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- Video: Paterson, NJ raises the Palestinian flag over city hall … 10
- Princeton students ‘come out’ for Palestine to overcome shame attached … 4
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- There’s been a sea change in US opinion on the … 23
- Former AIPAC lobbyist assumes weighty mantle (and travel budget) of … 18
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- Kennedy’s insistence on right of return prompted Ben-Gurion to rewrite … 71
- Israeli airport sorts passengers with ‘Jewish stickers’ and ‘Arab stickers’ 69
- Uncompromising hope inspired by Ghassan Kanafani 63
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- Israel blocks UNESCO fact-finding mission to investigate assaults on holy places in Jerusalem http://t.co/BYdFzxzEf6, 18 mins ago
- The Latest from Mondoweiss for 05/22/2013 - http://t.co/5ZF2Y6QALN, 2 hours ago
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Recent Comments
click link to see last 100 comments- Both Massad, and ‘Open Zion’, ignore the experience of Middle Eastern Jews (30)
- There’s been a sea change in US opinion on the conflict (23)
- David Samel: Avi, without viewing the piece again, I just don’t remember that from four years ago. I agree...
- Press Release: Isabel Kershner chosen to reveal future Israeli exonerations (7)
- Hostage: Will this, if it occur in real life, actually keep the ICC off Israel’s back? This speculative report...
- Kennedy’s insistence on right of return prompted Ben-Gurion to rewrite history: They fled ‘of their own free will’ (71)
- Hostage: ? And further, why with the supposed wealth of documents at your disposal do you provide a quote that in no...
- Video: Paterson, NJ raises the Palestinian flag over city hall for Palestinian-American Day (10)
- Ramzi Jaber: Simply beautiful!!! Way to go Paterson!!!!!! Hopefully soon more to come.
- Lapid says ‘Israelis want peace and security and Palestinians want peace and justice’ (19)
- Ramzi Jaber: Also “misslim” is sometimes used in colloquial Arabic in Palestine.
- Abulhawa declines to ‘balance out’ several Israelis in ‘Al Jazeera’ forum on Nakba (86)
- Barbara Boxer’s visa bill for Israel comes under concerted attack (87)
- Ramzi Jaber: James and Woody, I’m afraid you’re right.
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The War of Ideas in the Middle East
Professor Ellis: The rehabilitation of Nazism’s victims as white people” - that is, Jews.
I can only imagine this rehabilitation must have come as a bit of a surprise for the Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians who lost millions of their fellow countrymen.
miriam6: BTW oddly I find myself in agreement with Taxi about the fakeness of woman unveiled.
I think its “Gay girl in Damascus” hoax revisited.
Speaking of female fakers, what about that seemingly swivel-eyed woman posting long screeds of the most hackneyed hasbara here on Mondoweiss and then claiming she wasn’t a Zionist? We all nearly fell for that hoax.
Oh, wait a moment. That was you, wasn’t it Miriam?
pabelmont: BUT TELL ME, has any other scientist followed his lead and refused to participate?
No, a full scientific program will still be offered highlighted by those two acclaimed alchemists Bill Clinton and Tony Blair who will again be on stage demonstrating how to turn base instinct into gold.
And let's not forget Dr. Larry Brilliant is one of the speakers. I'm not sure what he does exactly but he sounds very clever.
yf: ...it is more inappropriate to accept an invitation and make a big thing out of cancelling it, than it is to reject an invitation and at the last minute change your mind and accept it.
Thanks for that yonah, I’m always looking to brush up my social skills with etiquette advice from an Israeli.
yonah fredman It was fortunate that the plan to impoverish Germany was not necessary to stop Germany from starting any more wars. But Morgenthau’s instinct was not wrong and I do not hold his plan as infamous, but unfortunate.
Not to mention his plan could be recycled in Gaza, couldn’t it yonah?
Did you think at all about what you wrote above or are you really as odious as these words suggest?
Hostage: Without the threat of criminal prosecutions or forfeiture of its partners assets, you are looking at the only one state solution Israel is going to accept, de facto apartheid and another generation of wars of necessity.
