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The War of Ideas in the Middle East
If this report from 2007 is to be believed, the Entebbe incident (in which Bibi's brother was the sole Israeli fatality and on which the Israeli security industry has since relied to demonstrate its "moral clarity"), was actually instigated by Shin Bet.
U.K. file on Entebbe contains claim that Israel behind hijacking
By Haaretz Service
Newly released British documents contain a claim by an unnamed contact that the Shin Bet security service collaborated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to hijack the June 1976 flight from Israel that was diverted to Entebbe, Uganda, the BBC reported Friday. ...
... "My contact said the PFLP had attracted all sorts of wild elements, some of whom had been planted by the Israelis," Colvin reportedly wrote. "According to his information, the hijack was the work of the PFLP, with help from the Israeli Secret Service, the Shin Beit." ...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/865937.html
In matters involving the security of one's existence, the convenience of having the "enemy" on one's own side is an advantage that is hard to top. There's probably a lesson or two in there somewhere about what Israel might get up to in its latest effort to demonstrate its shadow boxing prowess. :-)
... his most important impetus was expelling the Americans from Saudi Arabia, the land of the two Holy Places, ...
Osama conveniently fails to mention that the only reason the Americans were in Saudi Arabia was to maintain the no-fly zone over Northern Iraq to protect Kurds from Saddam's excesses. They certainly weren't there because they wanted to defile the Holy Places and besides, who is Osama to take it upon himself to avenge what never needed avenging in the first place? Did he get the OK from those responsible for the area? And even in the unlikely event that he was acting under orders, how does that justify killing innocents?
The no-fly zone was a request from the Europeans as I recall, and widely supported internationally (including by me -mistakenly, it seems). To say it was all the US' doing is downright disingenuous. As for his linking his justification for attacks on the US to US support for Israel, that also rings a bit hollow as Bush Snr. had declined to back the Lobby's efforts to raise money for settlement expansion in Israel, a move he would have applauded if he really was concerned about Israel's antics.
piotr, the point being made is that the Israelis, a supposed ally of the US, have been and probably still are in the habit of posing as representatives or officials of another country (in this case the US) when hiring criminals or militants to carry out some outrage in a third country (in this case Iran). They do this with the intention of linking the country whom they impersonate to the mayhem that has been perpetrated in the target country by the criminals and militants that they hire. And by so doing they hope to promote conflict between the country they impersonate (US) and the one who is the target of the criminal act (Iran).
This is but one of the duplicitous methods that the Israelis use to start and maintain conflicts. For example, they have been know to convene groups that present themselves as a threat to Israel's security, ...which then allows them to claim to be in imminent threat of extinction. They have also been known to assume the identity of citizens of another country in order to undertake covert activities and provocations in places where they find it expedient to mask their true identity. They have many of these tricks up their sleeve. Now they don't have a monopoly one these deceptions, but they do have market dominance in the field at present. :-)
What's wrong with Jundallah? Well nothing if you don't mind hired guns and stand-over men. But if I (Israel) tell them I'm piotr (US), and hire them to say, rob your neighbours (Iran), you probably wouldn't be too happy with me when the neighbours turned up at your place with the tar and feathers. :-)
If this senseless killing was hatched by elements in Israel (and I hope it wasn't, although judging by the reaction from some Israeli sources I could end up being disappointed), I don't think it was sanctioned by the US.
Despite the sabre rattling going on at present I don't think the US Administration is hankering for another war in the region. That's not to say that some in the US don't find it convenient to mine the, to my mind, somewhat mysterious but apparently rich vein of anti-Iran sentiment that exists among potential donors to party coffers.
That said, I am in two minds about Iran's intentions. On the one hand the story about them wanting a bomb doesn't stand up to scrutiny (and I have spent some time scrutinizing it) and the loss of the Shah and subsequent takeover by the European backed mullahs has probably faded in the memory of the electorate -or has it?. On the other hand, Ahmadinejad's current visit to the gang's South American chapters, i.e. Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua etc. seems designed to inflame the situation. Why is this happening now? I generally support his assertion that peaceful nuclear energy doesn't belong to a select club, but he could have picked a better time and platform to harangue the US about it. And his "capitalism is in decay" observation sounds like pointless, shallow, bolshie gloating. I mean, why bother?
