Total number of comments: 144 (since 2009-07-31 05:40:41)
doug
Long time Commentary, Mondo, and TPMCAFE reader who would like to see peace in Isreal and Palestine. Not Jewish but have been greatly and positively infuenced by the Jews in my life.
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Showing comments 144 - 101
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Actually, Israel was Apartheid South Africa's "best friend" at the time up to and including a high level of military cooperation.
I also was shocked when I ran across some of the clearest skeptical analysis of the looming Iraq war.over at the National Interest. Geez, at the time they were a part of the Nixon Center. Turned out their "realist" concerns were, for the most part, dead on. Neoconservatives, OTOH, devolved from the Left but carried a certain internationalist, vanguard thinking while the classical right paleoconservatives have been banished from most of the Republican establishment.
I am pretty unhappy with the thinking of the whole lot. Every group has their blind spots and the more idealistic one is the bigger one's blind spots. I subscribe to the old doctor's oath: "First, do no harm."
That's something different countries learn in different ways, only to be undone over time by natural human impulses to power leading to overreach of one sort or another.
It's widespread.
A friend in LA who's connected to the fairly large Iranian-Jewish diaspora there described a palpable fear at the start of Great Recession that the ovens were in their future. This was endemic amongst the older of them. It's an understandable but toxic mindset and one that I find has no basis in current reality.
Kind of like how horribly abused kids have a skewed outlook as adults.
TomAmitaUSA,
"NPR Commenters" doesn't imply the commenters are affiliated with NPR any more than Mondoweiss Commenters or HuffPo Commenters imply affiliation. We are just commenters.
Hasbara fail: Check out the comments!
link to npr.org
"... Kerry should get on the Presidential hotline and hatch a plan for American military intervention in Jerusalem that would force Israel back to the 1967 borders."
You've really bought into the idea American military power can fix everything and you join the neocons in that illusion.
Really though, we could stop supporting the Zionist enterprise. That alone would be a remarkable achievement.
That's got to be one of the most disgusting video promos I've ever seen. It says a great deal about the state of things in Israel that it could even be produced.
Does the NYT still own the Globe? ( Yes, I see)
This is encouraging given the multi front pushback attacking Hawking.
Faster, Please.
Chomsky and Hawking have both made brief appearances on The Big Bang Theory. I wonder if we'll see more of them? Or less?
Hawking is this generation's Feynman.
I've had the opportunity to suggest a shareholder resolution that was written up and allowed by the SEC Staff. While that one was not political I am familiar with the fairly limited structure of these things. The SEC has long allowed these sorts of resolutions so long as they comport with the laws in the corporate domicile. OTOH, this is pushing more buttons and the buttons are firmly embedded. I expect the SEC to issue another "No Action" letter.
I've long thought it odd that Israel has a Visa Waiver program with Russia but not the US. I guess Israel has a more "special" relationship with Russia.
So now Israel wants a one way Visa Waiver with the US where Israelis can come to the US without a visa but Americans would still require a visa to go to Israel.
"Remarkably, less than half of the interfaith couples in my survey said they’d discussed, before marrying, what faith they planned to raise their kids in..."
So she finds it disturbing that people who are largely secular don't talk about what "faith" to raise their kids? What's to talk about? How about "no faith?" Maybe it's the circles she runs in but I don't see this movement of people towards "faith" as they get older as a general trend. Some do. Some don't. Some become more secular.
"Objecting to the invitation to Geller is not a First Amendment or censorship issue. Only the government can violate someone’s free speech rights."
Of course. Isn't this obvious? There is a big difference between private schools, and public schools where the First Amendment can come into play. Good thing the US doesn't have a State Religion unlike many other countries.
I come down on the side of letting her speak. Getting her tossed just gives credence to her positions amongst the frenzied Islamaphobics. One of the best interviews I ever heard was an interview of an American Nazi Party spokesman broadcast by KPFK. The interviewer was so neutral and skilled that the spokesman let his hair down and said what he truly believed. It was chilling and revealing. Free speech tends to do that. Reveal, that is.
broadside,
Perhaps one reason is that Orthodox Jews don't believe you can leave being a Jew. There was a touching essay in Commentary some 15 or more years ago by a Rabbi expounding on the problems of conversion to Judaism, in particular conversion motivated by love more than a desire to be Jewish. His example was a woman that converted but after her marriage broke up she found herself drifting away from Judaism. Many would say she never really converted in the first place but the Rabbi maintained she did and that once she became Jewish by drifting away and returning to Christianity she became a Jewish apostate. He then used this example to proscribe these sorts of conversions. It was really a touching piece even though I am about as religious as a rock. I like to understand others points of view.
To be fair the Executive branch has a legal obligation to enforce current law. Hopefully SCOTUS will change that. The legislators are the culprits that passed it.
The idea that the US was ever an "honest broker" is a bit crazy. The US has always favored Israel. Just check the UNSC veto record.
