Speaking of Jewish wealth/success, USA Today reports on the massive speaking fees earned last year by State Department envoys Richard Holbrooke and Dennis Ross, $1.7 million and $420,000 respectively--half of Ross's speaking income from Jewish groups.
Per his disclosure statement, Ross, whose portfolio includes Iran, is a multi-millionaire. He typically makes upward of $10,000 for a speaking fee. Though it's interesting that he gets $15,000, $16,000 each from two synagogues, the Jewish National Fund, and the Jewish Federation, but $1,500-$2,000 from various universities. Values out of whack?
Ross pulled $5,000 from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs--the outfit chaired by Obama supporter Lester Crown--which censored Walt and Mearsheimer. And he got $40,000 for five speeches to AIPAC last year.
Follow the money!
Not surprised. This is a skillful way to pay for services rendered while you try to maintain the illusion of non-bias. It would have been more obvious if all these groups were paying Dennis directly, then he would have to report it as an agent of these organizations, and likely no longer qualifies for his post.
Good for Ross. I'm happy to hear he's making a good living and he doesn't have to beg people for money to take a trip.
The low blow attempt at implications of bias, strike me as more wrong than accepting $2000 from a university, while accepting more from an organization with the ability to pay. I'm sure you do the same with magazine articles.
"low blow attempt at implications of bias…" Say what? Dennis Ross is chair of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute out of Israel. Oddly, along with Ross on the board is Uzi Arad, the man that fantasizes about sending out hit squads to kill people that he thinks are anti-semites. It's no implication. Ross is biased.
How do you see this as a low blow, do you know who this guy is and what he has been doing? Here's an easy source. "Ross worked under Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz in the Pentagon. There, he co-authored a study recommending greater U.S. intervention in "the Persian Gulf Region because of our need for Persian Gulf oil and because events in the Persian Gulf affect the Arab-Israeli conflict" Do you not smell IRAQ… Do you not smell neocons…
Though I share Phil's suspicions of Ross in general, I entirely agree with Richard on this particular issue. It is perfectly normal for speakers to discount their fees for educational institutions: indeed, had Ross done otherwise one could more justifiably have blamed him. It doesn't show that he values the universities less – if anything it's exactly the opposite: he wants to speak there so much that he is prepared to discount his usual fee for them.
M ore on Dennis Ross just for fun: He is reputed to have attended (again!) the Bilderberg meeting which just concluded in greece under the greatest of great secrecies. Holbrook may have been there as well (per solid sources) along with a few other interesting individuals such as Geithner, Summers, Wolfowitz, Perle, Wolfenson. Which together, made 75% of the "American delegation". All Jewish, all AIPAC friends. (Oops, geithner now says he isn't jewish – the wikipedia entry saying he is was scrubbed the day after his appointment was announced. Well, at least the wife still admits to being jewish. Non-religious, of course). Oh yes, Rockfeller was in attendance as was andrea mitchell, fareed zacharaiah and representatives from every major newspaper/TV outlet. No wonder no one from MSM ever seems interested in what all these movers and shakers are talking about (even as every word uttered by the hapless Miss california is followed and amplified a thousand fold. But financiers meeting with politicians, media reps, bankers, EU officials etc? not a word….). Why should we care, right? For myself, I always wondered whether the G20 or G8 were just window dressing. The other thing I wondered about is – where is the representation from the rest of the world? even Russia is [sort of] excluded, not to mention China. But little old Canada? definite seat at the table. Kudos again to Finland – their PM and deputy were the only one openly saying that's where they are going. Can we buy transparency from them? Regarding Bilderberg –
Accepting money from the Jewish National Fund is a-ok then?
Now imagine if Obama had a Muslim advisor who received money from a mosque. THere would be all sorts of speculation about how the person was secretly and indirectly on the payroll of certain foreign governments.
Richard, let's be intellectually honest here for once, OK? Ross is through-and-through a pro-Zionist agent working at a high-level position in the Obama administration, arguably with the Iranian portfolio in his ambit of responsibility. Now, because of his bona-fides as an agent of Israel (and dual citizen of both that country and the US), and his background as "Israel's lawyer" in negotiations with the Palestinians under Clinton, his ties to WINEP, AIPAC and JPPPI, he was rammed through the machinery as the Zionist choice to obstruct the peace process. Strange thing, though. Seems George Mitchell and James Jones have more access to Obama than Dennis does. Seems Dennis the Menace is told to do a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, but is forbidden by Hillary from setting foot in Israel (with his special, off-the-cuff briefing for Bibi, no doubt). Maybe you could call it AIPAC appeasement.