The other complicating factor in all this is that I don't know if the practice of sham opposition is in play in this increasingly inscrutable conflict.
"... too traumatic for Israelis to relinquish control of security for a long time to come. ...
Just to reiterate what has been said above, this is nonsense. The security apparatus of Israel reminds me of a group of paid and equipped mercenaries, or worse, a gang of Barbary pirates who will truck with whoever advances their own acquisitive schemes. Netanyahu might think he has the imperial powers on a string, but nothing could be further from the truth (trying to scare them by flying off to Moscow every now and then notwithstanding :-)). The whole project could be brought to its knees in a week if international military support was withdrawn.
This notion of a self-contained secure homeland/refuge is but an illusion, it is secure only while it serves the interests of those who vie for power and influence in the region, and that includes an expansionist clique within Israel itself as well as the other more obvious players with pie on their fingers. :-) It is no more than a pawn in the imperial pushing and shoving that has been par for the course in that neck of the woods since whenever.
And now what with the sick man of Europe is staging a somewhat unexpected recovery and having itself (I'm talking about Turkey) been rebuffed by Europe, Israel is daily becoming less relevant to the geo-political goings-on in the region. If Israel is to survive it needs to discard the very tired narrative that it has relied on these past decades and find some other story that will help it blend into the new power structure that seems to emerging in the region.
One can't help but feel for the zionist ideologues (I was one once) who put their faith in the project, but, like many other Utopian ventures, it hasn't worked out as well as we expected. And so it's time to find a new more viable dream. I have...
Hi Mooser, I have been catching up on MW and found this thread. I also see that you have not commented for a while, which is a pity as I consider you to be one of the most entertaining and informative commenters (especially on the subject of jewish cultural affairs :-)) in the blogosphere (and I am not just saying that because you have had kind words for me in the past).
I hope you continue to participate in this blog. If nothing else, you're departure would be a tragedy for the reader who would have nothing to leven the bleak ideological dogmas, those same ones that you so often challenge, that crop up from time to time in the comments.
Whatever new rules are introduced, I'm sure that debate will continue to be as broad ranging and open and robust as possible, keeping in mind MW's attempt to speak to a wider audience.
I and legions of others appreciate the time and effort you have put into running the ruler over various haughty pronouncements. Yes, I think you are a bit over the top at times but you don't have that on your own and you are orders of magnitude less dreary than some of the other fare on offer, so on balance you are more than welcome, in my opinion. :-)
Therefore, please reconsider the boycott. :-)
... Israel has been brutalized by its occupation of Arab territories since 1967. ...
If that's not chutzpah, it will do till we get some. :-)
... Rice says, Jews regard the Jewish state as the "fulfillment of a long historical and religious journey." ...
Not all Jews go along with that proposition.
... At the time of the destruction of the Holy Temple and the exile of the Jewish People, the great Biblical prophet Jeremiah proclaimed G-d's message to all Jews: "Seek out the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you, and pray for it to G-d, for through its welfare will you have welfare." (Jeremiah 29:7) For millennia, this has been a cornerstone of Jewish conduct. ...
link to truetorahjews.org
Yes I know, these are crazy "fringe" Jews :-), but nevertheless they do demonstrate that not all Jews have been sucked into espousing the jingoistic claptrap that has been foisted on many of their brethren by zionist propagandists.
I'm with the crazies (and Jeremiah) on this one. :-)
Remember, it's "Next year in Jerusalem", ... not this year. All in all a much more viable idea, ...in the long term.
The background to Obama's speech at the UN was set by the NYT story which saw "a ripple in the jewish vote".
Obama's then goes to the UN and, outdoing R. Perry and Co., parrots, chapter and verse (Holocaust, right to exist, jewish state etc.), the zionist narrative. Avigdor is thrilled and Bibi radiates vindication, but others smell a rat.
"The Zionist turns of phrase that were uttered yesterday have a price tag affixed to them, and payment will be due -- if not tomorrow, then on the day after," says Yediot Aharonot's columnist Eitan Haber.
