What happens when a news site is under the control of a Zionist editor - in this case, The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland?
Here's the sobering conclusion to Ben White's piece, How the Guardian continues to exclude Palestinians from its comments page:
"As shown by the absence of voices from the West Bank and Gaza, or the lack of a Palestinian perspective on critical issues such as Zionism, when it comes to The Guardian's comment pages, Palestine is just not a story - and when it is, it's an Israeli one." (middleeastmonitor.com, 28/11/16)
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
The Road Not Taken
From beginning (1917) to end (?), Palestine and its people have been comprehensively shafted by the international order. Arguably, the worst ever milestone in this process was UN General Assembly Resolution 181, which proposed the partitioning of British Mandate Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.
It should rightly be viewed as the most shameful resolution ever passed by the United Nations in its now entire 71-year history, and today marks the 69th anniversary of its passing.
But the UN didn't have to go down the road to partition/ perdition in Palestine. If the UN had voted to refer the matter of Palestine's future to the International Court of Justice, as recommended by the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP)'s Sub-Committee 2 (instead of settling for partition, as advised by Sub-Committee 1), the Palestinian people would, in all likelihood, have been spared the agony they have gone through now for the past 60 plus decades, and are still going through today.
Here is the first part of the concluding section of Sub-Committee 2's Draft Resolution Referring Certain Legal Questions to The International Court of Justice. The next time you here a Zionist banging on about Partition Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947, remember this document:
The General Assembly
Considering that the Palestine question raises certain legal issues connected, inter alia, with the inherent right of the indigenous population of Palestine to their country and to determine its future, the pledges and assurances given to the Arabs in the First World War regarding the independence of Arab countries, including Palestine, the validity and scope of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate, the effect on the Mandate of the dissolution of the League of Nations and of the declaration by the Mandatory Power of its intention to withdraw from Palestine,
Considering that the Palestine question also raises other legal issues connected with the competence of the United Nations to recommend any solution contrary to the Covenant of the League of Nations or the Charter of the United Nations, or to the wishes of the majority of the people of Palestine,
Considering that doubts have been expressed by several Member States concerning the legality under the Charter of any action by the United Nations, or by any Member State or group of Member States, to enforce any proposal which is contrary to the wishes, or is made without the consent, of the majority of the inhabitants of Palestine,
Considering that these questions involve legal issues which so far have not been pronounced upon by an impartial or competent tribunal, and that it is essential that such questions be authoritatively determined before the United Nations can recommend a solution of the Palestine question with the principles of justice and international law,
Resolves to request the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion under Article 96 of the Charter and Chapter IV of the Statute of the Court on the following questions:
(a) Whether the indigenous population of Palestine has not an inherent right to Palestine and to determine its future constitution and government;
(b) Whether the pledges and assurances given by Great Britain to the Arabs during the First World War (including the Anglo-French Declaration of 1918) concerning the independence and future of Arab countries at the end of the war did not include Palestine;
(c) Whether the Balfour Declaration, which was made without the knowledge or consent of the indigenous population of Palestine, was valid and binding on the people of Palestine, or consistent with the earlier or subsequent pledges and assurances given to the Arabs;
(d) Whether the provisions of the Mandate for Palestine regarding the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine are in conformity or consistent with the objectives and provisions of the Covenant of the League of Nations (in particular Article 22), or are compatible with the provisions of the Mandate relating to the development of self-government and the preservation of the rights and position of the Arabs of Palestine;
(e) Whether the legal basis for the Mandate for Palestine has not disappeared with the dissolution of the League of Nations, and whether it is not the duty of the Mandatory Power to hand over power and administration to a government of Palestine representing the rightful people of Palestine;
(f) Whether a plan to partition Palestine without the consent of the majority of its people is consistent with the objectives of the Covenant of the League of Nations, and with the provisions of the Mandate for Palestine;
(g) Whether the United Nations is competent to recommend either of the two plans and recommendations of the majority or minority of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, or any other solution involving partition of the territory of Palestine, or a permanent trusteeship over any city or part of Palestine, without the consent of the majority of the people of Palestine;
(h) Whether the United Nations, or any of its Member States, is competent to enforce or recommend the enforcement of any proposal concerning the constitution and future government of Palestine, in particular, any plan of partition which is contrary to the wishes, or adopted without the consent of, the inhabitants of Palestine,
Instructs the Secretary-General to transmit this resolution to the International Court of Justice, accompanied by all the documents likely to throw light upon the questions under reference.
It should rightly be viewed as the most shameful resolution ever passed by the United Nations in its now entire 71-year history, and today marks the 69th anniversary of its passing.
But the UN didn't have to go down the road to partition/ perdition in Palestine. If the UN had voted to refer the matter of Palestine's future to the International Court of Justice, as recommended by the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP)'s Sub-Committee 2 (instead of settling for partition, as advised by Sub-Committee 1), the Palestinian people would, in all likelihood, have been spared the agony they have gone through now for the past 60 plus decades, and are still going through today.
Here is the first part of the concluding section of Sub-Committee 2's Draft Resolution Referring Certain Legal Questions to The International Court of Justice. The next time you here a Zionist banging on about Partition Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947, remember this document:
The General Assembly
Considering that the Palestine question raises certain legal issues connected, inter alia, with the inherent right of the indigenous population of Palestine to their country and to determine its future, the pledges and assurances given to the Arabs in the First World War regarding the independence of Arab countries, including Palestine, the validity and scope of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate, the effect on the Mandate of the dissolution of the League of Nations and of the declaration by the Mandatory Power of its intention to withdraw from Palestine,
Considering that the Palestine question also raises other legal issues connected with the competence of the United Nations to recommend any solution contrary to the Covenant of the League of Nations or the Charter of the United Nations, or to the wishes of the majority of the people of Palestine,
Considering that doubts have been expressed by several Member States concerning the legality under the Charter of any action by the United Nations, or by any Member State or group of Member States, to enforce any proposal which is contrary to the wishes, or is made without the consent, of the majority of the inhabitants of Palestine,
Considering that these questions involve legal issues which so far have not been pronounced upon by an impartial or competent tribunal, and that it is essential that such questions be authoritatively determined before the United Nations can recommend a solution of the Palestine question with the principles of justice and international law,
Resolves to request the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion under Article 96 of the Charter and Chapter IV of the Statute of the Court on the following questions:
(a) Whether the indigenous population of Palestine has not an inherent right to Palestine and to determine its future constitution and government;
(b) Whether the pledges and assurances given by Great Britain to the Arabs during the First World War (including the Anglo-French Declaration of 1918) concerning the independence and future of Arab countries at the end of the war did not include Palestine;
(c) Whether the Balfour Declaration, which was made without the knowledge or consent of the indigenous population of Palestine, was valid and binding on the people of Palestine, or consistent with the earlier or subsequent pledges and assurances given to the Arabs;
(d) Whether the provisions of the Mandate for Palestine regarding the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine are in conformity or consistent with the objectives and provisions of the Covenant of the League of Nations (in particular Article 22), or are compatible with the provisions of the Mandate relating to the development of self-government and the preservation of the rights and position of the Arabs of Palestine;
(e) Whether the legal basis for the Mandate for Palestine has not disappeared with the dissolution of the League of Nations, and whether it is not the duty of the Mandatory Power to hand over power and administration to a government of Palestine representing the rightful people of Palestine;
(f) Whether a plan to partition Palestine without the consent of the majority of its people is consistent with the objectives of the Covenant of the League of Nations, and with the provisions of the Mandate for Palestine;
(g) Whether the United Nations is competent to recommend either of the two plans and recommendations of the majority or minority of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, or any other solution involving partition of the territory of Palestine, or a permanent trusteeship over any city or part of Palestine, without the consent of the majority of the people of Palestine;
(h) Whether the United Nations, or any of its Member States, is competent to enforce or recommend the enforcement of any proposal concerning the constitution and future government of Palestine, in particular, any plan of partition which is contrary to the wishes, or adopted without the consent of, the inhabitants of Palestine,
Instructs the Secretary-General to transmit this resolution to the International Court of Justice, accompanied by all the documents likely to throw light upon the questions under reference.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Good Grief!
Where would we be without Islit? Just imagine having to make do with Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Zola and the rest!
An extract from Jonathan Freedland's promo of David Grossman (David Grossman: 'You have to act against the gravity of grief - to decide you won't fail' Guardian, 26/11/16), annotated:
"The turning point was the 1967 war, when Israel gained the territories it has occupied ever since."
Gained? Just fell into Israel's lap! As these things do.
"He sees that as a kind of navigational error, when Israel strayed off course..."
Israel as babe in the woods. See also, 'We live in a tough neighborhood.'
"I suggest to him that plenty, especially on the European left, would dispute the notion that all was fine until 1967: their disagreement would go further back, to the circumstances of Israel's founding in 1948."
Well they would, wouldn't they? Only a leftie could possibly believe such things!
"'I do not want to idealise the Israel before 1967,' he replies. 'Of course there are terrible things that happened in '48'."
Of course, but,
"'... before '67, there was still a hope that things can be corrected, that we are not doomed to continue to fight with our neighbours for another 50 years'."
Yeah, we thought then that all those bloody Palestinians we'd taken such time and trouble to drive out in '48 would just get up off their bums and somehow blend in with the Jordanians, Syrians, Iraqis and Lebanese, and let them know just how wonderful we are so they'd all be banging on our door, wanting to open embassies.
"'To live by the sword and to die by the sword'."
Or rather, us living by the sword, and them dying by it.
"'What we have now is the belief that this is the only option open to us. That there is a kind of divine decree... It was not like that before 67'."
Yep, us living by the sword, and them dying by it. You know how it goes: "When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations... and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy."
"It is this fatalism, this defeatist sense among his fellow Israelis that the situation with the Palestinians is immutable, an act of God or nature that cannot be reversed, that incenses Grossman most. It turns the Israelis into a nation of victims, he says, helpless before their fate."
But not quite so helpless that they can't blame their victims!
An extract from Jonathan Freedland's promo of David Grossman (David Grossman: 'You have to act against the gravity of grief - to decide you won't fail' Guardian, 26/11/16), annotated:
"The turning point was the 1967 war, when Israel gained the territories it has occupied ever since."
Gained? Just fell into Israel's lap! As these things do.
"He sees that as a kind of navigational error, when Israel strayed off course..."
Israel as babe in the woods. See also, 'We live in a tough neighborhood.'
"I suggest to him that plenty, especially on the European left, would dispute the notion that all was fine until 1967: their disagreement would go further back, to the circumstances of Israel's founding in 1948."
Well they would, wouldn't they? Only a leftie could possibly believe such things!
"'I do not want to idealise the Israel before 1967,' he replies. 'Of course there are terrible things that happened in '48'."
Of course, but,
"'... before '67, there was still a hope that things can be corrected, that we are not doomed to continue to fight with our neighbours for another 50 years'."
Yeah, we thought then that all those bloody Palestinians we'd taken such time and trouble to drive out in '48 would just get up off their bums and somehow blend in with the Jordanians, Syrians, Iraqis and Lebanese, and let them know just how wonderful we are so they'd all be banging on our door, wanting to open embassies.
"'To live by the sword and to die by the sword'."
Or rather, us living by the sword, and them dying by it.
"'What we have now is the belief that this is the only option open to us. That there is a kind of divine decree... It was not like that before 67'."
Yep, us living by the sword, and them dying by it. You know how it goes: "When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations... and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy."