What! I've heard NPR called "National Palestinian Radio" by right wingers. They live in their own fantasy world.
It's hard to imagine any other figure in American politics expecting to remain in power that would say even as much as Obama did. And that's a very sad state of affairs.
Let's face facts. Nothing more is going to happen without a significant change in Congress. That's where the effort needs to be now. Not holding my breath.
FP Realist hat on
Well, now we know the real reason O went to the Israel. Turkey.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
That many liberals joined with the neocons in supporting this classic and incredibly stupid war will continue to eat away at them.
And it should.
Bogus facts were and remain prevalent. One of many is that Iraq was not cooperative with the IAEA inspectors and Saddam was pretending to have WMDs.
This from March 7, 2003:
"After three months of intrusive inspections, we have to date found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons programme in Iraq. . . . I should note that, in the past three weeks, possibly as a result of ever-increasing pressure by the international community, Iraq has been forthcoming in its co-operation, particularly with regard to the conduct of private interviews and in making available evidence that contributes to the resolution of matters of IAEA concern ... "
And much, much more: See Drinking the Koolaid by Col. Pat Lang
link to turcopolier.typepad.com
Love the flags. Joined at the hip with Israel's "hand" reaching for the US's nuts.
Very apropos.
Holy cow. I just heard Limbaugh riff on the Neo's pushback of Rand Paul's "filibuster." Basically, he thinks the neoconservatives are scared of Paul. Are the conservative, neocon co-opted, repubs breaking? Limbaugh breaking with the neos.? I sure hope so. That's a delicious food fight.
MJ's argument would be a lot more convincing if the Hagel hadn't had to effectively kiss the ring during his hearings. AIPAC is saving its dry powder for Iran.
How can you possibly compare Palestinian only busses to the harsh and cruel situation under Jim Crow? Palestinians get the full use of an entire bus and aren't crowded into the rear having to walk the gauntlet just to get in and out like blacks in the South.
/sarcasm
Phil and Alex,
Mov'in on up guys! You will know you have their attention when Israel won't let you in.
Russia has a Visa Waiver program with Israel but the US doesn't.
And Americans have this bizarre idea Israel is somehow not on friendly terms with Russia.
Israel isn't on our list because they don't meet the 3% rule we apply to other countries. Israel's passports also lack biometric standards we require for inclusion.
As for why Russia allows it, there are a lot of Russian expats in Israel and both countries probably use the access for spying.
I've known a lot of Mormons and they tend to have at least as strong a group identity as the Jews I know. Big difference is they love to out-marry. But only if the outsider converts. Jews allow conversion but make it non-trivial and don't encourage it. Mormons live to convert but are friendly enough and almost always leave you alone once you make clear you aren't interested.
However, while the Jews I've had the most interaction with do have a distinct sense of being Jewish, they haven't been in any negative sense clannish or treating outsiders differently or adversely.
Of course that is only my experience.
An aspect of the Jews as perpetual victims is the service it provides Zionists in support of Israel. Thus keeping the anti-Semitism timbers in place becomes even more critical as Israel descends into ugly, and more obvious, nationalism. What a mess.
Tone deaf. Just as well as it certainly doesn't help hasbara.
OTOH, I suspect CAT is more symbolic of equipment heavily used in settlement activities and that is widely supported amongst the AIPAC crowd under cover of the "two state solution."
Phil,
Fix the indentation quotes. Obviously not your words at the bottom.
No, Abrams is not nor was a US felon. He copped a plea to lessor charges.
The problem with this poll is that "Development of nuclear weapons by Iran" is the only one of the 10 threats that doesn't clearly exist. This is not to say that it doesn't exist. The CIA's NIE, which was widely disparaged by neocons, did not state Iran has no nuclear weapons program. It stated, some 6 years ago now, that Iran made a decision to terminate a nascent nuclear weapons program years earlier, that it was highly unlikely Iran had restarted the program, and that Iran was developing nuclear (as opposed to nuclear weapons) know-how but not actual weapons. However, it also stated that Iran would be increasingly likely to restart their weapons program at some point in the future absent agreement on extended protocols.
In the event Iran decides that a nuclear weapons program would be in their national interest they have the ability to do it. However, the consequences would be most extreme to Iran and only somewhat less so to the US, Why? Not because Iran has threatened to attack Israel, though this seems to be widelyt believed. Israel is the only country where top leadership has actually threatened to preemptively attack Iran. Israel will try to get the US to do so first and it seems the US has been maneuvered into agreeing to take the military action if Iran does start working on nukes. This was in return for Israel not bombing last fall.
Because democracy scares the crap out of Israelis which is why "The Only Democracy in the Middle East" has evolved into, ahem, "Jewish Democracy." Democracy elsewhere scares them even more. It's very sad and discordant to large numbers of American Jews.