Ironically, the price tag that troubles the Yediot Aharonot crowd is that some progress will actually be made towards a resolution of the decades of humiliation, subjugation and group punishment of the Palestinians. They quite rightly fear that Obama is only saying what he says for domestic political purposes and that sooner or later, as the price for US support, the Israelis will be obliged to fall in line with the long established US policy re 1967 borders. And agreeing with anyone about borders is definitely not part of the zionist repertoire. :-)
This specter of reconciliation that looms out of the fog of lies is sending a chill down the spine of all right thinking zionists. Haber again, "The United States has not changed the principles of its policy since 1967, and there was one thing that could have been understood from the president's speech even though it wasn't said -- just you wait, your day of reckoning will come."
Fake lesbian blogger blogs about fake lesbian blogger (GGiD) being fooled(?) by fake lesbian blogger? :-)
... the idea that Tom and Bill were flirting with each other in their personas as lesbians is too funny. ...
link to lezgetreal.com
All this nonsense about defensible borders (defensible from what? Slingshots? Raiders from the sea? Infiltration? Internal insurrection? Airborne attack?) is an extrapolation of the underlying unsustainable Utopian demand for total security for the state of Israel, ...especially when suspicion is high that Israel itself has a hand in at least some of the well publicised but unconvincing outbursts of insecurity that occur from time to time. Outbursts, coincidently, that seem to flare up whenever Israel is in a jam, peace process wise.
In fact, on reflection, perhaps Bibi's petulant whining about defensible borders while harassing/undermining the neighbours is even beyond deluded Utopianism, more heading deep into la-la land, ...in my opinion. :-)
Get real, Bibi. Nobody's buying this guff any more.
P.S. And the whole pathetic defensible borders line of reasoning is all the more ironic coming from an entity that has very little in the way of defined borders, on land or at sea.
Gaddafi's ability (with or without direct Israeli assistance) to quickly recruit thousands of mercenaries from Chad, Mali etc. speaks volumes about his close relationship to those groups. To my mind, it is starting to look like he has been Israel's covert point man in North Africa for some time, funnelling guns'n'ammo to various Israeli backed campaigns undertaken on their behalf by assorted fake jihadist/"freedom fighter"/mercenary types in Mali, Chad, "Dafur", Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria etc., not to mention various West African fiefdoms, and I suspect just about anywhere else on the continent where there is unrest or instability.
I also suspect that Gaddafi had a hand in the recent uprisings in Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt, all of which have contiguous borders with Libya. If the Libyans did have a hand in formenting the unrest among its neighbours, then the neighbours are no doubt aware of their involvement by now. Pro-Gaddafi forces have been particularly ruthless towards Egyptians.
… ”She and her children witnessed two Egyptians instantly executed in front of them at the airport. She says her spirit is in shock,” Mrs Armet said. …
link to smh.com.au
On a related matter, the current exodus of migrant workers from Libya (including about 1.5 million Egyptians) virtually ensures the collapse of the internal Libyan economy. Either that or Gaddafi and his supporters will have to do their own chores. :-)
Gaddafi's Jewish daughter-in-law (well, almost)
By Miriam Shaviv
August 25, 2009
... According to the article, young Mr Gaddafi - whose interests include pet tigers - apparently has an Israeli girlfriend, actress Orly Weinerman, who was trying, for a while at least, to 'make it' in London.
How liberal of him - and how disgusting of her.
link to thejc.com
... you could call him and say, Hi, This is eee from Mondoweiss! I authorize you, Phil ...
I am eargerly awaiting the first report from the new Mondoweiss stringer. Don't let us down, eee. :-)
cont.
"That's true sir", she answered, "but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their masters table".
So Jesus said, "You are a woman of great faith! What you want will be done for you..."
Matthew 15:27-28
Jesus seems t
Abe is needlessly getting his knickers in a twist here. His ranting about anti-semitism is misplaced. The good Bishop is merely pointing out what Christians believe (as opposed to telling Jews what they should believe and/or think). If he is saying anything to Jews, he is telling them that Christian theology precludes a Christian from supporting temporal zionist claims that are based on the argument that Jews are the chosen ones.
And as pointed out above, and more to the point, he is making the observation that Christians who do support zionist claims are, theologically speaking, misguided.
According to the New Testament, it is not a good idea to excuse yourself solely on the basis of the fact that you are a "child of Abraham".