"It is this fatalism, this defeatist sense among his fellow Israelis that the situation with the Palestinians is immutable, an act of God or nature that cannot be reversed, that incenses Grossman most. It turns the Israelis into a nation of victims, he says, helpless before their fate."
But not quite so helpless that they can't blame their victims!
Sunday, November 27, 2016
'It Would Be Good to Have Some Anti-Semitism in America'
Says Yaron London, Israeli media personality and journalist:
"A world view which supports white supremacy matches our government's interests. If Trump's people are more disgusted by Arabs than they are by Jews (the liberals, the Wall Street people, journalists from the East coast, lovers of black people, Hillary Clinton's friends) we have struck quite a good deal. Trump and his friends see Israel as a forefront against the barbarians...
"To do the Netanyahu government justice, let me qualify my statement by saying that all forms of Zionism hold the perception that a certain extent of anti-Semitism benefits the Zionist enterprise. To put it more sharply, anti-Semitism is the generator and ally of anti-Semitism. Masses of Jews leave their place of residence only when their economic situation and physical safety are undermined. Masses of Jews are shoved to this country rather than being attracted to it. The yearning for the land of Zion and Jerusalem is not strong enough to drive millions of Jews to the country they love and make them hold onto its clods. As the Jews in Israel long for immigrants with a certain affiliation to their people, and as Zionism... needs constant justification we have a secret hope in our hearts that a moderate anti-Semitic wave, along with a deterioration of the economic situation in their countries of residence will make Diaspora Jews realize that they belong with us.
"Is proof even necessary? No one will protest the assertion that the rise in anti-Semitism in France gave us some satisfaction... Furthermore, no one can deny that the economic crisis in the Soviet empire, coupled with the nesting anti-Semitism there, were the cause of the immigration to Israel of about 1 million Jews and their non-Jewish relatives... Neither can anyone contradict the embarrassing fact that Israel worked to lock the gates to the US, the opening of which may have directed many of these Jews and their relatives there... It was not the Jewish immigrants' welfare that we saw before our eyes, but the state's reinforcement. While the act of blocking and directing the Jews to Israel is ethically dubious, it was justified by the Zionist ideology which asserts that a normalization of the Jewish situation - in other words, concentrating the Jewish people in its own territory - is the only thing that will save us from another Holocaust and, according to some people will even speed up the Messiah's arrival.
"The Jews' comfortable situation in America raises doubts as to whether it was worthwhile to gamble on the establishment of a Jewish state... In order to remove these malignant doubts, it would be good to have some anti-Semitism in America. Not serious anti-Semitism, not pogroms, not persecutions that will empty America from its Jews, as we need them there, but just a taste of this pungent stuff, so that we can restore our faith in Zionism." (Why Israel isn't shocked by anti-Semitism in the White House, ynetnews.com, 21/11/16)
Just another reiteration that Zionism & anti-Semitism are two sides of the same coin.
"A world view which supports white supremacy matches our government's interests. If Trump's people are more disgusted by Arabs than they are by Jews (the liberals, the Wall Street people, journalists from the East coast, lovers of black people, Hillary Clinton's friends) we have struck quite a good deal. Trump and his friends see Israel as a forefront against the barbarians...
"To do the Netanyahu government justice, let me qualify my statement by saying that all forms of Zionism hold the perception that a certain extent of anti-Semitism benefits the Zionist enterprise. To put it more sharply, anti-Semitism is the generator and ally of anti-Semitism. Masses of Jews leave their place of residence only when their economic situation and physical safety are undermined. Masses of Jews are shoved to this country rather than being attracted to it. The yearning for the land of Zion and Jerusalem is not strong enough to drive millions of Jews to the country they love and make them hold onto its clods. As the Jews in Israel long for immigrants with a certain affiliation to their people, and as Zionism... needs constant justification we have a secret hope in our hearts that a moderate anti-Semitic wave, along with a deterioration of the economic situation in their countries of residence will make Diaspora Jews realize that they belong with us.
"Is proof even necessary? No one will protest the assertion that the rise in anti-Semitism in France gave us some satisfaction... Furthermore, no one can deny that the economic crisis in the Soviet empire, coupled with the nesting anti-Semitism there, were the cause of the immigration to Israel of about 1 million Jews and their non-Jewish relatives... Neither can anyone contradict the embarrassing fact that Israel worked to lock the gates to the US, the opening of which may have directed many of these Jews and their relatives there... It was not the Jewish immigrants' welfare that we saw before our eyes, but the state's reinforcement. While the act of blocking and directing the Jews to Israel is ethically dubious, it was justified by the Zionist ideology which asserts that a normalization of the Jewish situation - in other words, concentrating the Jewish people in its own territory - is the only thing that will save us from another Holocaust and, according to some people will even speed up the Messiah's arrival.
"The Jews' comfortable situation in America raises doubts as to whether it was worthwhile to gamble on the establishment of a Jewish state... In order to remove these malignant doubts, it would be good to have some anti-Semitism in America. Not serious anti-Semitism, not pogroms, not persecutions that will empty America from its Jews, as we need them there, but just a taste of this pungent stuff, so that we can restore our faith in Zionism." (Why Israel isn't shocked by anti-Semitism in the White House, ynetnews.com, 21/11/16)
Just another reiteration that Zionism & anti-Semitism are two sides of the same coin.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
The Latest Rambotic Drivel...
... from the latest bunch of Rambots to take the bait earlier this month and report back:
James Massola (Fairfax): "Peace... is an abstract notion, something that everyone would like. The talks that are underway at the moment are really lip service and are unlikely to go anywhere in the short-term... I did see that there are some green shoots, some causes for optimism there. The vast majority of Israelis do actually sit for peace and a two-state solution." (Journalists report back on their mission to Israel, jwire.com.au, 23/11/16)
That's right, James, they sit for peace and stand for occupation.
I assume that jwire is paraphrasing James here:
"Causes for such optimism include a community-based initiative called Roots which attempts to sort out grievances such as safety and community issues in the West Bank. The organisation aims to shift violence and disputes towards trust, empathy and mutual support between Palestinians and Israelis."
Grievances such as safety and community issues...
But not grievances like Israeli occupation boots on Palestinian necks?
Shift violence and disputes...
But not occupying Israeli troops and settlers out of the West Bank?
My God, if CHIEF POLITICAL REPORTER Massola hasn't got what it takes to see this kind of window-dressing for what it is, why would you bother reading any of his reports in the Sydney Morning Herald?
Luke Malpass (Australian Financial Review): "Being on the ground and understanding the very human pressures that are faced was completely invaluable. And I look on the conflict and the achievement of the Jewish State of 70 years to build itself up out of the desert very differently."
*Sigh* Poor old Luke... still hooked on that hoary old 'making the desert bloom' line.
9 Rambots attended, but the only other names we get from jwire are these:
Andrew Clennell (Daily Telegraph)
Calliste Weitenberg (SBS)
Amelia Brace (Channel 7)
Anthony Klan (The Australian)
Vish Wishwanathan (The Indian Telegraph)
SO WHO ARE THE OTHER 2 NO-SHOWS? Just along for the ride? Just couldn't bring themselves to mouth the words? ('So sorry, Vic, I'm down with a bug.')
James Massola (Fairfax): "Peace... is an abstract notion, something that everyone would like. The talks that are underway at the moment are really lip service and are unlikely to go anywhere in the short-term... I did see that there are some green shoots, some causes for optimism there. The vast majority of Israelis do actually sit for peace and a two-state solution." (Journalists report back on their mission to Israel, jwire.com.au, 23/11/16)
That's right, James, they sit for peace and stand for occupation.
I assume that jwire is paraphrasing James here:
"Causes for such optimism include a community-based initiative called Roots which attempts to sort out grievances such as safety and community issues in the West Bank. The organisation aims to shift violence and disputes towards trust, empathy and mutual support between Palestinians and Israelis."
Grievances such as safety and community issues...
But not grievances like Israeli occupation boots on Palestinian necks?
Shift violence and disputes...
But not occupying Israeli troops and settlers out of the West Bank?
My God, if CHIEF POLITICAL REPORTER Massola hasn't got what it takes to see this kind of window-dressing for what it is, why would you bother reading any of his reports in the Sydney Morning Herald?
Luke Malpass (Australian Financial Review): "Being on the ground and understanding the very human pressures that are faced was completely invaluable. And I look on the conflict and the achievement of the Jewish State of 70 years to build itself up out of the desert very differently."
*Sigh* Poor old Luke... still hooked on that hoary old 'making the desert bloom' line.
9 Rambots attended, but the only other names we get from jwire are these:
Andrew Clennell (Daily Telegraph)
Calliste Weitenberg (SBS)
Amelia Brace (Channel 7)
Anthony Klan (The Australian)
Vish Wishwanathan (The Indian Telegraph)
SO WHO ARE THE OTHER 2 NO-SHOWS? Just along for the ride? Just couldn't bring themselves to mouth the words? ('So sorry, Vic, I'm down with a bug.')
Friday, November 25, 2016
Ya Yassmin...
As I've wondered before, what other Australian embassy carries on like our embassy in Israel? (For the backstory on this, just click on the Dave Sharma label below.) Anyhow, here's the latest:
"Australia's embassy in Israel has hosted Yassmin Abdel Magied a prominent young Australian voice on gender equality, overcoming unconscious bias, and women's empowerment... Her flying visit included a morning spent at Tel Aviv's Bialik Rogozin School for... students from underprivileged backgrounds... Yassmin lectured to a packed auditorium at the Tel Aviv University on overcoming bias in the workplace..." (Australia embassy hosts prominent young activist, jwire.com.au, 23/11/16)
Yassmin, 25, is described by jwire as being born in Sudan and migrating to Australia at the age of two; "a qualified mechanical engineer with years of working on an oilrig"; a "founder of Youth Without Borders"; "Young Australian Muslim of the Year"; and an "amateur boxer, racing car designer, footballer and motorsport enthusiast."
I'll try to be as charitable as I can here, OK?
Obviously, Yassmin's 25 years on planet earth have been so frenetic that she simply hasn't had the time to put 2+2 together on the subject of Israel. Otherwise, the enormous irony inherent in the prospect of lecturing the beneficiaries of an apartheid regime on the subject of workplace (or any other kind of) bias would have dissuaded her from agreeing to play the useful fool for Israel.
***
Now since writing the above, I notice from Yassmin's tweets that Tel Aviv was just one stop (18/11) on 'Yassmin's Middle East Speaking Tour, and followed an appearance in Ramallah (14-15/11). She's also tweeted (22/11) that she's got a copy of Joe Sacco's wonderful graphic history, Palestine. Perhaps this was presented to her in Ramallah. Let's hope she's now engrossed in reading it, cover to cover, that the proverbial light bulb is growing ever brighter in her head, and that it's the beginning of an intellectual journey.
Cross fingers...
"Australia's embassy in Israel has hosted Yassmin Abdel Magied a prominent young Australian voice on gender equality, overcoming unconscious bias, and women's empowerment... Her flying visit included a morning spent at Tel Aviv's Bialik Rogozin School for... students from underprivileged backgrounds... Yassmin lectured to a packed auditorium at the Tel Aviv University on overcoming bias in the workplace..." (Australia embassy hosts prominent young activist, jwire.com.au, 23/11/16)
Yassmin, 25, is described by jwire as being born in Sudan and migrating to Australia at the age of two; "a qualified mechanical engineer with years of working on an oilrig"; a "founder of Youth Without Borders"; "Young Australian Muslim of the Year"; and an "amateur boxer, racing car designer, footballer and motorsport enthusiast."
