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- Taking on Bill Clinton and the ‘bigshots’, Chris Matthews says … 6
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- Latest DC mantra: The two-state solution is dead, long live … 32
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- The horror: ‘Breaking the Silence’ releases women’s frightful testimonies of … 134
- Meet the Israeli-linked firm that sold Big Brother machines to … 94
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- An Israeli veteran comes forward to decry ‘how shitty we … 93
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- Singing sensation Mohammad Assaf has given us a ‘national umbrella’ — writes Palestinian political prisoner http://t.co/xtd1fZIiqR, 54 mins ago
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The War of Ideas in the Middle East
So it really is "all about the Benjamins"......
"No one is arming Israel. You could make some argument that US aid helps, but it is a small fraction of Israel’s GDP. Israel is perfectly capable of arming itself."
C'mon, now, that's not true. We are arming Israel at taxpayer expense. We supply them with weapons, missles, etc. This military aid is on top of the yearly aid we send there.
If Israel was capable of arming itself and not needing the cash, they would cease to accept it from their "greatest ally".
You and I have had ove this before. If we Jews are incapable of supporting a Jewish state, why should it fall on a majority Christian nation, a nation that's currently suffering a HUGE financial crisis. If Israel didn't need the yearly aid, wouldn't the moral thing be to tell the U.S. to halt it, at least until the country is out of financial crisis?
"America is at war with terrorism" Very neocon indeed.
We're not at war with drug addicts, we're at war with drugs.
We're not at war with poor people, we're at war with poverty.
We're not at war with muslims, we're at war with radical Islam.
We're not at war with Iran, we're sanctioning the regime that supports terrorism. Oh, and cripples everyone else that lives there.
You see, the drones, the sanctions, the "liberations", have killed innocent people, and thus radicalized them.
How did you're relatives feel about Germans as a whole after they killed off a large chunk of your family? I know my family would have rather eaten excriment then buy a VW. Dad owned a Chrysler Newport.
I assume they've been targeting the state dept for a while. The neocons regularly spout nonsense about the "arabists" at the state dept.
I dunno Phil, remember the last thing Israel did to a guy in a wheel chair. Ahmed Yassin didn't fair too well.
The Peace Wall/The Peace Process/ Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom/freedom is beautiful/Operation Cast Iron/Operation Peace for Galilee......
What's in a name?
"The British are bankrupt. They need the money."
Us yanks are just a wee bit in the bloody red as well old chap.
At least the Brits aren't dumping 3+ billion a year down a sinkhole.
"The US and Australia are not in the Middle East, and both discriminate against their indigenous populations."
Quite true, but both have worked to compensate for past ills, and neither are reliant on another country for survival economically and militarily. That makes the donor country complicit in the crimes against the indigenous population that Israel perpetrates. i.e., you and me.
"Yes, well. So far, Israel’s nukes have not set off an arms race. Iran’s most certainly would, whether Israel had the nukes or not."
Maybe, but the others are under the U.S. nuclear umbrella. And let's face it, so is Israel.
Bottom line - Israel won't come out of the closet because they don't want to be subjected to international law as it relates to their weapons. It's a pick-and-choose kinda thing, really setting the precedence for the other countries.
You honestly don't see the hypocrisy? How can Israel demand another country not secretly obtain a nucleare weapon when Israel secretly obtained nuclear weapons?
" because it’s whole economical system is totally fucked up.."
Not just the system - we also anction the heck out of them practically strangling what little economy they do have.
Lift the sanctions, pull our troops out and get the hell off the peninsula maybe? Let South Korea, China and Japan deal with it?
So if the goal is preventing a nuclear arms race, would it be prudent to demand Israel reduce or eliminate its nuclear weapons cache to help prevent such an arms race? (I know, won't happen) Or maybe toning down the rhetoric about attacking Iran since Iran clearly sees that nations who possess nuclear weapons do not face "shock and awe"?
Tough puzzle to figure out. Good thing we don't get much oil from the ME. Maybe rely on China & Russia while we reduce our footprint over there?
"On the brink of losing power, where will they stop in their efforts to hold on?"
They'll tar the guy, call him a RINO, nutcase, outside of the mainstream, etc. This ought to be interesting to see how Rand responds and handles the neocon attacks.
Don't know about a purge, but Rand got Limbaugh to actually mention the word "neocon". Doug brought this up on Mondoweiss a few days ago, and he was right about it being a big deal.
If you can get Limbaugh behind a push to call these folks out, it might just work. I only see one problem - mentioning The Nation, MSNBC, etc., will strengthen the neocon's call that Rand is really a lefty, which of course he's not. The left needs to drink a big cup of STFU and let the right purge these fools for themselves, no "liberal intervention" needed......