This rather takes us back to the subject of Phil's post. I agree with what Walt and Siegman are urging, the time has come to imagine what a single state could be. This might not yet be an idea whose time has come in the sense of being generally recognized as an option but I think it's on its way. I'm very pleased that Mondoweiss has of late been helping to move the debate in this direction. So I'm sure there will be much further discussion on it on Mondoweiss. But I will say that I think the fear of criminal prosecution is probably well down the list of Zionists' concerns about a single state.
Hostage: If you are going to argue about the de facto situation, then take off your blinders and look at the extreme steps taken by the Zionists to make the Palestinians stateless – and keep them that way for all of these years – and ask yourself why?
My belief is that the Israelis want to keep the Palestinians stateless so the borders remain effectively undefined allowing them to steal more land. It’s a policy of land grabbing and slow motion ethnic cleansing. Do you believe otherwise?
Other than that I certainly don’t think the Zionists fear a Palestinian state. How could that possibly threaten Israel in any real sense? I reiterate that what they fear is a single state as that will ultimately become democratic and no longer be “the Jewish state”.
I’m not sure I’m the one wearing the blinders here. When will law deliver a Palestinian state? When has law stopped the likes of Operation Cast Lead? It seemed to me it was international revulsion as the slaughter that was more effective in stopping that.
I believe the Palestinian cause is more about justice and morality than about law and and I am not convinced they need their own state to be empowered. Not if they decide they would have a better future by sharing the whole IP territory than being left with a fragmented rump state.
Hostage: They can still pursue a final one state political solution with equal rights for all. It’s not a case of doing one to the exclusion of the other.
I don’t disagree with this but where should the emphasis be? Or put it another way, which approach gives the Palestinians leverage with the Israelis? “Negotiations” for an independent state have a proven track record of going nowhere which is just as Israel wants. On the other hand, Israel does fear a single, democratic state as this will destroy “the Jewish state” which to Zionists is tantamount to the destruction of Israel. That ultimately makes the Palestinians more powerful than the Israelis, because once the Palestinians give up the dream of their own state the Israelis have far more to lose by their intransigence. A serious Palestinian demand for equal rights in a single state may even be the one thing that makes the Israelis serious about relinquishing stolen territory in an attempt to avoid that outcome.
I suggest if he truly wants to pull out of Israel he should also pull out his Intel Core i7 from his tablet...
Let’s hope there’s not a single Israeli component in his wheelchair or else this heartless fanatic would have him lying helpless on the ground.
Sassan, I have some good news for you. All is not lost. It would seem that Professor Hawking is firm believer in the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. That means there’s another world in which he is a supporter of Zionist supremacy. And another one where you don’t keep popping up on Mondoweiss every couple of months to make a nearly complete anagram of yourself.
Lastly Miriam, how come given your twin obsessions of the repugnancy of boycotts and the barbarity of Americans we don’t hear a peep from you about the American-led sanctions on Iran that are physically harming millions?
Mike, it’s rather ironic given your namesake but, unlike you, Professor Hawkins knows how to recognize a heart of darkness.
Miriam: BTW not everyone is uncritical of Hawking.
Indeed so. I found his book only slightly easier going than your posts. And worse yet, without any of the laughs.
Well Miriam, at least Professor Hawkings knows one thing about black holes that you don't - that when you spot one the best thing to do is stay well clear of it.
atime forpeace: “Israel is the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.” Alexander Haig.
And now a hoary old hasbara chestnut. Just because that was Haig’s opinion 30 years ago doesn’t necessarily make it true, then or now, whatever Ambassador Oren would like us to believe.
That said, if true would it be the first American aircraft carrier to have attacked a US Navy ship?
By the way, who are AIPAC's American sponsors other than their donors? We see claims like this regularly on Mondoweiss but never any documented evidence as to who these mysterious string pullers lurking in the background are.
Professor Ellis: That’s Netanyahu’s mindset – a Jewish state without a Palestinian state.
Surely a Jewish state without the Palestinian people?
gingershot: Somehow it all makes sense – they LIKE getting away with it but their feelings sure get hurt when people are laughing at them for being the suckers they actually are
Very true but for Israeli Zionists we laugh at them for being freiers .
