-
-
- Slater on Beinart 0
- And we live on… 0
- US official — we went to Israel first 2
- Israel lobby’s favorite senator tries to erase Palestinian refugee status … 22
- Israel takes 30 dunams of land near Salfit ‘for security … 4
- Aaron David Miller: After a short ‘peace process,’ look … 38
- Rafah march for deteriorating hunger strikers as family appeals for … 0
- Rafah’s nicest tunnel: Siege meets surf in Gaza 7
-
- BDS victory: South Africa strips Ahava’s ‘made in Israel’ label 713
- Video: Israeli mob demands all African refugees be deported from … 475
- Day after pogroms, Likud MK calls for internment camp for … 427
- Neverending Nakba: Israel breaks lull, attacks Gazan farmers 413
- ‘This is not fair play’: Mahmoud Sarsak’s family demands his … 389
- March of the Flags 345
- Neocons in Washington Post: Military strike on Iran would ‘calm … 323
- Nabi Saleh’s Bassem Tamimi convicted by Israeli courts based on … 293
-
- The Messiah’s Donkey: Settlers fire on Palestinian villagers as the … 235
- Aharon Appelfeld’s rage at the German language (and Arendt’s need … 156
- US to differentiate between ‘personally displaced’ Palestinian refugees and their … 129
- March of the Flags 127
- Affirming a Judaism and Jewish identity without Zionism 110
- Feeling the hate in Long Island 97
- Israeli judge to issue verdict in Rachel Corrie case 94
- WaPo’s Walter Pincus says US is ‘going above and beyond … 87
-
Recent Comments
click link to see last 100 comments- US official — we went to Israel first (2)
- Annie Robbins: a U.S. official…asked to remain anonymous owing to the sensitive nature of the issue. sensitive?...
- Carllarc: proof of ‘Israel firsters’, for sure
- Israel lobby’s favorite senator tries to erase Palestinian refugee status for millions (22)
- traintosiberia: Spain has been allowing ( under pressure) any descendants of the victims of inquisition to settle in...
- Blake: Boy, history won’t be kind on you reprobates. I doubt anybody can be as despicable to you though as you...
- Talkback: Fredblogs: “Frankly if an odd sentence in a cherry picked report, and some obfuscating change of...
- Affirming a Judaism and Jewish identity without Zionism (110)
- US to differentiate between ‘personally displaced’ Palestinian refugees and their descendants (129)
- talknic: Fredblogs May 25, 2012 at 7:24 pm “For thousands of years, and even since then for anyone who isn’t...
- Aaron David Miller: After a short ‘peace process,’ look for war with Iran in 2013 (38)
- NickJOCW: Yes, it’s almost as if this is a delaying tactic, bounce the ball around while waiting for something else...
- Rafah’s nicest tunnel: Siege meets surf in Gaza (7)
- Blake: Good comment Avi but I should have entered his whole quote in my comment to put it into perspective:...
- US official — we went to Israel first (2)
Our Writers
More WritersBlogroll
-
Our Writers
More Writers
I doubt if Turkey will back down without an official apology.
@Woody
I keep waiting for that anger to be widespread and boil over into the realm of action. Perhaps we are reaching the tipping point since people can no longer claim that they were ignorant of what is happening, given the recent coverage in the MSM.
Here's hoping.
Joe Lieberman (I - Tel Aviv) - as treasonous as the night is dark. Connecticut has a lot to answer for. Joined as he is at the hip to John McCain (Hanoi John pardoned by Nixon), son of Admiral McCain, who hushed up the USS Liberty enquiry, another viper in our bossom, for whom Arizona has a lot to answer. John was not even born in the US or one of its colonies, so a "birther" case could be made against him as a senator.
If Obama can successfully postpone any decision until November, then we are out of the woods. I can't really see NuttyYahoo or congress giving him so much latitude, since they know that as well.
Its war they want, and they know that after the elections, their leverage on Obama disappears. An alternate scenario with Ron Paul winning also leaves them with no success for war. Only the unlikely victory of Romney could help.
So, I expect Israel to do everything in its power to trick us into attacking Iran. Keep a sharp lookout for false flags in the weeks or months ahead.
I think it would be fair for me to claim a "partial" or an "incomplete" on my prediction of the talks being successfully sabotaged - which they were. While "talks" took place, Israel did manage to render them moot, but luckily there is another window in June as this current door closes.
I think I will be brave and predict that the June talks will reach a similar "impasse", as Israel continues to have the west insist on total cessation of enrichment and/or closure of Fordow.
I am still predicting that Israel will not attack Iran, but despite Taxi's optimism, I am not equally confident that we won't.
Let's see how prescient or clueless I was.
