It is discouraging to see how the American military is starting to take the side of the Muslims. Instead of focusing on Iran's nuclear weapon program, they see the main danger to the region's stability in Israel. That is what Petraeus told the American Government, demanding a tougher attitude towards Israel. No previous CENTCOM commander had ever expressed himself on what is essentially a political issue. The Army collected the opinions of senior Arab leaders. "Everywhere they went, the message was pretty humbling. America was not only viewed as weak, but its military posture in the region was eroding." Petraeus also demanded that the West Bank and Gaza (which, with Israel, is a part of the European Command -- or EUCOM), be made a part of his area of operations. Petraeus's reason was straightforward: with U.S. troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military had to be perceived by Arab leaders as engaged in the region's most troublesome conflict. He was asking for more power, which is as it should be with generals, yet his arguments are disturbing to Israel. I also interpret his demand as a sign of Obama's weakening position.
29 comments:
Gen. Petraeus's personal Arabic translator, who I believe has been with him since Petraeus served in Iraq, is a Palestinian. This is a man he has shared the risk of a war zone with. That may have something to do with his view of Israel. Also, as CENTCOM commander, when he's not traveling in the field, he is based in Tampa, Florida, away from many pro-Israel pols in D.C.
From an objective, pragmatic point of view, would you agree that America's alliance with Israel is more of a liability than an asset for the U.S. in geopolitical terms? Israel still has strong support in America for emotional and religious reasons (due to our large Evangelical population in addition to our small, but influential Jewish population). It's ironic that some of the key advocates of invading Iraq were also strong supporters of Israel, but getting America involved neck-deep in the heart of the Arab world has had the unintended (if not entirely surprising) effect of straining relations with Israel.
In today's NY Times, the useful idiot (Lenin's term) and self hating Jew Roger Cohen (who usually fills his column with praise for Iran) comes down hard on Israel and its "right wing" government (this must be the new party line). This was not particularly surprising given his record but what surprised (and saddened) me the most were the reader comments - they ran maybe 7 to 1 anti-Israel. I am used to seeing this is in the British press but such anti-Semitism (and many of the comments were thinly veiled Jew hatred) is relatively new and shocking in the US press in modern times. Many of the comments urged the US to withdraw financial support for Israel either permanently or until Israel fell into line by given the West Bank and Jersualem to the Arabs as Obama wants. It was all not encouraging - there are, I fear, a lot of closet anti-Semites who have learned to keep their mouth shut in polite company but when Obama, the generals and the press give license to anti-Israel sentiments, the nutjobs feel empowered to speak their true feelings too. I am more concerned about US policy vis-a-vis Israel than I have been in decades.
K
Anonymous said...
There are probably far fewer really bright Ashkenazim in Israel than there are in the USA; I think that Israeli brain power, admirable as it may be, is dispensable for the USA as long as it can access its own Jews back home.
However, something is gradually staring to dawn on me; the attitude of American Ashkenazim to Israel is not a simple matter to understand, and is I think quite conflicted. Partly, there is a guilt thing, as there usually is between those who only talk the talk versus those who actually walk the walk. And I suspect that not all American Jews are that keen to actually go to Israel; I get invited there as an expert quite often, and I cannot imagine there aren't Jewish Americans as, or more competent than I am but who decline to go; in fact I know this is the case.
The point of this rambling diatribe is that America would not be smart to get physically involved in Gaza/the West Bank, as their actions would inevitably enrage both sides in this lose-lose conflict. Importantly, it would antagonize American Jews back home, who are already feeling guilty enough and who would come under immense pressure from Israel to manipulate US politics in such a way as to get US troops withdrawn.
This could get very messy and unpleasant, and might result in the reduction of Jewish loyalty to the USA. Since the US does benefit from Jewish brain power, there could be highly negative consequences of all this.
I think Bush's policy of apparent benign neglect is much more intelligent.
Anon
Is America's alliance with Israel more of a liability than an asset for the U.S. in geopolitical terms?
Absolutely not. #1 Israel is the only Western democracy in the region. Arabs basically hate the US for many reasons - religion, culture, etc. and will continue to do so even if there is no Israel. Without an Israel, US's long term influence and footprint in the Middle East (after they leave Iraq soon) will be nil.
