Tag Archives: political

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17 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by in Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Gaza, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Political Psychology, Regions

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As ethical, apolitical, and professional members of the academic community, we find the open letter for the people in Gaza1 an outrageous diatribe lacking context and deliberate vilification of the sovereign state of Israel and, by extension, every Israeli. In publishing such invective, The Lancet has allowed itself to become a platform for distorted political activism, as has been previously noted by others.2,3 Because we are scientists and physicians who are accustomed to incorporating all data into the formation of educated opinions (even public commentary), we are obliged to redress the imbalance.

http://download.thelancet.com/flatcontentassets/pdfs/S0140673614613143.pdf – 8/15/2014.

An updated reference to the same may be found here under the title, “True about The Lancet – And Shame on It for the Anti-Semitic Knuckleheads It Chose to Support With Its Platform” (July 28, 2014, updated August 17, 2014).

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Another Comment – Gaza and Suzerainty

13 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Gaza, Middle East, Regions

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As Hamas and ISIS and others of the Muslim Botherhood continue to ruin the “Religion of Peace” for its peaceful adherents, the promotion of Mahmoud Abbas has been adopted in some quarters as a make-do path for Gaza’s reconstruction.

Not so fast.

From The Awesome Conversation —

Abbas is a non-starter, a first-rate anti-Semite in his own right, and even though he comes out of the Soviet-post-Soviet pan-Arab Nationalist Era of Thuggery, he has still in mind the destruction of Jewry.

Nope.

The near answer for Gaza — and we are nowhere close to it today, but I believe it’s coming: I am just a little ahead of the story — is local Gazan rule within the confines of Israeli or Israeli-Egyptian suzerainty.

Hamas cannot be Hamas without having in mind the expansion of Islam and elimination of Israel and of world Jewry.

Abbas cannot be Abbas without perpetuating the myth of the benign dictator. The closest I’ve seen to that may be Pervez Musharraf, and it is to be noted that he handed in his stars, left office as a civilian president, and handed the military baton to a general who swore not to interfere with the politics of the state. Ever so slowly, Pakistan has been lurching into the present (while Musharraf has been arrested on trumped past deeds . . . dictatorship — and now his — seems a hard habit to break in some places. 🙂

So my two cents reduced to a half-penny: 1) Free Gaza From Hamas; 2) Occupy, disarm, and transform Gaza into a quasi independent city-state, and 3) assign to Gazans the responsibility of educating their children toward modern and peaceful lives, and 4) leave to the United States, Israel, and Egypt the matter of Gaza’s internal and external security.

Among top reasons for the taming of Abbas (ooh, he would not like that!) is that we (the people of the United States) largely write the paycheck for his own Israeli-training-in-Jordan security force. Beyond that, he hasn’t got a better program to offer anyone than Hamas.

Referring to the latest in plans bandied about, Alan Johnson has suggested in World Affairs (August 12, 2014), “Crucially, it also offers a framework to re-establish the authority of those Palestinians who oppose terror, recognize Israel, and want to negotiate a two-state solution—the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas.”

To actually want a sincere “two-state solution” would seem to require a great reduction in the leadership’s reserved (and not so hidden) animus for Jews.

Mahmoud Abbas has had a problem with that.

“Since Ahmadinejad left the political stage, Abu Mazen is the number one leader in injecting anti-Semitic and anti-Israel poison,” Yuval Steinitz told a Tel Aviv security conference Wednesday, using the name by which Abbas is popularly known in Arabic.

“Under Abu Mazen the level of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement in the (Palestinian) Authority has reached new highs, where the bottom line is the destruction of Israel,” said Steinitz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/18454 – 1/30/2014.

Feel welcome to web-search “Mahmoud Abbas, anti-Semite” and let me know know if you find “Abu Mazen’s” inner Martin Luther King.

Gazans, of course, may be expected to have an issue with Israelis for the military operations visited on their sorry heads courtesy of cynical human-shield producing Hamas.

Ask an American southerner about lingering resentments.

Blood has a long afterlife in the land but memory of conditions — of Hamas behaving in a manner ensuring the wasting of lives — proves generally more clarified, more powerful, and more persistent.

Navigational path out of this hell?

First in the heart: eject Hamas and with it the falsely advanced “Palestinian cause” — reference: Efraim Karsh’s Palestine Betrayed (Yale UP, 2010) and others on the industry that has become the “middle east conflict” (never mind all the other concurrent and breathtakingly bloody and cruel middle east conflicts) — and be born again: Gazans!

Then take a fresh look at the neighbor who has been ever ready for peaceful development, humanitarian service, and trade.

One day Gazans will look back at Hamas, which will require looking backward, for to have it otherwise would be like having tried driving somewhere without taking one’s eyes off the rear-view mirror.

Shift

Forward

 Independent

Interdependent

Gaza

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Impromptu – “Kurdistan! Israel! USA!”

