(note: I’ve been reading James Wall for some time. He writes a weekly column on issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with an emphasis on US policy. There is a link to his blog `Wall Writings’ on the right – rjp. I don’t know if he would agree with the characterization of being a `progressive Christian’ voice but that is how I understand his viewpoint. )
by James M. Wall
Christopher Dickey currently serves as Newsweek’s Paris bureau chief and Middle East regional editor. In a recent Newsweek online column, Dickey recalled a story from 1996.
“Back when Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu was elected Israel’s prime minister for the first time, in 1996, a Jordanian political scientist with a grim sense of humor said the only way to describe him was like a villain out of an old Western: “He’s a lyin’, cheatin’, deceitin’ son of a bitch!””
This is not meant to malign Bibi, alone. Any observer of the political class knows Dickey could find any number of politicians who deserve that same description. You know who I am talking about.
Think of all those Democratic members of Congress who piously waited until the final moment to say how they would vote on the health care bill. They said they were meticulously studying the bill, all 2000 plus pages of it, to see how it would best serve their “constituents”.
Subjects Discussed With My Lifelong Friend Dick Ayre (in 3 hours) Riding Around Aroostock County in Northern Maine
1. fiddleheads (flowers that look like
Fiddleheads - Mainers from Presque Isle to Freeport collect them in marshy areas in April and cook them up
fiddles that people pick and eat in the spring)
2. the decline of the Maine paper industry and the dangers of working in the forests with the new technologies that now exist (monster mechanized chain saws)
3. the roads in Aroostock County that are built on near permafrost and how they are paved on 8 feet of gravel
4. the geographic distribution and political implications of moose warning signs and how many people have died in N. Maine from running into moose in their cars and on motorcycles
Dick Ayre in Houlton Maine
5. speculation on the evolution of the moose (how it is that animals as stupid as moose has survived for 30 million years and why deer, a related species, is so much more intelligent)
6. Dick’s near misses of running into moose on his motor cycle
7. the beauty of the Alagosh Wilderness (northern Maine) and whether large swatches of N. Maine might be made into a national park
8. the youth identity crisis
9. the history of cold weather in Aroostock County in the last ten years (year by year, season by season) including the history of blizzards during that period and the different kinds of snow that fell in each
10. Cathie Pelletier, author of Funeral Matters
11. research libraries (the library of Congess, University of California system)
public schools and charter schools…why charter schools have proven – over the long run – to be no better and
Lumber yard, Aroostock County
sometimes worse that public schools
12. immigration patterns and urban crime – immigrant communities are generally safer than non-immigrant neighborhoods
13. heart attacks, pulmonary fibrosis, acid reflux disease, diabetes and how they are all related
14. the right of a student to tell a public school teacher to `go fuck himself’ versus the right of a prisoner to tell a guard the same thing
15. the relationship between lack of control in the workplace and mental illness
16. why there is no canadian studies department at the university of maine presque isle (where dick taught) which is ten miles from the Canadian border
17. doubts about the continuing validity of Marx’s theory of history
18. Volume 1 of Marx’s Capital and its relationship to Harry Braverman’s writings
19. how contemporary China resembles Italian fascism under Mussolini
20. the best breakfast places in Mars Hill Maine where the gossip about affairs is really juicy
21. how to make good hummus and what kind of
Maine Moose - heard enough about them - never saw one
garbonzo beans make the best hummus
22. idiot college administrators we have known
23. history of the University of Miami football team and its close relationship with Miami’s Black Community
among other things…
1. As Benjamin Netanyahu was dumping on Vice President Joseph Biden in Jerusalem, undermining a feable US attempt to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table, at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, support for Israel’s military descended to still more profound and unheard of levels of delusion.
There, some 1300 people paid $1000 a piece to attend a fund raising event and show-of-support evening in honor of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). According to a piece which appeared in the March 11, 2010 Jerusalem Post, the event raised $20 million dollars in all that evening.
Peace Demonstrator in front of the Waldorf-Astoria protesting the IDF's record in Lebanon and Gaza
The guest of honor was Lt-General Gabi Ashkinaze who has been advised not to travel to certain countries where he might face indictment on war crimes for the IDF’s military assault and ensuing massacre of Palestinians in Gaza last year, a conflict that was so onesided that it cannot, in good faith, be called `a war’ . Read more…
(updated March 29, 2010)
Hizbollah and Israel: The Coming Clash
Robert Fisk: Israel and Hizbollah Preparing For War
Haaretz: Israel War Looming In Gaza?
_______________________
A recent ad from Gush Shalom, Israeli peace group, which sums up the situation well:
The War can be prevented –
In spite of the threats!