I'll try to be as charitable as I can here, OK?
Obviously, Yassmin's 25 years on planet earth have been so frenetic that she simply hasn't had the time to put 2+2 together on the subject of Israel. Otherwise, the enormous irony inherent in the prospect of lecturing the beneficiaries of an apartheid regime on the subject of workplace (or any other kind of) bias would have dissuaded her from agreeing to play the useful fool for Israel.
***
Now since writing the above, I notice from Yassmin's tweets that Tel Aviv was just one stop (18/11) on 'Yassmin's Middle East Speaking Tour, and followed an appearance in Ramallah (14-15/11). She's also tweeted (22/11) that she's got a copy of Joe Sacco's wonderful graphic history, Palestine. Perhaps this was presented to her in Ramallah. Let's hope she's now engrossed in reading it, cover to cover, that the proverbial light bulb is growing ever brighter in her head, and that it's the beginning of an intellectual journey.
Cross fingers...
Thursday, November 24, 2016
'Trump's Aussie Mates'
"Mark Latham, Ross Cameron and Rowan Dean, or 'Trump's Aussie Mates', have teamed up for a new panel show on Sky News called Outsiders. It'a an answer to the ABC's Insider program, the embodiment of an out-of-touch, inner-city Leftist class, according to the trio. Former Labor Party leader, Latham, former Howard government frontbencher, Cameron, and editor of The Spectator magazine, Rowan Dean, hosted a US election-day function called Trump's Aussie Mates on November 9 in Sydney. High on Donald Trump's unexpected victory, the three men joined Sky's Paul Murray Live that night to discuss and celebrate what had just transpired." (Trio trumpeting views from the outside, Jake Mitchell, The Australian, 21/11/16)
For the dirt on all three of 'Trump's Aussie Mates', just click on the labels below.
All I want to do here is ask whether this is the same Mark Latham who poured scorn on what he called Labor's 'Little Americans', or the 'Big Mac faction', in his 2005 book, The Latham Diaries, and who wrote there (p 393) that:
1) "The Americans have made us a bigger target in the War against Terror."
2) "The truth is, the Americans need us more than we need them."
3) "The Alliance is the last manifestation of the White Australia mentality."
For the dirt on all three of 'Trump's Aussie Mates', just click on the labels below.
All I want to do here is ask whether this is the same Mark Latham who poured scorn on what he called Labor's 'Little Americans', or the 'Big Mac faction', in his 2005 book, The Latham Diaries, and who wrote there (p 393) that:
1) "The Americans have made us a bigger target in the War against Terror."
2) "The truth is, the Americans need us more than we need them."
3) "The Alliance is the last manifestation of the White Australia mentality."
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
His Advice & Mine
"The advice I have is that out of the last 33 people who have been charged with terrorist-related offences in this country, 27 of those people are from second and third-generation Lebanese-Muslim background." Peter Dutton, Immigration Minister, 21/11/16
The advice I have is that of the unknown number of people who have been charged (or should have been charged) with terrorist-related offences against the indigenous inhabitants of this country, just about every one is from a first, second, third, fourth, and fifth--generation Anglo-Christian background.
The advice I have is that of the unknown number of people who have been charged (or should have been charged) with terrorist-related offences against the indigenous inhabitants of this country, just about every one is from a first, second, third, fourth, and fifth--generation Anglo-Christian background.
From Norman Vincent Peale to Steve Bannon
And from Bannon to Breitbart to Israel:
"It's hard to think of Steve Bannon as a low-profile guy... He is the executive chairman of the hard-right Breitbart News and the US president-elect chose Bannon last week as his chief strategist and senior counsellor... Here are a few things you've probably read about Steve Bannon in the past week: He's a white supremacist, bigot and anti-Semite... He's associated with the 'alt right' movement that, according to the New York Times, delights in 'harassing Jews, Muslims and other vulnerable groups by spewing shocking insults on social media'.
"Bannon is an aggressive political scrapper, but he says his views bear no relation to the media's description... Anti-Semitic? 'Breitbart is the most pro-Israel site in the United States of America. I have Breitbart Jerusalem which I have Aaron Klein run with about 10 reporters there. We've been a leader in stopping this BDS movement in the United States, we're a leader in the reporting of young Jewish students being harassed on American campuses, we've been a leader on reporting on the terrible plight of the Jews in Europe.' He adds that given his many Jewish partners and writers, 'guys like Joel Pollak, these claims of anti-Semitism just aren't serious'...
"He acknowledges the site is 'edgy' but insists it is 'vibrant'. He offers his own definition of the alt-right movement and explains how he sees it fitting into Breitbart. 'Our definition of the alt-right is younger people who are anti-globalists, very nationalist, terribly anti-establishment.' But he says Breitbart is also a platform for 'libertarians', Zionists, 'the conservative gay community', 'proponents for restrictions on gay marriage', 'economic rationalism' and 'populism' and 'the anti-establishment'." (The Donald's 'cloven-hoofed devil' has no interest in being the story, Kimberley A. Strassel, The Wall Street Journal/ The Australian, 21/11/16)
"It's hard to think of Steve Bannon as a low-profile guy... He is the executive chairman of the hard-right Breitbart News and the US president-elect chose Bannon last week as his chief strategist and senior counsellor... Here are a few things you've probably read about Steve Bannon in the past week: He's a white supremacist, bigot and anti-Semite... He's associated with the 'alt right' movement that, according to the New York Times, delights in 'harassing Jews, Muslims and other vulnerable groups by spewing shocking insults on social media'.
"Bannon is an aggressive political scrapper, but he says his views bear no relation to the media's description... Anti-Semitic? 'Breitbart is the most pro-Israel site in the United States of America. I have Breitbart Jerusalem which I have Aaron Klein run with about 10 reporters there. We've been a leader in stopping this BDS movement in the United States, we're a leader in the reporting of young Jewish students being harassed on American campuses, we've been a leader on reporting on the terrible plight of the Jews in Europe.' He adds that given his many Jewish partners and writers, 'guys like Joel Pollak, these claims of anti-Semitism just aren't serious'...
"He acknowledges the site is 'edgy' but insists it is 'vibrant'. He offers his own definition of the alt-right movement and explains how he sees it fitting into Breitbart. 'Our definition of the alt-right is younger people who are anti-globalists, very nationalist, terribly anti-establishment.' But he says Breitbart is also a platform for 'libertarians', Zionists, 'the conservative gay community', 'proponents for restrictions on gay marriage', 'economic rationalism' and 'populism' and 'the anti-establishment'." (The Donald's 'cloven-hoofed devil' has no interest in being the story, Kimberley A. Strassel, The Wall Street Journal/ The Australian, 21/11/16)
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Meet 'Mad Dog' Mattis
Say what you will about Donald ('Grab Them by the Pussy') Trump, we can at least take some courage from the fact that that he'll be advised by some of the best and brightest (not to mention feminist) minds America has to offer. For example:
"General James Mattis, who retired in 2013 after a 44-year career, met Mr Trump yesterday at the president-elect's golf club... A senior commander in Afghanistan and Iraq, he fell out of favour during the Obama administration for his tough stance on Iran. The selection of General Mattis as defence secretary would cap a national security team that is strikingly more bellicose and uncompromising than that of Mr Obama.
"General Mattis, 66, nicknamed 'Mad Dog', attracted controversy and admiration in 2005 when he said shooting Taliban fighters was fun and mocked their sexual potency. 'You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,' he said. 'You know guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling.'
"A year earlier he had commanded US marines in the battle of Fallujah. During the Iraq invasion, a young platoon commander was shocked to find General Mattis, then a brigadier-general, in a fighting hole with a sergeant and a lance corporal. General Mattis used the dictum: 'Be polite, be professional but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.' He was also nicknamed the 'warrior monk' and is said to own more than 7000 books. He impressed on his troops the need to be culturally sensitive and stressed that humanitarian actions would undermine the Islamist enemies." (Carter & Clapper seek to oust admiral eyed by new president, AFP, The Sunday Times/ The Australian, 21/11/16)
7,000 books? Check out these li'l beauties from LtGen James Mattis' Reading List, Small Wars Journal (5/6/07):
Israel's Lebanese War, A Preliminary Assessment - Dr. Martin van Creveld, The RUSI Journal, October 2006
The Crisis of Islam: Holy War & Unholy Terror - Bernard Lewis
What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam & Modernity in the Middle East - Bernard Lewis
From Beirut to Jerusalem - Thomas Friedman
Hatred's Kingdom - Dore Gold
The Arab Mind - Raphael Patai
A Peace to End All Peace - David Fromkin
The Arab Israeli Wars - Chaim Herzog
No nasty Edward Said stuff there...
"General James Mattis, who retired in 2013 after a 44-year career, met Mr Trump yesterday at the president-elect's golf club... A senior commander in Afghanistan and Iraq, he fell out of favour during the Obama administration for his tough stance on Iran. The selection of General Mattis as defence secretary would cap a national security team that is strikingly more bellicose and uncompromising than that of Mr Obama.
"General Mattis, 66, nicknamed 'Mad Dog', attracted controversy and admiration in 2005 when he said shooting Taliban fighters was fun and mocked their sexual potency. 'You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,' he said. 'You know guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling.'
"A year earlier he had commanded US marines in the battle of Fallujah. During the Iraq invasion, a young platoon commander was shocked to find General Mattis, then a brigadier-general, in a fighting hole with a sergeant and a lance corporal. General Mattis used the dictum: 'Be polite, be professional but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.' He was also nicknamed the 'warrior monk' and is said to own more than 7000 books. He impressed on his troops the need to be culturally sensitive and stressed that humanitarian actions would undermine the Islamist enemies." (Carter & Clapper seek to oust admiral eyed by new president, AFP, The Sunday Times/ The Australian, 21/11/16)
7,000 books? Check out these li'l beauties from LtGen James Mattis' Reading List, Small Wars Journal (5/6/07):
Israel's Lebanese War, A Preliminary Assessment - Dr. Martin van Creveld, The RUSI Journal, October 2006
The Crisis of Islam: Holy War & Unholy Terror - Bernard Lewis
What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam & Modernity in the Middle East - Bernard Lewis
From Beirut to Jerusalem - Thomas Friedman
Hatred's Kingdom - Dore Gold
The Arab Mind - Raphael Patai
A Peace to End All Peace - David Fromkin
The Arab Israeli Wars - Chaim Herzog
No nasty Edward Said stuff there...
Monday, November 21, 2016
From Neoliberalism to Neofascism
There is much truth in this post-election statement by Cornel West, US philosopher, academic, social activist, author, public intellectual and member of the Democratic Socialists of America:
"The neoliberal era in the United States ended with a neofascist bang. The political triumph of Donald Trump shattered the establishment in the Democratic and Republican parties - both wedded to the rule of Big Money and to the reign of meretricious politicians. The Bush and Clinton dynasties were destroyed by the media-saturated lure of the pseudo-populist billionaire with narcissist sensibilities and ugly, fascist proclivities. The monumental election of Trump was a desperate and xenophobic cry of human hearts for a way out from under the devastation of a disintegrating neoliberal order - a nostalgic return to an imaginary past of greatness.