If the Israelis are smart, they will find in favor of Rachel Corrie. A "mea culpa" would go a long way towards diffusing the PR firestorm that will ensue at the end of this "trial". Of course, it will increase the pressure on Caterpillar - which might be the better trade for Israel to take.
Any bets?
Well, I wouldn't dispute that if they were declared as such, as opposed to being an American institution, and subject to the same restrictions and monitoring as other foreign agents.
Not fast enough, I am afraid. Witnes John McCain and Joe Lieberman. Even though Joe is retiring from the senate, his voice and influence as a lobbyist will continue far into the future.
Hope there is something still left to salvage of this world by then.
@Bruce
"Gang" is the perfect description for this collective.
Meanwhile back in Israel, NuttyYahoo continues to try to sabotage the P5+1 talks:
link to ynetnews.com
Surprisingly, Ehud Barak is quoted as agreeing to the P5+1 position:
link to israelnationalnews.com
It seems, that Fordow is still in play, and the P5+1 are on Israel's side on this:
Maybe these are flexible positions, but it doesn't sound that way:
It remains to be seen if Iran will shutdown Fordow - I personally doubt it. The carrot being offered is not to impose additional sanctions - not to decrease the ones in place.
I wouldn't accept this bargain if I was Iran - which is as it is intended.
@Kathleen
Exactly right, Kathleen. What Nixon resigned for (knowledge of the burglary), is so relatively tiny compared to the crimes of Bush and Obama (and also Bush 1 and Clinton), and yet is so much more prominent in American minds. The media giveth and the media taketh away.
OT - View of Israel by American Jews with Norm Finkelstein
link to youtube.com
Kroenig and Fly:
Condoleeza Rice (another professor) before the Iraq war:
They really need a new script - or a new profession.
Please show me the part of the US constitution which says that.
I know you can't possibly be condemning all of Long Island because Pam Geller was born there...
Stop it! Your unapologetic optimism is very contagious! You are a severe hazard to complacency! Next you will be asking us to turn off the TV and get off our couch! Have you no shame?
There is an excellent article by Gordon Duff at VT today:
link to veteranstoday.com
I smell rƎVO⅃ution in the air...
sorry for all the typos. I got distracted by a phone call before the time to edit ran out.
Pander all you want, Obama - the Israel-firsters will never support you no matter far you bed over and whose ass you kiss. It is delusional on his part to think that he can assure victory by continuing on his current course.
Frankly, with all the hype about his intelligence, re has demonstrated a remarkable lack of intellectual curiosity to chart out a new strategy for political victory when a very viable one is within his grasp.
Go to the nation, obama, and expose all the Israel-firsters and Israel itself. Americans will rally to you in droves if you do that, and that monumental and historic event could have your face carved on Mt. Rushmore por posterity.
For once, ignore your advisors and the sayanim that surround you and be the leader that everyone had hoped you would be.
What is the basis of your claim about Ron Paul?
Ron Paul will - if we let him.
Yeah - last of the American patriots.
@American
Look at the barcode (EAN) on the product you are about to buy. If it starts with the digits 729, it is from Israel. Unfortunately, this is not foolproof, but you will get most of the products this way. You can also get free apps for your smart phone to scan barcodes on which the EAN is not human readable.
You da man!
"Islamofascist" is an oxymoron.
I am waiting for a statement from our Dept. of State about how this is "unhelpful". That should make up for it.
Ha! Hillary will approve taking MeK off the terrorist list in a heartbeat. She has already been reported as looking favorably on that outcome.
What makes her any less prone to zio pressure than any other politician in the US? She has her sights on a presidency in 2016, and even a rumored vice presidency in 2012 were Biden to step down.
All these moves are designed to make next week's talks fail.
@Taxi - If we can get through 2012 without launching an attack on Iran, I will personally go to the ME and hunt you down and buy you a crate of Napa Valley's finest.
@ Taxi
From your lips to [insert deity]'s ears! I hope that you are right about this.
My recurring nightmare is that Israel sinks one of our ships in the Persian Gulf (they have these shiny new submarines from Germany, you see) and blames it on Iran. Subsequently, our spineless prez, for whom getting re-elected is far more important than American lives, will bow to AIPAC pressures, and off to war we go.
Meanwhile, here at home, congress can't shovel dollars to Israel fast enough, while our own people commit suicides as the banks foreclose on their homes (Huffpo), having exported all our jobs out of here. But hey, as long as Israel is happy, what's a few starving and homeless citizens?
@Taxi - you are right - I have no fear of Israel attacking Iran. That is all just rhetorics.
