• Home
  • About
  • Concepts, Coins, and Terms
    • Anthropolitical Psychology
      • Civilizational Narcissism
      • Conflict – Language Uptake – Social Programming and Scripting – A Suggestion
        • Language Uptake – Programming – On Learning to Listen
        • Mouth –> Ear –> Mind –> Heart System
        • Social Grammar
      • Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy
      • Malignant Narcissism
      • Narcissistic Scripting
      • Normative Remirroring
      • Paranoid Delusional Narcissistic Reflection of Motivation
    • FTAC – “From The Awesome Conversation”
    • God Mob
    • Intellectual Battlespace
    • Islamic Small Wars
    • New Old Now Old Far Out and Lost Left
    • Political Spychology
    • Shimmer
  • Library
    • About Language
    • Russian Section
  • Comments and Contact

BackChannels

~ Conflict, Culture, Language, Psychology

BackChannels

Category Archives: Lebanon

Lebanon’s Chief Threat: Hezbollah

19 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Regions

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Hezbollah, Hezbollah designated terrorist organization, Hezbollah terror tunnels, IDF, Israel, Lebanon

This may not be what you expect to hear, but it’s the truth and it needs to be told. pic.twitter.com/pDvaa9GL7b

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 18, 2018

Lebanon deserves better than the war sustaining and warmongering of Moscow and Tehran.

For Israel, Moscow has had to be delicately handled, but BackChannels has over many years relayed some sense of Moscow’s endemic and deeply entrenched history of animus toward the Jews. Credit Stalin with picking up the relationships that Hitler and the Nazis could not hold at the end of World War II; credit Yuri Andropov with the airline hijacking of the 1970s beneath the banner of communist revolution on behalf of the Palestinian Cause; credit successive Soviet Era regimes with the abuse and captivity of Russia’s Jews yearning by the tens of thousands for freedom beyond Russia’s borders; credit Moscow today with the continuing diplomatic defense of Hamas and Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, among others, that appear intent on bringing chaos and death to their own people as well as sustained impoverishment and political repression.

Tehran’s role in the stoking of anti-Semitic / anti-Zionist hate needs little introduction. It’s deadly political rhetoric keeps spilling into related “field operations”. Not only Hamas has been building “terror tunnels”.

Posted to YouTube December 6, 2018.
Posted to YouTube December 18, 2018.


However, he said,  “the fact that the Lebanese army is doing nothing means that they are either unable, or unwilling, or both. It doesn’t absolve Lebanon’s culpability. Their territory is being used to attack our territory. Therefore, we hold Lebanon accountable.”

Netanyahu spoke immediately after IDF Spokesman Jonathan Conricus announced the discovery of another tunnel.

https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/announcing-new-tunnel-netanyahu-says-lebanon-responsible-for-hezbollahs-actions – 12/19/2018


“There is a clear line of communication between LAF elements and the terrorist organization; those elements help Hezbollah destabilize the region,” Danon said on Tuesday. “Under the Lebanese government’s watch, Hezbollah has created an entire network of tunnels and factories for precision-guided missiles; this is a brazen violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution but also endangers the lives of the residents of southern Lebanon, who are being used as human shields.”
Danon vowed that “Israel will act with force against Hezbollah and any other entity that tries to undermine its sovereignty.”

https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/world_news/israel-to-present-evidence-proving-lebanese-army-is-helping-hezbollah/article_6f90cb89-4135-5d2c-8b91-248709548a8a.html – 12/19/2018


An examination of Security Council Resolution 1701 twelve years later indicates that the key paragraphs, whose objective was to give full sovereignty over the country to the Lebanese government and to prevent the reconstruction of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, were not enforced by the Lebanese government and army. To replace the infrastructure damaged during the Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah has constructed an upgraded, improved, more extensive infrastructure, centering around an arsenal of more than 130,000 rockets and dozens of precise missiles. Hezbollah’s arsenal threatens Israeli population centers and strategic sites. Hezbollah built its military infrastructure in the region south of the Litani River, embedded within the local Shi’ite population. Hezbollah’s weapons were smuggled from Iran through Syria to Lebanon, in direct violation of Security Council Resolution 1701.

https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/security-council-resolution-1701-systematic-violation-hezbollah-iran/ – 12/19/2018

Lebanon and its defense forces remain weak before Hezbollah, its sponsor in Tehran, and its armorer in Moscow.