And for those who like their jokes laced with irony, the really funny thing is that it’s their fear of being seen as freiers that actually makes them freiers. After all, stealing the Palestinians’ land - because only a freier wouldn’t - is the one certain way to end up with a single, democratic state shared with the Palestinians as equals.
Another good catch Phil, revealing what Zionists truly fear. If nothing else this shows how a Palestinian demand for equal rights in a single democratic state would change the whole dynamic with respect to Israel. I can’t see any other way for the Palestinians to empower themselves.
All in all, it’s probably best to be an agnostic in most matters. Nonetheless, we have to take a stand on political issues. The Church of Scotland document does this when...
Professor Ellis, are you suggesting the Church of Scotland should be agnostic on religious matters but take a stand on political matters? That does, on the face of it, seem rather an odd position for a Church to take but then what do I know? Certainly I’ve no qualification in Liberation Theology and perhaps it’s the core belief of this (surely rather dated?) ideology. That said, I can only hope you noticed the overwhelming response in the comments section to your recent post on land swaps. In case you missed the memo from Phil, more like that please.
I’m not going to bore you with the report’s specific Biblical arguments. Some are more sophisticated than others. Suffice it to say, they’re Christian to the core. Everything is filtered through Jesus Christ.
Imagine that, a Christian who filters everything through Jesus Christ! Whatever next? A Jew who filters everything through Judaism? Thank goodness no one could ever accuse you of that, Professor Ellis.
yrn: Can you give details regarding “get exactly what they’ve had coming for decades.”
yrn, I don’t want to sound apocalyptic here but I’d say it would be single, democratic state shared with the Palestinians. I don’t know what Kalithea had in mind but can you imagine anything worse than that?
annie: i’d love to read your sources nick.
I imagine it was Keith.
The empire gets a lot of benefit out of Israel being blamed for Middle East aggressions which benefit empire. Not Palestine, of course, but Lebanon and Syria for sure.
miriam6: ...a mere blogger and former – here – today – gone – tomorrow ex hack like Philly Weiss...
Oh dear, what did Phil do to upset poor Miriam so much? I think we should be told.
Phil, you obviously are not hobnobbing with Joe Homeowner middle america.
No doubt Phil’s had to make many sacrifices in order to run Mondoweiss but surely that would be asking too much from him.
annie: who’s all over the place calling the ethnic cleansers freedom fighters?
annie, did you really think my comment on “freedom fighters’ was anything other than sarcasm? I guess you just don’t do irony.
But let’s have a closer look at all those hundreds of years of colonial history. The English and Scottish settlement in Ireland goes back to before the English settlement of North America. Indeed, you could even stretch it back to the Normans who colonized all of England and Wales and parts of Ireland. Yes, we really could blame it all on the French.
And across the full sweep of history, you as an American colonist in the Mexican territory of Alta California are closer in time to an Israeli colonist in the West Bank than a Protestant colonist in Northern Ireland. Now that’s an irony I’m sure you won’t get.
The IRA were a terrorist organization, annie. Do you think setting off bombs in public places, killing and maiming civilians, is just thuggery?
By the way, you’re normally strict on people not backing up allegations without links.
amigo: Libra—I did not say I support Terror.
But you justified it, didn’t you?
Unfortunately, it took the force of terror to get the UK to the table.
Whilst the truth is all the shootings and bombings just held up political progress for years.
Consult Irgun/Lehi history.
Well those terrorist gangs (or should I say “freedom fighters”?) were the equivalent of the IRA, weren’t they? Shooting and bombing the British. But before you were saying England and Israel are “peas in a pod”. Seems to me you’re all over the place, amigo.
Unfortunately, it took the force of terror to get the UK to the table.
Care to give us any details on what exactly "the force of terror” entailed, amigo?
Phil Weiss: I’ve said before I’m a reluctant radical. I don’t want to be alienated from the main body of humanity. I don’t want to be righteous and always-right and sanctimonious.
Well Phil, who wouldn’t want to still hobnob with everyone back in Manhattan or down at the Hamptons? But if those invites ever dry up, I’m sure you’d be warmly welcomed by the lunch-pail crowd. And the great thing is, they don’t want you to be righteous and sanctimonious either. Especially about the fillings in their sandwiches.
