Link – Gaza and Ramallah – Alone

01 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by in Gaza, Gaza Suzerain, Islamic Small Wars, Israel

≈ Leave a comment

The Palestinians know very well that if and when they have a state of their own, they will never be able to rely on their Arab brethren.

The Arab countries have a long record of turning their backs on the Palestinians, not only with regard to financial aid promises, but even when it comes to basic needs such as medical treatment.

But what will happen after the creation of a Palestinian state? Palestinians say they do not have high expectations that the Arab countries will help them build their state.

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4917/palestinian-state-instability – 12/1/2014.

Dicks and Spooks – Books

01 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by in Books, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Political Spychology

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Quite slowly but with method, the library takes shape within the mansion within the cottage inside an apartment out in the countryside about one mountain beyond the Washington area.

Probably, the shelves should be alphabetized rather than categorized, but that would be a registry, not a library: a library has sections and themes, visual appeal and both mysterious and promising atmospheres — there are whole shelves here filled with Le Carre (all of his books) and Peter Mayle — but as regards this blog, certain aspects of the collection emerge in relation to “conflict, culture, language, and psychology”.

“Dicks and Spooks”?

Detectives and spies, intelligence organizations and operations, their marks: mafia and political criminals.

The section is small.  Even so, two of the list have not been read, one for boredom (“MI6” risks becoming a doorstop), the other — it’s not its time yet.

Titles as readable as they may be intriguing: The Good Spy, The Zhivago Affair, and Mafioso.

There’s relevant library on the Kindle as well — e.g., Tim Shorrock’s Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing — but I don’t even want to light up that screen or find out what Amazon has to say about me: The Book remains the Friend in the Library, spine out, ever present, ever ready to be read and to be read again on bed or sofa, or, God forbid it (which uttered objection is certain to bring about the same), at the table with coffee, note cards, and pens at the ready.

Inventory in “Dicks and Spooks” just noted:

Bird, Kai.  The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames.  New York: Crown Publishers, 2014.

Finn, Peter and Petra Couvee.  The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book.  New York: Pantheon Books, 2014.

Jeffery, Keith.  The Secret History of MI6.  New York: The Penguin Press, 2010.

Servadio, Gaia. Mafioso.  New York: Stein and Day, 1976.

Trento, Joseph J.  The Secret History of the CIA.  Roseville, California: Prima, 2001

All of the above solopsistic discussion for five books (of more than two thousand) . . . .  Still, one of five of two thousand just might appeal to the reader.

# # #

Link – Anti-Semitism, Politically Malignant Narcissism, Fascist Manipulation

30 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by in Anti-Semitism, Gaza Suzerain, Journalism

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

In these circles, in my experience, a distaste for Israel has come to be something between an acceptable prejudice and a prerequisite for entry. I don’t mean a critical approach to Israeli policies or to the ham-fisted government currently in charge in this country, but a belief that to some extent the Jews of Israel are a symbol of the world’s ills, particularly those connected to nationalism, militarism, colonialism, and racism—an idea quickly becoming one of the central elements of the “progressive” Western zeitgeist, spreading from the European left to American college campuses and intellectuals, including journalists.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/how-the-media-makes-the-israel-story/383262/ – 11/30/2014.

When it comes to Israel (and the “Joooooos”), manipulation may lay on the other side of conformance.

Related:

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/12/01/israeli-watchdog-ngo-monitor-censored-by-ap-and-other-major-outlets/ – 12/1/2014.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2348191/EXCLUSIVE-KGB-operation-seeded-Muslim-countries-anti-American-anti-Jewish-propaganda-1970s-laying-groundwork-Islamist-terrorism-U-S-Israeli-targets.html – 6/25/2013.

Pacepa, Ion Mihai and Rychlak, Ronald J. Disinformation. Washington, D.C.: WND Books, 2013.

# # #

Link to Recommended Review of Karen Dawisha’s _Putin’s Kleptocracy_

30 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by in Books

≈ Leave a comment

Dawisha takes Freeland’s realization one step further. She is arguing, in effect, that even before those nefarious rules were written, the system had already been rigged to favor particular people and interest groups. No “even playing field” was ever created in Russia, and the power of competitive markets was never unleashed. Nobody became rich by building a better mousetrap or by pulling himself up by his bootstraps. Instead, those who succeeded did so thanks to favors granted by—or stolen from—the state. And when the dust settled, Vladimir Putin emerged as king of the thieves.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/dec/18/how-he-and-his-cronies-stole-russia/ – 12/18/2014.