No, what I fear is Israel inducing the US to attack Iran - probably using a false-flag against our assets in the gulf. This is what Israel and its neocon minions and congressional sayanim are up to.
A cornered rat is vicious and dangerous.
Meanwhile, back in Israel, US Ambassador Shapiro says that talks don't mean US won't attack Iran. Lovely!
link to news.antiwar.com
Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.
We stand on the precipice, brought here by the treachery of those who would lead us, not leaders by our choice, but by the avarice of weak souls that would sell a nation to preserve their sorry hides.
Thus we stand at the end of our grand experiment in liberty and justice, brought to our knees by a handful of despicable men that would overpower a great nation because we let them turn back this country of laws to a country of men. Above us, the thunder of encroaching battle. Below us: oblivion.
So we stand, at the precipice of WW3 - the final war, self-fulfilling the prophesy of armageddon by fundamentalists of every ilk who envision redemption in our destruction, so that their messianic vision can be realized.
That a tiny nation, embodied and enshrined in evil, could unleash the demonic forces that surround and suffocate us, as they bathe us in poison that corrodes our minds and dissolves our souls, and brings the once shining city on the hill down in shamble and ruin.
Like demonic hordes they emanate, silencing all protests, enslaving, dominating, and ultimately, extinguishing all flames. We, who are so many, crumble before those who are so few, imprisoned by our mortal fears.
The last leaf hangs poised to drop from the last oak, as darkness descends on bleak terrain.
Damn you!
Damn you all to hell!
This shall not pass unavenged.
To Annie,
If this resolution passes, then the sabotage is complete and the upcoming talks are pre-ordained to fail and I will have won our bet, whether the talks take place or not. After all, if containment is no longer permissible, what is left to negotiate? Total capitulation by Iran, or nothing? Who would agree to that?
Pure speculation on my part:
I don't think Obama necessarily sees a benefit to bombing Iran.
However, being the spineless excuse for a president that he is, he probably expects that his hand will be forced via a false-flag, followed by clamoring from congress to attack. Instead of telling congress and Israel to stfu, he is instead creating the backdrop against which his capitulation will be justified.
No evidence of this, but it is plausible.
Glen's a national treasure. Great article.
Whom can we pay to have Palestine put on the favored list?
MEK is about to be taken of the terrorist list. Our hypocrisy knows no bounds.
There is no distinguishable difference between Obama and Romney. Anyone who think Obama will do anything different in his second term is guilty of wishful thinking.
Help elect Ron Paul. Stop the wars. Stop aid to Israel and everyone else.
Anyone remember the Symington Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961?
Fits Israel.
@Mooser
I was going to correct your spelling of "beatified", until it occurred to me that you probably really meant "beautified"!
The short answer is no. However, your choices are limited.
Without realizing it, we are already entrusting them with way too much data, and it is getting exponentially worse. The most recent deluge comes from the prevalence of "clouds" that allow 5GB or more of free data storage, some of them even backup your data from your laptop or mobile phone with no intervention from you. The convenience is fabulous, but the exposure is frightening.
Of course, you can cut yourself off from the Internet by disposing off your cell phone, computer, credit cards, etc., but this is hardly practical in today's world. You wouldn't be reading this article if you did, for one thing.
There are some steps you can take to limit this, although this isn't comprehensive by a long shot:
- Don't store data in the "cloud". Get your own disk drives and use them for backup. If you want the convenience of remote access, set up your own secure server. This is quite easy on Linux.
- If you are going to store data on the cloud, encrypt it first. There are several free tools available to do this. If you are a Linux user, use the openssl tools and choose one of the stronger encryptions.
- Don't download "free apps" to your smart phone unless you know whether or not they are collecting personal data. There are tools to "snoop" on Internet traffic to see what they are sending and where.
-Don't allow apps to advertise the location of the phone. Of course, this disables the ability to retrieve a stolen phone, but it also prevents someone from tracking your location.
- Google, Facebook, et. al. store the IP address of wherever you are connected from and also whatever web sites that you are going to. You can disrupt these by using anonymizing web browsers or IP obfuscators like tor.
- Mail servers like GMAIL store all your emails, both the ones you send and the ones you receive. You can set up your own mail server and Mail Transport Agent (MTA) on Linux with qmail
- All your cell phone bills are handled in Israel by companies like Amdocs, so someone knows whom you call or calls you, and they can also listen to what you say.
Unfortunately, even with all this, all your Internet traffic goes through your ISP, which provides a perfect choke point for the bad guys to monitor you.
So, short of living in a cave, the brave new world is upon us already.
If we don't do everything in our power to point out these Israel-firsters in congress to the American citizenry and prevent them from even being elected to the position of county dog catchers, we will never be able to restore our country.
