One of the scariest things I heard in Gaza was when I was walking away from the tunnels with a pack of the tunnel workers, somewhat marginalized figures to begin with, but intelligent, canny, and one guy with a flashy belt said, "We are waiting for World War III, that is what will save us." He explained that only with a world war, would a new superpower emerge that would at last stand up for the Palestinians.
Of course, Podhoretz, who likes the superpower status-quo, is also waiting for World War IV, to save Israel and the west.
And today in Haaretz, Netanyahu's national security advisor Uzi Arad also seems to be welcoming a world war. He speaks of Israel and Iran in very chiliastic terms, scorched-earth and Auschwitz and World War II. Strangelovian craziness about "feasible" nuclear wars:
above all I was drawn to Herman Kahn, with whom I worked at the Hudson Institute.
Kahn is the original Dr. Strangelove. He was a Jewish-American genius who was a salient nuclear hawk and dealt with the planning and feasibility of nuclear wars. Kahn was a towering figure. He was a beacon of intelligence, knowledge and pioneering thought. He combined conceptual productivity, humor and informality. He attracted a group of devotees of whom I was one in the 1970s. But he also had bitter rivals who criticized him for even conceiving of the idea of a nuclear war. In the Cold War it was precisely those who talked about defense and survival who were considered nuclear hawks. The doves talked about "mutual assured destruction," which blocks any possibility of thinking about nuclear weapons. Like Kahn, I was one of the hawks. One of my projects was a paper for the Pentagon on planning a limited nuclear war in Central Europe.
On the face of it, what is the point of this? Why execute the enemy after deterrence has failed? But according to Dror, it is important to ascertain that the deterrence will work, even if you yourself have been destroyed. He sees this as a contribution to the repair of the world [tikkun olam]. When we say "never again," this entails three imperatives: never again will we be felled in mass numbers, never again will we be defenseless and never again will there be a situation in which those who harm us go unpunished.
And these guys have nukes? This is what the Cairo speech was all about: Obama, trying to resolve the narratives, and get us past this deathly opposition.
Related posts:
- Help! Israeli hawk who praised Strangelove has ‘close friend’ on Obama’s Iran team
- What power does U.S. have to stop ‘third war’ in Middle East?
- Best and the brightest redux: Harvard project on Middle East strategy posts image of Ahmadinejad as Hitler
- (Groundhog day in the Middle East) Elliott Abrams says if we bomb Iran, the people will turn against the ayatollahs and welcome freedom
- Chomsky Says Middle East Should Be Nuke-Free Zone
{ 16 comments }
Difficult Situation. The Jewish people need to be granted full rights in our land. I think that a foreign imposed attempt of ethnic cleansing of the Jewish people could lead to a wider conflict.
"never again will there be accountability for our actions." might have been a good add.
The Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land has already lead to wider conflict. Israel has in the past attacked Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon (3 times), helped talk the US into the tragedy of Iraq had is pushing for the bombing of Iran. Israel created this wider conflict decades ago and want to bear no responsibility for their illegal actions. BTW, you never mentioned where you stand on the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Was that wrong? Is that wrong?
Can you blame many in the region for believing that war is the only way to bring an end to the order that has delivered almost endless war?
Hamas could always recognize Israel, negotiate the release of Shalit, take all of the land within the '67 borders (which if Hamas were serious about Israel would have to concede) and have peace. Israel has done horrible things throughout their 61 year history, but they aren't going anywhere and they won't stop until Hamas recognizes them. If this isn't acceptable, ya'll can have your war. If Israel 'really' takes the gloves off, which I assure you it hasn't done yet, then there will be real suffering and real destruction.
"We are waiting for World War III, that is what will save us." Oh yeah, we need to hear a whole lot more from this guy. Maybe he's some kind of political savant or oracle or soothsayer or something. Definitely has his ear to the ground. Maybe it's just me, but somehow I get the feeling that anyone who comes to world prominence through the means of WW3 won't give a shit about the Palestinians? Or the Jews, for that matter, but hey, what the hell, it's all for the best. Yup, WW3 can't come fast enough as far as I'm concerned. Well I'm gonna go back to trying to find tri-tone chord substitutions in "Blessed Assurance" . Nobody wants any advice from a middle-aged Jewish guy who sits home trying to play Gospel style Goyischer hymns on the Hammond organ.
"Like Kahn, I was one of the hawks. One of my projects was a paper for the Pentagon on planning a limited nuclear war in Central Europe. " I live in central europe. I like this guy.
RE: "The Jewish people need to be granted full rights in our land." SEE: "Ancient Israeli Myths Deter Peace", By Robert Parry, 07/09/09 (EXCERPT) The rationale for formally designating Israel a Jewish state – as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now demands – rests on three religious-political pillars: God’s purported covenant with Moses instructing the ancient Israelites to conquer the land, the injustice of the Roman-era Diaspora that supposedly removed them centuries later, and the brutal persecution of European Jews in the Holocaust. Yet, two of these pillars – Moses conveying God’s covenant to the Israelites and the Roman Diaspora – appear based on almost no historical reality, the stuff of legend and possibly even lies that crumble under any serious scrutiny. Normally, such ancient stories might be regarded as harmless tales that some people treasure as part of their Judeo-Christian faiths, except that Netanyahu’s new demand means that these myths now threaten peace in the Middle East and conceivably could push the modern world into more bloody warfare. Therefore, they must be given fresh examination…. ENTIRE ARTICLE - http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/070809.html
I disagree with the thesis of Parry.
A real world war…total war , including use of nukes, would leave only four or five suriving areas that could come back…, Russia, China, the North American continent , Africa and the Arab ME… because of their locations and land mass. Israel would be gone in the blink of a eye, Europe would go next. Russia would come out the least damaged, the Arab ME would re-populate the fastest. The best place to be would be New Zeland,it would probably be overlooked in a world war because a total war would be finished for all practical purposes in a short time frame.
Yeah we are all scared to death of a country we have to support with 3 bilion dollars year that got their asses kicked by rag tag hezbollah..
Nihilism on the behalf of the "ancient jewish people"? rarely does zionist thought produce anything coherent or inspiring.
IT'S NOT YOUR LAND!
Uzi Arad really makes me nervous. That quote about his battle plan for attacking Iran, in which he wanted to "strike all their holiest sites" captured his lunacy perfectly. There is a tendency among Israelis especially, but maybe among all people (Phil does it himself, with Herzl), to seek out and glorify examples of productive members of society or heroes that represent ones own heritage. The way Arad speaks of Herman Kahn in the above passage is a textbook example of this, wherein Kahn is elevated to a mythic status. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with taking pride in the "best and brightest" of one's own ethnic or national heritage, so long as it doesn't lead to a sense of superiority or entitlement. I do it as well, I confess: I enjoy reading about James Connolly and Sartre, minus the Zionism of the latter, (I'm ethnically Irish and French), but I don't limit my biographical study to people that share my ethnic bloodline like Arad and so many other Zionists do. The other major difference is that I'm not an architect of war policy for an aggressive nation with nuclear capability. Arad is a sociopath.
yes new zealand if you put a straight line through a globe [of earth] you will find switzerland is almost exactly opposite n z [latitude / longitude] fyi
"I disagree with the thesis of Parry" Too bad. Parry has made a case. You haven't.
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