# # #

Vidlink – “The Regime in Syria Must be Pluralistic and Democratic” – Adunis

30 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Religion

≈ Leave a comment

(Posted by MEMRI on YouTube 11/24/2014; interview date: 8/10/2014).

Update December 1, 2014: MEMRI Source Location

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/4629.htm —

“#4629 – Syrian Poet Adonis: Progress Impossible in the Arab World without Separation of Religion and State
Sky News Arabia (U.K./Abu Dhabi) – August 10, 2014 – 04:24

Imprisoned in Syria in the mid-1950s as a result of his beliefs, Adunis settled abroad and has made his career largely in Lebanon and France. A perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature,[2] he has been regularly nominated for the award since 1988[3] and has been described as the greatest living poet of the Arab world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adunis

# # #

Link – Cultural Genocide – West Papua Struggle – 2013 Report

30 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Papua New Guinea

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

WPapua-villageGirl

Responding to the uprisings which surrounded the 1977 general elections in Papua, several military operations were launched in the Papuan highlands around Wamena. The response caused a further breakdown in the Papuan–Indonesian relations which had fallen apart at that time. The operations resulted in mass killings of, as well as violence against civilians. The stories of survivors recall unspeakable atrocities including rape, torture and mass executions.  Estimations of the number of persons killed range from 5,000 up to tens of thousands. The research done for this report is consistent with these numbers, although restricted access to the area and ongoing intimidation of witnesses makes it difficult to confirm an upper limit of the number of victims.

http://freewestpapua.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/AHRC_TheNeglected_Genocide-lowR.pdf (2013)

The Neglected Genocide – Human rights abuses against Papuans in the Central Highlands, 1977 – 1978

Related:

http://akrockefeller.com/media/the-road-to-home-documentary-about-west-papua-independence-leader-benny-wenda/ – 8/29/2014.

Despite assurances made to the contrary, there is nothing under the pacific sun that is new regarding Indonesia’s deadly and demoralizing tactics used to terrorize anyone who would dare exercise any small amount of press freedom.

http://akrockefeller.com/news/indonesias-message-to-journalists-report-on-papua-go-directly-to-jail/ – 9/15/2014.

# # #

 

Link – Anti-Semitism – Lawfare

28 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by in Anti-Semitism

≈ Leave a comment

If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will be open season on anyone who campaigns against anti-Semitism — any Jewish group, any pro-Israel group, even anyone who criticizes radical Islam. It is a national gag order, which will have the effect of silencing and punishing critics of anti-Semitism.

This ruling doesn’t just affect my rights. It’s a setback for freedom for everyone.

http://www.ezralevant.com/ive-lost-my-lawsuit-but-im-going-to-appeal-heres-why/ – 11/28/2014.

Links – Disinformation – Daily Beast, IB Times

27 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by in Islamic Small Wars, Journalism

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

At least two major media outlets have this week reported the shocking statistic that 40 percent of of Palestinian children detained in Jerusalem have been sexually abused by Israeli police. There’s only one problem – the statistic is entirely fabricated.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/11/26/exposed-us-media-outlets-daily-beast-and-international-business-times-publish-false-accusation-of-israeli-police-sexually-abusing-palestinian-children/ – 11/26/2014.

In this case, IMEMC lied, as it often does. And lazy, stupid reporters like Creede Newton and Tabatha Kinder repeated the lies of an anti-Israel propaganda outlet without spending five minutes to check the facts independently.

So we have Western reporters outdoing an already suspect “rights group” in libeling Israel because they cannot do the most basic things reporters are supposed to do. One would expect that a true reporter would at the very least check out who the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club is to begin with, and look up their actual report, rather than mindlessly parrot the lies of IMEMC.

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2014/11/daily-beast-and-ibtimes-lie-in-report.html#.VHdcitLF98E – 11/26/2014.

# # #