"Jews are forbidden to enter most Arab countries on pain of death."
Wow, that sucks. Maybe Jewish "Israelis" should get the hell outta there and come to America so they can marry their Arab bride/groom since they can't marry him/her in "most" arab countries. Here in the U.S., a real democracy, we can marry whoever we want. Come home and you can do the same!
"I wouldn’t exactly call Germany a welcoming place for Jews."
Many Jews feel that way about Israel. That's why the majority live outside the place.
" You won’t be able to make peace with those who leave. So let’s stop pretending that they are a major portion of a country."
A dude who was teaching Hebrew at the DC JCC left to live here. He wasn't political, he just hated it there. He's a programmer and wanted to live in a better place. He had Arabic and Jewish friends, just an overall good guy who hated the environment. Many Israelis choose to live in the DC suburbs to get away from the place. It's not the idealistic place of our youth my friend, it's warped into a major right-wing intolerant place. Relatives of mine over there are increasingly disturbed over the government and the settlers, not the "hostile Arabs". They're more worried about a civil war over the settlements.
Blackmail? Like the 3 billion a year sucked out of our homeland every year, especially while we are hurting?
Doug, big thanks. I just googled it and heard what Rush said. Sounds huge to me. The guy has millions of listeners. I've thought the best way to get rid of the neocons is from within. The republicans need to kick those fools out. Only problem is they tend to migrate as a whole. Next stop would be back with the democrats.
Great catch. Phil needs to check this out.
"Some are, but certainly not this “Jewish and proud” crowd."
It's a start. It's pressure from within, trying to wrestle power away from the f-nut crazy right-wingers that drive this insane foreign policy. It's not perfect, but pragmatically, it's better than the alternative to what's there now.
If these "proud" folks can contribute to putting the brakes on a war with Iran, I'll take it.
Ads are up in the D.C. Metro touting "Jewish and proud and AIPAC does not speak for me". Waiting for a train today I saw a guy snap a picture of the ad. He seemed quite "proud" of it.
Pretty nice thing to see heading to work.
Slowly but surely folks are waking up.
I think this goes to a broader issue when it comes to education and the I/P conflict. Israel and the U.S. have a pretty vibrant exchange of students and educators. Allowing teachers and students to enjoy this international exchange to and from Gaza and the West Bank tears down the racist Israeli narrative about Palestinians. The last thing the Israeli government wants is to humanize Palestinians in the eyes of Americans.
"Or for someone with no particular right of entry, who could have nonetheless by answering questions in full."
Right, afterall, who does she think she is, trying to teach in a nice private school setting, educating children - the nerve of her. Doesn't she know that by using profiling standards, she's a huge red flag? A 9th grade American English teacher at a private school is sure to be a huge security risk.
I guess I would be jealous too. I'm sorry your parents didn't think you were worth the investment.
" it does apply to any living creature."
Kristol & company aren't living creatures.....
No one said they fight fair. Kristol & company kick you in the nuts until they win or leave you crawling on the floor looking for an ice pack.
Sadly karma and justice don't apply to neocons.
This is why I think there will never be true capaign finance reforms or public financing for elections. AIPAC will be at the forefront to squash that noble idea.
Hey, must be the money Norm. Palestinians aren't extorting us out of three thousand million dollars a year so they can have universal health care. Or how about a few more thousand million each year to pay for their defense?
Why would you want that money to go to a rich country instead of helping Hurricane Sandy victims?
Funny how neocon Norm defends welfare when it comes to Israel.
How ironic - good possibility govt. will be shut down, workers furloughed, being asked to lose their income, yet AIPAC and congress rolls on. Chutzpah to the nth degree.
How's that going to play out? Constituents will see their representatives attending a lobbying conference with the possibility said constituents will lose services while their representatives will be, ah, "serving" Israel.
Nice....
The left? You mean neocons supporting thug regimes like Mubarak?
Glass houses indeed, from a neocon/fake righty.
"This is such a good thing – and the metaphor of doing the donkey for Israel is so apt and fitting"
Yup. And if they could show the donkey telling us to get out, light a smoke, and then roll over falling asleep. That about sums it up.
As long as the mainstream media & liberal commentators classify these shmucks as conservatives, we'll never be able to deleverage ourselves from them. We need to shove a wedge in there and continue to beat them up as neocons. Rachel Maddow called out the ads and said she felt they were conservative groups running the ads. At least Ezra Klein can differentiate and label them for who they are on MSNBC.
I think we need to break that bond and isolate them. And not just using a stupid "realist" tag for those who are not neocons. You win the battle when you get Fox News to dump the neocons in favor of conservatives.