Man, every day I get an new Commentary email with the latest Hagel "discoveries"
Secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel said Israel is on its way to becoming an apartheid state during an April 9, 2010, appearance at Rutgers University, according to a contemporaneous account by an attendee.
Wow!. The horror! Hagel must really hate Jews.
OTOH, if he really did hate Jews wouldn't he be encouraging Israel to do just that!
What irritates me is Tobin's casual statement that Hagel hates Jews. It's just insane.
Exactly.
Just when you think Commentary can't sink lower. And notice Commentary's conflation of Jews and Israel. I guess it;s OK when the neoconservative flagship does it. Foxman is nowhere in sight.
Commentary's latest:
If Jewish groups speak out now in the aftermath of the cloture vote the Hagel nomination will collapse. The president may not like it but the longer this goes on the less defensible his choice for the Pentagon has proved to be. The time is now for Jewish Democrats to end this farce and send Hagel back into retirement where he can say as many hateful things about Jews and Israel either on or off the record as he likes.
Cliff,
Yeah, I about lost it when I saw K quoted using "noob" and that was before I read your reply.
I should add that while a powerful meme, and understandably so, its power is in decline amongst many Jews not caught up in the more destuctive aspects of Zionism. Hopefully the cycle of victimhood will end someday. As Robert Wright said in signing off his blog on the Atlantic, the single most important thing human beings need to work on is being able to look at things from other's points of view.
The goal is to continue the basic meme of Jews as victims. Always and forever. It may seem ridiculous but it does work.
Check out Michael Cohen's twitter:
Here's a gem:
Michael Cohen@speechboy71
To answer Lindsay Graham's question on how the Israel lobby harms USFP - he should watch this hearing
link to twitter.com
The problem for both Israel and the neocons is they can only win a pyrrhic victory against Hagel at the cost of Israel continuing on it's suicidal spiral and further rapid loss for USA supporters of Israel.
It's bizarre, insular thinking.
Steve Walt has pointed this out as well. We are reading way too much into the frantic, unhinged attacks by the neos. Hagel is not a neocon but he's not the polar opposite either.
Laura Rozen tweets: "Anyone know where to see "The Gatekeepers" in DC?
Seems there is a very large dam breaking loose.
I think it was well played. Just getting Hagel nominated is helpful and all the trash talk preceding it stimulated an immune response from those increasingly irritated at the blackmail and smears. From Laura's article:
>>"The Obama administration knows that the Hagel nomination “is like picking up a rock and discovering all the nasties underneath,” a Democratic source close to the administration told me on condition of anonymity. The administration “may not have wanted to have a fight at the outset, but I think at least some want to have this fight now, to shine a light on some really awful, blackmail-style politics. They are sick of these groups boxing them in and want a public fight to expose them and hopefully put them in their place.”"
Read more: link to forward.com
This was my thinking as well. Laura Rozen's current articles in the Forward and al-Monitor pretty much reflect the division.
There is no way this would have happened without major portions of the Lobby breaking with the neocons. If this helps open up a more balanced discussion, great. I'm not optimistic but I was wrong here and believed the neocons had more power than they did. But then the neocons believed they had more power than they did. All good.
Laura Rozen writes in "The Back Channel"
Abrams, the former Bush White House Middle East advisor, called Hagel an anti Semite in an interview with NPR’s All Things Considered. The accusation was widely lambasted on social media sites after the interview aired. Asked by Al-Monitor what evidence he has to support his accusation, Abrams did not respond.
Abrams’ wife Rachel Abrams is a founding board member of the Emergency Committee for Israel, a Bill Kristol–led, GOP group at the center of the anti-Hagel campaign. ECI previously ran TV ads against President Obama’s 2012 reelection.
Read more: link to backchannel.al-monitor.com
Abrams is a laughingstock on Rozen's twitter feed.
Given the increasing divergence of Israel's drift rightward and the need for American Jews to hold onto the two state solution as actually viable, I don't see any way to avoid Israel becoming more of a topic. The reason this makes Woodward uncomfortable is that cognitive dissonance is uncomfortable.
> The Republican Jewish Coalition wants a bruising nomination battle.
>> "If Obama chooses Hagel "he can expect a very difficult and bruising nomination >> battle." Very tough warning."
It's really an indication of the opposite. If the RJC wanted a bruising battle they wouldn't be trying so hard to prevent Obama from nominating Hagel.
seanmcbride,
Accurate presumption. Drudge drives a lot of traffic and is the net's version of the old supermarket National Enquirer. The headlines he chooses are typically inflamatory and often misleading. Similar to the yellow journalism of old. His headlining the Weekly Standard's discovery of a LGBT group that opposes Hagel is just precious.
Drudge is now headlining the GLBT's against Hagel. Links to neocon WeeklyStandard. Strange bedfellows. lol.
Amazing. Color me shocked! Pleased, but shocked.
This is such nonsense. Americans are pretty philo-Semitic from what I see.