#2 - For now Arabs have oil, Israel does not. But, Arabs cannot drink oil - they have to sell it to somebody to fund the corrupt lifestyle of their leadership. World oil supply is fungible - even if they don't sell 1 barrel to the US, as long as that oil is on the world market the effect is the same - it frees up other oil for us. Further, long term the oil will dry up, but Israel as the (only) high tech center in the Middle East will continue to make invaluable contributions to the world economy of the future.
#3 - Abandonment of Israel would be an even bigger liability -what message would that send to other US allies? US may someday sell you out when its "geopolitical interests" shift. Germany, Japan, countries that twice started world wars have now had a wonderful 65 yr siesta under the US nuclear umbrella and have started no WWIII. Their historic enemies Russia and China remain on their borders but they leave themselves exposed and let Uncle safeguard their trade routes. Do you want to wake the sleeping giants by sending them the message that the umbrella can be pulled away just when they need it most?
I could go on but that this is still even being raised as a question is disturbing. I thought the old school State Dept. Arabist types were all dead by now.
K
Anon, J, and K, consider the following hypothesis:
Petraeus is less intelligent than Obama, who in turn is less intelligent than J and K. Are Petraeus and Obama Jews? Can Jews trust Petraeus and Obama? Should Jews think BIG, BIG, BIG and SMART, SMART, SMART?
Consider 3 hypotheses:
(1) The downfall of Israel shall never occur UNLESS Jews have too much of the humanity of Einstein and NOT ENOUGH of the ruthlessness of Jabotinsky.
(2) The greatest threat to Israel consists of Jews who are profoundly pro-Jewish but ALSO profoundly committed to universal humanitarian ideals.
(3) Jews need to out-think their enemies in profoundly intelligent ways.
What might help Israel, Jews, and Western Civilization more than anything else? Let us think (J and K and doggytwit, together). Consider a speculative plan: Send a charismatic 30-year-old man as a Mossad agent? Where? To China. Why? To convert at least 100 million Chinese to Judaism. Who and what would the man be? A remarkably compelling, hypnotically charming persuader of both men and women? A man with a Chinese father and an Ashkenazi mother? A man fluent in Mandarin Chinese, English, and Hebrew? Is doggytwit full of dreck? J and K, do you share fundamentalist Muslim enemies with doggytwit? J and K, can you tell doggytwit how to defeat such enemies? J and K, are you MUCH SMARTER than Obama?
Doggytwit,
Israel is much too small to take on 100 million Chinese. There is already a decent sized Chinese illegal alien community in Israel (the illegal aliens do the menial work that used to be done by the Palestinians until suicide bombing made it impossible to allow Palestinian day laborers across the border).
It is funny though that my son has learned Mandarin Chinese and is planning to work in China. However, his work will involve the automotive industry and not the conversion of the Chinese. The Chinese are quite patriotic and unlikely to shift their loyalty. I always thought the Chinese were entirely irreligious but was shocked to see the popularity of Buddhist temples in China. It was clear that some of the visitors were not just tourists but were there to worship. The Chinese being great merchants (something they have in common with the Jews), surrounding each temple is a commercial district specializing in religious goods - incense sticks to offer to the gods, etc.
The Jewish strategy for almost 2,000 years , until the Holocaust, was to outwait its enemies whenever possible (because they did not have the strength to take them on directly). In modern fast moving times, waiting is not always possible, but in this case I think it is. After the November elections Obama's position will be weaker and if he continues his present course he will be considered unelectable and a political pariah - the David Paterson of Washington. Already there are Democrat congressmen who don't want to be seen with him. God willing Obama will be gone in 3 years but the nation of Israel will live.
K
K, where do you think I meant the 100 million should go? Le..., Sy..., Jo.., the Si..., Sa.. Ar..., and form buffer states with these (Chinese-American Machiavellian deal) to perform Talleyrandian etc. with the you-know-what reserves?
Anon,
Why does the U.S. need to have "influence" in the Middle East? The Arabs need to sell their oil as much as we need to buy it. We don't have to influence them to sell it to us, anymore than we have to influence the Canadians or the Norwegians to sell us oil.
As for Israel's contributions to the technology industry and the world economy, these could continue without an intimate alliance with the U.S. Or those Israeli tech savants could ply their trades in the U.S. (as some already do).