All our efforts for justice in Palestine, and yes, right here in the US, will be in vain as long as these vile humans can be manipulated by the lobby to our detriment.
We need a strategy to displace them. Once we eliminate them and regain control of our foreign policy, the rest should be easy.
Vote for Ron Paul.
LOL! What exactly is a "Liberal Zionist"? Is it like being 50% pregnant?
A great article about Ron Paul's strategy. Some of the comments are worth reading as well.
link to theblaze.com
piotr:
There is not much of a difference between the two, rhetorics notwithstanding, except that Mitt is more likely to toe the Israeli line, and Obama in a second term might be less constrained than Mitt in his first term.
The only person who could provide us some hope is Ron Paul. If by some miracle he can pull off the Republican nomination (and his recent delegate wins hint that a possibility exists), he would easily win against Obama. Of course, that possibility makes him a target for the Israel lobby, which has successfully denied him media coverage, while the RNC has been busily committing election fraud.
Exactly, Ira. This is what I have been predicting as the "sabotage" scenario for the May talks. Everyone knows that if the talks are entered with the above as the demanded outcome, the sabotage is complete - which is precisely what the Israelis want. That, and the closure of Fordo.
The fact they were able to coerce Ashton into coming to Israel is baffling. She must know that it lowers her credibility with the Iranians, and yet she went. The voice in my head says that Obama had something to do with it.
Why?
Well look at the two possible outcome of the talks:
1. We reconcile with Iran and allow them low-grade refinement in exchange for a lifting, or at least easing of sanctions.
2. The talks blow up
If #1 were to come about, the full fury of the Israel lobby would be unleashed on Obama during the election season. For a president for whom getting re-elected is more important than doing the right thing, this would be a disaster as his poll numbers continue to slide.
So, his best strategy is to make #2 happen, in the hopes that things could be made to stumble along until after the elections, at which point (in his mind) he could do the right thing.
The folly of pursuing #2 is that the same Israel lobby could drag us into war with Iran. As I had claimed in an earlier post, I don't believe that Israel will attack Iran, instead they would instigate a false-flag attack on American assets, and congress and the Israel lobby would do the rest to force Obama into attacking Iran.
I bet Obama knows that he could be coerced into war with Iran, and hopefully he is smart enough to realize that unlike other war presidents, this may not result in a boost to his poll numbers. He has already been waving his hawk-credentials with Afghanistan, and as killer of Osama Bin Laden and his drone warfare in Yemen and Pakistan, so the point of diminishing return was reached a long time ago. A war-weary, unemployed, and homeless nation, would punish him at the voting booth.
There is only one possible way for him to escape from the corner that he has painted himself into - and that is to go to the nation and lay it all out there. That referendum would not only save his sorry hide, but would also restore the nation, and totally demolish the Israel lobby and its legion of congressional sayanim.
Is that likely to happen? As Annie said: "probably sooner than pigs flying, but not by much".
I agree. Check and mate.
His article on FP provides further insight into his philosophy:
link to foreignpolicy.com
Double ditto.
Scheuer is an America-firster (as I am). He is also a Ron Paul supporter (as I am). He is brutally candid about our pro-Israel follies and unwelcome intervention in foreign affairs. He is to be admired for his brave outspokenness for so many years, and nobody has been able to silence him. Bill Maher tried paint him as crazy a few years back - but was very unsuccessful at it.
He doesn't really care for Arabs or muslims, but he doesn't much care for Israel either. It would be a stretch to call him an Islamophobe though.
I bet that despite this revelation, the majority of Americans will continue to believe the original hype. Its enough to pull all my hair out!
Ditto.
Excellent article by Philip Giraldi over at the American Conservative about Iran's tactical strengths.
link to theamericanconservative.com
Hope Obama is listening to the military, unlike Cheney.
Yeah, that has been the demand from both Israel and US - however, that is a complete non-starter. That amounts to total emasculation - which Iran cannot agree to. It was hinted that there may be a way, with cameras installed all over Fordo and the permission for the IAEA to do surprise spot inspections, that may be acceptable to the US as a trust-building step. This has not been confirmed.
If the US demands that Fordo has to be shut down, then I win.
No, there is no such requirement in the NPT beyond "for peaceful use". I guess that would mean < 90% - required for making bombs. Most reactors use 3.5% and Iran refined some to 20% for use as medical isotopes. It was hinted that 3.5% - 5% was okay, but 20% is viewed as being just a hop away from 90%, and while the NPT should be okay with that, US/Israel are not.
So the potential agreement is that they may be allowed to keep a small amount of 20% for use in cancer treatment, and outsource through Turkey for future needs, and they can continue to make the < 5% for their reactors.