Didn't Eric Cantor move the aid over to the DoD budget? I thought he did something to ensure it was not categorized as foreign aid, making it virtually untouchable once it's buried in the pentagon's billions.
"And up the latter we go."
Wearing flame-retardant undies I suspect....
I remember Taki writing something about not finding atheists and neocons in foxholes.
Bill typically has a canned response to criticism of his non-service. He deflects the accusation and brings up his friendships with those that have children that serve and discusses their pain and anxiety, and shifts it to point out that he feels we need a larger military to reduce this burden. Even if he does get pinned down on it, he doesn't care, and he continually gets what he wants.
The problem is there are no negative consequences for his actions, only rewards. He can kick decorated veterns like Hagel or Kerry in the nuts and still win. There is no G-D.......
I know, I know, the media is late to the game and they've been derelict in their duties, but they played and continue to play the game by the rules, and slowly the rules are changing. Ezra's a young dude, and if he had not played by the rules, there would have been zero chance of him airing that segment.
I honestly think it was a pretty important segment. I don't think the neocons are going to be run out of town because there's too much influence money propping them up, but they're no longer teflon, and that's a start. Now if only Fox News can host a conservative version of Klein that can hammer the neocons from the right without the baggage of a Paul or a Buchanan. After all, the neocons were fine with a tax hike, so long as they can still have their "muscular" foreign policy.
Phil, the other night I saw a segment on "The Last Word" that essentially claims that the neoconservatives have lost power with the nomination of Hagel. Not sure if it was done on purpose, but they had Ezra Klein subbing for Lawrence O'Donnell. I was pretty amazed by his statements about the neocons, saying something along the lines that the neoconservatives' grip on foreign policy is "truly, finally" over. You have to see it. Klein fingers them and hits them hard as a rock.
Maddow and the others did not/can not do this. Check it out, I think you'll like it. Best thing I've seen on there in a while.
link to msnbc.msn.com
Call your senator. I just called "My Friend Ben" Cardin's office to voice support for President Obama's choice for Hagel. The person said they are definitely taking a count from the constituents and took my email address for a response. She said they are letting him know about the calls.
When all you have is the best of the worst, you go with it. Better than John Bolton. John McCain or Lindsay Graham, no?
Hmm, so after all these years Pat Buchanan and other paleos have lobbied to get us out of the UN, these folks might now actually think about taking his advice?? Pat must be chuckling. I'm sure there will be threats to get out.
" I'm not even asking it to allow full, equal citizenship to Arab Israelis, since that would require Israel no longer being a Jewish state. "
After reading Peter's "Crisis" book, I think he may have changed that position. Unless I missed the point, he now argues that Israel must give up the West Bank, or as he calls it, Undemocratic Israel. I thought he wanted eveyone in Democratic Israel to have full equal citizenship, and any settler remaining in territory that will be a Palestinian state to either be entitiled to Palestinian citizenship or move back within the green line.
"Israel is a sovereign state- read and repeat until you get it."
Any country/person/state that is on the dole and is dependent on another for survivial is NOT independent or sovereign. You see, dependency is the opposite of independence.
Funny how you're not willing to give up your welfare for you sovereignty. 5+ million Jews on welfare. Who'd a thunk it?? Why not come to America where us Jews don't need welfare?
Stand on your own two feet, and then maybe we can talk. Until then, my opinion counts. After all, it's MY homeland too big guy.
"Mind your own country business and stay away from my capital, my state and my nation."
Correction - that's "welfare nation". My tax dollars. I get to mind YOUR nation because you leech off MY nation.
"That will be, I’m sure, a simple matter once Israel is conquered, defeated, disarmed and occupied. When do we get started?"
I've got a pocket knife, $2.53 and a swell attitude. Let's do this thang...
"As Pam Geller says, “In Any War Between the Civilized Man and the Savage, Support the Civilized Man.” OK, Pam."
I think that would be a great counter-ad to run in the subway. Switch the cast of characters and see if it's good for the gander. Somehow I get the feeling the ads wouldn't run.
" I certainly hope there aren’t any German representatives at the Nobel ceremony. It’s way too early for them to celebrate whatever achievements they claim."
Really? Not even a generation removed? If that's the case, must I continue to claim Nazi victimhood as a son of a survivor even if I choose to not do so?
Not that it'll happen ,but if a German steps in and performs a miracle to help negotiate a peace agreement in the ME, wouldn't you be alright with that German recipient?
Great articles Marc, I enjoy them.
I think he also did the "Man Show" when Jimmy Kimmel & Adam Corolla left the show.
Probably more info than Annie wanted to know......