Professor Ellis: Without getting stuck in the past it seems the shelf-life of the Holocaust should be longer in Germany than elsewhere.
Shelf-life? Oh my goodness, the Holocaust as consumer product. Mindestens haltbar bis...
Somehow I don't think you are referring to the Holocaust as a fact of history here but as a political tool. And frankly Professor Ellis, if Holocaust Museums don’t feature the Palestinians as needing protection from ethnic cleansing (and, as you’ve previously reported, they don’t) then they are well passed their shelf-life and “never again” has become a cruel joke.
Hostage: Israel obviously believes that the United States and other western governments can make cessions of Palestinian territory to Zionists.
Hostage, as far as Israelis and Zionists are concerned I’m sure they believe their title to the entire territory is divinely ordained and permission from other governments is simple power politics - a secular stick with which to beat or baffle their opponents.
But surely the whole point about Palestinians demanding equal rights in a single, democratic state is a move designed to side step territorial negotiations and change the fight into one for legal and political rights?
The legal question which perhaps you can answer is what entity would grant such rights to the Palestinians? I’m not sure such an entity currently exists as Israel’s control over all the territory of IP is “de facto” rather than legal. Is there a legal basis for claiming equal rights from an occupying power unless they stop their occupation and completely withdraw behind their own borders?
But whatever the answer is, I don’t think it is the US government which can grant legal and political rights to the Palestinians. Hence the danger in my view of propagating the idea that the US is the coloniser of the Palestinians, which is the point I was originally contesting with Ramzi.
Ramzi Jaber: Thank you USA for the occupation. The US Government is the occupier and colonialist.
Ramzi, does this mean your demand for equal rights in a single democratic state is addressed to the US Government and not Israel and the Israeli people? How does that work? Do you really think the future of the Palestinians will be decided in Washington?
Avi_G: So how does that apply to Northern Ireland?
Probably to the same extent as it applies to Texas.
Avi, if you start comparing the occupation and settlement of Palestine by Israel (which is the context of this post) to every vaguely similar event in world history then you’ll end up sounding like a hasbarist. And I’m sure you wouldn’t want that.
That said, if you see a single, democratic state in IP as the way forward then Northern Ireland offers grounds for optimism.
seafoid: They have no comeback.
Indeed, particularly to this:
“I wrote this recently to explain how I and others think the Arab Palestinians and the Israeli Jews should live together under one democratic regime in a single state. It is a humanistic and democratic alternative to your occupation, colonization and apartheid. By the way, you can take it as a present.”
Ouch. He certainly didn’t want that as a present but can’t argue against it without sounding like an ass. The day most Palestinians speak like this is the beginning of the end of Zionism.
Good point Oleg. Sounds just like a well-heeled but shameless beggar I know who threatens to unleash his mad dog "Samson" if his bowl isn’t continually refilled.
ryan-o: I’m starting to think this whole thing is a no-win situation.
ryan, a lot of what you say about Israel’s best option if it wishes to preserve itself as “the Jewish state” makes sense. Ironically, a united Palestinian call for equal rights within a single state may be the only realistic threat that would make Israel pull-back to its 67 borders together with the settlers.
But it’s probably too late for Israel to do that. Hence, in my view, it makes sense to focus on the single, democratic state as the way forward. Of course, there is no shortage of problems in the way of this outcome. And if you start with a pessimistic view that this is a second-best option and these problems are insurmountable then you will get nowhere. But there is another stage to thinking about the single, democratic state in which it becomes the best long-term option for all people involved. In this context all the problems become open to solutions.
To get to this second stage you need to stop thinking that a single state means the end of Israel. It doesn’t. It means the end of Zionism, the end of the notion of “the Jewish state” with the emphasis on the “the” and implied exclusivity. It can still be a Jewish state as well as a Muslim state and a Christian state. Jewish Israelis can still live and prosper in such a state. In fact, it’s long-term prosperity will be increased by being properly integrated into the wider regional economy. And it is that regional integration that will ensure it’s long-term strategic future - a far better substitute for survival than reliance on nuclear weapons.