"White working- and middle-class fellow citizens - out of anger and anguish - rejected the economic neglect of neoliberal policies and the self-righteous arrogance of elites. Yet these same citizens also supported a candidate who appeared to blame their social misery on minorities, and who alienated Mexican immigrants, Muslims, black people, Jews, gay people, women and China in the process. This lethal fusion of economic insecurity and cultural scapegoating brought neoliberalism to its knees. In short, the abysmal failure of the Democratic party to speak to the arrested mobility and escalating poverty of working people unleashed a hate-filled populism and protectionism that threaten to tear apart the fragile fiber of what is left of US democracy. And since the most explosive fault lines in present-day America are first and foremost racial, then gender, homophobic, ethnic and religious, we gird ourselves for a frightening future.
"What is to be done? First we must try to tell the truth and a condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak. For 40 years, neoliberals lived in a world of denial and indifference to the suffering of poor and working people and were obsessed with the spectacle of success. Second we must bear witness to justice. We must ground our truth-telling in a willingness to suffer and sacrifice as we resist domination. Third we must remember courageous exemplars like Martin Luther King Jr, who provide moral and spiritual inspiration as we build multiracial alliances to combat poverty and xenophobia, Wall Street crimes and war crimes, global warming and police abuse - and to protect precious rights and liberties.
"The age of Obama was the last gasp of neoliberalism. Despite some progressive words and symbolic gestures, Obama chose to ignore Wall Street crimes, reject bailouts for homeowners, oversee growing inequality and facilitate war crimes like US drones killing innocent civilians abroad. Rightwing attacks on Obama - and trump-inspired racist hatred of him - have made it nearly impossible to hear the progressive critiques of Obama. The president has been reluctant to target black suffering - be it in overcrowded prisons, decrepit schools or declining workplaces. Yet, despite that, we get celebrations of the neoliberal status quo couched in racial symbolism and personal legacy. Meanwhile, poor and working class citizens of all colors have continued to suffer in relative silence. In this sense, Trump's election was enabled by the neoliberal policies of the Clintons and Obama that overlooked the plight of our most vulnerable citizens. The progressive populism of Bernie Sanders nearly toppled the establishment of the Democratic party but Clinton and Obama came to the rescue to preserve the status quo. And I do believe Sanders would have beat trump to avert this neofascist outcome!
"In this bleak moment, we must inspire each other driven by a democratic soulcraft of integrity, courage, empathy and a mature sense of history - even as it seems our democracy is slipping away. We must not turn away from the forgotten people of US foreign policy - such as Palestinians under Israeli occupation, Yemen's civilians killed by US-sponsored Saudi troops or Africans subject to expanding US military presence. As one whose great family and people survived and thrived through slavery, Jim Crow and lynching, Trump's neofascist rhetoric and predictable authoritarian reign is just another ugly moment that calls forth the best of who we are and what we can do. For us in these times, to even have hope is too abstract, too detached, too spectatorial. Instead we must be a hope, a participant and a force for good as we face this catastrophe." (Goodbye, American neoliberalism. A new era is here, theguardian.com, 17/11/16)
"The neoliberal era in the United States ended with a neofascist bang. The political triumph of Donald Trump shattered the establishment in the Democratic and Republican parties - both wedded to the rule of Big Money and to the reign of meretricious politicians. The Bush and Clinton dynasties were destroyed by the media-saturated lure of the pseudo-populist billionaire with narcissist sensibilities and ugly, fascist proclivities. The monumental election of Trump was a desperate and xenophobic cry of human hearts for a way out from under the devastation of a disintegrating neoliberal order - a nostalgic return to an imaginary past of greatness.
"White working- and middle-class fellow citizens - out of anger and anguish - rejected the economic neglect of neoliberal policies and the self-righteous arrogance of elites. Yet these same citizens also supported a candidate who appeared to blame their social misery on minorities, and who alienated Mexican immigrants, Muslims, black people, Jews, gay people, women and China in the process. This lethal fusion of economic insecurity and cultural scapegoating brought neoliberalism to its knees. In short, the abysmal failure of the Democratic party to speak to the arrested mobility and escalating poverty of working people unleashed a hate-filled populism and protectionism that threaten to tear apart the fragile fiber of what is left of US democracy. And since the most explosive fault lines in present-day America are first and foremost racial, then gender, homophobic, ethnic and religious, we gird ourselves for a frightening future.
"What is to be done? First we must try to tell the truth and a condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak. For 40 years, neoliberals lived in a world of denial and indifference to the suffering of poor and working people and were obsessed with the spectacle of success. Second we must bear witness to justice. We must ground our truth-telling in a willingness to suffer and sacrifice as we resist domination. Third we must remember courageous exemplars like Martin Luther King Jr, who provide moral and spiritual inspiration as we build multiracial alliances to combat poverty and xenophobia, Wall Street crimes and war crimes, global warming and police abuse - and to protect precious rights and liberties.
"The age of Obama was the last gasp of neoliberalism. Despite some progressive words and symbolic gestures, Obama chose to ignore Wall Street crimes, reject bailouts for homeowners, oversee growing inequality and facilitate war crimes like US drones killing innocent civilians abroad. Rightwing attacks on Obama - and trump-inspired racist hatred of him - have made it nearly impossible to hear the progressive critiques of Obama. The president has been reluctant to target black suffering - be it in overcrowded prisons, decrepit schools or declining workplaces. Yet, despite that, we get celebrations of the neoliberal status quo couched in racial symbolism and personal legacy. Meanwhile, poor and working class citizens of all colors have continued to suffer in relative silence. In this sense, Trump's election was enabled by the neoliberal policies of the Clintons and Obama that overlooked the plight of our most vulnerable citizens. The progressive populism of Bernie Sanders nearly toppled the establishment of the Democratic party but Clinton and Obama came to the rescue to preserve the status quo. And I do believe Sanders would have beat trump to avert this neofascist outcome!
"In this bleak moment, we must inspire each other driven by a democratic soulcraft of integrity, courage, empathy and a mature sense of history - even as it seems our democracy is slipping away. We must not turn away from the forgotten people of US foreign policy - such as Palestinians under Israeli occupation, Yemen's civilians killed by US-sponsored Saudi troops or Africans subject to expanding US military presence. As one whose great family and people survived and thrived through slavery, Jim Crow and lynching, Trump's neofascist rhetoric and predictable authoritarian reign is just another ugly moment that calls forth the best of who we are and what we can do. For us in these times, to even have hope is too abstract, too detached, too spectatorial. Instead we must be a hope, a participant and a force for good as we face this catastrophe." (Goodbye, American neoliberalism. A new era is here, theguardian.com, 17/11/16)
Saturday, November 19, 2016
My Problem with Stan Grant
"As a reporter I have seen the human debris from this clash of cultures, religions, civilisations and identities: think Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda; Sunni and Shia throughout the Middle East; Hindu and Muslim in India and Pakistan; and Israeli versus Palestinian." (The identity trap, Stan Grant, Sydney Morning Herald, 19/11/16)
This show pony has no idea if he thinks Palestine/Israel is all about identity politics.
Frankly, 'reporters' who swan around the planet, scribbling away, without first taking the trouble to read a few reputable histories of the people and places they're reporting on, are bad enough, but those who haven't got the wit to recognise a colonial dynamic when it's raging all around them really get me down.
This show pony has no idea if he thinks Palestine/Israel is all about identity politics.
Frankly, 'reporters' who swan around the planet, scribbling away, without first taking the trouble to read a few reputable histories of the people and places they're reporting on, are bad enough, but those who haven't got the wit to recognise a colonial dynamic when it's raging all around them really get me down.
Friday, November 18, 2016
Inside Trump's Bubble
"Mr Trump has long lived in a bubble of his own creation... 'The reason my hair looks so neat all the time is because I don't have to deal with the elements very often,' Mr Trump wrote in his 2004 book, How to Get Rich. 'I live in the building where I work. I take an elevator from my bedroom to my office. The rest of the time, I'm either in my stretch limousine, my private jet, my helicopter, or my private club in Palm Beach, Florida'." (Trump swaps one cloistered life for another, AP, The Australian, 17/11/16)
"Norman Vincent Peale was... a bestselling author. In 1952 he published a book called The Power Of Positive Thinking, which sold millions of copies. It also launched the positive thinking movement with its motivational speakers, its role in business morale conferences and its shelves of self-help books. Positive thinking has become one of the most influential modern ideas, particularly in America... The first chapter of Peale's bestseller, Believe in Yourself, begins like this: 'Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.' Positive thinkers accompany this belief with another. You can make things happen by wanting them to happen. You can change things by believing strongly enough in change. If change does not happen it just means that you didn't believe it enough...
"Peale is, along with [his property developer father] Fred, the only person Trump openly calls a mentor... Peale, he said, 'would install a very positive feeling about God that also made me feel positive about myself'. As Trump put it in the early 1980s: 'The mind can overcome any obstacle. I never think of the negative.' The business career, the politics and even the boasting (Trump overlooked the requirement to be humble) all bear the imprint of Peale and of the positive thinking movement. 'There is nobody like me. Nobody.' Who on earth would say something like that? Let alone write it down in a campaign book. The answer is someone who believes that saying it makes it come true. Someone who thinks that you have to believe in yourself in order to be happy and successful. Ditto: 'I'm rich. I mean, I'm really rich. I've earned more money than even I thought I would - and I've had some pretty big dreams.' Positive thinking teaches you that you can believe yourself rich." (Power of positive thinking: I think, so I can, Daniel Finkelstein, The Times/ The Australian, 17/11/16)
"Norman Vincent Peale was... a bestselling author. In 1952 he published a book called The Power Of Positive Thinking, which sold millions of copies. It also launched the positive thinking movement with its motivational speakers, its role in business morale conferences and its shelves of self-help books. Positive thinking has become one of the most influential modern ideas, particularly in America... The first chapter of Peale's bestseller, Believe in Yourself, begins like this: 'Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.' Positive thinkers accompany this belief with another. You can make things happen by wanting them to happen. You can change things by believing strongly enough in change. If change does not happen it just means that you didn't believe it enough...
"Peale is, along with [his property developer father] Fred, the only person Trump openly calls a mentor... Peale, he said, 'would install a very positive feeling about God that also made me feel positive about myself'. As Trump put it in the early 1980s: 'The mind can overcome any obstacle. I never think of the negative.' The business career, the politics and even the boasting (Trump overlooked the requirement to be humble) all bear the imprint of Peale and of the positive thinking movement. 'There is nobody like me. Nobody.' Who on earth would say something like that? Let alone write it down in a campaign book. The answer is someone who believes that saying it makes it come true. Someone who thinks that you have to believe in yourself in order to be happy and successful. Ditto: 'I'm rich. I mean, I'm really rich. I've earned more money than even I thought I would - and I've had some pretty big dreams.' Positive thinking teaches you that you can believe yourself rich." (Power of positive thinking: I think, so I can, Daniel Finkelstein, The Times/ The Australian, 17/11/16)
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Glen Le Lievre: Cartoonist of the Year
Some good news:
"The Sun-Herald's Glen Le Lievre has been crowned cartoonist of the year, winning the Gold Stanley at the annual Stanley Awards in Parramatta on Saturday night. It comes after he was named a finalist in the Walkley Awards for two of his Herald cartoons." (Sun-Herald cartoonist tops, The Sun-Herald, 13/11/16)
No commentator on political affairs is worth the time of day unless he/she passes the Palestine/Israel test. In the field of political cartooning, Glen Le Lievre, like Michael Leunig before him, has passed that test with flying colours. So congratulations, Glen, on your well-deserved award.
For the trials and tribulations of Glen Le Lievre on this subject, simply click on the Le Lievre label below and familiarise/ re-familiarise yourself with the whole sorry saga of the risks involved in telling the plain truth about Palestine/Israel in Australia's mainstream media.