On encountering Pharisees and Sadducee's, John from the desert scolds them and says (roughly translated :-) ), "... And don't think you can avoid the consequences of your actions by saying that Abraham is your ancestor. I'm telling you God can take these stones here (points to stones) and make descendants of Abraham out of them!" Matthew 3
Good Christians™ are in no hurry to join the Rapture™. Why? Well according to noted Christian, Jesus, in whose footsteps Good Christians™ wish to walk, abandonment * of their brothers and sisters is not an option.
Besides, salvation is a individual process, not an event. And, according to our tradition, God gave up on collective judgement after the Deluge debacle. These days, when all is said and done, he weighs our hearts, one by one. :-)
* "... I am with you always, even to the end of the world. ..." -Matthew 28:20
And there's this from Pres. Kennedy.
”... we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence, on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. ...”
President John F. Kennedy
Address before the American Newspaper Publishers Association
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
New York City, April 27, 1961
link to jfklibrary.org
If this latest in a very long line of killings in the low grade war against the indigenous population of the region was actually a Palestinian initiative (which I doubt), then applying IDFspeak, the woman and the child could only be described as human shields. And the invaders, sorry, settlers have shown a callous disregard for the lives of these non-combatants in their efforts to avoid the righteous efforts of the brave "Palestinians" to protect their homeland.
The invaders, sorry again, settlers forced the brave "Palestinians" into a situation where they could not avoid the ensuing collateral damage. From an IDF point of view this incident would be well within the ROE. Just another regrettable tragedy of war really.
It is certainly no excuse for Israel to discontinue the dialogue between itself and whoever it is they are talking to. For all I know they might be just talking to themselves. Given that Mr. Abbas has little by way of a mandate, it may be that the actual Palestinian people have no representation at all in these talks. Forgive my cynicism, but the last thing Israel wants is a resolution of this interminable conflict. The Israeli narrative demands the constant presence of a threat to its "right to exist" (a concept which is in turn a philosophical nonsense). Without the threat, the narrative becomes meaningless. If the Messiah does happen to turn up soon and peace does actually reign on earth, then the zionist narrative will be toast. :-)
The "paradox of plenty" is also called the "Dutch disease" and is generally thought to be a product of the connection between a nation's resource generated export income and its currency exchange rate. Although it was originally said to be a problem for "under-developed" economies, the term Dutch disease refers to the problems the well developed Dutch economy experienced with the influx of North Sea oil revenue. I think the giant Dutch electronics company, Phillips, was at least partly a victim of this phenomenon. I guess one could compare it to the "killed by kindness" problem.
Basically the export revenue creates increased demand for the local currency. This in turn affects the exchange rate making said local currency more expensive. The appreciating currency then makes it difficult for the established export sector to compete on international markets. They wither on the vine.
The obvious solution is to quarantine resource sector income offshore so that it does not distort the exchange rate, thereby saving the bacon of manufacturing and service sector exporters (which generate employment). Norway is the textbook example a nation that has adopted this fix, whereby the assumed to be temporary resource income can then be introduced into the local economy as more manageable and long-term income stream.
Many nations rely on favourable exchange rates to sustain their manufacturing and service export sectors. So-called windfall increases in export income also disturb the local money supply leading economic managers to resort to measures like increasing interest rates to reduce the credit created money supply and so hopefully control excess demand generated inflation.
The defence measures adopted invariably create more knock-on effects. For example, the increased interest rates can attract foreign capital looking to benefit from the (for them) more attractive interest rates. This also has to be quarantined lest it create the same sort of problems that a resources boom creates.
Currency blocs are considered to be another, at least partial solution to the problem, but they imply a currency bloc treasury which is not acceptable to many, as people rightly see that solution as removing vital spending decisions (a.k.a. pork-barrelling) from the domestic political scene. Whatever way you look at the problem, it's a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. :-) It takes skill and honesty and integrity to manage such dilemmas, commodities that are often in short supply in the world of politics and high finance.
Here is a link to a discussion of the problem by one of the many experts on the matter.
link to theage.com.au
... Eden Abergil: ... I hate Arabs and wish them all the worst and it would be fun for me to kill them or even massacre them ...
Not a good look, is it? :-)
I'm not sure that the drama queen routine is the best way to progress the great zionist narrative. :-)
... I am curious as to what constitutes antisemitism ...
Me too, Phil.
Why, just the other day you yourself were accused of exactly that by Lee Smith in a piece at Tablet.