But there's a country even more Philo-Semetic: China. Check out this remarkable conversation with an Israeli doing biz in China. It's really interesting how similar stereotypes play out so differently. I know successful biz people and some, less than honest, that I avoid but I haven't personally encountered any unethical Jews in my biz dealings nor have I ever encountered any non-Jews in biz that, AFAIK, held beliefs that Jews were not as honest as any other group. I have run across that in other, non biz, circumstances though not very often.
link to bloggingheads.tv
Sad isn't it. Neocons and neolibs may differ on all sorts of domestic issues but not on Israel. Nope, that's the essential glue.
But hey, what lobby? Nothing to see here, move along.
Rosen is a very plugged in journalist. She knows the game and reports fairly objectively on the players and their maneuverings.
Laura Rozen tweets she thinks Obama is leaning towards Flournoy. I give a great deal of credence to her insight. She posted that someone else had been offered, and turned down, Rummies job some weeks before he was ousted.
Flournoy has been touted by many if not most neos.
I suspect O is using the threat of a Hagel nomination as leverage for other things he wants passed.
Krauss,
I believe Obama took the opportunity to defend his friends, Susan and Chuck. There simply is no way Hagel can be confirmed and the Lobby has much to lose. The problem with fear based control, and I agree with MJR that is the case, is that it can't continue unless continuously enforced. At some future time it may break down but I don't believe we are there yet.
Citizen,
That is a great, dead on, article.
"The Human Rights Campaign also recognized Hagel’s apology as significant and closed the book on the issue, but that has not made it go away. No one in Washington, whatever they might say in public, believes the controversy over Hagel has anything to do with his beliefs on LGBT rights any more than anyone here believed that the controversy over Freeman had anything to do with China. This is all about Israel, and, more to the point, the far-right Likud agenda which drives not only the majority in the Knesset but virtually the entirety of the Israel Lobby in the United States."
NPR article on Hagel:
"Hagel Would Be First Former Enlisted Soldier To Run Pentagon"
link to npr.org
Hormel accepts Hagel's apology!
Not that Maddow will mention it.
link to gaystarnews.com
Blowback, as the late Chalmers Johnson described so well about the precedents.
link to en.wikipedia.org
“Hagel has made clear he believes in the existence of a nefarious Jewish lobby that secretly controls U.S. foreign policy. This is the worst kind of anti-Semitism there is.”
This is obviously wrong. Nothing "secret" about it. Also it isn't interested in the entire foreign policy, only that which impacts Israel.
Annie,
If Hagel was nominated the hearings would pretty much only be about his lack of support for our "most important/greatest ally," Israel. It's a hearing that is unwanted (by AIPAC as well as the DC politicos) and, IMO, won't happen but if it did it's a safe bet that anyone voting to confirm would see a dramatic drop in their election funds and similar increase in support for future opponents. They all know this. A CLM if you will.
There is less than a snowball's chance in hell that Hagel will even be nominated. Unlike Chas, Hagel would require confirmation. It would require politicians committing ritual sepuku to vote to confirm.
However, it could well be a ploy. AIPAC et al do not want this in a public hearing and so this may well just be something put out there to get something else that might actually be politically achievable. Lord knows, there's a lot on the plate.
I wonder what her very close friend Lurline thinks about this. They are both big advocates of indigenous peoples, Hawaiian and Native American. Another, possibly interesting aspect, Lurline was, decades ago, connected to DC politics and did a stint as congressional staffer.
annie:
"i don’t think so. Makdisi is speaking common sense and something i have believed for a long long time. it’s an excellent and interesting article and in my mind predicts the inevitable."
That's good to know. I hope you guys are right. Now, if that would appear in the NYT as well as the IHT we might have some real progress.
Saree is trying to resurrect the two state solution by dangling the threat of a secular one state solution. It won't work. Israelis are clearly moving for a one state solution as well. One that will involve transfer, voluntary or otherwise, and will further isolate America and Israel. They probably see the financial decline of the West as placing a time pressure on the process. The sooner they get on with it the sooner they get a fait accompli backed up by the still potent but declining American hegemony.
One of the big drivers of Israeli policy is their long term planning when America no longer has the resources or perhaps the will to "have Israel's back." Countries know few limits when it comes to national security.
IMO Israel has long intended a "One State Solution." The strategy has been to do it in such a way as to bring along the bulk of liberal Jewish Americans. The meme is that Israel has been forced down this path through Palestinian intransigence. The rationalization must be provided and is the ususal much like the classic "The Constitution is not a suicide pact."
I think the Israeli Right is thrilled at how muted reaction from the American Jewish establishment, including the "liberals," has been so far. Sad, but not unexpected.
It's still the fringes Phil. Here's a quote from Andy Bachman from his 11/30 musings:
"A continual finger in the eye, two brothers, still wrestling, jabbing, poking and fatefully ignoring the radical gesture of bowing generously to one another in the land.
What else can you do right now, but laugh"
Still living in Denial, I'm afraid.