As far as a U.S. security umbrella, such as the one that protects Germany and the rest of NATO: Israel isn't currently protected by any de jure U.S. security umbrella, so there is really no umbrella to remove.
In elfin land, suppose a group of wizard elves lived near evil elves who owned a gold mine. Suppose gnomes lived in the west and dwarves lived in the east. Suppose the evil elves wanted to hurt both the gnomes and the wizard elves. The gnomes might dance around the gold mine and perform spells — what good would that do? The gnomes and the dwarves might agree to move into elfin land, expel the evil elves from elfin land, and split the gold mine among the gnomes, the dwarves, and the wizard elves. A huge number of dwarves might then actually live around the gold mine. How could the evil elves finance their evil without their gold mine?But expelling them from elfin land and confiscating their gold mine would be aggression and a crime against elfdom (or evil elfdom). Is war a question of winning?
"but what surprised (and saddened) me the most were the reader comments - they ran maybe 7 to 1 anti-Israel... but such anti-Semitism (and many of the comments were thinly veiled Jew hatred) is relatively new and shocking in the US press in modern times...there are, I fear, a lot of closet anti-Semites who have learned to keep their mouth shut in polite company"
It's subjective on my part, but I've noticed a significant uptick in outright Jew-hatred on the internet in the last few years. It's part of what contributes to my sense of the danger we face from being saddled with this unfortunate label and one of the external factors that makes me value being Jewish less.
Granted, as K pointed out, the stereotypical yid that I am, I can't escape. But intermarriage offers the dream of escape from the Jew-hatred, the straitjacketing orthodox religion, and the leftist lunacy that are such curses of being Jewish. I don't think we can beat these beasts. Long term, I don't think Israel can win either.
correction: intermarriage offers the dream of escape for our descendants...
Previous Anonymous, didn't you mean to say that intermarriage offers the dream of escape for THEIR descendants ... from less than Jewish IQs?
Also, Previous Anonymous, I think you have pointed out the fatal flaw in my scheme against the evil elves. The straightjacking orthodox religion says it is religiously immoral. The leftist lunacy says it is immoral in the sense of leftish politics. There can be justified but limited retaliation consistent with moral codes. There can be justified prevention of an imminent attack. There cannot be a huge amoral, brutal deal with crazy demographic change in a wide area. You can't replace Arab Muslims with Chinese, Hindus, or Latin Americans and give them land and shares of oil reserves as payment for being colonists. That would barbaric, immoral, and politically absurd into the bargain. You cannot possibly dump every Muslim Arab into Egypt. In Egypt the Muslims teach their kids The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. In Israel the Jews teach their kids tikkun olam. Those two different methods of teaching are what is called the balance of power. K says, "God willing ... the nation of Israel will live"
"The Jewish strategy ,,, to outwait its enemies ..."
Don't assassinate the enemy, wait for him to go away or learn humanity.
The enemy plans to murder you and your son-in-law and put your daughter into his harem. You plan to defend yourself and practice humanity. You can't murder him, steal his gold mine, and drive his descendants into Egypt. Such a plan is immoral and unworkable anyway.
OK, let us call in Ray Kurzweil and have him build super weapons so we can stick with our super moral codes. I ask again, who are the world's top 10 living geniuses? I really want to know! I was Jewish once for about 15 minutes when I heard the voice of Yahweh. However, I don't speak Hebrew, didn't understand Hebrew, and now I believe in nothing.
Obama has started to show his colours on Israel. It will only take a few more differences like this, for the house of lies his Jewish fans have built around his supposed support for Israel to come crashing down. This a man who sat without any angst listening to Rev Wright implicating Jews in the problems afflicting the blacks. It will of course come as no surprise to to a seasoned man like Netanyahu to see the change in Obama. The wonder is that it took so long.
Ivan, if IQ differences between races and ethnic groups have a very strong genetic component, then all the people of the world might need to rethink their religions, philosophies of life, and plans for the future. Do you agree or disagree? If Ashkenazim say to Obama that science suggests that Ashkenazim are genetically smarter than white Europeans are genetically smarter than black Africans, aren't we all in one hell of a mess ... especially if it's true? If I'm an idiot and you are a genius, then shouldn't you be my boss or caretaker?!?
IQ is not everything. Character counts. Perseverance counts. IQ does not provide leadership qualities. High IQ feels, most of the time, like some kind of mental disease. Neurosis was always a Jewish disease, and it is not funny.