The readiness to make peace
And to leave
The occupied territories
Will make it possible
To reach agreement
With the Syrians
And the Palestinians,
Thus depriving the Iranians
Of any pretext for an attack.
If war breaks out –
It will be again
For territories and settlements
__________________________
Three pieces… one from January 12, suggesting that Israel is preparing for war with Gaza again, the second more recent, from a few days ago, by British journalist Robert Fisk who was visiting S. Lebanon, suggesting that, Israel will not to to war to its south but possibly to its north, in Lebanon against Hizbollah. It might also seek to hit both Syria and Iran with a triple devastating strike. While none of this is written in stone, the situation appears more and more ominous. At the same time, Israel has been consulting intensively with both NATO and the US military and there is at least one report of the US stockpiling weapons in Israel that came out a few weeks ago (I am updating this on March 9,2010). The third comes in early March, from the website `Open Democracy’ which only re-enforces the concerns of the other two, but this time, from the Hizbollah-Syria-Iran side
A few thoughts as you read these pieces Read more…
Colorado Christians Must Break Silence
( Note: The followingop-ed appeared in today’s March 4, 2010 (Denver Post). I signed it.)
GUEST COMMENTARY
Colorado Christians must break silence
By John Kane
American Christians for too long have been largely silent about the most dangerous conflict threatening peace in our world: the decades-old crisis in Israel and Palestine.
Christians in this country have largely gone along with the Cold War narrative (now refocused on terrorism) that dominates thinking in our media, our foreign policy establishment, and our Congress — as well as in Israel and among most Jewish Americans.
Such “Christian silence” is rooted to a great extent in ignorance of what is actually happening in the Holy Land, and it is also rooted in a legitimate fear of offending Jewish neighbors and fellow citizens. Read more…
Some Articles on the Renewed Third World Debt Crisis
- A New Global Debt Crisis: 40 million jobs at Risk by Nicolas Dearden – Dearden is the executive director of Jubilee 2000 whose report is cited below
- ADebt crisis report web– this is a report by Jubilee 2000 –
The Four Horses of the Wall Street Apocalypse
the coalition of peace and church groups that worked for debt relief and had some successes. There was debt relief, unfortunately, in exchange for tighter structural adjustment programs
- Wall Street’s Toxic Message – this is a piece by Joseph Stiglitz in Vanity Fair. It does not mention the Third World Debt crisis (except in passing) but gives good background on the programs and themes that have led to the crisis
- The Causes of the Third World Debt Crisis – this site has very useful background information, much of it covered in class, but still useful. It also includes a series of videos all of which are very well done and worth looking at.
- Global Debt and Third World Development by Vincent Ferraro and Melissa Rosser – although 15 years old, this piece is quite good – it gives alot of statistics of the development of the Third World Debt which stood – in 1994 – at $1.3 trillion. I am trying to get figures for its current size.
- A World of Debt: Why Debt Relief Has Failed To Liberate Poor Countries – a very good piece written in 2001 for `American Prospect’ Magazine – a moderately left of center publication of quality. The last half of the article deals well with the limits of debt relief
- Hans Rosling: Debunking Third World Myths With The Best Statistics You’ve Ever Seen – good general statistics on comparisons with socio-economic statistics. Well done
- Toxic Debt – nature of a fair share of Third World debt
- John Perkins on how the Third World debt crisis comes about. He is the author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman.
UN Security Council and Other Reports/Resolutions/Videos on the Congo
Updated April 1, 2010; April 16, 2010
note: there are quite a large number of UN Security Council resolutions on the Congo. They take some time to read, but by so doing, one gets quite a bit of useful information.
The entire list of UN Security Council Resolutions/Reports since 2003 (and some a bit earlier) can be found at the site entitled `Democratic Republic of the Congo – UN Documents’
I include here – for the moment – two particular reports – plus a U-Tube short skit on Africa and the IMF which sums up pretty much everything
- The first is entitled `Report from the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’ . UN Security Council – Congo S-2003-1027. It is 41 pages long
- The second one comes a bit earlier, in 2002. It is 59 pages. Its annex includes the names of companies and countries that have profited off of the illicit trade in mineral and other natural resources from the Congo. When it came out, it created quite a storm and helped clarify much about what the war in the Congo has been about. s-2002-1146 – UN Security Council on Congo
- U-Tube on Africa and the IMF
- Le Roi de Zaire PartOne: No 1 – In French. This video in several parts traces Mobutu’s consolidation of power around himself after his visits to China and North Korea where he saw first hand the power of `the cult’ of the personality. He then created a personality cult around himself with African trimmings
- Le Roi de Zaire Part One; Suite – In French. This video in several parts traces Mobutu’s consolidation of power around himself after his visits to China and North Korea where he saw first hand the power of `the cult’ of the personality. He then created a personality cult around himself with African trimmings
- Le Roi de Zaire Part Two; No. 2 – In French. This video in several parts traces Mobutu’s consolidation of power around himself after his visits to China and North Korea where he saw first hand the power of `the cult’ of the personality. He then created a personality cult around himself with African trimmings. This section explores Mobutu’s sorry record.