Mahler believes it, that's the problem. It's also the result of the long campaign painting Palestinians, Arabs, and Islamists (gotta include Iran) as irrational and/or devoid of normal human feelings.
Ya know,
They hate Jews more than they love their own children.
They worship Death and can't wait to have 72 virgins.
They are falsely claiming land that isn't theirs: ( remember this! A land without people for a people without a land)
when you are exposed to this over and over you're gonna wind up living in a different reality.
Just read Goring's rationalizations. People always somehow justify the most horrible acts.
No one would use both a non-standard unit base such as 100MJ/s (or 100MW) together with powers of 10^12 ... 10^13. It's rare enough for someone to even use a non-standard base.
It really can't be explained as a typo or a mislabel. It's just so bad as to be inexplicable.
In looking at it closer I really don't see what units they could possibly be using for the power axis. 50kt is approx 2E14 J, or Watt/S. and whatever units they are using for kT/s and kT are inconsistent. Whatever they meant to label the kT axis with doesn't fit anything reasonable assuming the the 50kT net energy is expressed in kilo tons TNT equiv.
Gee, energy equals power integrated over time. Who knew!
Now, if whatever idiot did that graph would get their math right they might notice that, well, the math doesn't add up. And by over 7 orders of magnitude or so. Maybe the right hand axis should be labeled Watts (Joules/s) and it was just some sort of clerical error.
What nonsense.
MRW,
Very Nice! Thanks.
This may be a taboo at some level but the deep overlap of neoconservatism and connection with Israel has long been pretty clear and open. At least in neoconservative circles.
I've long read Commentary which was self described as the center for neoconservative thought. Until the last decade it was operated by the AJC. Looking at the its ads over the past 30 years the majority are focused on Israel and various Israel/Jewish charities.
While neoconservatism includes some diversity (Moynihan for instance) It's hard for me to understand why this is controversial though obviously it had been.
The British Empire abolished slavery long before the Civil War. Had the States remained colonialized slavery in the States would have ended much earlier.
Further, Native Americans did not gain the right to vote until the 1900s, roughly when women also got the franchise.
Now, if it was actually in the publication and not just an online blog. Still, rather incredible.
What makes it more remarkable it that it comes during intense conflict. Look at the increased polarization within Israel.
More than anything it represents the divergence between American Jews and Israeli Jews as the latter has drifted further into the abyss.
It's similar to the border state families torn asunder in the Civil War.
I remember Lang commenting about the "surge" months before it became a policy in Iraq. The success had little to do with COIN but subsequently policy makers and their military accolytes tried to apply COIN to everything (aka Afghanistan). He, and a number of other analysts, have watched with horror as it was (ab)used there with completely predictable results.
My reaction to the '67 war as well. The bulk of Americans were raised with David and Goliath seared into our brains. And who doesn't like the story of a plucky underdog getting the better of the bully who started an unfair fight. Such was the '67 narrative I recall. Even the most antiwar (Hey, Hey, LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?) amongst us were cheering Israel. And then it turns out even LBJ did his best to suppress the Liberty incident.
Then I read here a few days ago that Yoffie thought American Protestants didn't support Jews and Israel in '67! What alternate universe does he live in?
Perhaps he was thinking about what SHOULD have happened had the facts of the 1967 war been more circulated.
Yoffie was right about one thing. Protestant silence in 1967. President Johnson, a Protestant, squelched any serious investigation into the near sinking of the U.S.S. Liberty.
Tragic? Sure, but completely predictable. Unfortunately.
A lot of sound, a bit of fury, and nothing of substance while carefully tuned to the resonances of donors.
And rabbis can convert.
Andy Bachman, in the recent pic with Oren, fairly recently did so.
Saw that happen to a well known liberal rabbi in NY in the 2006 war. A guy I really like. It's like all the critical thinking went away.
Among the living, Breivic.
Yuck.
link to timesofisrael.com
"Instead, Netanyahu was speaking over Obama’s head, directly to the president’s employer and boss: the American voter."
There it is. It's also disgusting in the implicit elitism.
In wondering why he would use such a visual it occurred that he is targetting the 51%. Not the people at the UN and not the elites. He's aiming at a visual that will be remembered by the masses even while being ridiculed by the New Yorker, etc.
It's designed to keep the politicos in fear.
Didn't G. W. Bush state that we were attacked on 9/11 because of our freedoms? Seemed to fly then so the movie as the root cause fits the continuing narrative. But really, what does that say about us?
bobsmith:
I agree. The story doesn't really hold together. 5M?? For that pos? Any of those "wealthy jews" claiming to help out? No records in CA license databases? Could well be a fundie nutjob trying to speed along the end times. WSJ owes us info on how much they verified this dude's bona fides. If any.
It's a sad day. This will be leveraged. Reinforcing the "iirrational Islamist" meme will butress support for attacking Iran. As will the idea in the ME that most Americans want to destroy Islam.
