Comments on: Chas Freeman: This time apartheid has western complicity

By: CHAS Freeman: Israel is useless to US power projection | My Catbird Seat

CHAS Freeman: Israel is useless to US power projection | My Catbird Seat — Sat, 01 May 2010 02:54:28 +0000

[...] Chas Freeman: This time apartheid has western complicity [...]

By: If you think things are bad now-consider this: - Stealth Fusion - World Breaking News

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:48:40 +0000

[...] Freeman has just taken another step in revealing his out-of-control loathing of Israel, accusing (Chas Freeman: This time apartheid has western complicity) it of being worse than South Africa. Who is he and why is this significant? It matters because [...]

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:34:57 +0000

SHMUEL- I agree. In the real world of realpolitik, it is probably better to have someone like Chas Freeman in a position of power than some Zionist crazy. Perhaps he could provide some restraint to the increasingly militaristic, confrontational trajectory to U.S. foreign policy. But then again, who knows?

The point of my post was to provide a deconstruction of what Freeman actually said, and its implications. I felt that most of the previous posts had projected what they wanted to believe onto what Freeman actually said, and who the man actually is and what he represents. Wishful thinking only leads to disappointment. In that regard, I think my post was successful in that subsequent posts appeared to me to be much more analytical and well thought out.

In my posts, I try as much as possible to bring a global, geo-strategic perspective to the discussion. This is the way the managers of Empire think, and we need to evaluate local events from that perspective. In this regard, I think we need to be aware of the relationship of Israel and Zionism to Imperial strategy. Also, as the American Empire transitions to a form of transnational corporate empire linked by financial controls, how this will effect Israel/Palestine.

By: Citizen

Citizen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:36:35 +0000

Excerpt:
Smear Campaign
“In the days following Blair’s appointment of Freeman, the attacks grew more and more bizarre. For example, since the Middle East Policy Council had received some grants from some Saudi-based foundations, Freeman was accused of thereby being “on the Saudi payroll” and even being a “Saudi puppet.” In The New Republic, Martin Peretz insisted that Freeman was “a bought man.” But it’s certainly not unprecedented for presidential appointees to have worked with nonprofit organizations that have received support from foreign governments. Indeed, Dennis Ross, appointed last month as Special Advisor for the Gulf and Southwest Asia, is still listed as the board chair of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, which is supported by the Israeli government.
To set the record straight, Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Freeman had “never lobbied for any government or business (domestic or foreign)” and that he had “never received any income directly from Saudi Arabia or any Saudi-controlled entity.”
In another irony, the person identified as the principal orchestrator of the attacks against Freeman — including the charge that he was a Saudi agent — was Steven Rosen, former director of the right-wing American-Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Rosen currently faces espionage charges for transferring classified materials to the Israeli government. M.J. Rosenberg, a former colleague of Rosen who now serves as policy director of the Israel Policy Forum, said “you couldn’t have picked anyone less credible to lead the charge” against Freeman. But Rosen’s smear campaign was apparently credible enough to force Freeman to turn down the position.”
link to fpif.org

By: Citizen

Citizen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:25:26 +0000

To the extent Tibet is an occupied country, it is China that’s doing the occupying.
link to friends-of-tibet.org.nz

Lots of countries do it to their own population. Israel stands alone in doing it
for over 40 years to the Palestinian people.

By: Citizen

Citizen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:11:49 +0000

I did not read Freeman as exempting Uncle Sam or the American people from complicity.

By: marc b.

marc b. — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:10:55 +0000

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an ally of US and Israel, as evidenced by the troika’s decades-long cooperative meddling in NW Asia and Pakistan. Some degenerate Saudi prince owns the largest stake in the parent company of Fox News outside of the Ruppert family, and FN is as staunchly pro-Israel as any US news organization. Freeman has never once made a comment that remotely questioned Israel’s existence as a ‘Jewish democracy’, he has simply suggested that in the context of post-Cold War power politics that Israel’s interests and those of the US are not coterminous. His positions are of the bland, stereotypical empire-building variety as someone has already pointed out. Only in the framework of shrill, unquestioning support for Israel is he the least controversial.

By: pulaski

pulaski — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:18:02 +0000

Good discussion. Those are excellent points, Shmuel and James. I think all human rationality works within the sorts of boundaries you described. I know many people who are smart and rational within one system, yet have completely nutso beliefs if you draw those boundaries or “rules” slightly differently.

I agree, I’d rather that Goldstone and Freeman exist than not!

And there is the issue of allies. To the extent that the goals of improving lives and justice in Palestine is in concordance with the interests of the elite and the views of sane imperialists, it is good to have folks making the argument.

By: FREEMAN: This time apartheid has western complicity

FREEMAN: This time apartheid has western complicity — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:40:24 +0000

[...] Chas Freeman - Mondoweiss - 3 March [...]

By: Avi

Avi — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:32:06 +0000

…the analogy that comes to my mind is that of logic within a religious system … The rules of logic and human reason apply, but only within the framework of a set of irrational axioms.

I see what you’re saying.

It almost sounds like the concept of suspending one’s disbelief while watching a play or a movie.