Iran has indicated that they may be okay with that - but Israel has been stomping around claiming that is unacceptable, and Iran must cease all refinement, including the 3.5%. If the P5+1 accept Israel's position, then the talks are DOA.
We are not out of the woods - not by a long shot.
Fine. Its a bet I don't want to win, so we can do that.
Its more likely that they will spring the new requirements at the talks rather than prior to it. If they spring new requirements before the talks, then I am bound to win since Iran will back away from the talks claiming bad faith.
Okay, a few more predictions:
1. Romney will not be elected.
2. Israel will not bomb Iran
There is only one scenario in which war will erupt: a false-flag instigated by Israel against US assets (maybe the fleet in the gulf), which results in our attacking Iran.
Our only hope of preventing that is to have a lot of public discussions about that scenario to the extent that Israel is convinced that they won't be able to pull it off without being the prime suspect.
Okay, I want to weasel in a crisper definition of "sabotage". I win if any of the following happen:
1. The talks get cancelled (as you said)
2. P5+1 said that the talks would be within the NPT definitions (i.e. some level of refinement < 5% was permissible). If they back away from that, then that counts as sabotage as well, since that will obviously have been due to Israeli pressure, and Iran will not agree to that. So, if the talks reach stalemate, I want that to be regarded as sabotaged, since that is not how the last talks were left at.
As I had stated, if the agreement that the P5+1 are looking for ends up emasculating Iran, there is no way that Iran will agree. I see no agreement which requires Iran to capitulate completely and completely stop refinement, but they have hinted that some flexibility is possible at the 20% refinement being outsourced. If the P5+1 suddenly takes a harder line than the one in the first talks, resulting in Iran walking away, then that is evidence of sabotage.
Agreed?
My exact words were:
That has not happened yet, but there is still time.
I also added that McCain/Lieberman would scurry back from Syria to denounce this "betrayal" by Obama - which they did. Nutty Yahoo and crew have been proclaiming that anything less than total cessation of refining was unacceptable.
I had not expected the pronouncements by prominent Israelis of the 'messianic' Netanyahu - that was a surprise and it definitely cooled things down quite a bit with the rocket to war. However, I am not sure that this will stand for long, and Amidror's trip is the beginning of a full-court press to sabotage the May talks. Obama placing those F-22 Raptors in the UAE did not go over well in Iran.
Obama is trying to balance between applying just enough rhetoric to appease Nutty Yahoo but not too much for the talks to collapse. Unfortunately he is not good at it and Nutty Yahoo does not want to back down. Netanyahu's expected reelection will further stiffen his resolve.
Unfortunately, for the moment, I appear to be winning the bet, while rooting for you to win.
Coupled with this diplomatic foray (coercion and intimidation), Israel appears to be ramping up its hasbara effort significantly:
link to current.com
This explains some of the new pro-Israeli posters on this forum recently.
My recommendation to everyone is to ignore their postings without bothering to respond, no matter how tempting, to prevent thread-jackings by the numerically increasing hoards.
Not a single day goes by without news such as these. I cannot even begin to imagine being able to live a life like this.
I can't imagine what it must be like to wake up each morning knowing that today will be another day of events like this one, or going to bed at night with the memory of another day of witnessing or recounting tales such as this.
These poor people go through this day after day. The young in that land have no recollection since their birth when it was not so. To endure this for so long defies my imagination.
Meanwhile, here in the US, as we go about our daily lives, with our petty problems (relatively speaking), contributing our taxes to further perpetuate this great sin in our name, we find our efforts thwarted day after day, because a complicit press and a bought-off congress, not only shields these events from public eye, but actively enables its continuation.
In an earlier thread, American had advocated naming and shaming our sniveling politicians at every opportunity. I second that motion. We need to organize a concerted effort to show up wherever these weasels are speaking and call them out loudly and publicly, in large numbers. We need to become our own media and call attention to them en masse - large enough to not be drowned out by their entourage of sycophants and ziobots. We have to be able to displace them from their lecterns of power and replace them with patriotic (and human) Americans at every opportunity.
I have no illusions that this will be a brief fight. This is a marathon, not a sprint. While it is discouraging to see defeats like the recent one by the Methodists, our numbers are growing and awareness is spreading.
Courage. Our day will come.
Article at VT on the Methodist Church BDS:
link to veteranstoday.com
I don't know. I think Ira Glunt is right and news of Netanyahu's demise is exaggerated. I fear that he may yet prevail. She may be leaving as her own poll numbers are receding.
No, you are right. If Israel's elections are equally susceptible to be Diebold'ed, then I guess it won't say much. I hold out the hope that perhaps in this much smaller region, it is harder to fake the elections.