"So I’ve picked Obama this time. It’s the kiss of death."
You still have time to switch......
Funny how the video conveniently leaves out the reason Obama didn't want to meet with Bibi. Israel announced new settlement building when Biden showed up over there for a visit. How terrible that Obama just got bent over by Bibi and Obama didn't want to meet with him, eh?
I guess that's how "friends" treat each other.
"There is a recent AJC poll that lays waste to a central claim on this site, on which American Jews are frequently accused of dual loyalty. "
Right, I guess that's why our Rabbi spent a much larger % of his sermon lamenting about Jews not having a deep attachment to Israel, hence, birthright. So while most of us Jews may not have dual loyalties, our Rabbis are pushing hard for us to have it.
Nice message, eh? Along with his promotion of the JDate web site. But that's for another topic.
Slick video. My aunt should be emailing me a link to in in 5, 4, 3, 2, ahh, thar she blows...
What a line - "Supporting Israel is an American value"
While the lobby may lose a little influence in the executive branch, they still have congress locked up tighter than a two headed drum. When 400+ members of the house sit and stand and sit stand (sort of like what we were doing for the high holidays!) for Bibi's speech, it shows they're very much in the driver's seat. Hey, is cheering allowed during the Amidah??
JStreet is a great start, but man, it's going to be a long tough slog to break these guys free from AIPAC, NORPAC, etc. Too well organized at the local levels.
So Mitt might peel 5% from Obama? That's not too shabby. Damned shame, but scare tactics work. That be enough to sway Florida, VA or PA.
Hope I didn't miss this in other comments -
As I remember from Hebrew school, I thought it was against our religion to get tattoos. We're not suppossed to do anything to our bodies (aside from circumcision) that mutilates or desicrates, right?
So it's alright to violate the religion for this? Please, someone correct me. This is complete insanity. My dad would have kicked my ass if I decided to get his prisoner# tattooed on my arm.
Well then by all means, let the war begin. Show of hands - who's willing to send their sons and daughters to fight and die in Iran? Anyone? Hello?
I guess not a Kristol, Senor, Kagan, Bolton, Podhoritz, Krauthammer or Rubin in a foxhole. Maybe a Child of Mayhem?
At least Palin was willing to send one of her babies to fight.
Oh well, $4 a gallon gas after the Iraq war. I guess the economy can handle $8 a gallon just as easily.
Jon Stewart talks about it around 13 minutes in. Brief, funny, too the point.
link to thedailyshow.com
Good one. I'm fond of anything with Daffy, Bugs and Wiley E.. Bibi fits the genre to a tee.
"Compared with this clowning, Colin Powell and his test-tube hoax were serious."
Right, Powell's gotta feel just a little better about his presentation. Maybe he's thinkin, "Hey, mine was a sham, but at least it it's not going to be immediate late-night tv fodder."
Hopefully Bibi doesn't lead us down the same path though.
Payback's a .....
Didn't Blagojevich go to jail for something like this?
Right, he's got waayy too much respect for our democracy than to kick us in the nuts like that.....
OK, totally politically incorrect, but one WashPo commenter had me rolling. Response to the story and Alex Wong endlessly tap-dancing around the neocon label:
"I'm not saying what you're saying isn't true, I'm saying it's Wong."
If Bibi has decided to go to war, what better time than about an hour before Obama's acceptance speech? I wouldn't put it past him.
"Is the far-left still complaining about their friend Slobodan Milosevic?"
Not as loudly as the chicken-hawk neocons complaining that we should completely encircle Russia as to entrench us in another excellent overseas adventure with fly-over country boys and girls in the trenches. Iran then Russia you say?
Just like the south when a white child could call out and humiliate a grown black person for not stepping off the sidewalk where the white child walks.
Soldier turns into a smiling wimp blaming the order on someone else. I guess both soldier and Palestinian are demeaned by settler children.
"Don’t discount the effects of a small percentage of votes in our (mostly) winner takes all electoral votes system."
I think you're right. While the overall number is small, there's a concetration of Jews in potential swing states. You mentioned Florida - there's PA and OH too, yes? Not sure it's enough to "swing", but it's enough to put it on a candidate's radar.
"Hezbollah is in violation of 1701 by arming themselves south of the Litani. Israel monitors this violation w/ surveillance and flyovers."
Takes a violator to know a violator - settlers sure do seem like a violation. Unless of course you believe the whole Judea/Samaria chest-pump thang....
"Republican dollars are now chasing a constituency that consists of 2% of the population"
Location, location, location. They're focusing on flipping a few votes in Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia where it's close. If it makes the difference, it's worth the money to the super-pac folks.