"The Sun-Herald's Glen Le Lievre has been crowned cartoonist of the year, winning the Gold Stanley at the annual Stanley Awards in Parramatta on Saturday night. It comes after he was named a finalist in the Walkley Awards for two of his Herald cartoons." (Sun-Herald cartoonist tops, The Sun-Herald, 13/11/16)
No commentator on political affairs is worth the time of day unless he/she passes the Palestine/Israel test. In the field of political cartooning, Glen Le Lievre, like Michael Leunig before him, has passed that test with flying colours. So congratulations, Glen, on your well-deserved award.
For the trials and tribulations of Glen Le Lievre on this subject, simply click on the Le Lievre label below and familiarise/ re-familiarise yourself with the whole sorry saga of the risks involved in telling the plain truth about Palestine/Israel in Australia's mainstream media.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Victorian Tax $$$ at Work
"The Victorian Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade, Philip Dalidakis, is set to lead the first ministerial trade mission to Israel focused on cyber security as the state looks to bolster its reputation as the premier information security hub in the Asia-Pacific region. The data and cyber security trade mission, developed in conjunction with the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, will see Mr Dalidakis lead a delegation of Victorian companies and representatives from national organisations to attend Israel's 4th International Homeland Security and Cyber Conference." (Victorians on a mission with visit to Israel, Supratim Adhikari, The Australian, 8/11/16)
"Off to the #startupnations #cybertech oasis Beersheba w/ @optus @auspost @Data61news @ Cisco @ VictoriaPolice @ NAB @ IBM 2linfoxlogistics +more" (Philip Dalidakis MP tweet, 15/11/16)
"Off to the #startupnations #cybertech oasis Beersheba w/ @optus @auspost @Data61news @ Cisco @ VictoriaPolice @ NAB @ IBM 2linfoxlogistics +more" (Philip Dalidakis MP tweet, 15/11/16)
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Clinton Emailed
From John Pilger's interview with Julian Assange, Emails show Clinton Foundation funders also bankroll ISIS: the explosive interview with John Pilger, newmatilda.com, 5/11/16:
Pilger: The emails that give evidence of access for money and how Hillary Clinton herself benefited from this and how she's benefiting politically are quite extraordinary. I'm thinking of when the Qatari representative was given 5 minutes with Bill Clinton for a million dollar cheque.
Assange: And 12m from Morocco... For Hillary Clinton to attend [a party]
Pilger: In terms of US foreign policy, that's where the emails are most revealing, where they show the direct connection between Hillary Clinton and the foundation of jihadism, of ISIS, in the Middle East. Can you talk about how the emails demonstrate [that] those who are meant to be fighting the ISIS jihadists are actually those who have helped create it?
Assange: There's an early 2014 email from Hillary Clinton... to her campaign manager John Podesta that states ISIS is funded by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This is the most significant email in the whole collection, and... because Saudi and Qatari money is spread all over the Clinton Foundation. Even the US government agrees that some Saudi figures have been supporting ISIS. But the dodge has always been that it's just some rogue princes, using their cut of the oil money to do whatever they like, but that, actually, the government disapproves. But that email says that no, it is the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar that have been funding ISIS.
Pilger: The Saudis, Qataris, Moroccans, Bahrainis... were giving all this money to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, and the State Department was approving massive arms sales, particularly to Saudi Arabia.
Assange: Under Hillary Clinton the world's largest ever arms deal was made with Saudi Arabia, [worth] more than $80 billion. In fact, during her tenure as secretary of state, total arms exports from the United States, in terms of dollar value, have doubled.
Pilger: Of course, the consequence of that is that ISIS has been created largely with money from the very people who are giving money to the Clinton Foundation.
Assange: Yes.
(Assange goes on to reveal that Clinton is the public face of Wall Street and that "half the Obama cabinet was basically nominated by a representative from City Bank.")
Pilger: Why was she so enthusiastic about the destruction of Libya? What have the emails told us about what happened there, because Libya is such a source for so much of the mayhem now in Syria... and it was almost Hillary Clinton's invasion?
Assange: Libya... was Hillary Clinton's war. Obama initially opposed it, Hillary Clinton championed it. That's documented throughout her emails. She'd put her favorite agent, Sidney Blumenthal onto it. More than 1,700 out of the 33,000 of the emails we've published are just about Libya. It wasn't about cheap oil. She saw the removal of Gaddafi... as something she could use in her run-up to election as president. In late 2011, an internal document called the Libya Tick Tock was produced for her. It's a chronology of how she was the central figure in the destruction of the Libyan state, which resulted in around 40,000 deaths in Libya. Jihadists, ISIS moved in, leading to the European refugee crisis... As Gaddafi said at the time: 'What do these Europeans think they're doing, trying to bomb and destroy Libya? There's going to be a flood of migrants and jihadists out of Africa and into Europe,' and that's exactly what happened.
Pilger: The emails that give evidence of access for money and how Hillary Clinton herself benefited from this and how she's benefiting politically are quite extraordinary. I'm thinking of when the Qatari representative was given 5 minutes with Bill Clinton for a million dollar cheque.
Assange: And 12m from Morocco... For Hillary Clinton to attend [a party]
Pilger: In terms of US foreign policy, that's where the emails are most revealing, where they show the direct connection between Hillary Clinton and the foundation of jihadism, of ISIS, in the Middle East. Can you talk about how the emails demonstrate [that] those who are meant to be fighting the ISIS jihadists are actually those who have helped create it?
Assange: There's an early 2014 email from Hillary Clinton... to her campaign manager John Podesta that states ISIS is funded by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This is the most significant email in the whole collection, and... because Saudi and Qatari money is spread all over the Clinton Foundation. Even the US government agrees that some Saudi figures have been supporting ISIS. But the dodge has always been that it's just some rogue princes, using their cut of the oil money to do whatever they like, but that, actually, the government disapproves. But that email says that no, it is the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar that have been funding ISIS.
Pilger: The Saudis, Qataris, Moroccans, Bahrainis... were giving all this money to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, and the State Department was approving massive arms sales, particularly to Saudi Arabia.
Assange: Under Hillary Clinton the world's largest ever arms deal was made with Saudi Arabia, [worth] more than $80 billion. In fact, during her tenure as secretary of state, total arms exports from the United States, in terms of dollar value, have doubled.
Pilger: Of course, the consequence of that is that ISIS has been created largely with money from the very people who are giving money to the Clinton Foundation.
Assange: Yes.
(Assange goes on to reveal that Clinton is the public face of Wall Street and that "half the Obama cabinet was basically nominated by a representative from City Bank.")
Pilger: Why was she so enthusiastic about the destruction of Libya? What have the emails told us about what happened there, because Libya is such a source for so much of the mayhem now in Syria... and it was almost Hillary Clinton's invasion?
Assange: Libya... was Hillary Clinton's war. Obama initially opposed it, Hillary Clinton championed it. That's documented throughout her emails. She'd put her favorite agent, Sidney Blumenthal onto it. More than 1,700 out of the 33,000 of the emails we've published are just about Libya. It wasn't about cheap oil. She saw the removal of Gaddafi... as something she could use in her run-up to election as president. In late 2011, an internal document called the Libya Tick Tock was produced for her. It's a chronology of how she was the central figure in the destruction of the Libyan state, which resulted in around 40,000 deaths in Libya. Jihadists, ISIS moved in, leading to the European refugee crisis... As Gaddafi said at the time: 'What do these Europeans think they're doing, trying to bomb and destroy Libya? There's going to be a flood of migrants and jihadists out of Africa and into Europe,' and that's exactly what happened.
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Armistice Day 2016
Yesterday was Armistice Day, denoting the official end of World War I (1914-1918). I thought I'd mark it with the lyrics of The Worker's Song by Ed Pickford:
Come all of you workers who toil night and day
By hand and by brain to earn your pay
Who for centuries long past for no more than your bread
Have bled for your countries and counted your dead
In the factories and mills, in the shipyards and mines
We've often been told to keep up with the times
For our skills are not needed, they've streamlined the job
But when the sky darkens and the prospect is war
Who's given a gun and then pushed to the fore
And expected to die for the land of our birth
When we've never owned one handful of earth?
We're the first ones to starve, the first ones to die
The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky
And always the last when the cream is shared out
For the worker is working when the fat cat's about
All of these things the worker has done
From tilling the fields to carrying the gun
We've been yoked to the plough since time first began
And always expected to carry the can.
Come all of you workers who toil night and day
By hand and by brain to earn your pay
Who for centuries long past for no more than your bread
Have bled for your countries and counted your dead
In the factories and mills, in the shipyards and mines
We've often been told to keep up with the times
For our skills are not needed, they've streamlined the job
But when the sky darkens and the prospect is war
Who's given a gun and then pushed to the fore
And expected to die for the land of our birth
When we've never owned one handful of earth?
We're the first ones to starve, the first ones to die
The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky
And always the last when the cream is shared out
For the worker is working when the fat cat's about
All of these things the worker has done
From tilling the fields to carrying the gun
We've been yoked to the plough since time first began
And always expected to carry the can.
Trump on Iraq
"Some of Trump's off-the-top-of-the-head suggestions for challenging terrorism... include... confiscating Iraq's energy resources to pay for Washington's defence spending in the region." (How much power will President Trump have? Paul McGeough, Sydney Morning Herald, 11/11/16)
So the US, under a former village idiot who managed to find his way into the White House, invaded Iraq in 2003, slamming it against the wall and unleashing the progenitors of the sectarian crazies now calling themselves Islamic State, and Iraq, not Bush and his neocon crazies who were responsible for creating the mess in the first place, will be forced by Trump to pay the bill for Washington's - wait for it - DEFENCE spending in the region...
So the US, under a former village idiot who managed to find his way into the White House, invaded Iraq in 2003, slamming it against the wall and unleashing the progenitors of the sectarian crazies now calling themselves Islamic State, and Iraq, not Bush and his neocon crazies who were responsible for creating the mess in the first place, will be forced by Trump to pay the bill for Washington's - wait for it - DEFENCE spending in the region...
Friday, November 11, 2016
Romeo & Juliet, Tristan & Isolde, Hillary & Israel
A says-it-all document from hillaryclinton.com/briefing/factchecks:
Hillary Clinton & Israel: A 30-Year Record of Friendship, Leadership & Strength
From the State Department and both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, Clinton has made support for Israel one of her top priorities.
*As Secretary, Clinton's State Department reaffirmed the US commitment to preserving Israel's Qualitative Military Edge (QME) and requested increased assistance for Israel every year, from $2.55 billion when she took office to $3.1 billion in FY2013, a nearly 20% increase. She worked to build stronger defence programs for Israel, including upgraded Patriot missiles and the Iron Dome system, which blocked rockets from Hamas and Hezbollah and saved Israeli lives, as well as helping equip Israel with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. During her tenure, Prime Minister Netanyahu credited our 'unprecedented' security cooperation with Israel. She led international efforts to pass UN Security Council Resolution 1929, imposing the harshest sanctions on Iran in history. In 2012 she led negotiations to establish a ceasefire in Gaza and end rocket attacks from Hamas. She tirelessly fought efforts to delegitimize Israel: calling out the UN Human Rights Council for its 'structural bias' against Israel, criticizing the Goldstone report as 'one-sided,' and making sure that the United States blocked UN Security Council resolutions for Palestinian statehood.