Don't you remember? :-)
One man's antisemitism, it seems, is another man's constructive criticism. I think you can use other criteria to weed out wreckers. I would even be wary of chucking out the rabid zionists. I would hate to speculate on what might happen if they had to keep all that bottled up. :-)
They need an outlet for their frustration. And besides if they couldn't contribute their erudite discussions then readers might think you are making all this stuff about them up.
P.S. Apologies to all the grammer nazis out there for that split infinitive on the last line. :-)
Here's another interesting titbit from the same article.
... The Miramar Trade Center (MTC) is the brainchild of Inmobiliaria Monte Barreto S.A., a joint venture between Cuban state agency Cubalse S.A. and Grupo BM, an Israeli entity headed by former Mossad spy chief Rafi Eitan....
... the Miramar Trade Center project is worth some $200 million. Because of the sensitive nature of foreign investment in Cuba, it was impossible to confirm this number with any other source. Rottenberg isn't the only one not talking; neither Eitan himself or any Cuban government official would agree to be interviewed for this article. ...
The Tel Aviv-Havana tango has been bamboozling people for some time now. :-) From The San Juan Star / September 3, 2001,
HAVANA -- Israel is the only country in the world that has consistently backed the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba whenever the issue comes up in the United Nations.
Ironically, Israel is also becoming one of the leading foreign investors in Cuba, with private Jewish businessmen involving themselves in everything from Cuban citrus exports to real-estate projects. ...
... Interestingly, the Israeli government -- which has been quite vocal about its support of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba -- has long distinguished between official ties with Cuba, which it doesn't have, and private Israeli investment, which it says it cannot control.
Yet the government itself is quietly helping Israeli companies invest there.
According to John Kavulich III, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, the Israel Foreign Trade Risk Insurance Corp. (IFTRIC) now provides commercial and political risk insurance for Israeli companies hoping to invest in Cuba. ...
link to luxner.com
... we will forgive ... you. We will ask you to break bread with us. We will bless your children ...
I'm sure even Richard has no quibble with these sentiments. Finally, common ground. :-)
It sounds so much better than the alternatives: the draining drive of hatred, or the enervating numbness of indifference.
I'll take one. How much? :-)
um trees conduct eletricity. if they didn’t there would be no trees exploded because of lighting strikes
Wood is generally considered to be an insulator, the opposite of a conductor.
link to scienceclarified.com
Wet/green wood will be more conductive than dry wood, but it is still not considered to be a conductor. In fact, trees explode precisely because they are not good conductors of electricty, especially the mega-amp jolt that lightning delivers.
Electrical energy, rather than being transmitted through the tree without resistance (as any good conductor would do), is instead absorbed by the water in the wood. The electrical energy flashes the moisture into steam and, boom, the wood shatters.
Trees, however, can "attract" lightning. But that's not because they are good conductors, it's because they are high points on the landscape.
@ 41 (or thereabouts) Interested Bystander August 5, 2010 at 2:55 pm
... I also think that such actions are counter-productive ...
Well of course they are, counterproductive that is. From the Palestinian point of view at least. Suicide bombing has never won them any support or advanced their cause. On the other hand it has provided Israel with a convenient justification to continue hounding, harassing and humiliating Palestinians, not to mention hunting them and killing them. And it has caused "popular opinion" to give them a mandate to construct things like that ugly, ugly fence (and all it symbolizes).
And what's more, it gives some an opportunity to be "confused" about how it can happen. Or to be more precise, how can the parents (specifically Palestinian parents) condone such action? Well the fact is, they don't. The vast majority of Palestinian parents raise their children as they see fit and as circumstances allow. Blowing them up is no more a consideration than it is for the average Israeli parent. It has nothing to do with Palestinians per se. In fact, I would even venture to suggest that, given the boost it gave to to Israel's acquisitive agenda, there are grounds to suspect that some faction in Israel may have instigated/facilitated these, for the Palestinians, counterproductive attacks.
Richard may be right that some Israelis are "confused" about the issue, but it may also be that other Israelis would be able to enlighten the "confused" as to just how one might facilitate such an act.
... it is neither a creature of the CIA nor of the Mossad ...
Whoever is calling the shots, they show themselves to have a profound disrespect for religion, ethics, etc., not to mention a contempt for life itself. And, self evidently, they are a group who are slaves to lies and deception.