That neither is generally true is of little interest to zealots.
Any concessions "squeezed" out of Obama will not impact Bibi's decision on going to war with Iran simply because these concessions don't change the calculus on attacking Iran.
Further, I don't believe the recent leaks re pushback are material evidence the US will refrain from promptly joining Israel's attack. Perhaps it is evidence we don't want to join the attack but getting people that don't want to do something to do it is one of the classic displays of "power."
Israel will attack Iran if Netanyahu believes it is in Israel's interest. Since it is clear the maximum leverage is prior to the US election, he will not postpone the decision.
Netanyahu's current concern is that the degree to which discussion now could have adverse effects on Israel's relations with the US subsequent to an Iran attack. Especially if the war becomes protracted and ugly. This is why Netanyahu is ticked at his cabinet's leaks.
Check out Paul Pillar's article in The National Interest breaking news blog. The headline pulls no punches: "A Culture of Hatred in Israel"
link to nationalinterest.org
BTW, The National Interest's roots are from the Nixon Foundation. Who knew?
There have been claims that Pollard sold critical, top secret intel to Israel and that it was then traded with the Russians in exchange for info or actions the Israel's wanted.
Since everyone presumes Israel is our ally while Russia isn't, why is it that Israel doesn't have a visa waiver program with the US but does with Russia?
Yes, it is indeed possible by exhumation and careful testing to determine if Polonium poisoned Arafat. By 2015 it will not be possible to determine this. What I've pointed out elsewhere in this article to Eva is that it would not have required a state actor though that would be more likely IMO. Particularly because knowledge of this was not as widespread prior to Litvenko and that was pretty clearly a state actor.
It would seem to me that if determining whether Arafat was poisoned by Po there would be a concerted effort to do the testing now. Are you suggesting that Abbas would not want this because it might show Arafat wasn't poisoned by Po? That's pretty strange.
Eva,
Indeed, it is because it is sealed that it is considered safe. The same is true of many more hazardous materials. Most any chemist would know how to "unseal" this. The somewhat harder part is properly handling it afterward. There is nothing even remotely special or secret involved. I mention it even this much somewhat reluctantly but with the intent to point out that the extant meme it must be a state actor is far from true.
Wrong.
Only about 1 out of every 100,000 decays is a gamma.
Check out Nature's blog on the story, They actually have the numbers right,
Eva,
This isn't so. 500 uCi sources are ubiquitous, and can be sold to the public under a general license. That amount (500 uCi) of Po210, consumed and dispersed in the body, is highly likely to kill (look up the MLD50). These sources are not hazardous because the isotope is encapsulated on ceramic with a thin layer of gold to keep the Po contained.
They typical retail price of these is $30 in units of 1. At least on Amazon the last time I checked.
They used to be sold widely in record stores (remember those). Combined with a camel hair brush they were unsurpassed at getting rid of dust on LPs.
I'm saying this to point out that it doesn't have to be a state actor though that is likely.
Litvinenko was dosed with approx 50,000 uCi which was far above the lethal dose and assured he would die even if he didn't drink much of the tea it was in.
It should be noted that Po210, while highly radioactive and deadly when consumed and dispersed internally, is extremely hard to detect. The Alpha particles generated are far more damaging but are virtually impossible to detect because they are absorbed by less than an inch of air and only an infintesimal number of them reach a person's skin. Further most common detectors pick up Gamma and Beta.
It should also be noted that Po210 is widely used in various industries. I wouldn't necessarily attribute Po210 poisoning to a state actor.
The problem is that Pb206 is a common stable isotope. The amount of Po210 needed to poison a person is such a tiny amount that it's decay product is swamped by the presence of natural Pb206.
A more promissing approach would be to search for longer life radioactive contaminants known to be associated with commercial sources. I have no idea how much data there is on this but I've seen quite a variation in activity including one consumer Po210 source that was over 20 years old and would still peg an Alpha reading GM meter. Whatever contaminant was left it clearly wasn't Po210. Not after 20 years.
I was skeptical because of the elapsed time since PO210 half life is so short. However, sensitive instruments do have the ability to detect milli Bq levels of the remaining isotope.
Odd it wasn't done before this given the symptoms and the similar PO210 poisoning in England.
Jewish Israelis that wish to marry non-Jewish Israelis must leave Israel to do so though it is recognized when they return.
Well, if Obama pardons Pollard it will likely be tomorrow. The media noise surrounding the SCOTUS individual mandate ruling will drown out the news for most of the public who haven't followed Pollard. Obama will hope to gain support from a smaller subset of pro-Israel fanatics who see Pollard more as an Israeli hero than a United States traitor.
Interesting this video just came out under FOI. Intel people tend to be nearly universal in opposing his release. I suspect there reasons are solid.
God, I hate campaigns. Nearly every ad I see makes me ill. It's all about implying a great deal while saying as little as possible.