*As a Senator from New York, Clinton championed legislation to get tough on Iran; helped lead the effort to crack down on Palestinian incitement in textbooks and schools; and fought successively to have Israel's Magen David Adom accepted by the International Red Cross. She introduced and co-sponsored numerous bills to support Israel; isolate and weaken terrorist groups and their state sponsors; and elevate the fight against anti-Semitism in the Middle East, Europe, and around the world.
*As First Lady, Clinton supported Israel's search for peace and the fight against terrorism, saying 'I understand the need never to compromise the security of Israel.' She traveled repeatedly to Israel and forged a lasting bond and friendships with Israeli leaders and people.
Clinton's Vision: Deepen Our Unshakable Commitment to Israel's Security
Clinton believes that Israel's security is a national priority for the United States. Israel must be able to defend itself by itself. As President, she will:
*Increase support for rocket and missile defense, including Iron Dome and David's Sling, and push to expand missile defense to northern Israel, so that Israel can defend itself against rocket attacks and medium-range missiles, and push for better tunnel detection technology to better protect Israel from infiltration by terrorists and weapons;
*Guarantee Israel's Qualitative Military Edge to ensure the IDF is equipped to deter and defeat aggression from the full spectrum of threats;
*Renew the US-Israel Memorandum of Understanding, providing a 10-year US commitment to provide Israel with the security assistance it needs to maintain the most capable military in the Middle East;
*Expand shared security and intelligence operations and US-Israel military exercises;
*Partner with Israel to advance the two-state vision of a Jewish and democratic Israel with secure and recognized borders.
Redouble US Leadership to Confront Regional Threats
The threats emanating from the Middle East, including the dangers posed by Iran and its terrorist proxies, demand strong, smart and determined US leadership. As President, Clinton will:
*Vigorously enforce the nuclear agreement with Iran and not hesitate to take military action to protect the United States and our allies if Iran attempts to attain a nuclear weapon;
*Redouble the international pressure on Iran to end its support for terrorist proxies that threaten Israel and destabilize the region, from Lebanon to Gaza to Syria;
*Strengthen our alliances and partnerships to combat terrorism and improve the long-term trend lines in the region, from North Africa across the Middle East.
Defend Israel on the World Stage
Israel is a vibrant democracy in a region dominated by autocracy. International organizations should work with Israel to advance our shared values, not attack it. As President, Clinton will:
*Veto any effort at the UN to short-circuit negotiations between the parties;
*Fight any effort to undermine Israel's security or impinge on its right to self-defence;
*Oppose anti-Israel bias in UN bodies and other international forums;
*Stand up against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement;
*Cut off efforts to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood outside the context of negotiations with Israel.
Hillary Clinton & Israel: A 30-Year Record of Friendship, Leadership & Strength
From the State Department and both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, Clinton has made support for Israel one of her top priorities.
*As Secretary, Clinton's State Department reaffirmed the US commitment to preserving Israel's Qualitative Military Edge (QME) and requested increased assistance for Israel every year, from $2.55 billion when she took office to $3.1 billion in FY2013, a nearly 20% increase. She worked to build stronger defence programs for Israel, including upgraded Patriot missiles and the Iron Dome system, which blocked rockets from Hamas and Hezbollah and saved Israeli lives, as well as helping equip Israel with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. During her tenure, Prime Minister Netanyahu credited our 'unprecedented' security cooperation with Israel. She led international efforts to pass UN Security Council Resolution 1929, imposing the harshest sanctions on Iran in history. In 2012 she led negotiations to establish a ceasefire in Gaza and end rocket attacks from Hamas. She tirelessly fought efforts to delegitimize Israel: calling out the UN Human Rights Council for its 'structural bias' against Israel, criticizing the Goldstone report as 'one-sided,' and making sure that the United States blocked UN Security Council resolutions for Palestinian statehood.
*As a Senator from New York, Clinton championed legislation to get tough on Iran; helped lead the effort to crack down on Palestinian incitement in textbooks and schools; and fought successively to have Israel's Magen David Adom accepted by the International Red Cross. She introduced and co-sponsored numerous bills to support Israel; isolate and weaken terrorist groups and their state sponsors; and elevate the fight against anti-Semitism in the Middle East, Europe, and around the world.
*As First Lady, Clinton supported Israel's search for peace and the fight against terrorism, saying 'I understand the need never to compromise the security of Israel.' She traveled repeatedly to Israel and forged a lasting bond and friendships with Israeli leaders and people.
Clinton's Vision: Deepen Our Unshakable Commitment to Israel's Security
Clinton believes that Israel's security is a national priority for the United States. Israel must be able to defend itself by itself. As President, she will:
*Increase support for rocket and missile defense, including Iron Dome and David's Sling, and push to expand missile defense to northern Israel, so that Israel can defend itself against rocket attacks and medium-range missiles, and push for better tunnel detection technology to better protect Israel from infiltration by terrorists and weapons;
*Guarantee Israel's Qualitative Military Edge to ensure the IDF is equipped to deter and defeat aggression from the full spectrum of threats;
*Renew the US-Israel Memorandum of Understanding, providing a 10-year US commitment to provide Israel with the security assistance it needs to maintain the most capable military in the Middle East;
*Expand shared security and intelligence operations and US-Israel military exercises;
*Partner with Israel to advance the two-state vision of a Jewish and democratic Israel with secure and recognized borders.
Redouble US Leadership to Confront Regional Threats
The threats emanating from the Middle East, including the dangers posed by Iran and its terrorist proxies, demand strong, smart and determined US leadership. As President, Clinton will:
*Vigorously enforce the nuclear agreement with Iran and not hesitate to take military action to protect the United States and our allies if Iran attempts to attain a nuclear weapon;
*Redouble the international pressure on Iran to end its support for terrorist proxies that threaten Israel and destabilize the region, from Lebanon to Gaza to Syria;
*Strengthen our alliances and partnerships to combat terrorism and improve the long-term trend lines in the region, from North Africa across the Middle East.
Defend Israel on the World Stage
Israel is a vibrant democracy in a region dominated by autocracy. International organizations should work with Israel to advance our shared values, not attack it. As President, Clinton will:
*Veto any effort at the UN to short-circuit negotiations between the parties;
*Fight any effort to undermine Israel's security or impinge on its right to self-defence;
*Oppose anti-Israel bias in UN bodies and other international forums;
*Stand up against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement;
*Cut off efforts to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood outside the context of negotiations with Israel.
Thursday, November 10, 2016
So What's in It for Israel?
Trump's election may have been the greatest ever F***YOU vote of our time... but over in Israel, the movers and shakers (of Palestinians) are wetting themselves, not only in anticipation of what's already in the pipeline, but, undoubtedly, what they feel they can now get away with in the years ahead. So what's in the pipeline as we speak?:
"Israeli government ministers and political figures are pushing the US president-elect, Donald Trump, to quickly fulfill his campaign promise to overturn decades of US foreign policy and recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv. Their calls come as one of Trump's advisers on Israel and the Middle East*, David Friedman, told the Jerusalem Post Trump would follow through on his promise. 'It was a campaign promise and there is every intention to keep it,' Friedman said. 'We are going to see a very different relationship between America and Israel in a positive way.'
"Other political figures - including Israel's controversial far-right education minister, Naftali Bennett - went further, suggesting that Trump's election should signal the end of the two-state solution and aspirations for a Palestinian state. The US election campaign has been closely watched in Israel, not least Trump's promise to scrap the Iran nuclear deal drawn up by Barack Obama and fiercely opposed by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Indeed, during his campaign Trump slammed the Iran deal, describing it as 'the stupidest deal of all time', and vowing to tear it up.
"During the campaign Trump also promised to be Israel's 'closest friend', and has indicated that he would take a different approach to Israel's settlement-building in the occupied territories - long condemned by successive US governments." (Trump has 'every intention' of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Peter Beaumont, The Guardian, 10/11/16)
[*Hark the phrase: "one of Trump's advisers on Israel and the Middle East" Note the word order: ISRAEL and the middle east. And Friedman's only ONE of these buggers FFS!]
"Israeli government ministers and political figures are pushing the US president-elect, Donald Trump, to quickly fulfill his campaign promise to overturn decades of US foreign policy and recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv. Their calls come as one of Trump's advisers on Israel and the Middle East*, David Friedman, told the Jerusalem Post Trump would follow through on his promise. 'It was a campaign promise and there is every intention to keep it,' Friedman said. 'We are going to see a very different relationship between America and Israel in a positive way.'
"Other political figures - including Israel's controversial far-right education minister, Naftali Bennett - went further, suggesting that Trump's election should signal the end of the two-state solution and aspirations for a Palestinian state. The US election campaign has been closely watched in Israel, not least Trump's promise to scrap the Iran nuclear deal drawn up by Barack Obama and fiercely opposed by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Indeed, during his campaign Trump slammed the Iran deal, describing it as 'the stupidest deal of all time', and vowing to tear it up.
"During the campaign Trump also promised to be Israel's 'closest friend', and has indicated that he would take a different approach to Israel's settlement-building in the occupied territories - long condemned by successive US governments." (Trump has 'every intention' of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Peter Beaumont, The Guardian, 10/11/16)
[*Hark the phrase: "one of Trump's advisers on Israel and the Middle East" Note the word order: ISRAEL and the middle east. And Friedman's only ONE of these buggers FFS!]
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
You Wouldn't Read About It
Hm...
"Australia's eight most active environmental groups with tax-exempt status pulled in $83 million last year and received almost three quarters of a billion dollars in the past decade... The use of tax-exempt charity status to fund environmental challenges to developments through the courts and public campaigns has become a major concern within the government, the Australian Taxation Office as well as in the US. Environmental groups and US-based billion-dollar foundations have used charity status to help fund their actions, funnelling funds to groups without tax exemptions and hiding donors." (Green groups' $685m windfall over decade, Joe Kelly/Dennis Shanahan, The Australian, 1/11/16)
Uh-huh... so environmental groups who are trying to prevent Australia being raped, pillaged and plundered by assorted corporate rapists, pillagers and plunderers need to be stopped. And who are they? I hear you ask.
The guilty-as-hell are all there in The Australian as follows: Greenpeace, WWF Australia, Friends of the Earth Australia, The Sunrise Project, Lock the Gate Alliance, 350 Australia, ACF and the Wilderness Society.
But wait, where's the tax-exempt 'environmental charity', JNF Environmental Association of Australia Inc?* Why aren't they on the Murdoch hitlist?
Well, if I may hazard a guess, it's probably because they're off doing sterling work... in Israel.
For example:
"An upgraded clubhouse for lone soldiers who have immigrated to Israel without their parents has been established in Raanana with the support of JNF Australia and the Bolot family of Sydney, Auckland and London." (Bolot family supports lone soldier clubhouse, jwire.com.au, 9/3/16)
Or maybe they're hosting hot Israeli generals at their Gala Dinners who talk about cool things like the 1976 "Entebbe rescue operation" and how it "symbolises the best of the IDF, its courage, its values and its integrity." (Mofaz addresses JNF Gala Dinner, jwire.com.au, 12/9/16)
[*See my 21/5/15 post The Last 'Australian Environmental Charity' Left Standing?]
"Australia's eight most active environmental groups with tax-exempt status pulled in $83 million last year and received almost three quarters of a billion dollars in the past decade... The use of tax-exempt charity status to fund environmental challenges to developments through the courts and public campaigns has become a major concern within the government, the Australian Taxation Office as well as in the US. Environmental groups and US-based billion-dollar foundations have used charity status to help fund their actions, funnelling funds to groups without tax exemptions and hiding donors." (Green groups' $685m windfall over decade, Joe Kelly/Dennis Shanahan, The Australian, 1/11/16)
Uh-huh... so environmental groups who are trying to prevent Australia being raped, pillaged and plundered by assorted corporate rapists, pillagers and plunderers need to be stopped. And who are they? I hear you ask.