I agree. Go to the nation Obama and make your case. Those of us who would otherwise write-in Ron Paul will vote for you. He would win by a landslide.
And as stated by yourstruly, it would totally defang AIPAC and congress.
Exactly right. Obama can prevail by going to the nation and making his case. A bold move such as that would not only guarantee him the election, but would also defang congress and AIPAC.
Will he do it? Smart money says no.
That's an excellent analysis, Ira. I tend to agree with most of it. As I had written in an earlier post following the P5+1 talks, I expect the May talks to fail. This will be as a result of all the rhetoric from the usual suspects, resulting in an overreach of sanctions - which will bring the whole thing to a halt.
link to mondoweiss.net
However, I am also convinced that Israel will not attack Iran.
What worries me more is whether they will be able to coax the US to attack, probably after a false-flag on our fleet in the Persian Gulf. If that happens, I am afraid that we are looking at WW3 in all its glory.
I really do not expect Russia or China to abandon their interest in the region. Could that lead to nuclear exchange? Heaven forbid, but I am not about to rule that out. People (neocons) have been cavalierly talking about tactical nukes as if they are conventional weapons.
2012 may well end a lot worse than it began - and the beginning isn't all that great.
It a'int over yet, and the well-fed lady is some distance from clearing her throat.
Standby by for a false flag in a target rich world - the NATO conference, London Olympics, or just another Gulf of Tonkin, except this time in the Persian Gulf.
These villains have been at it for a long time, and they aren't about to pack up and go home.
The silver lining in that cloud is that if Netanyahu is re-elected, it will not only prove that most Israelis are just as insane as he is, it may also be the final straw that breaks the camel's back as far as the rest of the world is concerned.
Our own elections will shortly be over after theirs, and there will be one more opportunity rid ourselves of this boat anchor around our neck, if Obama has a shred of the decency that Phil believes that he does, and is merely impaired by the need to get re-elected.
Interesting article on VT about Netanyahu twisting the story of Esther to incite war on Iran at AIPAC:
link to veteranstoday.com
@ Pablemont
Money talks. Bullshit walks.
Such powerful words! Repent ye warmongers, while ye still can!
Our constitution says nothing about our obligations with respect to MOUs. We are only obliged to uphold our treaties.
Yes, I know that our constitution has been rendered quaint since the Korean war, and is just a damned piece of paper - another reason to help Ron Paul.
Negative.
An alliance requires a treaty. We have none.
A treaty entails well-defined borders. They have none.
Just to be clear, I am not apologizing for the second part, only for the first part (my prejudice).
It is an observable fact that a non-jewish person is afforded a lot less latitude in what they can state that is critical of Israel than what a jewish person is, and is immediately suspected of antisemitism. This is true at least here in the US, if not also your experience in Ireland.
Now I understand why Phil posted this about Jimmy Kimmel - because it is remarkable for a non-jew to have made the joke he did. Hopefully, it will cease to be remarkable soon.
The joke itself is still pretty innocuous, and hardly a knee-slapper or even particularly controversial, and the lobby will be hard-pressed to spin this as being anti-Semitic in any way, but it is still a brave step for a gentile and certainly separates him from those who would robotically adhere to "accepted" speech and self-censor such expressions.
It will be interesting to see if there is any reaction to this, but he may be fortunate to have made this comment in a week that is crowded by statements by prominent Israelis decrying Netanyahu as a "messianic" warrior.
I am sorry if you feel that you are not treated as a human being here at MW.
Sometimes passionate debate can spiral into mutual disrespect. For the most part, I find the people here to be very well-read and well-informed on the topics they debate and sometimes there is impatience when someone proposes a counter-point that is not equally well-researched or backed up by cogent links. I also think that there is a human reaction in a debate where one side is unwilling to be persuaded by the points of the other's logical, well-documented, well-articulated, and unrefuted arguments. It may lead one to conclude that the purpose of the offending party is not to debate but to silence or divert.
I am not suggesting that this is the case for you, but it is something to consider. Someone said that when an honest man discovers that he is mistaken, he either chooses to stop being mistaken, or stop being honest.
The prejudice on my part is the belief that a disproportionate number of successful people in the media are jewish, so I "prejudged" Jimmy Kimmel to also be jewish, and this is what I was apologizing for.
@ Terryscott
For once, you are right. That was clearly a prejudiced statement on my part, and I apologize.
Sorry for my ignorance. In that case, it was doubly brave of him.
Its a pity that only a jewish comedian could pull off such an innocuous joke.
...and the snowball begins its descent down the hill. Godspeed!
And more power to you! Your blog is on my daily reading list and I appreciate your writings.