And both the Rs and Ds have been completely compromised in the most significant areas.
The pressure on Obama to pardon Pollard is enormous and I expect it to be approved. It should be instructive to watch the "hero's welcome" Pollard gets upon his release to Israel.
Come on Phil, I've never known anyone that sought out Jews to marry. I have known people that married Jews that were initially attracted to them because they were educated. But I think they just happened to be Jews. They also fell in love.
My gf, a longime subscriber to the New Yorker, was astonished that anyone would perceive Remnick as "obsessed with Israel" let alone somehow anti-Israel. But then while she is somewhat liberal, she's not Jewish. She just loves the magazine.
Even George W. Bush! noted this:
"Swiss cheese isn't going to work when it comes to the outlines of a state," Bush said in Ramallah.
link to thejewishweek.com
I have a different take. It's that, quite simply, Krugman is not all that interested in Israel. Israel, even executing policies he equates to slow national suicide, is not as important to him as his other work focused on America. This will get more opprobrium heaped on him than MJR.
Taking him at his word, it is even more impressive that he would say this so casually in the Times. Or anywhere in public. This is BIG!
The meme that Iran is out to kill all Jews has been in a Drudge linked story for a few days.
link to wnd.com
It's written by a nutjob who has pushed this line for some time. The nutjob has stated Iran has a thousand suitcase weapons grade U235 nukes scattered around the US and other such nonsense. At least Chalabi didn't make claims that violate the laws of physics. That the guy gets an audience reflects the current insanity.
Hitler didn't just kill 6,000,000 Jews, his ghost haunts to this day stoking paranoia.
"WWII. Everyone thinks WWII was a just war. But since Paul, as Pollitt puts it, is against everything the U.S. government does, domestically or internationally, there is every reason to think he would have opposed FDR's decision that we had to join in the fight both for moral and strategic reasons."
Has Slater forgotten that FDR didn't "join in the fight for moral and strategic reasons?" The United States entered the war against Japan after Japan declared War on us. The same was true some days later. We went to war with Germany after Germany declared war on us.
Perhaps Slater believes, like Herbert Hoover, that FDR did everything he could to get us into WWII and finagled Japan into attacking us by cutting off most of their oil. While that may be the case FDR didn't make that case. In fact FDR had the US join WWII by the now rather quaint mechanism of having Congress declare a state of war. Something subsequent presidents have avoided. Something Ron Paul says should be the only way the US enters wars of choice, let alone wars where we are overwhelmingly attacked first.
That said, FDR, like very few including even his VP, Truman, was aware of the potential power of nuclear weapons being actively developed and that Germany's nuclear science was perhaps as advanced as ours by 1940.
So maybe Herbert Hoover was right that FDR finagled us into WWII. If so he certainly had reasons that H. Hoover was not privy to. Herbert was of the opinion (back prior to France and England declaring war in support of Poland) that we should have just let the bastards (USSR and Germany) destroy each other.
My own belief is that Germany did us and the rest of the world a great favor by declaring war on us and if FDR finagled us into WWII through Japan it was appropriate.
I think it is a combination of hubris, a sense that Bibi controls the shots and will have US backing no matter what together with the feeling of increased isolationism from the rest of the world. It's caustic and self destructive. And sad.
Hophmi,
I guess you missed "Real Time" over the weekend. The point is pretty obvious.
So I gather had the Times' Berlin desk, in 1935, been held by someone who's son had left the States to join the German army that would have been just hunky dory. Right, what possible conflict of interest could there be.
Lerner's comment isn't about Jewish diversity but rather that there are many anti-Semites that just group all Jews as liberal. Obviously these nuts don't read Commentary.
Jeez. The guy is just a classic psychotic nut. Just a bit green and not well roasted. The desire of nearly every group to try to spin this to align his craziness against their enemies is absurdity on display.
Jeez Phil, it's pretty damned apparent it had nothing to do with you being Jewish.. But you knew that - lol.
As an aside, it's been many decades since I've heard someone spout the Jew=effiminate crap but a friend of mine, a Catholic, who is in a partnership with a Jew defers to his business judgement all the time saying, in effect, that he's good with money being a Jew and all. Stereotypes are used when actual knowledge of the area is lacking. She holds the same opinion of Chinese since she's from a country where 90% of the businesses are owned by ethnic Chinese yet they make up only a few percent of the population (See Chua). In now way was her comment meant as a negative, quite the opposite as she is well off herself and is very pro business.
That said I do remember such tropes as "Jews know how to bargain" and "ask a Jew since they know where to buy wholesale." Been a very long time though since I've heard this crap in combo with envy or a feeling Jews were screwing people.
Hitler? Please!
How many countries has Iran invaded?
He has NOT threatened to any such thing, only that he believes Israel, as a Zionest state will end, a rather widely held view in the region.
How long will the Holocaust haunt? Really. Paranoia strikes deep. Into your heart it will creep.....
Noble Savage writ large?