- Le Roi de Zaire Part Three; No 1 – – In French. This video in several parts traces Mobutu’s consolidation of power around himself after his visits to China and North Korea where he saw first hand the power of `the cult’ of the personality. He then created a personality cult around himself with African trimmings. This section explores Mobutu’s sorry record.
- Le Roi de Zaire Part Three; No. 2 – In French. This video in several parts traces Mobutu’s consolidation of power around himself after his visits to China and North Korea where he saw first hand the power of `the cult’ of the personality. He then created a personality cult around himself with African trimmings. This section explores Mobutu’s sorry record.
- Summary of Oxfam April 2010 Report on Patterns of Rape in the Eastern Congo – This is a summary of the latest reports on the epidemic proportion rapes taking place in the Eastern Congo
- DRC-sexual-violence-2010-04 – Now The World Is Without Me – The full report `Now The World Is Without Me – Oxfam April 2010 Report on Patters of Rape in the Eastern Congo
I will add others in the next days.
Yalta: The Price of Peace – Discussion of S.M. Plokhy’s Book on CSPAN
One of the more interesting discussions about the Yalta Conference of February 1945 that influenced the postwar period It aired on CSPAN and plays for an hour of an half.
Oldies But Goodies – Film Reviews: Zinnemann, Fuller, Imamura
Oldies But Goodies…
Lately I’ve been watching some old movies of the 40s, 50s and 1960s. Good movies – and there are many – make one think about `life’ `morals’ and the world beyond our narrow petty existence. In reflecting upon them I have no interest – none at all – to try to be a great film critic or give a sense of `one-upmanship’ about it all, just to reflect upon movies that have drawn me to their subject matter and given me, now and then, some insights on the human condition. Except for Lester Cole and Pele de Lappe – who used to write film reviews for the long defunct Berkeley, California based Peoples World– I don’t read or listen to film reviews nor do I have interest in posing as `an expert on film’ – which I am not. I just love to watch films and hear good folk songs, to see them, to think about them and when possible to try to place them in `a bigger picture’ of `the world’. Read more…
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Planning To Attack Iran?
(note: Rick Rozoff manages a website called `Stop NATO’ – there is a link to it on right hand of this blog. Every day he collects articles that make a convincing – no – airtight case for the frenetic – but hardly noticed – growth of the US military worldwide. He write some of the pieces himself. It is a most valuable source of information. It is – unfortunately – quite accurate – rjp)
———-
Impending Explosion: U.S. Intensifies Threats To Russia And Iran
Impending Explosion: U.S. Intensifies Threats To Russia And Iran
Rick Rozoff
Stop NATO
February 18, 2010
Washington and its NATO allies launched two of the three major wars in the world over the past eleven years in March – against Yugoslavia in 1999 and against Iraq in 2003. The war drums are being pounded anew and the world may be headed for a catastrophe far worse than those in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The United States, separately and through the military bloc it controls, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is accelerating military deployments and provocations throughout Eurasia and the Middle East.
For the rest of the article, click here.
`American Faust’ critique of Condoleeza Rice Plays in Denver
Link to post-film discussion with Alan Gilbert and Doug Vaughan
————————————————————-
Rice’s Denver Connection
Condoleeza Rice, the former Secretary of State
Condoleeza Rice and Jendayi Frazer(left) . Frazer taught at D.U. for a short time. She became Rice's Undersecretary of State for Africa and was, for a while the US Ambassador to South Africa.
and National SecurityAgency head during the Bush years, and one of the key high level people in the Bush Administration to authorize the use of torture of prisoners of war in `the war on terrorism’, has a strong connection with Denver. She lived here for many years; her father was a dean at the University of Denver from where she got both her bachelor’s degree and PhD. I hardly knew her. A friend, now chair of the Political Science Department at Metro State College, relates that Rice accompanied him to a talk I gave in defense of a film Vanessa Redgrave made on the Palestinians some thirty years ago. Another friend dated her. He found her uptight and rather boring. Read more…
Yemen 5 – Houthi Rebellion in Yemen has the Saudis Nervous
(related links:
warning: a long piece – more than 5500 words.
+++++++++++++++
Thinking About Yemen
Houthi Refugees fleeing the fighting. There are between 150,000-200,000 people made refugee in Yemen's northern regions since 2004
Continuing to probe the US-Saudi-Yemeni (Sana’a Government) military offensive in Yemen.