The double standard on these issues is striking and troubling. Here is what Jeffrey Goldberg said was reason to drum Charles Freeman out of the government: "Freeman is well-known for his hostility toward Israel, but what's more substantively troubling about this report is the obvious inappropriateness of hiring a well-known advocate for the interests of Middle Eastern autocracies to produce national intelligence estimates for the Obama Administration. It would be inappropriate to appoint an official of AIPAC to run the National Intelligence Council (though it must be said that AIPAC doesn't receive any funding from the Israeli government) and it seems inappropriate to give the job to a Saudi sympathizer as well." http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2... By Goldberg's own arguments, Dennis Ross should also be drummed out of the government.
Would you prefer it if they started charging people to read the blog? If they do, at least we won't have idiots like you turning up feeling the urge to make pointless comments.
It's a pigsty, and these are the pigs, walllowing in the trough.
I must agree. By what criterion in the universe is it OK for a known agent of a foreign government to work at the state department, where he is free to advocate for the same government? Only in the US and only because of the corruption of our political process. Although, can we say in all fairness that Ross working for the State Department is any worse than Summers and geithner running the US treasury on behalf of wall street? have we seen any indication that the last too consider plain American citizens to even merit a seat at the table when goldman sachs and aig and citi so obviously dictate the terms of surrender? The problem is that our entire political system is so corrupted to the bone by special interests who own our lawmakers and executive branch. So Ross maybe a minor exhibit for conflict of interest, but certainly a typical one. Israel, just like the banking system, just like the healthcare industry are very good at convincing the ignorant, uncaring citizen that there's no problem – after all – we are all on the same side, "special relationships" and all. I wonder whether all these 'specials" are like "friends with benefits". Witty perhaps can enlighten me
I agree with your assessment of Mr. Ross. The amount of money he receives for speaking gigs is irrelevant. The problem is his long-established record of being a pro-colonization Zionist and AIPAC operative who has put Israel before America making official decisions while an employee of the United States government. The man is a neocon traitor, and should never been granted a security clearance. I hope FBI counter-intelligence has all his phones tapped.
If you've ever met Dennis Ross or spoken with him, you would know he's not a "neocon". Read his book on the Middle East, it's the most thorough source of information and facts regarding the negotiations between 1988-2001. He also gives a wonderful background in the beginning of the book discussing the Jewish and Palestinian narratives.
A known agent of a foreign government? You people are crazy! This guy is an American, half-Jewish & half-Catholic. He was born in Marin, California. He worked diligently with 3 Presidents on middle east peace and actually made progress (until Arafat reneged on nearly every agreement) I agree that Geithner has been a disaster, but you really need to learn more about Dennis Ross.
"This guy is…half-Jewish & half-Catholic." Sadly, I believe you're serious.
Dennis Ross gave up any right to be treated as an honest broker with regard to the Middle East when he took money from Israeli lobby groups.
Dear Dana, You falsely assume that Ross and Summers are working for different groups. I strongly recommend the following three articles. 1 .Chop Shop Economics and Stealth Zionism 2. commentary on Chop Shop Economics and Stealth Zionism 3. Jewish Financial Aggression and Worldwide Economic Nakba
So, by your standards President Obama "gave up any right to be treated as an honest broker" with regard to the financial crisis, due to his acceptance of money from mortgage lenders and other lobby groups? Do you hold all parties to the same standards? Or are you like most anti-Israel whiners that hold anything Israel to a standard impossible to attain?
You can't since Ross didn't report *any* compensation from the Jewish Agency's Jewish People Policy Planning Institute for a half decade. Is the *only* entity that did not apparently pay him anything. When AIPAC founder Isaiah L. Kenen was on the Jewish Agency's payroll, even *he* declared his $916/monthly salary on his foreign agent registration forms to the DOJ for his work at the UN and doing PR for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. http://irmep.org/ILA/Kenen/IOI/KenenFA-1/default.... Given that the Dennis Ross Jewish Agency work took place in Israel, perhaps Ross felt no disclosure was needed. Or that it truly was volunteer work. But it is hard to believe they didn't even play for flights. The potentially most explosive and problematic disclosure, work for the Israeli government has *no compensation*.
Why should Dennis Ross be treated differently than Charles Freeman?
A lot of people agree with your statement about Obama. Many distrust him and believe that he is just as bought and paid for as anyone else. Why do you think that equality of treatment , regardless of religion, is an impossible standard to attain? IIsrael hasn't attained it, but that doesn't make an impossible standard.