Goyishe kop.
Speaking of "The White Gene" Didn't I read recently that "whites" were found to be about 4% Neanderthal? Alley Oop, anyone? lol.
Yeah, I've noticed many a commentator saying that Israel just wanted to intercept weapons. Mostly, no one objected to this nonsense. Not a smart move as it makes one more skeptical of other claims.
Hey guys, ever heard of "Visa Waiver programs." These are done between countries with relatively friendly relations like the USA and France. Guess who has one with Israel and who doesn't, say, between the USA and Russia. The answer's obvious, right? Right???
Isn't it more "religionist" than racist? After all, Judaism provides for conversion even if only approved Orthodox converts can immigrate. Now if Palestinians aren't allowed to convert then I suppose that could be considered racist. But I don't know if they are or aren't. My guess is they wouldn't be well recieved by either group.
I'm not sure I think being "religionist" is less offensive than racism but I've never been big on the God thing.
It is remarkable that the report is often discussed, it's content isn't. It's as if, upon Isaac Newton's publication of Principia, the world's scientists ignored the contents and argued about whether it had any merit given Newton's fascination with alchemy.
The iconic liberal and recovering PEP, Tom Hayden, described this well. Emotional attachment clouds the intellect or worse, directs the intellect. Hayden's first hand account:
link to counterpunch.org
FWIW, I don't view Obama or Clinton as dogs, but it's pretty clear Bibi does.
Training a dog is hard. If the dog doesn't get it you just have to keep repeating the action until it does. Congress doesn't need more training. BHO and HRC just needed a little extra instruction.
Why can't the discussion be had? I think it mostly comes down to fear that Jews will be blamed for all the world's ills. Nazi Germany redux. Israel, for all its faults, is the safe haven. A friend well connected with the Jewish-Iranian diaspora indicated there was widespread fear that the US would turn against them back at the start of the Great Recession.
It makes no sense to me - the US is not 1930's Germany - but then my older relatives didn't die in the Holocaust. The past haunts, not just instructs.
Citizen
Why are you upset? Did you seriously anticipate any other response? Every now and then a dog must be reminded they are not the Alpha. Expect the more than the usual grovelling and kissy kissy next week. Having demonstrated its dominance, Israel will encounter little resistance in its pell mell self destructive direction. At least from the US.
I don't know Mooser. I got my first job from a Jewish friend of my father. It turned out to be quite an opportunity. Maybe Phil needs to find different Jewish friends.
That is some putrid article. Someone should go through the NYTs archives for similarly racist opinions about native Americans and shame the "Paper of Record."
Mooser,
Rationalization is a wonderful and flexible thing and it's not stubborn, unlike facts or even the myths it creates like "A land without people for a people without land."
Isn't that also what the self described "racialists" such as Jared Taylor's American Renaissance also say? Shades of seperate but equal. Same ol' same ol' sounds good but it never was equal and the pretense required active ignorance. Icky.
"defend itself?" Of course. Nor did Goldstone "forget that," he just opines that the right of self defense doesn't include, well, here's his own words:
As some wag said, it's long been obvious who's the dog and who's the tail.
According to haartz, the settlements issue has been, um, settled.
link to haaretz.com
A special team in the youth department of the Petah Tikva municipality will locate [Jewish – DR] girls in the habit of meeting with men from minorities and will assist them.
I just don't get it. The girls would appear not to need any assistance,
Marty's comments remind me of a Radio Havana show I heard decades ago. Castro was asked about why Cuba didn't allow voices critical of communism to be heard. In essence, his argument was the same as Marty's. That such criticism was obviously "wrong" and Cuba had the right - and responsibility - to suppress what was "wrong." Such has always been the argument against the free press. Fortunately, Marty's kingdom is small if not uninfluential.
Richard,
You have wonderful women in your life. Your mother, your wife, your sisters.
I concur.
"he fell lure to a goy shiksa"
Ah, tribalism. Same with America whites and blacks. It's something to overcome but is somewhat universal. As a Japanese might mutter "Nihon no haji (shame of Japan)," It is the really the shame of humanity.
When Carter spoke of “likely” he referred to the likud vision of gradual annexation as likely. The very said aspect of that, is that it would not result in a single democratic state, but that likud would isolate Banustans, and permanently.
Indeed, that seems far and away the most probable. Followed in decreasing probability, transfer, then the unstable and almost impossible one state solution.
Of course the Banustans have to be maintained by force amidst increased international oprobrium. This is one of the reasons Israel wants us as embedded as possible in the M.E. Iraq was the watershed. As American exceptionalism decays amidst economic decline the situation in 20 years or so looks bleak. For both America and Israel. What is to be done?
I love the Podster's last comments!
I'm not a big fan of Lieberman but listening to Moynihan wax on about this or that on the Senate floor was enchanting. I miss the man.
I loved Seinfeld but think I'll skip Bruno. Thanks for the heads up.