Yes, high IQ is not an unalloyed good, even for the person who has one (nor for the society he lives in - high IQ can be used for ill - see Bernie Madoff). It's like a thoroughbred race horse - if you know anything about horses, these are not easy horses to own or ride compared to other slower breeds. They have nervous temperaments, are prone to ailments, etc. - being bred for speed instead of other qualities means that other qualities may be lacking. Ashkenazi Jews are also prone to all sorts of genetic diseases because of their inbred nature. It is not always fun being a genius but the world needs its geniuses and we would not be where we are today without them. So a world without the brilliant secular Ashkenazim will be a diminished world. It's no fun watching a bunch of plough horses plod slowly around a race track.
To doggytwit - if you look at virtually every African country, it is perfectly clear by now that they ran much better (not only for the whites but for their own black citizens) when the white colonials were in charge. But modern ideology makes this impossible so the poor Africans must suffer under corrupt and incompetent rulers - as long as those rulers have the correct skin tone nothing else matters, especially not to the white European liberals who don't have to live with the consequences of their ideology.
Once you take violent struggle off the table (and in the long run it is never off the table), the smart WILL end up bossing around the dumb. For example, according to Wikipedia, in pre-WWII Hungary, where Jews represented 5% of the population, 88% percent of the members of the stock exchange and 91% percent of the currency brokers were Jews and more than half and perhaps as much as 90 percent of Hungarian industry was owned or operated by a few closely related Jewish banking families. But such inequality seems not to be sustainable - even if it is a matter of cutting off your nose to spite your face, envy does not permit it.
K
J and K, the two of you seem remarkably intelligent. Have both of read Crick's book "What Mad Pursuit"? I think I would vote for that as the best book I have ever read. Also have the 2 of you read Sydney Brenner's essays — I find some of them to be truly remarkable. In the USA, the 2 greatest chess players, Paul Morphy and Robert Fischer, both had remarkably high IQs and what appeared to be schizophrenia. Some of the most famous authors, Proust, Kafka, and I.B. Singer, seemed remarkably sensitive.
Kindness I've discovered is everything in life. - Singer
It seems to me that Proust, Kafka, and Singer would have been remarkably reluctant to drop the A-bomb. Unfortunately, our world might be somewhat upside down in the A-bomb dropping department.
The stock market investor's 2 basic emotions are greed and fear. In war are the 2 basic emotions hate and fear? If so, do we need the world's 10 greatest geniuses to give us advice on how to build weapons that are mad-dictator-specific?
Also, K, in the matter of the black African countries and all other countries, we have the problems of not just envy but also pride. If 100-IQ guy sees rich 115-IQ guy, then envy kicks in, self-respect wobbles, and pride rubs salt into the wound.
Note, as a matter of some interest, the average IQ of Israel is not that high; actually less than Europe.
But, as J has eleswhere noted, within the Israeli population is nested a smallish group (circa 100 000?) of Ashkenazim European/South African emigre's who are enough to do the cognitive heavy loading required to ensure survival and to create a passably good quality of life for everyone in the society.
This is the truth of leverage, and it is manifest especially when the surrounding people are not hostile, encourage it and when the smart people are actually in charge.
I cannot imagine these intelligent people will actually allow their cognitive edge to disappear through mass breeding with non-Jews; however, a point not often discussed is what happens via in-breeding within the Jewish communities in which Ashkenazim might be out-numbered.
Those of us interested in IQ, and who understand its relevance to defence and survival, are watching this closely.
Anon.
More bad news:
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/me_israel0217_03_18.asp
What a nightmare Obama is turning out to be!
K
Regarding Hungary, I returned to Budapest 50 years after we left and was amazed how the Hungarian language had evolved. Somehow it has lost the clever, witty idioms and it has become a language of long multi-composed descriptive words, like the German. Modern Hungarian literature is unreadable. I attribute this downgrading to the lack of the pre-war Budapest Jewish intellectual circles who in fact, had created modern Hungarian literature. In fact, the modern Hungarian language was a Jewish creation, it did not exist before 1860. But no one seems to have noticed, it is only me missing it.
J, in your opinion are Kafka and Broch the 20th century's two greatest writers in the German language? I seems to me that Kafka was a kind of poet with a warped, sick sense of humor. Kurt Vonnegut was a kind of second-rate Kafka. Do you agree or disagree? Did Hitler and Stalin together wipe out the Einstein-like level of literature in Germany, Russia, and all of central Europe? If I chose as my 3 greatest role models Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci, and Francis Crick, then what would I get out of it? I am too stupid to imitate them. In order to usefully imitate J. S. Bach, you have to be at least somewhat in the same ballpark with the Bach family. It seems that 2 or 3 of the best people can make or break a national literature.
Think what Shakespeare did for English and Pushkin did for Russian. Kill the Bach family and kill the genius-level of German music. Kill Kafka and Broch and kill German literature. Is high civilization that fragile?
Hungarian literature is accessible to most people only in translation and this kind of nuance gets lost in translation. In Hungarian, those who grew up immersed in the newspeak don't know anything else so it seems normal to them. In addition to the loss of the Jews, 50 years of Communist rule were surely not kind to the language. Under Communism words have a sort of Alice in Wonderland quality where they mean what the state wants them to mean and lose their original meanings.
K
Regarding German literature, my German is not good enough to judge.
Regarding Hungarian contemporary literature, I couldnt find anything interesting. Probably the cause is in me.
"Probably the cause is in me."
I doubt it. After 1956, the Hungarians chose the path of "gulyas Communism" - which was bereft of any internal consistency or morality - it's only redeeming attribute was that it was good enough for the Russians to leave the Hungarians relatively alone. A gulyas is a good recipe for a stew and maybe even for ruling an occupied nation but such a mishmosh does not make for a great literature.
K
J, it appears that you have not accurately represented what Petraus said. The man made a general comment about the tough operating environment in the Middle East, which is true. He had no adverse recommendations concerning Israel.
"Send a charismatic 30-year-old man as a Mossad agent? Where? To China. Why? To convert at least 100 million Chinese to Judaism."
You really are a TWIT aren't you Doggytwit?
"It is not always fun being a genius but the world needs its geniuses and we would not be where we are today without them. So a world without the brilliant secular Ashkenazim will be a diminished world. It's no fun watching a bunch of plough horses plod slowly around a race track."
There is no such thing as a "Jewish genius" -- no such person exists on Earth, and never has. Jews are incapable of genius...they are merely 'clever.'
Even the Jewish philosopher Otto Weininger admitted there is no such thing as Jewish genius:
"It is this want of depth which explains the absence of truly great Jews; like women, they are without any trace of genius. The philosopher Spinoza, about whose purely Jewish descent there can be no doubt, is incomparably the greatest Jew of the last nine hundred years. . . . The extraordinary fashion in which Spinoza has been overestimated is less due to his intrinsic merit than to the fortuitous circumstances that he was the only thinker to whom Goethe gave his attention. . . .
Just as Jews and women are without extreme good and extreme evil, so they never show either genius or the depth of stupidity of which mankind is capable. The specific kind of intelligence for which Jews and women alike are notorious is due simply to the alertness of an exaggerated egotism; it is due, moreover, to the boundless capacity shown by both for pursuing any object with equal zeal, because they have no intrinsic standard of value - nothing in their own soul by which to judge of the worthiness of any particular object. And so they have unhampered natural instincts, such as are not present to help the Aryan man when his transcendental standard fails him."
- http://www.theabsolute.net/ottow/sexcharh.html#j
Nayra, I suggest you emulate your hero Weininger and kill yourself. Weininger was obviously a self hating Jew and a sick man - so full of self-hatred that he mimicked the worst of the then fashionable anti-Semites in his own writings and then took his own life. From such a man I draw no lessons, regardless of the fact that he was born a Jew. I'm sure that if he had lived long enough to see the genius of Einstein and the damaged caused by "intellectual" anti-Semitism such as his which gave Hitler a measure of respectability, he would have surely recanted (if he had made it past the gas chambers).
Weiniger's reactionary BS (about women as well as Jews) reminds me of Wagner's views about Mendelssohn. Wagner said that Jews were incapable of composing "real" music because they were not in touch with the German volk. What they composed was a sort of erzatz robot music which only superficially resembled real music.
That you site such outdated claptrap (as the Nazis did also) as current authority tells me all I need to know about you.
J- I know you want to "know your enemy" as you were taught in Army training school, but I really have limited appetite for such dog vomit.
K
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