Start thinking this way and issues like nuclear weapons becomes less frightening. After all, a single state that has secured peace and co-prosperity with its neighbors would have as much need for nuclear weapons as Lebanon. So I see the single state as removing a major obstacle towards the creation of a nuclear-free Middle East.
Keith: ...the Trans Pacific Partnership (including the Asia pivot), remaking the Middle East to eliminate potential rivals to empire...
Clearly the TPP is an effort to forge a US-centric economic bloc in the Pacific as a counterweight to China but, by contrast, in the Middle East the effort is to disrupt and destabilize the region. Keith, why the contrasting approaches? A purely US-centric empire would seek to align the Middle East economically with the US and provide new markets for its products. That would be so more effective long-term and much less costly.
Surely you realize the neoconservative vision and policy was two concentric circles of power? The outer-circle was US global domination (Bush Doctrine) , the inner-circle was US power supporting Israeli dominance of the region via disruption and elimination of potential rivals (Clean Break). Economically this policy was always consistent with neoliberalism and can happily co-exist with “progressive interventionism” so long as that doesn’t support the Palestinians. These are the two wings of the “War Party” that’s been openly discussed elsewhere (e.g. antiwar.com) for years. It’s no big secret. You want to call it the Empire but for some reason downplay the Zionist influence (if only sometimes a veto power) with respect to Israel and the Middle East. It effectively makes you an unintentional Zionist fellow traveler; though surely in Chomsky’s case he’s far too smart not to know exactly what he’s doing.
susan1, I know you like to think of yourself as someone who thinks for themselves but do you think you could possibly structure your thoughts into paragraphs rather than simply pouring them forth in a stream of consciousness as daunting to navigate as the Niagara Falls?
susan1: I am European ( Scots British , European ) and Israel is doing me no harm whatsoever !
Maybe so, but one squirt from a SodaStream will ruin a good Scotch.
susan1: I think the conflict can only drag on painfully for decades if both parties want to insist on playing the” zero sum game.”
I can only agree with this statement. But then isn’t the never-ending search for a two-state solution the ultimate “zero sum game”? Haggling over the same small pizza rather than making a bigger one to share. This explains why after decades of “negotiations” we still are no nearer two-states despite nominal Israeli and Palestinian majorities supporting this outcome, as Khalid Shikaki states in his document. In this light, Ramzi’s call for a single, democratic state is the exact opposite of a “zero sum game”.
Frankly, it does not matter whether Ramzi has read Khalid Shikaki’s document. I finally plowed through all ten pages of his rather dense and repetitive prose. He offered no new insights either on the current situation or how to go forward. Ultimately, his is a voice from the past. unable to offer fresh ideas because he simply cannot see a single, democratic state working. So he never even attempted to imagine the significant benefits such a state could bring to both the Palestinians and the Israelis, not to mention the Middle East region as a whole.
Another good post Ramzi. For me, yours is the clearest and most forward looking voice on Mondoweiss right now. I hope more Palestinians are coming to think the same way as you.
I don’t get Phil’s obsession with Obama. Intellectually speaking, he seems to still be investing good money after bad in the man. After all, at best Obama is arguing, however weakly, for a 2-state solution through “negotiation”. Whereas at other times Phil himself seems to understand the time for this has passed.
Ramzi, please keep pounding away. I think it helps enormously to have Palestinian voices calling for a single-state because really it’s something only the Palestinians can rightfully demand, the rest of us can only give support.
And hopefully, some of your clarity will rub off on Phil. I’m waiting for strong editorial leadership on this issue so Mondoweiss can get back to being ahead of the curve on IP. Because if the future is to be a democratic single-state, then Mondoweiss surely has a role in preparing Jewish Americans for the change that is coming to their beloved (if only from a distance) Israel.
RJ: Come to think of it, 1SS should be the Palestinian strategy after all.
Bingo! Anything, from anyone, that holds out hope of a separate Palestinian state is fine by Zionists. But a 1SS that includes the Palestinians, rather then "transferring" them to Jordan or letting them rot in Gaza, is the one thing they really don’t want - but deeply fear.