The guilty-as-hell are all there in The Australian as follows: Greenpeace, WWF Australia, Friends of the Earth Australia, The Sunrise Project, Lock the Gate Alliance, 350 Australia, ACF and the Wilderness Society.
But wait, where's the tax-exempt 'environmental charity', JNF Environmental Association of Australia Inc?* Why aren't they on the Murdoch hitlist?
Well, if I may hazard a guess, it's probably because they're off doing sterling work... in Israel.
For example:
"An upgraded clubhouse for lone soldiers who have immigrated to Israel without their parents has been established in Raanana with the support of JNF Australia and the Bolot family of Sydney, Auckland and London." (Bolot family supports lone soldier clubhouse, jwire.com.au, 9/3/16)
Or maybe they're hosting hot Israeli generals at their Gala Dinners who talk about cool things like the 1976 "Entebbe rescue operation" and how it "symbolises the best of the IDF, its courage, its values and its integrity." (Mofaz addresses JNF Gala Dinner, jwire.com.au, 12/9/16)
[*See my 21/5/15 post The Last 'Australian Environmental Charity' Left Standing?]
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Hillary Clinton & the Invasion of Iraq
As Hillary Clinton looks set to become the next US president, it should never be forgotten (or forgiven) that she voted for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and that 9/11, which Saddam Hussein had absolutely nothing to do with, was uppermost in her thinking at the time:
"I am honored to represent nearly 9 million New Yorkers... I come to this decision [to authorize the use of the USAF against Iraq] from the perspective of a Senator from New York who has seen all too closely the consequences of last year's terrorist attacks on our nation. In balancing the risks of action vs inaction, I think New Yorkers who have gone through the fires of hell may be more attuned to the risk of not acting. I know I am. So it is with conviction that I support this resolution." (Senate, 10/10/02)
Have a nice (US election) day...
"I am honored to represent nearly 9 million New Yorkers... I come to this decision [to authorize the use of the USAF against Iraq] from the perspective of a Senator from New York who has seen all too closely the consequences of last year's terrorist attacks on our nation. In balancing the risks of action vs inaction, I think New Yorkers who have gone through the fires of hell may be more attuned to the risk of not acting. I know I am. So it is with conviction that I support this resolution." (Senate, 10/10/02)
Have a nice (US election) day...
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Robert Manne & Murdoch's Australian
How interesting that Robert Manne, who slammed Murdoch's Australian for its multitude of sins (but not its knee-jerk support for Israel) in his 2011 Quarterly Essay, Bad News: Murdoch's Australian & the Shaping of the Nation, is now having his new book, The Mind of the Islamic State promoted by... Murdoch's Australian.
The latest expression of this promotion is Paul Monk's largely favourable review of the book in The Weekend Australian. Monk being Monk, of course, doesn't think Manne has gone quite far enough because he doesn't trace IS's roots all the way back to the Prophet Muhammad and to Islam itself. As he puts it:
"In short, the one God of Islam is not the God of Abraham, of Micah, of Isaiah - or of Jesus. Mohammed's deity is a god of war and conquest and the Sunnah, the example of the prophet, is one of jihad and the killing of one's enemies and critics. Manne does not address this fundamental problem." (5/11/16)
Monk, of course, conveniently omits any reference to the God of Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua (presumably the same "the God of Abraham" etc), who urges his people to practice herem warfare, that is, total destruction/ extermination, something which has no parallel in the Qur'an. For example: "When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations... and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy." (Deuteronomy 7:1-2).*
But my interest here is not in Monk or his madness, it's more in Manne and his newfound accommodation with that fountainhead of "bad news," as he called it in 2011, The Australian. Will we be seeing a letter from Manne, distancing himself from the mad Monk in tomorrow's Australian, for example? I, for one, won't be holding my breath.
[Required reading on this business: Philip Jenkins' 2011 book Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can't Ignore the Bible's Violent Verses.]
The latest expression of this promotion is Paul Monk's largely favourable review of the book in The Weekend Australian. Monk being Monk, of course, doesn't think Manne has gone quite far enough because he doesn't trace IS's roots all the way back to the Prophet Muhammad and to Islam itself. As he puts it:
"In short, the one God of Islam is not the God of Abraham, of Micah, of Isaiah - or of Jesus. Mohammed's deity is a god of war and conquest and the Sunnah, the example of the prophet, is one of jihad and the killing of one's enemies and critics. Manne does not address this fundamental problem." (5/11/16)
Monk, of course, conveniently omits any reference to the God of Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua (presumably the same "the God of Abraham" etc), who urges his people to practice herem warfare, that is, total destruction/ extermination, something which has no parallel in the Qur'an. For example: "When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations... and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy." (Deuteronomy 7:1-2).*
But my interest here is not in Monk or his madness, it's more in Manne and his newfound accommodation with that fountainhead of "bad news," as he called it in 2011, The Australian. Will we be seeing a letter from Manne, distancing himself from the mad Monk in tomorrow's Australian, for example? I, for one, won't be holding my breath.
[Required reading on this business: Philip Jenkins' 2011 book Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can't Ignore the Bible's Violent Verses.]
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Jeez, Louise...
Louise Adler (chief exec. of Melbourne University Publishing) reviews Judas by Amos Oz:
"Oz is literary royalty in Israel, often touted as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature... he refuses to be silenced on the Middle East impasse." (Betrayal may not be all that it seemed, The Australian, 30/10/16)
Jeez, Louise, who TF is trying to "silence" Amos Oz? Really, now!
"Since 1967, Amos Oz has argued for a two-state solution to the equally legitimate yearning for national self-determination of Israelis and Palestinians."
Jeez, Louise, you can't invade someone else's country, under the protection of British bayonets, colonise it, drive out most of the indigenous population in 1948, more again in 1967, then go on to occupy and colonise the remainder (1967-2016), and get to call it self-determination. Sorry, but no.
"As a consequence, he has become accustomed to being described as a traitor...
Jeez, Louise, for advocating that the Indians get a reservation on the West Bank? Seriously?
"As Judas is to Jesus, as Oz is to Israel, Abravanel ['the only member of the Zionist executive to argue for peaceful co-existence with the Arab inhabitants with whom he dared to fraternise'] is to Ben Gurion. He becomes the traitor of 1948, ostracised for daring to suggest peace with the Arabs requires the Jews not to demand a state of their own, to resist their own assertion of power."
Jeez, Louise, really now, was there anyone on the "Zionist executive" in 1948 even remotely like this Abravanel/Oz character? Was there? And, seriously, do you, hand-on-heart, find it at all credible that Abravanel made it all the way to the "Zionist executive," only to balk at the core tenet of Zionism, namely a Jewish state in Palestine from the River to the Sea, at the very last moment?
And finally, Jeez, Louise, nothing at all to say about the Israel=Jesus Christ equation?
"Oz is literary royalty in Israel, often touted as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature... he refuses to be silenced on the Middle East impasse." (Betrayal may not be all that it seemed, The Australian, 30/10/16)
Jeez, Louise, who TF is trying to "silence" Amos Oz? Really, now!
"Since 1967, Amos Oz has argued for a two-state solution to the equally legitimate yearning for national self-determination of Israelis and Palestinians."
Jeez, Louise, you can't invade someone else's country, under the protection of British bayonets, colonise it, drive out most of the indigenous population in 1948, more again in 1967, then go on to occupy and colonise the remainder (1967-2016), and get to call it self-determination. Sorry, but no.
"As a consequence, he has become accustomed to being described as a traitor...
Jeez, Louise, for advocating that the Indians get a reservation on the West Bank? Seriously?
"As Judas is to Jesus, as Oz is to Israel, Abravanel ['the only member of the Zionist executive to argue for peaceful co-existence with the Arab inhabitants with whom he dared to fraternise'] is to Ben Gurion. He becomes the traitor of 1948, ostracised for daring to suggest peace with the Arabs requires the Jews not to demand a state of their own, to resist their own assertion of power."
Jeez, Louise, really now, was there anyone on the "Zionist executive" in 1948 even remotely like this Abravanel/Oz character? Was there? And, seriously, do you, hand-on-heart, find it at all credible that Abravanel made it all the way to the "Zionist executive," only to balk at the core tenet of Zionism, namely a Jewish state in Palestine from the River to the Sea, at the very last moment?
And finally, Jeez, Louise, nothing at all to say about the Israel=Jesus Christ equation?
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Clinton Emails Reveal the Hold of Zionist Money over Democrats
This is a MUST-READ (from Mondoweiss) on the Faustian pact between the US Democratic Party and Zionist money: to the extent that the Dems cosy up to/ accommodate/ go soft on/ shut up about (however you care to put it) Israel, they will get big $$$ and immunity from being smeared as anti-Semitic:
"The latest emails from the Clinton campaign are radioactive. Two emails last year to campaign chairman John Podesta from Neera Tanden, head of the Clintonite thinktank Center for American Progress (CAP), lay bare the influence of Zionist money on the political process as nothing else has.
"The emails relate to Tanden's controversial invitation to right wing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyau to come to the thinktank, months after he had tried to destroy President Obama's Iran deal - for a fawningly-positive 'interview' in which Tanden barely touched on the prime minister's racist appeals to win reelection in Israel earlier that year.
"On November 11, the morning of the Netanyahu lovefest, Podesta asked Tanden for a bottom line on the event: 'What has been gained and what has been lost?' Tanden wrote back to him that afternoon that it was awful, but worth it, because CAP scored a big donor, and we won't be called anti-Semitic again.
'Nothing we have [ever] done [before] has pitted being a thinktank and being ideologically action-oriented against each other more harshly. At the end of the day we had to choose. So [the] answer is complicated. If I could have [had] the whole thing not happen, [I] would definitely have [had] it not happen. But it happened to us.
'Things gained: We will never be called anti-Semitic again. No matter what anyone writes. [The] mainstream press and people think we handled it just right - tough questions. I think for any dismissers, not that I think there were a lot, but we have definitely proven we're a thinktank. And it may have sealed the deal with a new board member.
'Things lost: Staff is riven. On both sides. We are holding a lot of meetings on that. Worse [sic] thing - someone leaked [a] staff statement. That kind of thing really changes the culture. How to keep that culture with that kind of leaking is going to be hard, but [we] need to navigate [it]. And far left hates me.'
"Tanden followed up with this jubilant email to Podesta on December 23: 'Jonathan Levine... is joining the board. So Netanyahu was worth it:)...'
"We noted how much Jonathan Levine, of Bain Capital, and his wife Jeannie, are committed to Israel in this post also based on a Tanden email. As to CAP's fears re a reputation for anti-Semitism, that is because a bunch of neoconservative Israel lobbyists bird-dogged it in 2011-2012 for staffers who were writing letters critical of Israel and the Israel Lobby on Think Progress. All those staffers were in essence purged/ walked out the front door in the end...
"So the dead hand of the past inside Jewish life - rich old donors - are controlling ME policy in liberal institutions... " (Invite to Netanyahu brought a big donor to Dem thinktank - and 'we'll never be called anti-Semitic again', Philip Weiss, mondoweiss.net, 31/10/16)
"The latest emails from the Clinton campaign are radioactive. Two emails last year to campaign chairman John Podesta from Neera Tanden, head of the Clintonite thinktank Center for American Progress (CAP), lay bare the influence of Zionist money on the political process as nothing else has.