Gee, Craig, you doth protest too much. The Israel-firsters got their panties in a bunch over the Freeman appointment and they're caterwauling like spurned schoolgirls over James Jones. Dennis Ross as our "honest broker" to Iran? What kind of Israeli hashish are you smoking? Why not put a Muslim in charge of that portfolio, not the guy who admittedly he was "Israel's lawyer" in the Palestinian peace process. Ross has no credibility at all, nor should he. He's an Israeli-first jkind-of-dude who has direct reporting lines into Bibi and the Iranians refuse to deal with him. He's (well-paid) damaged goods, Craig. The only reason he's in that position at all is to appease the cehck-writing Israel firsters who are trying to corrupt the US government into going along with anything Israel decides to do, including using US-taxpayer funded weapons of mass destruction against children in Gaza. Hands off my tax dollars, Craig — how about you and Israel go it alone?
"So, by your standards President Obama "gave up any right to be treated as an honest broker" with regard to the financial crisis, due to his acceptance of money from mortgage lenders and other lobby groups?" Precisely. There is no doubt who Obama pledges his allegiance to. He will take care of the special interest groups (The Israel Lobby, The Wall St. Lobby, The Pharmaceutical Lobby) that helped him get elected before he does what's best for the American people as a whole. As soon as Obama accepted major campaign contributions from Goldman Sachs (1,000,000$) and AIG (100,000$) he forfeited his ability to solve the financial crisis evenhandedly. The American political system is one of the most abhorrent instances of legal corruption; favoring the elite class (the major donors) over the well being of the American people as a whole. Calling America a democracy is laughable. It is a polyarchy.
Ross's step-father is Catholic. Ross himself is and extremist racist Jewish Zionist that believes Jews have the right to plunder and to kill non-Jews with impunity. Craig is just spinning masses of hasbarah to confuse the issues.
These three blog entries below identify the three primary lies of Zionism:
Under false pretenses Jewish Zionists have manipulated the USA into an alliance with fanatic and deceitful E. European invaders, interlopers and thieves. Then American Zionist oligarchs and intelligentsia proceeded to create a vast and effectively neo-colonial imperialist system to transfer trillions of dollars from the USA (and — to a lesser extent — other countries) into their own pockets to the point of ruination for the US and world economy.
Who is James Jones? Obama did take a lot of money from Muslims (Nation of Islam, CAIR) So who's side is he on? Also Muslims have veto power in the UN, they have their own portfolio, it's called the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and they are EXTREMELY BIASED. Mass destruction against children in Gaza? Come again? If your statement had any validity, there would be a hell of a lot more dead people. Nearly 700 dead fighters makes up more than half of the deaths. Intelligent people know that Israel is targeting the terrorists, and we also know that innocent people get caught in the crossfire. The fact remains that Palestinian terror groups continually put the civilians on both sides at risk. While Israel drops fliers warning civilians to flee, Hamas drops rockets and mortars without any warning. There is a serious moral divide between the 2 governments. It is clearly seen in the media and on the ground. Israel is open, free speech is rampant, people of all faiths, colors, backgrounds live together. In contrast, Palestinians have a mostly closed society, and I'm not talking about the Egypt-Gaza border. Free speech is NOT tolerated, the media is controlled by the government, by Hamas! We all know that Hamas and these other Islamist groups use children as collateral. It was evident in the war against Nasrallah and his thugs. It helps their cause when they get killed, because the Arab world gets angry at the Jews. If you can't see this you are definitely ignorant to what is happening there.
Freeman's focus on AIPAC and Israel was completely disproportional. Even Noam Chomsky and Stephen Zunes admit that AIPAC is not that powerful; "there are far more powerful interests that have a stake in what happens in the Persian Gulf region than does AIPAC" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and... Charles Freeman was an Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, (a country that boycotts Israel, spreads vicious lies about Jews in their media and severely oppresses women) not the type of guy that's going to be objective about Israel. Also based on his comments and overall fatalist attitude regarding America & Israel, we're lucky he's not in charge of intelligence! Also Charles Freeman was going to have A LOT more power than an envoy like Dennis Ross. You really can't compare the 2 positions. It would be like comparing apples and cashews.
What would make average Americans think that there is an issue of dual loyalty here? Or, rather, of the obvious loyalty that looks first at what's "good for the Jews?" Why the question alone is branded as "anti-semitic."
Folks should contact their Reps and ask for Dennis Ross to be pulled from his position. I was amazed that people did not protest his appointment. "Israel's lawyer" as Obama's special envoy to Iran.? This is change? Dennis Ross and the “Jewish People Policy Planning Institute” By Patrick L. LanggravatarcloseAuthor: Patrick L. Lang Name: Patrick Lang http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/01/27/denni...