Once the Palestinians collectively conclude that sharing all the land is better than being nominal master of Gaza and a few postage stamps in the West Bank then we finally enter a new phase. One that will ultimately destroy Zionism by making it redundant.
Dear Dr. Biorabbi,
I’m a middle-aged but, as everyone tells me, still very attractive Jewish man who until recently was in a long-term romance with a ravishing Turkish woman. It was all going wonderfully well until I got into a very heated, indeed violent, argument, with her sons and she demanded I apologize. Of course, I was too proud to do so. After that it really went very cold and we stopped even speaking to one another. It was then that I noticed just how attractive her Greek neighbor was. And in next to no time at we started a passionate affair and I forgot all about the Turkish woman.
Then out of the blue a mutual friend of myself and the Turkish woman dropped by, said he’d spoken to her and she was keen to get back with me if I’d just quietly say through him that I was sorry. Suddenly the prospect of getting back into bed with her thrilled me.
But Dr. Biorabbi, what should I do about the Greek woman? I really want to keep seeing her. It’s not as if I’m after her money; she’s unfortunately penniless. Nor is she just some young infatuation; she’s actually older than me but her classical beauty is still stunning. Now I feel torn. Is it unnatural to want them both equally? I still think I’m man enough to satisfy them both. The trouble is they absolutely hate each other; they haven’t spoken for years after a bitter boundary dispute, and I really just don’t think either would understand. I couldn't bear to lose both and be all alone again.
Dr. Biorabbi, I’m at my wits end. Isn’t there a way for me to enjoy both my Greek honey and my Turkish delight? But if I can only have one of my sweethearts, which should it be?
Please, please help me, Dr. Biorabbi.
“Bibi”
JK: I imagine the tradition goes back to the British Mandate, maybe further. .
In fact a lot further. Indeed, bagpipes would seem to be as indigenous as hummus. Though perhaps similarly fated to become an Israeli invention.
The israelis may destroy many an Arab city...
My goodness, it’s Taxi’s version of Armageddon. But not to worry, instead of the Rapture we get “liberal universalism permeating and moving humanity steadfast into the future.” So that’s all right then.
Surely, Taxi must be short for Taxidermist because in her hands we’re all stuffed. Unless you live safely out of the way in California, of course.
Ecru: Wow you’re some piece of work to take so much joy at the death of another human being.
Indeed so. And a bit of a worry given that biorabbi claims to be some sort of medical doctor. Don’t get ill in Little Rock is my only advice.
Fortunately, if its just a PR problem it can be solved with a suitable soundbite. Perhaps Mondoweiss reader can help out our Israeli friends who sadly, for no fault of their own, often lack subtlety in the wordsmithing department. My suggestion is:
We can’t give them their own country but at least we’ve given them their own bus.
seafoid: Name one medieval kingdom of less than 5 million people that survived intact from 1300 into the 21 st century.
The notion that Israel can go it alone without alliances is nuts.
Well it may be the exception that proves the rule but, give or take a million or two people, I’m going with Switzerland. Perhaps it may yet be the template for a successful single state in IP.
annie, to understand someone you have to imagine yourself into their head. To do that you don’t start with your own perspective or belief system. For you, money is not about power. So you need to make a very big leap here.
annie, there’s nothing odd or strange about this behavior. They didn’t withhold any wages, they simply made clear there will be no tip i.e. voluntary monetary donation to someone who makes a political statement at odds with their agenda. This is the same basic modus operandi as with any member of Congress. Clearly, you are too decent to understand these people.
Seafoid, I think you’ve just uncovered the dark secret behind the campaign to sell everyone a SodaStream machine.
yonah fredman: It’s in the planning stages, (which is bad, but not as bad as if it would be put into effect, obviously.)
Somehow Yonah I doubt that you’d sound so complacent if Jewish-only transportation was “in the planning stages” anywhere else in the world.
annie: eee gads dan. where do you come up with this stuff?
Where indeed? Surely someone should be keeping a very close eye on Dan, if not locking him up.