@ Sin Nombre
You are on a roll today! I agree 100% with your perspective!
Excellent analysis!
Nice!
At the risk of falling into the zionist trap of invoking 'Hitler', most of the things he did were also 'legal' according to German law (and 'war crimes' were not laws pre-WW2).
Maybe I am just punchy, but that had me rolling on floor clutching my sides! LOL!
I agree with you and taxi. If the effect it had on my emotions is anything to go by, then this picture can be a powerful tool for waking up the American populace to the realities of what Israel is doing. We need to make this go viral somehow.
My claim to being a "lover not a hater" presents a philosophical imperative for me to invite them as well. Maybe you and I can share your expensive champagne in a separate room?
This is how hate begins.
I am a lover not a hater, but the sight of these smug bastards lounging on the couch of an oppressed family, beaming with self-satisfaction, raises the bile to my throat and leaves me fuming with rage, and yes, even hatred.
I console myself with the historial knowledge of how pride precedes a fall. The day of reckoning is nigh.
I am going to start stocking bottles of champagne for that day.
On that day, I am going to empty my wine cellar, and all of you have an open invitation to join me in depleting my collection - yes, even the zionists on this board.
Do it! Publicize it! Make Youtube videos about it!
Lest we forget, there are 25,000 jews living in Iran, who, despite Israel's attempts at providing financial incentives to emigrate, have steadfastly refused to leave Iran. That tells me a lot.
There are jewish hospitals and schools in Iran, that are used by both jews and muslims alike. That tells me a lot.
Iran is not an anti-semitic state calling for a repeat of the holocaust from what I can tell.
I certainly stopped calling them Americans a long time ago.
Didn't want to get into this debate, however, my sense from watching that video was that it was a statement from someone with convictions about its veracity rather than PR.
I certainly left with the sense that his utterances were those of a charismatic leader, rather than those of someone using words to create a false illusion or spin.
Great article by Philip Giraldi about the Hezbollah "sleeper cells" in the US:
link to original.antiwar.com
Our government, and a very powerful Cuban lobby - not as influential as the Israel lobby, but still very formidable.
I agree!
Yeah! This is a human being with very human emotions and aspirations. He is no different than you or I.
The difference between the reality of Hezbollah and what is constantly hammered into us by the MSM and Israel is so stark in this video, that it is frightening! It causes me to question everything that I have come to believe over time. I have not been exposed much to the going-ons in Lebanon, and even though I didn't really believe that the freedom fighters there are terrorists, I am struck by how similar they are to us - and what a contrast they are to their Israeli counterparts.
This is the power over our subconscious that we have allowed the MSM to have. It is enough to turn anyone into a conspiracy theorist!
Wow!
Wow, Annie! That blew me away! If this guy is a terrorist, the rest of us are as well.
In all his answers, even on the question of a monotheistic hegemony, his answers were those of a rational person who is comfortable in his faith, as opposed to that of a religious fanatic. He talks of people living together (he even talked about his faith being an Abrahamic one - which is a unifying rather than divisive concept, as opposed to asserting that his faith is an Islamic one).
Being an atheist, I may not share his views, but I certainly did not find them threatening or fanatical in the least.
Now contrast this with the picture that has been painted for us about the barbaric, blood-thirsty terrorists, hell-bent on the destruction of the Israeli people. This is how we wage wars. We demonize our victims, thus justifying their annihilation.
I am completely stunned!
This needs to go viral.
It looks like the activists of the last week have achieved resounding success in displaying the real Israel to the world - probably well beyond their wildest dreams.
I hope this is a precursor to redoubling the efforts to expose Israel in all its glory to the world - to the point that even the US congress dare not support it.
Kudos everyone!
I give it 10 years - 20 tops. The reason for that it is the withdrawal of US influence from the region. Without our protection, the curtains will descend very rapidly.
With organizations such as CUFI, it is hard to distinguish between their power and that of AIPAC/ADL/etc. I see them all collectively as the "Israel Lobby".
Its a good article. I believe that both the P5+1 and Iranian sides are sincere in seeking a solution.
However.
Israel+lobby is not going to be satisfied with anything less than total capitulation from Iran. They know full well that the political situation in Iran does not allow for the Iranians to be left emasculated - more the reason to increase the pressure. They know that once Iran has been backed into a corner, they only need to push just far enough to cause Iran to do something rash - or if they fail to react, trigger a false-flag operation that forces the US to jump in with both feet.
