motion of deceiving the public about the power of the Israel lobby.
Some day maybe I'll tell these academics about New York journalism...
By the way, Larry Summers said Walt hurt himself. And so did Walt, who is as smart as they come, on the Diane Rehm show:
MR. WALT: I’ll just add one
other point. Perhaps the most common reaction I have gotten from
friends and associates including some who don’t necessarily agree with
everything we wrote is, you know, “Well, gee, Steve, you’re never going
to work in Washington.” Now, working in Washington was not
necessarily my life’s ambition. I’m not complaining at all about
my situation in life, but I find it interesting that that’s so
frequently the reaction. I think that this has simply made us
complete pariahs. Quite remarkable.
Oh and here is Anatol Lieven telling me in a Nation piece that he became a "pariah" at Carnegie and at Aspen when he questioned the degree of American support for Israel:
"I knew bloody well it would bring
horrible unpopularity.... All my personal loyalties are the other way.
I've literally dozens of Jewish friends; I have no Palestinian friends."
Lieven says he was a regular at the Aspen Institute till he brought up
the issue. "I got kicked out of Aspen.... In early 2002 they held a
conference on relations with the Muslim world. For two days nobody
mentioned Israel. Finally, I said, 'Look, this is a Soviet-style debate.
Whatever you think about this issue, the entire Muslim world is shouting
about it.' I have never been asked back." In 2004 Lieven published a
book, America Right or Wrong, in which he argued that the United States
had subordinated its interests to a tiny militarized state, Israel.
Attacked as an anti-Semite, Lieven says he became a pariah among many
colleagues at the Carnegie Endowment, which he left for the fledgling
New America Foundation.
(Phil Weiss)
About Philip Weiss
Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Corrupt Jewish social networking not only works to exclude competent people like Walt, who probably has at least some Jewish background, but also makes it possible for Jewish incompetents like Summers and Rubin to fall up.
BTW, as I point out in Felon Advises Merkin on Fund Management – While in Federal Prison! corrupt Jewish social networking has serious implications for globalization.
“Well, gee, Steve, you’re never going to work in Washington.”
Walt: "I'm not complaining at all about my situation in life, but I find it interesting that that’s so frequently the reaction. I think that this has simply made us complete pariahs. Quite remarkable."
As Orwell said, in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a radical act.
What a nation of trained monkeys Washington has turned us into. Thankfully, there are still people like Walt and Mearsheimer out there who refuse to bow before the golden calf. They're the ones who will be remembered. The others are just temporarily animated dust.
Its an interesting self-inquiry into why one takes on Quixotic efforts.
Is it faith in something authentic but unverifiable?
Is it principled adherence to naked truth?
Is it selective agitation hiding personal flaws?
Is it selective agitation that is not sufficiently informed to make a judgement (an intellectual carelessness to judge without FULL knowledge)?
Is it hatred of another?
Is it self-hatred in some form?
Or, is it an understanding that something can change for the better by some identifiable path?
Allow me to provide a Cliff Notes version of this post:
Phil is pissed that he is poor, and that his neo-Nazi fans don't send a few shekels his way.
Witty, Phil is not tilting at windmills. And you know it.
Joe Schick, you need a new set of Cliff Notes. You failed the test of Head Shrink.
The bogus accusations of antisemitism are really having a profound effect. Seven years ago, before we had an official pro-Israel lobby in Canada, virtually all my students knew what antisemitism actually is. Now that the term has been hurled around so inappropriately for so many years, I have to give a long lecture on the history of antisemitism. Not that I mind, since it's one of my areas, and I like lecturing on it. But I think it doesn't do the Jewish community much good if a whole generation of young people regard charges of "antisemitism" like they do "fascism," or even "dickhead"–just one of those words hurled by some ignoramus who's losing a debate.
Delia, it sounds like you're losing the debate.
What debate would that be, Chris?
delia – not to worry. berel thinks his verbal flatulence "sounds like" music too.
xD
maybe if the aipac lobby octopus igonores phil he will not be noticed.
theyre gunnin for you mr weiss.
Mr. Berel, you are not even in the same ionosphere as Delia. Pull out your pecker and start broadcasting, because that's about as much credence anyone sentient on this blog gives you.
I see Phil has brought out his teeny gun. No, Delia does not breathe refined air. Perhaps Delia will follow you? After all, you lost the debate and then your job.
It seems likely that Delia will lose hers. How many schools will put up with a bogus teacher?
I agree, MRW. Delia is earnest, imaginative, empathetic, professional, hard-working, judging by what she has to say. Onlookers will note the obvious difference compared to chris berel's infantile loser comments.