Avi, that nasty rash would have cleared up in no time at all after a thorough washing with Dead Sea Body Scrub followed by a topical treatment of Dead Sea Skin Balm and, just to be on the safe side, regular application of Dead Sea Body Lotion. Well worth it at only $40/jar each - though I’m surprised there wasn’t an enterprising handcart vendor in the hotel lobby offering you all three for only $90.
American: ...give me the subtle British wit any time.
Borat?
biorabbi, I’m not sure why you’re getting so exercised about Hollywood. I’ve recently been hearing it very quietly being put about that Jews run Israel. Frankly, given the awful way Israel behaves towards the Palestinians I think you should concentrate on putting a stop to such clearly racist whispering before it gets out of hand.
Oleg, let’s keep to the upbeat Start Up Nation theme of the AIPAC conference. Tell us about your start up.
As I’m sure Sean McBride would agree, you just can’t beat an Ivy League interrogation.
seanmcbride: ... as a kid I experienced several idyllic months at a mostly Jewish summer camp on a music scholarship. And later I had the opportunity to study with some of the most brilliant Jewish minds on the planet — most of whom were Enlightenment humanists.)
All things considered Sean, it’s a shame it wasn’t a comedy scholarship then we might get few more jokes and bit less trumpet blowing from you.
Mooser: What you say about me being a gate keeper is nonsense.
Mooser, I’m probably equally wrong here but I’ve always imagined you to be more of a bartender than a gatekeeper.
annie: libra, we should request a dna sample while we’re at it.
annie, if you want to collect a DNA sample from a full-grown bull moose, possibly not in the best of temper, be my guest. But frankly I wouldn’t advise it.
On the other hand, for Sean DNA is but another long list. Or, to be more precise, two parallel lists stuck together and written using a very small alphabet. But what better demonstration of the power of lists to create enormously intelligent systems than Sean’s very own genome?
And so keen was he to prove this point, Sean sent me a digital copy of this super-smart sequence, billions of lines long, together with his permission to publish it. A wonderful treat for list cognoscenti but I’m afraid lesser minds would find it deadly dull and rather repetitive so I’ll just offer Mondoweiss readers a very small extract, taken at random:
I H
T D
M P
I H
T D
M P
I H
T D
M P
I H
T D
M P
I H
T D
M P
annie: ... because your mind is just wired in a linear (perhaps non flexible) way or something.
You mean like a list? Surely not?
annie: ... if, as you’ve implied, mooser’s intellectually challenged?
Couldn’t we clear this important issue up once and for all if Mooser just posted a PDF of his doctorate certificate? Ideally from Harvard but Yale would be OK, Princeton at a push.
Keith:Anyone who has any common sense should never label anyone as Satanic.
You little devil Keith, spoiling all our fun again with your etymological exactitude. But on the other hand, perhaps Kovel is cleverly sowing the seeds of doubt amongst the Christian Zionist multitude. In fact, doesn’t the very word “Zionism” add up to 666?
Besides which, are you sure you’re the right person to lecture us on Manichean mindsets? You’ve always struck me as someone whose “Evil Empire” outlook was the epitome of dualism. Though come to think of it, I’m not sure there are any good guys left in your dark universe. Except Professor Chomsky, of course.
Could we perhaps just refer to it as “the lobby that has no shame”?
Ellen: Nope, using the expression is “anti SeMANtic.”
This can only mean that the many tentacles of the “Lobby” together form the anti-Semantic Web.
Luckily for Mondoweiss readers, we have just the man to investigate this nefarious network.
Upcoming on Mondoweiss next week:
biorabbi takes another look at Israel and discovers there’s no there there. “For years I was told it was the Jewish state but when looked closer it didn’t seem Jewish at all” he says. "Not with the way they treat the Palestinians".
The more I look at William Kristol’s Hagel at ChuckHagel.com the more I like him. And now after all his endless earlier doubts, biorabbi is busy rehabilitating him.
Now I find myself asking could Dan Crowther be right after all? Could this all be some carefully choreographed charade to smuggle a bat-crazy rabid McCain clone into the Pentagon? Perhaps that’s why he’s kept his mouth shut all this time, otherwise we’d see the foam oozing out.