While the Lebanese may prefer peace, this criminal rogue — see https://www.jns.org/justice-department-designates-hezbollah-as-transnational-crime-group/ from October of this year — has positioned the same for arms caches and slaughter.

Nice people.

Again, it appears today that Hezbollah fairly “owns” the Lebanese Army, which has become too weak to defend the better interests of the state.

–33–

FTAC: Lebanon – Iran: Cash – Arms – Trade

01 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Also in Media, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Lebanon, Middle East, Russia

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

cash, Hezbollah, Iranian arms, Lebanon, transnational crime, western appetites, western civilization

Inspiration:

The Iranians, with their crashing rial economy, have been offering Beirut even more cash – from where, exactly, we don’t know – than the Americans, along with guns, agricultural and industrial assistance.

Fisk, Robert. “Lebanon is on a tightrope, balancing Saudi, Iranian and Western interests — its position is precarious.” The Independent, August 31, 2018.


I’d assign the delusional surrealism to the narcissism involved in most politics middle east but may also note that the transnational narcotics and other smuggling businesses may be doing well for Hezbollah and whatever else Iran has going “behind the curtains” and “under the table”. The main player in pressuring up illicit funds from all sources has to be Moscow — and Moscow loves frozen conflicts as well as unsettled and weak governments. It doesn’t seem to know how to create much good, but it sure knows how to gin up a lot of cash ready for the laundry.

Back to something like observable reality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_equipment_manufactured_in_Iran

Iran has the industry; the west has the addicts and coke heads — and there may be the cash for the arms. I do wonder how that might actually look in numbers.


–33–

UAE Sentences Hezbollah Cell – Moscow-Tehran Promote Hezbollah

02 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Journalism, Lebanon, Middle East, Politics, Russia, United Arab Emirates

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

21st Century Neo-Feudalism, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Moscow-Tehran, Totalitarian Theater of Realpolitik, UAE

The State Security Circuit of the Federal Supreme Court on Monday handed out varying jail terms to seven people for setting up a UAE cell of the banned Hezbollah group.

Three defendants were sentenced to life in jail, two got 15-year jail terms and two others were sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The court chaired by Judge Falah Al Hajiri also sentenced leader of Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood group Esam Al Din Al Erian to five years in jail, in absentia.

Al Zarooni, Mustafa.  “Group jailed for setting up Hezbollah branch in UAE.”  Khaleej Times, November 1, 2016.

According to political commentator with Russia’s Kommersant publishing house Sergei Strokan, there now exists a “Russia, Iran, Hezbollah military triangle” in Syria.

In a telephone interview with Al-Monitor, Strokan said, “Hezbollah can do some things that Russia can’t afford to do itself,” as putting “Russian boots on the ground [in Syria] is a subject of heated debate [within Russia].”

Rizk, Ali.  “The Russian, Iranian, Hezbollah military triangle.”  November 2, 2015.

Hezbollah can and has done more than put “boots on the ground” for Bashar al-Assad in Syria with the blessing of Moscow and Tehran.

Read the headlines (along with BackChannels):

USA Today – “Lebanon chooses a president supported by Hezbollah” – November 1, 2016.

The National Interest – “Lebanon’s New Hezbollah-Led Political Order” – October 31, 2016.

“Hezbollah-Led Political Order”?

Try again: Moscow-Tehran.

BackChannels knows the public, generally speaking, “sees” ISIL, not “Assad OR The Terrorists” AKA “Assad vs The Terrorist“.

And the public may read about Hezbollah in Lebanon with the shadow of the Ayatollah moving about in the background, but it may take more work to grasp how Moscow works with Tehran to elevate Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon while channeling its fighters into action in Syria.

Again, on general terms, the KGB Era catch-all “Active Measures” may preoccupy wonks — enthused amateurs and professionals in intelligence and foreign affairs — while barely signaling up through the background clamor set by the entertainment and sports industries.  As much — specifically, public ignorance of the mechanisms involved in the KGB-style sustaining of “political absolutism” (try using that one down at the bar) by way of a totalitarian approach to a political theater of realpolitik —  moves this chatter into more specialized but also open circles.

Related Reference

Fadel, Leith.  “Syrian Army, Hezbollah begin counter-attack in west Aleppo”.  AMN News, November 2, 2016.