I consider what is happening to be an attack on the three Abrahamic religions (for a start) and their many varieties *.
Whatever it is, it certainly demands scrutiny and I think you have to try and keep an open mind in the process, and leave no stone unturned in the quest for peace harmony and prosperity. :-)
* In an ideal world, :-), I think there should be as many varieties of religion as there are souls on this earth.
P.S. Besides putting a tick in the box, how do you get "Notify me of followup comments via e-mail" to work? Do I have to allow some script or something?
This is partly a reply to Schwartzman's comment up near the start of the thread (presently No.6).
... This stuff puts American soldiers at risk, ...
I don't know that it puts US/NATO/others forces at any greater risk than they already endure, but Mr. Assange's suggestion to US authorities that they tell him which of the people named in the documents are US informers, would have definitely have put the informers at grave risk.
Assange: ... we told them that we were going through a harm minimisation process and offered them the chance to point out names of informers ...
link to abc.net.au
If he expects US officials to spill the beans about which of the people named in the documents are informers, then Mr Assange can't take umbrage at my request that he divulge the names of the donors that enable his august truth crusading venture to sally forth. Can he?
As far as I'm concerned Mr. Assange is still what he used to be. He used to be a wannabe script kiddie fake.
Control L *, eh? Julian? Those Saudis are so easy to fool aren't they. :-)
All that hacking and only got fined $2,100, Phew!. Lucky, you must have had a good lawyer. :-)
* Control L is a Unix command that clears the screen. It was the "magic" key combination that the group that Mr. Assange was knocking around with at the time are supposed to have used to access mucho Saudi cash. :-) Give me a break!
... the answer is that most of the things he is interested in, if they exist, would be in CIA and State Dept reports, not in army intelligence reports ...
Rowan, there is at lot of overlap, indeed duplication of intelligence gathering *. It's not like there are clear delineations of responsibility for each genre of information. The army or Centcom or whoever would most definitely be on the lookout for x, y and z
* And with good reason. As Gen. Wotsisname (the new intelligence czar) said the other day, "One man's duplication is another man's competitive analysis". :-) i.e. It's a good way to check to see if you are being diddled. :-)
... I bet they were trashing Ellsberg 40 years ago, too. ...
That's wasn't the impression I got at the time. The only person who was being trashed by the media that I had access to was Nixon. And I fell for it, hook line and sinker.
I suppose all we need now to complete the story is the capture of a gang attempting to get the "dirt" on Assange, and who are found to be acting on Obama's personal instructions. :-)
Bandolero, I read the article a while ago, I know what it is in it. Did you see my second post on the subject?
By the way, I made another spelling booboo, it's Spiegel not Speigel.
Well yes, the article (a reprint of a Counterpunch piece) is somewhat equivocal and it does point out inconsistencies in Der Speigel's claim, but you have to read the whole thing to get that impression.
However the headline isn't at all equivocal, and my guess is that casual browsers of the Wikileaks site would not have picked up on the doubts expressed by the author.
To me, from the way the story is presented, it seems to be a sly attempt by Wikileaks to use the Counterpunch story to muddy the waters about who was actually behind the Hariri assassination. (second time lucky :-) ).
It also raises the question in my mind as to why, if it had doubts about Der Speigel's evenhandness, Wikileaks would use Der Speigel as one of the MSM conduits for its recent release of the cache of documents about Afghanistan .
Sorry, assassination.
According to Wikileaks, Hezbollah was behind Hariri's assination.
Popular Israel related articles
Hezbollah did it: Der Spiegel and the Rafic Hariri assassination
link to wikileaks.org
I don't buy that explanation, I think it is propaganda. But then again I think that Wikileaks has a covert zionist (anti-US) agenda, so I guess that figures. :-)
I'm all for people expressing their sincerely held beliefs.
Now you might say that this is misguided, and that the idea should be beaten or intimidated out of me, but misguided (and I've had a few, misguided ideas that is) or not, I'm sticking with it for now. :-)
As for your aethism, annie, even though I have a different view, not only do I respect your position, but I would go further and say that if you pretended to be anything else, then you would be a hypocrite. That said, I reserve the right to my own beliefs and the right to debate the issue where appropriate and with the appropriate degree of restraint.