10 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iraq, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Kurdistan, Middle East, Politics, Regions

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(Posted 8/10/2014; Event: 8/9/2014)

Israel-Kurd Magazine, Issue No. 1 – 2009

There is some horrible news out of Kurdistan today. Ekurd.net reports that Mawloud Afand, editor of an Israel-Kurdish magazine called Israel Kurd “disappeared ten days ago in [the] Kurdistan region of Iraq.” Israeli news sources say he was kidnapped by Iranian intelligence in the city of Sulaimaniyah. Ekurd.net claims that Iran had told the Kurdish government to shut Israel Kurd down and it refused.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/06/25/iran-kidnaps-pro-israeli-kurd-iraq-mawloud-afand/ – 6/25/2012

Related: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/topic/israel-kurd-magazine/ – 7/16/2012.

ERBIL-Hewlêr, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’, — A number of Israeli political experts say Israel will be among the countries that would support Iraqi Kurdistan if it declared independence. They also suggest that Kurdistan not make the decision hastily and ensure the grounds are properly prepared first, Rudaw reported

http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/5/state6172.htm 5/1/2012.

Furthermore, with their initial sale last week of a tanker full of oil, to Israel no less, the Kurds have shown that they are willing not just to cleave themselves from Baghdad but to stand as a magnanimous force for stability in the region.

According to numerous reports by Reuters, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, the tanker SCF Altai transferred a cargo of Kurdish oil from another tanker United Emblem, which had been plying the Mediterranean for two weeks after loading at the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The SCF Altai then docked at the Israeli city of Ashkelon and off-loaded its crude.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2014/06/23/iraqs-kurds-sell-oil-to-israel-move-closer-to-independence/ – 6/23/2014.

In 1966, Iraqi defense minister Abd al-Aziz al-Uqayli blamed the Kurds of Iraq for seeking to establish “a second Israel” in the Middle East. He also claimed that “the West and the East are supporting the rebels to create [khalq] a new Israeli state in the north of the homeland as they had done in 1948 when they created Israel. It is as if history is repeating itself.”

http://www.meforum.org/3838/israel-kurds – Summer 2014.

What attracts me to a story like this one is the possibility of encouraging and securing ethnic self-determination for a true ethnic minority.  In that regard, Kurds and Israelis may understand one another.  The above scholarly piece by Ofra Bengio goes into detail on the history of the Kurdish-Israeli relationship, and that in turn informs just a little bit how it has turned out that members of the Kurdish community seeing an Israeli group in Lafayette Park (in front of the White House) would (naturally) join them in solidarity.

Update November 12, 2014

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/11/10/canadian-israeli-woman-fighting-with-kurds-against-isis-audio/ – 11/10/2014

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Gaza – Hamas – Iran’s Proxies, Qatar’s Beggers

18 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by in Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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In the Mix

http://www.reuters.com/investigates/iran/#article/part1

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/13/us-iran-setad-legal-specialreport-idUSBRE9AC0JS20131113

From the last URL:

Reuters found no evidence that Khamenei puts these assets to personal use. Instead, Setad’s holdings underpin his power over Iran.

To make Setad’s asset acquisitions possible, governments under Khamenei’s watch systematically legitimized the practice of confiscation and gave the organization control over much of the seized wealth, a Reuters investigation has found. The supreme leader, judges and parliament over the years have issued a series of bureaucratic edicts, constitutional interpretations and judicial decisions bolstering Setad. The most recent of these declarations came in June, just after the election of Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-blocked-qatari-funds-intended-for-hamas-employees/ – 7/15/2014.

http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL4N0PS4Z820140717 – 7/17/2014 – “Egypt says Qatar, Turkey and Hamas hurt Gaza ceasefire bid.”

http://www.businessinsider.com/gaza-civilians-actually-reject-hamas-policies-2014-7 – 7/17/2014.

http://news.yahoo.com/france-asks-qatar-hamas-agree-gaza-ceasefire-source-150226002.html – 7/18/2014.

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Aside

03 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Religion

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It’s about shame.

The more militarily defeated they feel, the more determined in defiance they may become because that defines their heroism, “resistance” (of course, it’s resistance to economic development, education, employment, etc., but they’re on a civilizational mission for Islam, and that mission sense needs to be redefined and channeled elsewhere). Lowa Kay’s thought adheres to the simple notion that “if they’re enemy, they should be treated like enemy” and indeed conquered and eliminated.

Although we (Jews, others similar in outlook) prefer to “do conquest” with language and policy, it hard missing the fighting bands and legions of what appears to be traditional Islam (in my new vocabulary, I hereby declare the compassionate, moderate, reasoning, and reforming the “radicals”). Barack Obama — I know how he’s viewed in conservative circles — has tried to integrate Brotherhood members into the Federal mixing bowl; Europe has promoted multicultural accommodation, and has reached its limit (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/07/02/Europe-Takes-One-More-Step-Toward-Eliminating-the-Burqa); in the Middle East, Iraqis and Syrians have taken a beating between combinations of fascist and tribal military and political powers, and the pride-goeth-before-a-fall appearance of the “Islamic State” tells how even Islam in its majority cannot tolerate what Islam — by way of hundreds of _conservative_ inventions — has in mind for the humanity of humanity.