–33–

FTAC – Narcoterrorism, Hezbollah, and Human Rights in a Nutshell

08 Saturday Oct 2016

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Lebanon

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

fascism, Hezbollah, Islamofascism, Moscow, narcoterrorism, Tehran

“Narcoterrorism” is the term and a large part of what has become transnational crime.

From the blog some time ago: https://conflict-backchannels.com/2013/11/11/reference-pakistani-political-attitudes-taliban-arab-influence-heroin-cash-uae-and-the-marines/

This is the stuff of political thrillers in films and novels.

In general, both Hezbollah and Hamas may be interpreted as the advanced troops of Tehran as ultimately backed by Moscow. Again, the prize: political absolute power and destruction of democracies and the decimation of the concept — as demonstrated in Syria — of human rights.


Inspiration: The Jerusalem Post.  “Analysis: Hezbollah’s drug trail.” October 7, 2016.

–33–

Also in Media – “Israel’s Next Hezbollah War” – Philos Project – 8-12-2016

17 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Also in Media, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

21st Century Neo-Feudalism, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, MEC, middle east conflict

Shaharabani said that the July 2006 Lebanon War “was the longest Israel had experienced since its War of Independence in 1948,” but any future clash with Hezbollah will make those destructive 34 days pale by comparison. According to his FDD coauthors, the Israeli government estimates that Hezbollah has approximately 150,000 rockets today as opposed to the mere 14,000 it possessed prior to the 2006 conflict. Writing for the Weekly Standard, Vanderbilt University law professor Willy Stern said that this gives Hezbollah a “bigger arsenal than all NATO countries – except the United States – combined.”

Source: Israel’s Next Hezbollah War – Philos Project

The Big Fade – Or Not? Where Goes the Phantom of the Cold War?

23 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Iran, Lebanon, Russia, Syndicate Red Brown Green, Syria, Ukraine

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

21st Century Neo-Feudalism, Cold War

Yesterday left off with “Putin, Erdogan meet face to face, but don’t see eye to eye” (Al-Monitor, June 19, 2015).

Trouble in “Hellidise” for the world’s most fabulous feudal lords?

Hmm.

Should some friction not attend Syria’s fragmenting implosion brought about by the implied bloody script this blog has referred to as “Assad vs The Terrorists”?

Sanctions have been up for a while; oil prices have been down for a while: such broad conditions brought about by large maneuvers, like “North American energy independence“, may have effects.

As a trading partner, Erdogan may have a little more edge with Putin these days; as a Sunni Muslim looking over the border and watching Daesh and other al-Qaeda-type groups continuing to rough up and tear apart Syria’s landscape, he has cause to let the scouring continue.  The teleology on which he has campaigned pits him against Putin-Assad-Khamenei’s interests on the Hezbollahian (militant Shiite) side of the great divide most immediately applicable to the continuing Great Struggle of Evil Against Evil in Syria, the modern and moderate, whoever they may be (ye shall know them one still distant day by their pro-Semitic / pro-Zionist lingo), having been killed, dispersed, rendered irrelevant, or otherwise sidelined for some years now.

This day appears to be closing (for me) with tomorrow’s news (gotta love the International Dateline): “US to deploy heavy weapons on NATO’s eastern flank” (AFP, Yahoo, June 24, 2015).


From my portion of The Awesome Conversation:

While generally attaching Erdogan to Putin-Khamenei as another medieval-minded autocrat with strong interest in sustaining feudal models of power against the democratic west, there may be some unraveling within this drift as depressed oil revenues (for Russia), other punitive measures (like sanctions), and some military repositioning take place in response to Russia’s aggression in Crimea. For Erdogan, whether he likes it or not (I’m starting to appreciate that phrase), Turkey remains a NATO member with a significant modern constituency. While Erdogan wants his White Palace — I think he’s moved in, I’m not sure — the whole world is watching in an open and robust global information environment. For that, both leaders may have a little less operating room as despots than they may have had 25 years ago.

&

The “big picture” — how the feudal world may change as the modern one moves around it — is easier (for me) to see today than was the case just a few years ago.

From an amateur’s perspective, the smaller pictures might require country specialization and language ability. It’s just easier following heads of state than the numerous personalities, agencies, and committees involved in producing the world’s political landscapes and their narratives.