I don't think that there will be a showdown at the OK Corral. Obama is desperately trying to manage this along till after the elections. Unfortunately that is a long time away. He is not going to be allowed to reconcile with Iran, barring some miracle transpiring on our domestic front. I still believe that there is enough awareness of the Iran situation in the previously dormant US citizenry, that if Obama went to the nation, he could prevail. Unfortunately, he has yet to demonstrate testicular fortitude in his presidency, but I would love to be surprised. He would go from being one of the worst presidents in our history, to being one of the best, overnight.
On the more optimistic front, I think it is highly unlikely that Obama would bomb Iran, barring an October surprise instigated by a false-flag. If not for the treasonous fifth column prevalent through all our branches of government, I would imaging that the military is on high alert for this, and I would not be surprised if they have communicated this in no uncertain terms to the Israelis.
Similarly, despite the rhetoric and sabre-rattling from Nutty Yahoo, my perception is that he does not have sufficient support in Israel for launching an attack. He is insane enough that I could be proven wrong in this, but the sense I get is that this is a bridge too far even for him.
In summary, I believe the talks will be sabotaged so that there is no deal with Iran, however, I do not expect war.
Obama does need to augment his security detail and not allow it to get compromised as it did in Colombia, unless he wants JFK's fate. If he can stay alive, and Ron Paul does not get the Republican nomination, then he will get re-elected. The Israelis know that payback is going to be a bitch, and they are not going to sit idly by to let it happen, even if it ends up harming them as well.
Maybe the Mayans were on to something...
Yeah, I am afraid my secret desire to be proven wrong is not going to materialize. Here are the congress hoards I was afraid would come out of the woodwork:
link to reuters.com
The sabotage is in progress...
Covert nuclear program? Does the honorable gentleman (and I use the term very loosely) have any proof of this, given that our 16 Intelligence agencies don't?
Israel is starting to turn the crank:
From the Mossad rag, Debka File:
link to debka.com
I hope that they are right about this bit:
And here comes AIPAC's flock on cue....
From MJ Rosenberg's blog:
link to mjayrosenberg.com
link to aipac.org
And so the games begin...
link to israelnationalnews.com
I would be delighted to be proven wrong on this.
I would love to be optimistic about this outcome, but I fear that it is the prelude to the second talks being sabotaged well before the next five weeks elapse. There is not a snowball's chance in hell that the Nutty Yahoo is going to let any progress with Iran stand. The biggest existential threat to Israel is a thaw between the US and Iran.
Cue the usual suspects in congress howling their dismay at this betrayal of the jewish state by this (so-called) muslim POTUS. I can see McCain/Lieberman scurrying back from Syria to pronounce gloom and doom if we allow ourselves to be duped by the Iranians.
I am no supporter of Obama - far, far from it. However, I can't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for his predicament - although, he could have avoided this by being far more decisive in the first 100 days of his presidency. It is now a damned if you do, and damned if you don't situation. If he reconciles with Iran, he will feel the onslaught of AIPAC's minions for the next 7 months. If, instead, he decides to go to war with Iran, he will feel the wrath of an awakened American populace that is war-weary.
If I were to be his advisor, I would advise him to forget about the AIPAC support. Appeasing them is not going to bring him their support anyway. Forget AIPAC and forget the Evangelicals. Go to the nation and make your case for making peace with Iran and point out the treachery of a congress bought off by AIPAC. I bet he would win in a landslide if he did that.
But, what do I know?
"HOLDER OF PASSPOTT" ?
Someone did this in a hurry and without the services of a spell-checker. The grammar in the rest of the letter is not very official either. When is the "nine tens of april"?
...and their numbers grow:
link to guardian.co.uk
Its only a matter of time before RT is banned in the US, just as Press TV is banned in the UK.
I just read the full text of his speech in the link provided in the article. If you haven't read it, do so - it provides a very different picture of this man - one that commands respect. Here is a brief excerpt:
This is how the Gellers of this country have won. They have successfully injected Islamophobia into our mainstream discourse and polite conversation. It is striking how openly one can condemn muslims as a group in this country with no fear of reprisals or condemnations. I can't imagine similar comments about blacks or jews that would be treated similarly - although it has in the past.
It is common to go to any blog or site with user comments and see some anti-muslim comment posted at random, even when the topic under discussion may have peripheral connection to Arabs or muslims, and yet go unchallenged. This is true even on "moderated" sites like Huffington Post. Other mainstream sites like those for ABC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, are just as bad.
Who are these anonymous commenters who continue to fan the flames of this most shameful chapter in American history? Cui bono? Who benefits by the perpetuation of this?
Those were not serious questions, I already know the answer. Most Americans don't.
Annie said: "he mentioned Abeer. most americans do not even know who she is."
I will go one further - even if they knew who this 15-year old innocent was or her story, there would be very little sympathy. That is the power of brainwashing.