Now I wonder if I can say the same thing about Judaism... :-)
Haaretz interview with Haim Saban.
... You said once that you are a one-note person, and that note is Israel. Why?
"You can't explain love." ...
... "When we approach Israel I always ask the pilots of my plane to let me sit in the chair between them. ... when I see the coast coming up my heart starts to go boom, boom, boom." ...
link to haaretz.com
(Google's cache still has the page)
... Palestinian statelessness is an American Jewish achievement. ...
Not for much longer apparently.
... in August 2011, the international community, led by the United States, can be expected to recognize the West Bank and East Jerusalem as an independent country occupied by a foreign power.
link to haaretz.com
As an independent country I guess they would be entitled to take action to remove the occupying foreign power.
Bibi, do you know about steamrollers? :-)
P.S. Why don't you like me, “parallels h-sphere”?
According to "True Intellectual System of the Universe (1678)" they number in their thousands. Amazing, isn't it?
Cliff, here's what I said about Obama and Christianity.
... Well it makes him a Christian in my eyes.
I can't be clearer than that.
It's at about line 16 in my first post. Perhaps it's a problem with my formatting. Apologies if that is the case.
The point I was making in the first part of the post (the bit you have quoted) is that Obama, at least during his younger years, was exposed to Muslim culture (during his school time in Indonesia) and seems to have been impressed by some aspects of it. What's wrong with that? I too have been favourably impressed by the faith and practice of various Jews, Muslims, Christians that I have have encountered.
The reason I made the post was to comment on the video posted by Citizen which attempts (the video not Citizen) to portray Obama as a Muslim, maybe even a crypto-Muslim. Like you, I reject that accusation about Obama.
I'm not sure what you are suggesting about "saying what I want to say".
I agree with you when you suggest that "far-right" Christians are peddling this line in an attempt to smear Obama. And yes, Obama is a politician and a very good one at that. And it doesn't bother me in the slightest if he occasionally says something nice about the Islamic faith.
He spent some of his childhood in Indonesia, he says so in the video. I don't think that is disputed. There is a statue of him (as a boy) at his old school in Menteng. They had it move it there from the park because of some militant nationalist(?) group didn't like it in the park.
link to naked-malaysian.com
I didn't say he was a Muslim, I said just the opposite, that he is a Christian.
Pull yourself together. Pay more attention!
One has to ask why Christians are so worried about how Islamic President Barack Hussein Obama might be. For heavens sake, he grew up in a Muslim country! Anyone who experiences beautiful faith of any denomination is going to be touched be it and respect it. We would be horrified if he was so boorish as to not be impressed.
Are they also worried about how he acknowledges and respects Judaism? No.
This is not a good look for the Christians, if they fear their faith cannot survive such a test. :-)
So what are Christians, who carry their faith in their hearts, not per favour of the State, and worship the exact same God that Muslims do, worried about exactly? Is he going to somehow sign them over to some obscure Muslim sect? I don't think so.
Besides, he obviously has very limited power.What could he do that threatens these weak kneed Christians?
And its not as if Christianity hasn't figured prominently in the development of his character. I mean, they all go on about how he attended a Christian church (Rev. Wright) for years, what does that make him? Well it makes him a Christian in my eyes.
No recent President up to and including George (Wahabbi :-) ) Bush (peace be upon him) ever showed anything but respect for Muslims. Only a fool would do otherwise.
Its a war on terror we are fighting, not a war on Muslims. Muslims don't have a monopoly on terror (don't believe me?, read a book -you can start with a short history of the Haganah :-) ).
The above in no way indicates support for WOT strategies such as attacking Iran etc. Everyone knows the real destabilizing entity in West Asia is the belligerent, erratic and nuclear armed rogue state of Israel. And we all know that the only way out of this mess is that it's ultimately up to Israel to clean up its act. The rest of the world can assist forces within Israel and the diaspora to undertake this challenging task by ceasing the mawkish fawning and pandering to the crackpot fantasies of the Zionists. Heart and soul in Jerusalem indeed... And what? Christians and Muslims don't get a look in? Back to the drawing board Bibi.
Palestinians can do whatever they want in Jerusalem. So long as they have the ‘proper licenses’
I know exactly how they feel, I just found my Mondoweiss password in the spam folder!