The long diplomacy and now evident maneuvering have been dangerous, of course, but even portrayed as playing poker against Obama’s chess, Putin’s own programming has a predictable aspect to it.  Via the day’s e-mail feed, World Affairs promoted “Imperial Ambitions: Russia’s Military Buildup” (May/June 2015):

In September 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted that he could, at will, occupy any Eastern European capital in two days. This apparently spontaneous utterance reveals, probably more than Russia’s new official defense doctrine, Moscow’s true assessment of NATO’s capabilities, cohesion, and will to resist. In an echo of Soviet tactics, it also reflects Putin’s reflexive recourse to intimidation—e.g., unwarranted boasting about Russian military capabilities and intentions—as a negotiating strategy. In 2014 alone, Moscow repeatedly threatened the Baltic and Nordic states and civilian airliners, heightened intelligence penetration, deployed unprecedented military forces against those states, intensified overflights and submarine reconnaissance, mobilized nuclear forces and threats, deployed nuclear-capable forces in Kaliningrad, menaced Moldova, and openly violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987.

Much of Putin’s tenure has been about a Russian feudal revanche complete with “New Nobility” and a $51 billion winter spectacle (Sochi, while Syria’s Assad was barrel bombing millions of Syrians out of their lives and homes to make way for The Terrorists by refraining from doing the same to them at the time).

As noted in passing, while Khamenei may be going gangbusters with wars by proxy, one may wonder today how much the same have cost him by way of the continuing faith and loyalty of those patronized.  The public talk-and-walk by Nasrallah may not change much, and, indeed, if the enemy nearby is Daesh or another of the type, the situation demands that he inspire and prepare his community for greater challenges to come, and that he keep his backers happy, but the same now take place in an atmosphere of stalemate over a wartorn landscape.

Such combat proves not a fast game but an agonizingly slow grind.

Where the finger-pointing takes place — how could it not be taking place offstage? — some portion must point back to Moscow and Tehran — Putin and Khamenei — for perverting a mild people’s revolution in Damascus to hold together the Ghosts of the Soviet and the maintenance of old and new privileged through time-honored and familiar but perfectly despicable feudal practices.

Sideways and Forward

Laub, Karin (AP).  “New think tank in Jordan watching Israel shows discreet, growing ties between countries.”  U.S. News & World Report, June 22, 2015.

# # #

Link

MEMRI: Abd Al-Bari Atwan: The Arab Leaders Are Praying That Israel Will Get Rid of the Palestinians Once and for All

16 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Fast News Share, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Politics, Regions

≈ Leave a comment

MEMRI: Abd Al-Bari Atwan: The Arab Leaders Are Praying That Israel Will Get Rid of the Palestinians Once and for All.

Tfeil and Brital Village, Lebanon – A Glance at Syria’s ‘Hot Pursuit’ Spillover

03 Saturday May 2014

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Lebanon, Middle East, Politics, Regions, Syria

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Lebanon, Syrian Civil War

BEIRUT – Syrian militants attacked a military point manned by members of the Shiite Hezbollah movement in eastern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source said Saturday.

Takeen, Hamza.  “Syrian militants attack Hezbollah point in Lebanon.”  Turkish Press, May 3, 2014.

Hezbolla’s Spring 2013 entry into the Syrian Civil War brought criticism from Lebanese preferring to stay out of the fray; now, about a year later, anti-Assad insurgents in Hezbollah’s backyard appear to have drawn to their presence — but probably not their precise location — Assad Hezbollah-support attacks in the villages of Tfeil and Brital, Lebanon.

Tfeil, an isolated village of about 4,000 souls has been especially punished between armies as it has been hosting some 10,000 Syrian refugees with some association with anti-Assad forces.  This version of possible “human shielding’ — or simply swimming in the population (good ol’ Mao) — has led to siege interrupted only by a so far one-time relief stop by Lebanese Defense Forces.

The scenario promoted by the Assad regime to justify bombing in Lebanon appears problematic:

Local officials have denied reports that the town harbors armed Syrian rebels and smugglers supplying opposition forces across the border. “A void accusation,” said Ramadan Asaad Dekkou, the town’s mukhtar. “There is no presence of armed men in the town. We have… set up civilian checkpoints along the border carrying Lebanese flags to assure that only civilians enter the village for refuge,” he told NOW.

Elali, Nadine.  “Tfeil: A Lebanese village under siege.”  NOW.  April 17, 2014.