"The emails relate to Tanden's controversial invitation to right wing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyau to come to the thinktank, months after he had tried to destroy President Obama's Iran deal - for a fawningly-positive 'interview' in which Tanden barely touched on the prime minister's racist appeals to win reelection in Israel earlier that year.
"On November 11, the morning of the Netanyahu lovefest, Podesta asked Tanden for a bottom line on the event: 'What has been gained and what has been lost?' Tanden wrote back to him that afternoon that it was awful, but worth it, because CAP scored a big donor, and we won't be called anti-Semitic again.
'Nothing we have [ever] done [before] has pitted being a thinktank and being ideologically action-oriented against each other more harshly. At the end of the day we had to choose. So [the] answer is complicated. If I could have [had] the whole thing not happen, [I] would definitely have [had] it not happen. But it happened to us.
'Things gained: We will never be called anti-Semitic again. No matter what anyone writes. [The] mainstream press and people think we handled it just right - tough questions. I think for any dismissers, not that I think there were a lot, but we have definitely proven we're a thinktank. And it may have sealed the deal with a new board member.
'Things lost: Staff is riven. On both sides. We are holding a lot of meetings on that. Worse [sic] thing - someone leaked [a] staff statement. That kind of thing really changes the culture. How to keep that culture with that kind of leaking is going to be hard, but [we] need to navigate [it]. And far left hates me.'
"Tanden followed up with this jubilant email to Podesta on December 23: 'Jonathan Levine... is joining the board. So Netanyahu was worth it:)...'
"We noted how much Jonathan Levine, of Bain Capital, and his wife Jeannie, are committed to Israel in this post also based on a Tanden email. As to CAP's fears re a reputation for anti-Semitism, that is because a bunch of neoconservative Israel lobbyists bird-dogged it in 2011-2012 for staffers who were writing letters critical of Israel and the Israel Lobby on Think Progress. All those staffers were in essence purged/ walked out the front door in the end...
"So the dead hand of the past inside Jewish life - rich old donors - are controlling ME policy in liberal institutions... " (Invite to Netanyahu brought a big donor to Dem thinktank - and 'we'll never be called anti-Semitic again', Philip Weiss, mondoweiss.net, 31/10/16)
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Keep Your Eye on Beersheba
Australian journalist and historian (Beersheba: A Journey Through Australia's Forgotten War (2009)), Paul Daley, has written an interesting essay for the Guardian Australia (31/10/16) website on the coming commemoration of the fall of Beersheba to Australian troops in 1917.
The title - Beersheba: we must keep an eye on how the story is told and interpreted - indicates that Daley, for one, realises that someone out there may have an interest in misrepresenting the historical record on this one. Hm... now who could that possibly be?
He begins:
"It's 99 years today since soldiers of the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade took part in what is generally regarded as the last 'great' successful cavalry charge. So in a year we can expect the Australian - and Israeli - governments to go overboard on commemorating an event that has never received the considered national attention it warrants. The story of what happened at Beersheba in Palestine (today's rather inhospitable Israeli city of Be'er Sheva) has long been eclipsed by the intensive commemoration... of other Australian military events - most notably the failed invasion of Gallipoli in 1915 and dramatic, later, Australian casualties on the European western front. But the federal government is now cashed up (with some $600m). And, so, Beersheba will get its moment."
Now here's where he gets really interesting:
"It will pay to listen closely and to be wary about what you might hear from the Australian and Israeli governments. Israel? It didn't exist, of course, at the time of the charge, which took place in what was Ottoman Palestine. But Israel has gone to some lengths to claim what happened as something of a formative step in its establishment."
No surprises there, Paul, Israel has gone to some (nay, to extraordinary) lengths to claim all sorts of things - hence this blog which can barely keep up with them all.
Daley returns to the theme later in his piece:
"During the weeks and months I spent walking the Beersheba charge site and travelling from Gaza to Jordan, Damascus and Lebanon, tracing the mounted Australian battles, I realised how readily certain groups - not least Zionists, Christian Zionists and evangelicals, were appropriating the stories of the Australian Light Horse. I negotiated my share of eccentrics, including those dressed as light horsemen who insisted that the Australians were doing God's work in wresting Palestine from the infidel Turks so that a Jewish homeland might re-establish itself there. That the charge coincided with the British war cabinet's formulation of the Balfour Declaration - in support of a Jewish state in Palestine - is grist to the (Christian/Zionist) mythology... While some of the light horsemen did refer to the biblical names they passed through as they fought, few saw themselves as being guided by the hand of God, let alone working towards the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland. A small prelude to what we might expect next year came in 2013 with the joint release by Australia Post and Israel Post of stamps commemorating Beersheba. 'The capture of Beersheba allowed British empire forces to break the Ottoman line near Gaza and then advance into Palestine, a chain of events which eventually culminated in the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.' Some historians of the Middle East and Palestinian groups were, rightly, angry at the conflation. Beersheba, you can be certain, will be evoked next year as testimony to the 'special' Israel/Australia relationship... Well, they ain't seen nothing yet, I fear... I'll be writing a lot more here about Australians in the Middle East during world war one."
Although I have been justifiably critical of Daley's take on the contemporary Middle East (Just click on the label below), it's good to see that he has at least cottoned on to what the Zionist lobby in Australia is up to on this one. Two things in his piece, however, require correction: 1) The Sarafand (or Surafend, if you will) massacre should not be dressed up as a "less than noble act." A massacre is a massacre is a massacre; 2) Australian troops did not enter Damascus "before TE Lawrence 'of Arabia'." To begin with, the reference to Lawrence should be ditched. It was the forces of the Arab Revolt, led by the Emir Faisal, who entered Damascus first. (See my posts Daley of Damascus (13/12/11) and The Aussie Shirtfronter's Guide to History (29/7/16).)
The title - Beersheba: we must keep an eye on how the story is told and interpreted - indicates that Daley, for one, realises that someone out there may have an interest in misrepresenting the historical record on this one. Hm... now who could that possibly be?
He begins:
"It's 99 years today since soldiers of the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade took part in what is generally regarded as the last 'great' successful cavalry charge. So in a year we can expect the Australian - and Israeli - governments to go overboard on commemorating an event that has never received the considered national attention it warrants. The story of what happened at Beersheba in Palestine (today's rather inhospitable Israeli city of Be'er Sheva) has long been eclipsed by the intensive commemoration... of other Australian military events - most notably the failed invasion of Gallipoli in 1915 and dramatic, later, Australian casualties on the European western front. But the federal government is now cashed up (with some $600m). And, so, Beersheba will get its moment."
Now here's where he gets really interesting:
"It will pay to listen closely and to be wary about what you might hear from the Australian and Israeli governments. Israel? It didn't exist, of course, at the time of the charge, which took place in what was Ottoman Palestine. But Israel has gone to some lengths to claim what happened as something of a formative step in its establishment."
No surprises there, Paul, Israel has gone to some (nay, to extraordinary) lengths to claim all sorts of things - hence this blog which can barely keep up with them all.
Daley returns to the theme later in his piece:
"During the weeks and months I spent walking the Beersheba charge site and travelling from Gaza to Jordan, Damascus and Lebanon, tracing the mounted Australian battles, I realised how readily certain groups - not least Zionists, Christian Zionists and evangelicals, were appropriating the stories of the Australian Light Horse. I negotiated my share of eccentrics, including those dressed as light horsemen who insisted that the Australians were doing God's work in wresting Palestine from the infidel Turks so that a Jewish homeland might re-establish itself there. That the charge coincided with the British war cabinet's formulation of the Balfour Declaration - in support of a Jewish state in Palestine - is grist to the (Christian/Zionist) mythology... While some of the light horsemen did refer to the biblical names they passed through as they fought, few saw themselves as being guided by the hand of God, let alone working towards the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland. A small prelude to what we might expect next year came in 2013 with the joint release by Australia Post and Israel Post of stamps commemorating Beersheba. 'The capture of Beersheba allowed British empire forces to break the Ottoman line near Gaza and then advance into Palestine, a chain of events which eventually culminated in the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.' Some historians of the Middle East and Palestinian groups were, rightly, angry at the conflation. Beersheba, you can be certain, will be evoked next year as testimony to the 'special' Israel/Australia relationship... Well, they ain't seen nothing yet, I fear... I'll be writing a lot more here about Australians in the Middle East during world war one."
Although I have been justifiably critical of Daley's take on the contemporary Middle East (Just click on the label below), it's good to see that he has at least cottoned on to what the Zionist lobby in Australia is up to on this one. Two things in his piece, however, require correction: 1) The Sarafand (or Surafend, if you will) massacre should not be dressed up as a "less than noble act." A massacre is a massacre is a massacre; 2) Australian troops did not enter Damascus "before TE Lawrence 'of Arabia'." To begin with, the reference to Lawrence should be ditched. It was the forces of the Arab Revolt, led by the Emir Faisal, who entered Damascus first. (See my posts Daley of Damascus (13/12/11) and The Aussie Shirtfronter's Guide to History (29/7/16).)
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Captain Quint & the Shark
The thin line between American politics and Hollywood has been crossed. If Ronald Reagan was a second-rate actor, Trump and Clinton are second-rate movie characters:
"[Fox News' Megyn] Kelly cheerfully flicks the apocalyptic comments [of Newt Gingrich] to former governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, the Christian hardliner who Trump knocked out of the Republican nomination race early on. She suggests to Huckabee that if he doesn't get behind Trump and 'fight tooth and nail,' it could cause recriminations within the party for years to come. 'That's exactly right, Megyn,' says Huckabee obediently. He later adds, '[Trump's] like Captain Quint in the original movie Jaws. He's vulgar, he's salty, he might even get drunk... he's the guy who's gonna save your butt and save your family. And so at the end of the day, when he kills the shark, you're happy about it. Now, Hillary is the shark. She's gonna eat your boat, she's gonna have open borders, immigration out the kazoo, and so the choice is, do you vote for Captain Quint, who's gonna save your family, or do you vote for the shark?' (Huckabee doesn't know Jaws well enough. Captain Quint ends up being eaten.)" ('I saw the slow death of democracy by a thousand cuts of the stupid and the vilr...', Nick O'Malley & Josephine Tovey, The Good Weekend, 29/10/16)
"[Fox News' Megyn] Kelly cheerfully flicks the apocalyptic comments [of Newt Gingrich] to former governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, the Christian hardliner who Trump knocked out of the Republican nomination race early on. She suggests to Huckabee that if he doesn't get behind Trump and 'fight tooth and nail,' it could cause recriminations within the party for years to come. 'That's exactly right, Megyn,' says Huckabee obediently. He later adds, '[Trump's] like Captain Quint in the original movie Jaws. He's vulgar, he's salty, he might even get drunk... he's the guy who's gonna save your butt and save your family. And so at the end of the day, when he kills the shark, you're happy about it. Now, Hillary is the shark. She's gonna eat your boat, she's gonna have open borders, immigration out the kazoo, and so the choice is, do you vote for Captain Quint, who's gonna save your family, or do you vote for the shark?' (Huckabee doesn't know Jaws well enough. Captain Quint ends up being eaten.)" ('I saw the slow death of democracy by a thousand cuts of the stupid and the vilr...', Nick O'Malley & Josephine Tovey, The Good Weekend, 29/10/16)
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