Whoops, I meant "principles" not "principals" here.
seanmcbride: Principled intellectual warriors like Phil may succeed in bailing out the Jewish establishment — we can hope.
Sean, I may have overestimated Phil here but I've always hoped (and still do) that he has loftier principals and, indeed, goals than bailing out the Jewish establishment.
dimadok, I’m no expert in these matters but a label in Lebanon saying “Yellow: Israel” looks to me like some sort of psyop. I wonder if Hezbollah have a hand in promoting this pepper-packaging propaganda?
biorabbi: I seriously think the entire Hagel thing could be turned into a fairly decent musical.
Yes, I can see it up in lights on Broadway:
Nebraska!
Get writing biorabbi, this could be the break you’ve been dreaming of.
MRW: read these
I have and here’s my response:
link to web.ead.anl.gov - this is entirely consistent with what I wrote. As clearly show in the fuel cycle digram UF6 is an intermediary form for enrichment and (relatively easy and safe) storage. The final stage is conversion of enriched UF6 to UO2 oxide form for fuel rods (or, not shown uranium metal for weapons). You are implying this final stage is the most difficult. Nothing in this link justifies that.
link to chm.bris.ac.uk - again this is consistent with what I wrote except it only deals with the stages up to and including enrichment. Other than saying you need enriched uranium metal for a weapon it does not touch upon how the enriched UF6 is reduced to metal. But note it says it is quite complicated to go from uranium ore to UF6 - presumably Iran has mastered that process as well as enrichment. Given that, my view is that it would be well within the capability of the Iranians to master the Ames process to produce uranium metal (if they so wish to go that route).
21st Century Science & Technology Journal, Nuclear Report, Fall 2011. Page 44 - This is just an assertion by Clinton Bastin with absolutely no scientific information to back it up. Don’t believe everything you read in popular science magazines, particularly when no details are given to justify a claim.
If you have any scientific “feel” for the subject then Bastin's claim immediately sounds incredible. How can producing uranium metal from UF6 be so complex and lengthy a process? With a little bit of independent research using Google I found two things:
1. Only Clinton Bastin is making the claim that this step is difficult, no one else. The same claim is simply repeated uncritically (and perhaps with further distortion) on all sorts of fringe web sites.
2. The Ames process for the reduction of UF6 to uranium metal. This directly discredits Bastin’s assertion. Indeed he seems to be unaware of its existence. Rather odd for someone who claims to have had a senior position in the Atomic Energy Commission. Though given his age he might have started to forget things.
link to veteranstoday.com - this is just repetition (and possible distortion) of Bastin’s claims. It adds no more than the above science magazine article.
MRW, focus on the science not on someone else's unsupported opinion, no matter how well qualified they may seem to be. Read up on the Ames process. Then let me know what don’t you understand about the underlying chemistry? Or why you think it would be so difficult to implement in practice to make relatively small quantities of uranium metal?
MRW: Iran would have to convert the output of their gas centrifuges from a gas to metal. They don’t have the equipment to do it, and, even if they did, it would take years.
MRW, don’t tell anyone else but here’s how it’s done with a thermite reaction. Look at the photographs. Does that equipment look like it would take years to build? And being a thermite reaction, the actual process would take only a matter of hours.
Of course, you would want to perfect the process, particularly the physical containment aspects, before trying it with highly-radioactive enriched uranium. But if you have enriched uranium to weapons grade then you will have, as a byproduct, plenty of depleted uranium to practise with.
This is just science, it has no bearing on whether Iran actually intends to produce nuclear weapons. But the uranium hexafluoride used in their gas centrifuges is just an intermediary compound for purposes of enrichment, it has no end use in itself. So all this effort must be to some end. And that end will involve some form of reduction process, either to produce uranium oxide for fuel rods (as they claim) or uranium metal for weapons (which they deny). But it would be naive to believe the Iranians, having mastered gas centrifuge enrichment (which definitely is complex and lengthy), would have difficulty with either reduction route.
The more interesting point to me is has biorabbbi really changed? Is this for once a serious piece of political analysis? Or is it just a desperate trawl of the bottom of the barrel for any old scrap that might raise a scintilla of doubt about Hagel?