Be that as it may for Tfeil, this quote has been published recently in relation to fighting in Brital, Lebanon:

“The day in which we will raise the banner of Islam in Brital is nearing, and our battle against Hizbullah is open-ended until we clear the Islamic Emirate of the Bekaa of the party,”

Naharnet.  “Syrian Gunmen, ‘Hizbullah Fighters’ Clash in Brital Plains, ISF Denies Corporal Arrested.” May 3, 2014.

How is Lebanon to defend its border town against Syrian barrel bomb attacks where Hezbollah is the primary political power in the space, fully aligned with the Syrian government and the related Putin-Assad-Khamenei axis, and disinclined or unable itself to eject interlopers or enforce Lebanese neutrality?

Additional Reference

Syrian Freedom.  “Tfeil residents: “They made fools of us.”  May 2, 2014.

NOW.  “Medicine sent to besieged town of Tfeil.”  April 29, 2014.

Al Aribiya.  “Lebanon secures aid to village trapped in Syria war.”  April 22, 2014.

NOW.  “Mashnouq: Tfeil resuce plan to start Tuesday.”  April 21, 2014.

Filkins, Dexter.  “Hezbollah Widens the Syrian War.”  The New Yorker, May 26, 2013.

# # #

← Older posts
  • Compassion
  • Empathy
  • Justice
  • Humility
  • Inclusion
  • Integrity
____________

Caution: The possession of anti-Semitic / anti-Zionist thought may be the measure of the owner's own enslavement to criminal and medieval absolute power.
___________

Recent Posts

  • Nicolas Tenzer On A Russia That Must Be Condemned, Defeated, Taken Apart, and Taken Down
  • FTAC: Why Putin Won’t Stop Until Stopped
  • KGB FSB ROC M-O-N-E-Y
  • FNS: Morning Lies
  • FTAC–A Note: Iron River, Narcotics, and the Ecology of Latin American Mass Migration
  • Surrealpolitik: Orban & Putin & ‘Illiberal Democracy’

Categories

  • 21st Century Feudal
  • 21st Century Modern
  • A Little Wisdom
  • Also in Media
  • American Domestic Affairs
  • Anti-Semitism
  • Asides
  • BCND – BackChannels News Day
  • Books
  • Conflict – Culture – Language – Psychology
  • COVID-19
  • Epistemology
  • Events and Other PSA's
  • Extreme Brown vs Red-Green
  • Fast News Share
  • foreign aid
  • Free Speech
  • FTAC
  • FTAC – From The Awesome Conversation
  • International Development
  • Islamic Small Wars
    • Gaza Suzerain
  • Journal
    • Library
  • Journalism
  • Links
  • Notes On Reading BackChannels
  • Philology
  • Philosophy
  • Poetry
  • Political Psychology
  • Political Spychology
  • Politics
  • Psychology
    • Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy
  • Qualities of Living (QOL)
  • Referral
  • Regions
    • Africa
      • Central African Republic
      • Guinea
      • Kenya
      • Libya
      • Mali
      • Morocco
      • Nigeria
      • South Africa
      • Sudan
      • Tunisia
      • Zimbabwe
    • Asia
      • Afghanistan
      • Burma
      • China
      • India
      • Myanmar
      • North Korea
      • Pakistan
      • Turkey
    • Caribbean Basin
      • Cuba
    • Central America
      • El Salvador
      • Guatemala
      • Honduras
      • Mexico
    • Eastern Europe
      • Serbia
    • Eurasia
      • Armenia
      • Azerbaijan
      • Russia
      • Ukrain
      • Ukraine
    • Europe
      • France
      • Germany
      • Hungary
      • Poland
    • Great Britain and United Kingdom
    • Iberian Peninsula
    • Middle East
      • Egypt
      • Gaza
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Israel
        • Palestinia
      • Jordan
      • Kurdistan
      • Lebanon
      • Palestinian Territories
      • Qatar
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Syria
      • United Arab Emirates
      • Yemen
    • North America
      • Canada
      • United States of America
    • Norther Europe
    • Northern Europe
      • Sweden
    • South America
      • Argentina
      • Brazil
      • Columbia
      • Ecuador
      • Venezuela
    • South Pacific
      • Australia
      • New Zealand
      • Papua New Guinea
      • West Papua
  • Religion
  • Spain
  • Syndicate Red Brown Green
  • transnational crime
  • Uncategorized
  • Visual Data

Europe

  • Defending History
  • Hungarian Spectrum
  • Yanukovych Leaks

Great Britain

  • Stand for Peace

Israeli and Jewish Affairs

  • Chloe Simone Valdary

Journals

  • Amil Imani
  • New Age Islam

Middle East

  • Human Rights & Democracy for Iran
  • Middle East Research and Information Project

Organizations

  • Anti-Slavery
  • Atlantic Council
  • Fight Hatred
  • Human Rights First Society
  • International Network Against Cyberhate
  • The Center for Victims of Torture

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Epigram

Hillel the Elder

"That which is distasteful to thee do not do to another. That is the whole of Torah. The rest is commentary. Now go and study."