We’re waiting for _radical Muslims_ (compassionate, moderate, reasoning, reforming) to a) understand what has been or is being done to them, and b) find the courage in themselves to combat the forces that would enslave them — and, so sorry, those forces are not Jewish or Christian or anything else: those forces are of a dark portion of their own and of themselves.

Coming to their feet on that basis would be honorable, for the rest has been really shameful.

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Obama’s trying to wriggle out of it while trying to get the Muslim targets and victims of “Islamist” aggression to stand up on their own!  Unfortunately, deep divisions within the community have weakened it for the onslaughts brought by the Islamic State, which might be a good thing: everyone can see it for what it is, what it represents, and what it intends to do with humanity, including its own.

______

The Awesome Conversation moves along swiftly as the tempo of events promotes greater engagement at a faster pace.

I don’t know what to do with my part of the commentary other than as swiftly post some part here for greater permanence (and even that’s uncertain).

The Islamic Slaughter (IS) operating in Iraq and Syria displays itself well.

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FTAC – Hebron – Three Dead

30 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Israel, Middle East, Politics, Regions

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A confection celebrates the kidnapping of two Israeli and one Israeli-American teenagers. The photo had been posted by the IDF prior to today's discovery of the bodies.

A confection celebrates the kidnapping of two Israeli and one Israeli-American teenagers. The photo had been posted by the IDF prior to today’s discovery of the bodies.

As I type, there are ugly murder stories all over the web, from ISIS in Iraq to children raped and swung from tree limbs with their own scarves (India). Some not Jewish, not Israeli, not American must wonder why these get so much attention (three dead Jews — who cares?). The answer is these would have cared about others far from themselves and would have been part, one way or another, of inspiring good and justice and then been a part of drawing down all that other injustice, mayhem, and murder in the world.

That’s a lot to suggest . . . perhaps a lot to promise . . .but I think it comes with the territory, from Pharaoh to now.

I don’t like everything I read about the Jews and Israel. As a matter of fact, I was earlier this afternoon reading about Sabra and Shatila and the IDF both controlling access to those camps and standing aside as Christian Phalangist militia slaughtered in that Palestinian refugee camp old men, women, and children. That event was not among the Jewish State’s finer moments (September 1982), but here’s the thing: perhaps we learn even from — or starting with — our own failings and missteps and trespasses. I would not expect as much from ISIS today as it has indulged itself in the most wanton orgies of killing; Hamas seems equally unable to repair or restrain itself or related loose energy running around the Gaza Strip (which over the weekend launched multiple rockets against Israel). Name them all, they seem to raise their children with a murderous hate for others, Jews first (thank you very much), and when their children do as they have been trained . . . .

I am wondering: are we — is the whole world — going to see celebration photos this time?

I’ve no further comment.

Reference

http://pamelageller.com/2014/06/dead-bodies-three-jewish-kidnapped-teens-found-near-hebron.html/ – 6/30/2014.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/three-kidnapped-israeli-teenagers-found-dead-reports-say/2014/06/30/4e6a271a-007a-11e4-8572-4b1b969b6322_story.html – 6/30/2014.

http://www.commdiginews.com/news-2/sons-of-israel-gilad-shaar-eyal-yifrach-and-naftali-fraenkel-found-murdered-20608/ – 6/30/2014.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4536458,00.html – 6/30/2014 (IDF seals off Hebron).

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4536477,00.html – 6/30/2014.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/06/netanyahu-vows-hamas-will-pay-after-bodies-of-3-kidnapped-israeli-teens-found – 6/30/2014.

http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=7830 – 6/30/2014.

At this point, it is quite possible to believe Meshaal when he says that he knew nothing about the kidnapping and that he has no idea what happened to the teens. But Meshaal and the leaders of Hamas have a problem. As long as they don’t denounce the Qawasmeh family, and as long as they let the family take them down a dead end time after time, the leaders of the movement will be forced to pay the price.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/qawasmeh-clan-hebron-hamas-leadership-mahmoud-abbas.html#ixzz369yobDuq – 6/29/2014.

Related on anti-Semitism from earlier this month (same subject): http://firstonethrough.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/eyal-gilad-naftali-klinghoffer-the-new-blood-libel/ – 6/23/2014.

 

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Link

http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/in-iraq-isis-channels-mao/

25 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology

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http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/in-iraq-isis-channels-mao/

It’s more like a Hezbollah or Viet Cong, which tries to win legitimacy, than an al-Qaeda, which is mostly interested in showy attacks and ideological purity. Few revolutionaries govern well, but ISIS may be an exception. Its ability to consolidate its territorial gains and make the transition to stable peacetime rule, whether over part or all of Iraq, is a revealing indicator to watch.

Link

http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/iraq-crisis-the-economic-and-geopolitical-challenges-for-india/

25 Wednesday Jun 2014

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http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/iraq-crisis-the-economic-and-geopolitical-challenges-for-india/

Iraq has therefore put Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to its first test, not only with respect to foreign policy by also bringing Indians home safely (including those trapped in Mosul, Baghdad, and other cities).