Start your reading about Dennis Ross here http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090427/dreyfuss http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090427/dreyfuss link to thenation.com But diplomats and Middle East watchers hoping Ross would be sidelined are wrong. He is building an empire at the State Department: hiring staff and, with his legendary flair for bureaucratic wrangling, cementing liaisons with a wide range of US officials. The Iran portfolio is his, says an insider. "Everything we've seen indicates that Ross has completely taken over the issue," says a key Iran specialist. "He's acting as if he's the guy. Wherever you go at State, they tell you, 'You've gotta go through Dennis.'" It's paradoxical that Obama, who made opening a dialogue with Iran into a crucial plank in his campaign, would hand the Iran file to Ross. Since taking office, Obama has taken a number of important steps to open lines to Iran, including a remarkable holiday greeting by video in which the president spoke directly to "the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran," adding, "We seek engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect." He invited Iran to attend an international conference on Afghanistan, where a top Iranian diplomat shook hands with Holbrooke; he's allowing American diplomats to engage their Iranian counterparts; and he's reportedly planning to dispatch a letter directly to Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Yet Ross, like his neoconservative co-thinkers, is explicitly skeptical about the usefulness of diplomacy with Iran. Widely viewed as a cog in the machine of Israel's Washington lobby, Ross was not likely to be welcomed in Tehran–and he wasn't. Iran's state radio described his appointment as "an apparent contradiction" with Obama's "announced policy to bring change in United States foreign policy." Kazem Jalali, a hardline member of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, joked that it "would have been so much better to pick Ariel Sharon or Ehud Olmert as special envoy to Iran." More seriously, a former White House official says that Ross has told colleagues that he believes the United States will ultimately have no choice but to attack Iran in response to its nuclear program.
Because Freeman is a fair broker…Dennis Ross is not.
I blame Holbrooke for the one million Pakistani refugees who were forced out of their homes last week. He killed Vietnamese with that ghoul Negroponte, and may have had some involvement in Cambodia, too. When he was appointed to oversee Pakistan for the president, it was inevitable that a new Killing Field would be employed to further US policy.
Because Freeman is a fair broker and Ross is not
I would prefer they get a job and work like everyone else, but if they want to beggers, I won't give them a penny.
Speaking of AIPAC, they just announced next year's convention entertainment schedule. There will be 3 performances: 1) Stand up comedian/US Senator Al Franken doing a monologue about the I-P conflict. Reported first joke: "Did you hear the one about the Palestinians Christians slaughtered by the IDF? Neither did anyone else! [applause] You do your jobs well, my brothers!” 2) Barney Frank and "special guests" Freddie and Fannie to appear in drag and perform various "tricks." 3) Scooter Libby on stage with a mysterious setup involving a bear, a cage and a stick. All in all, it promises to be the hottest ticket in town. Members of Congress are already clamoring for their seats and promising to vote to raise foreign aid to Israel by another $2 billion a year in exchange for a VIP pass.
Just because you post it twice, it won't become true…. :) The idea that Freeman is a "fair broker" is more ridiculous than the image of an elephant riding a bicycle. The Electronic Intifada? You folks are too funny. I didn't know this was comedy hour.
I must so assume or I shall be summarily banned and would then have no excuse but to [finally] unveil my own [long overdue] blog because of all the extra time I'll have. I assume that by now you have figured out that the reddest of red lines is to draw a line from jewish money (and/or money management; same thing, sort of) to jewish influence. Therein lie protocol minefields. I also think that sometimes it's best to leave a few things between the lines – those who wanna see stuff already have the information they need, and those who don't want to see anything won't look or learn no matter how many references one throws at them. So officially at least, I like to keep my lobbies apart – it's easier to take them apart this way. Still, thanks for the references….
I never in my life imagined that it would ever come to that. Thanks a lot–CIA and the ISI for creating the Taliban.
Major red flag: Ross didn't report *any* compensation from the Jewish Agency's Jewish People Policy Planning Institute which he led for a half decade until taking the State job. JPPPI is the *only* entity he claims did not pay. When AIPAC founder Isaiah L. Kenen was on the Jewish Agency's payroll, even *he* declared his $916/monthly salary on his foreign agent registration forms to the DOJ for his work at the UN and doing PR for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign, that was paid by the Jewish Agency Affairs. link to irmep.org The Dennis Ross omission of compensation from the Jewish Agency needs to be investigated.
Craig – unfortunately for you, the comments you put up are choke-full of hasbara points (cf 700 dead fighters? that's straight from the IDF figures which no one in the civilized world believes). On this site, people have seen too much of those to take them on any longer. I'm reminded of the Eurosabra poster – sounds half way reasonable till one gets to the second sentence. interestingly, you could not sustain for long own pretense at "reason" – the statements on "palestinians have a mostly closed society" tip your hand – and your mentality. Behold the protocols of the elders of palestine…… PS hamas using their children as collateral – is that kind of what like the jews of warsaw ghetto did back in the days? it seems the "collateral" did not carry much weight with the oppressors in either case. Too much intent?
Federal Reserve liars AIPAC liars 911 liars