It takes some doing to get closer to what is going on. Before giving some of the latest thoughts, a bit of review is in order. I start with the assumption that the reasons given for the military offensive in Yemen are essentially pretexts for public consumption, only worth considering because they provide excuses for opening yet another front of this pointless `war on terrorism’, and that once again `we’ – the American public are being deceived and led off the track through gross exaggeration, outright fabrication or some combination of the two.
The major trends are upside-down. Aggressors are cast in the role of victims – it has become something of a political tradition these days – and the victims painted as aggressors. It all takes place so far away. The fact that so much US money, weaponry and political energy go intoYemen’s war hardly penetrates the public conscience and is confusing. Read more…
Financial Times Analysis of the current US Defense Budget
I will be adding articles here on the current defense budget, largest in US history, bigger than all the others in the world combined, this from a Democrat who promised to end the war in Iraq and make progress on Israeli-Palestinian peace making. Instead he’s greatly escalated the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, opened a new front in Yemen, intends to keep `enduring’ bases in Iraq and is moving ever so systematically towards the big one – open intervention in Iran which Bush era- neo cons, pro-Israeli types including the more liberal J-Street, that great assortment of those `rapture’ spellbound Christian fundamentalist wackos around Christians United For Israel and the Democratic Leadership Council all seem to be on the same page.
February 11, Financial Times analysis of current US Defense budget
February 11, Al Jazeera – Petraeus, Israeli Diplomat hazed on US Campuses – Protesting US Middle East Policies
Larry Mizel and the Museum of (In) Tolerance in Jerusalem (Updated)
Note: This entry is updated on February 10, 2010 and again on September 27, 2010. The February 10, 2010 edition of `Democracy Now!’ aired a segment on this subject. Palestinian relatives of some of those buried at Jerusalem’s Mamilla Cemetery are going to the United Nations to ask that the project be halted. Here is the link to the segment Democracy Now! . It adds some texture to the piece below firts published on January 24, 2010. There is a Colorado connection – Larry Mizel, Denver developer and now CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
(Related Posts:
Jim Wall on the Mamilla Cemetery
Nir Barkat, Mayor of Jerusalem Speaks at the University of Denver
Mamilla Cemetery, A Buried History
Silverado 4a – Larry Mizel: Silverado-Linked Developer-Turned Philanthropist and` the CELL‘
Silverado 4 – Larry Mizel: Silverado-Linked Developer-Turned Philanthropist (Intro)
Rabbi Marvin Hier Defends the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Project To Build the Museum
The shocked and appalled Jerusalemites and members of the Islamic Waqf gathering the scattered bones left by Israeli parking lot workers in Mamilla, the historic cemetery in the western section of Jerusalem (1967).
A project in the works for nine years to construct what is formally called a `Museum of Tolerance’ in Jerusalem sponsored by the SimonWiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, has run into problems. According to the museum’s literature, the Jerusalem project seeks to promote `unity and respect’ among Jews and between people of all faiths’. Sounds promising at first, but when asked if the `tolerance’ the museum hopes to promote would include Palestinians, Rabbi Marvin Hier responded that the museum is `not about the experience of the Palestinian people; when they have a state, they’ll have their own museum’. Sounds less promising.
Then the plot thickens. The project had been controversial from the outset as it was planned to be built on the grounds of the Mamilla Cemetery, at least 1000 years old, which includes the remains of Moslems who fought against the Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries, as well as those of Moslem scholars from the 15th century onwards. Some reports suggest the cemetery is even older, perhaps 1500 years and the remains of friends of the Prophet Mohamed are buried there. The museum authorities come up with a fountain of lame excuses as to why it’s not a `big deal’ to build their tolerant museum on the bones of moslem holy men and scholars. Sounds awful. Read more…
Peter Brewton describes E. Trine Starnes Jr as perhaps `the biggest con man that Texas ever produced’ , a dubious honor. (1) Brewton adds:
In terms of dollar amounts [stolen] he easily distanced Billie Sol Estes, friend of LBJ and Morris Jaffee and on a national scale he is right up there with the fugitive financier Robert Vesco
Sol Estes and Vesco, were minor leaguers compared to more modern day financial crooks like Bernie Madoff, Bernie Eggers, Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, but in their day Sol Estes and Vesco were `the Magellan’s’ of their age, probing as yet untapped possibilities of massive fraud, financial shyster pioneers of sorts, paving the way for even higher levels of greed and corruption in the post millenial world. And smooth talking E. Trine Starnes Jr – who never spent a night in jail (from what I can tell) – is right up there with the best of them, and with God and Ronald Reagan on his side to boot.
Certainly an initial scan of the Savings and Loan literature suggests this an accurate portrait. Read more…
View from the Left Bank: Rob Prince's Blog 