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? If not now, when?"

"Whosoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whosoever that saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world."

Oriana Fallaci
"Whether it comes from a despotic sovereign or an elected president, from a murderous general or a beloved leader, I see power as an inhuman and hateful phenomenon...I have always looked on disobedience toward the oppressive as the only way to use the miracle of having been born."

Talmud 7:16 as Quoted by Rishon Rishon in 2004
Qohelet Raba, 7:16

אכזרי סוף שנעשה אכזרי במקום רחמן

Kol mi shena`asa rahaman bimqom akhzari Sof shena`asa akhzari bimqom rahaman

All who are made to be compassionate in the place of the cruel In the end are made to be cruel in the place of the compassionate.

More colloquially translated: "Those who are kind to the cruel, in the end will be cruel to the kind."

Online Source: http://www.rishon-rishon.com/archives/044412.php

Abraham Isaac Kook

"The purely righteous do not complain about evil, rather they add justice.They do not complain about heresy, rather they add faith.They do not complain about ignorance, rather they add wisdom." From the pages of Arpilei Tohar.

Heinrich Heine
"Where books are burned, in the end people will be burned." -- From Almansor: A Tragedy (1823).

Simon Wiesenthal
Remark Made in the Ballroom of the Imperial Hotel, Vienna, Austria on the occasion of His 90th Birthday: "The Nazis are no more, but we are still here, singing and dancing."

Maimonides
"Truth does not become more true if the whole world were to accept it; nor does it become less true if the whole world were to reject it."

"The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision."

Douglas Adams
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" Epigram appearing in the dedication of Richard Dawkins' The GOD Delusion.

Thucydides
"The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."

Milan Kundera
"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."

Malala Yousafzai
“The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born.”

Tanit Nima Tinat
"Who could die of love?"

What I Have Said About the Jews

My people, not that I speak for them, I nonetheless describe as a "global ethnic commune with its heart in Jerusalem and soul in the Land of Israel."

We have never given up on God, nor have we ever given up on one another.

Many things we have given up, but no one misses, say, animal sacrifice, and as many things we have kept, so we have still to welcome our Sabbath on Friday at sunset and to rest all of Saturday until three stars appear in the sky.

Most of all, through 5,773 years, wherever life has taken us, through the greatest triumphs and the most awful tragedies, we have preserved our tribal identity and soul, and so shall we continue eternally.

Anti-Semitism / Anti-Zionism = Signal of Fascism

I may suggest that anti-Zionism / anti-Semitism are signal (a little bit) of fascist urges, and the Left -- I'm an old liberal: I know my heart -- has been vulnerable to manipulation by what appears to me as a "Red Brown Green Alliance" driven by a handful of powerful autocrats intent on sustaining a medieval worldview in service to their own glorification. (And there I will stop).
One hopes for knowledge to allay fear; one hopes for love to overmatch hate.

Too often, the security found in the parroting of a loyal lie outweighs the integrity to be earned in confronting and voicing an uncomfortable truth.

Those who make their followers believe absurdities may also make them commit atrocities.

Positively Orwellian: Comment Responding to Claim that the Arab Assault on Israel in 1948 Had Not Intended Annihilation

“Revisionism” is the most contemptible path that power takes to abet theft and hide shame by attempting to alter public perception of past events.

On Press Freedom, Commentary, and Journalism

In the free world, talent -- editors, graphic artists, researchers, writers -- gravitate toward the organizations that suit their interests and values. The result: high integrity and highly reliable reportage and both responsible and thoughtful reasoning.

This is not to suggest that partisan presses don't exist or that propaganda doesn't exist in the west, but any reader possessed of critical thinking ability and genuine independence -- not bought, not programmed -- is certainly free to evaluate the works of earnest reporters and scholars.

Archives

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • BackChannels
    • Join 351 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • BackChannels
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar