Month: July 2005

First comes the news that:

“Pope Benedict XVI will become the second pontiff in history to enter a synagogue when he visits his native Germany next month.

In a sign of his determination to mend fences with Judaism and other world religions, the Pope has announced that he will visit the Jewish place of worship in Cologne, which was destroyed by the Nazis but rebuilt after the Second World War.

Then comes the implication that Jewish blood is still different:

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday deplored attacks in “countries including Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and Britain”.

Israel said he had failed to mention a 12 July suicide bombing in Netanya that killed five Israelis.

The foreign ministry said it would be interpreted as “granting legitimacy to… terrorist attacks against Jews”.

posted by Judith.

1. Amnesty international warns that terrorists, sorry “armed groups”, “like other parties to the conflict in Iraq, are required to comply strictly with international law in all their acts and remain accountable for their actions.”

2. Last night former CIA agent Michael Scheuer told Jim Lehrer that he was tired of hearing Al Qaeda members described as haters. “They are not haters,” he said empathetically, “they are lovers . . . .” Jim stared. So Scheuer added: “of their religion.”

Now I know that any CIA agent can go native. Is that the reason the American and British intelligence services are so clueless when it comes to these Jihadists – they actually fell under their spell? Another case of the Cambridge five?

3. Bad Neo-cons (including Havel have the gall to rally to the cause of jailed ex-Revolutionary Guard, argues Paul Harris.

That’s only because Bush prefers a dead Ganji, answers Iranian Blogger Hossien Deraghshan. (Thanks Frieda for the info).
posted by Judith.

“Absolutely heartbreaking”is the correct description. Just look at these pictures and you will know what I mean.
posted by Judith.

No. I do not believe that war with China is around the corner or even the block. It is true that China and the US have traded sharp words recently. Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu told reporters that “China would aim nuclear weapons at American cities if U.S. forces intervened in a Chinese assault to prevent Taiwan from turning its de-facto separation from China into formal independence.”

The old general was spouting the Mao doctrine of the 60’s. Mao argued that given the size of her population, China can afford to absorb an American nuclear strike. When I read that General Zhu added that in such a case all of the Chinese East coast would be obliterated, I immediately remembered how Mao spent a fortune moving essential Chinese facilities Westward.

The US responded sharply, and not only with words, as it extended its strategic alliance with India to the nuclear field. Congress remembered the trade deficit.

The Chinese government announced it would stick to its no first nuclear strike policy, adjusted its currency and got its evil younger sister, North Korea to the negotiating table.

I suspect that sharp words were also exchanged between the Chinese government and the army. Why? Because some years ago when I raised in private the issue of Taiwanese independence with a senior advisor to the Chinese government on relations with Taiwan, he responded by taking a paper and drawing a map of the Chinese coast and Taiwan. He sought to demonstrate that an independent Taiwan would mean the encirclement of China. “The army will never stand for it,” he said excitedly, “everything will be lost.”

He, apparently, knew what he was talking about and so should all the militant advocates of a formally independent Taiwan.
posted by Judith.

Well, it is not difficult to understand how 64% of 1500 adult Russians surveyed last week by the Moscow-based Bashkirova & Partners pollster agree with the opinion that British authorities have created favorable conditions for terrorist attacks by hosting individuals accused of having links to terrorists, such as Chechen
activist Ahmed Zakayev.”

The truth is that serious action against Jihadist Imams such as Omar Bakri and Abu Qatada have yet to be taken. Blair promises action in October! The Germans courts find EU anti-terror laws unconstitutional and keep releasing Al Qaeda members while the Italians seek to arrest CIA agents for kidnapping terrorists.

I know, I know, the rule of law is non-negotiable. But laws must be adapted to reality. Maybe, just maybe, with better legal tools, police may not have to resort to a “shoot to kill” policy.
posted by Judith.

Former Kuwaiti Education Minister: All of Al-Qaida’s Terrorism Started from the Ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood:

“The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has its own justifications for violence. In a statement by the movement, in which it ‘condemned’ the Sharm Al-Sheikh crime, it laid out its justification for the crime. The statement said: ‘the colonialist policies that the world’s strong countries pursue, as well as the aggression against the peoples – they are what engender the culture of violence.’

“The Muslim Brotherhood’s problem is that it has no shame. The beginnings of all of the religious terrorism that we are witnessing today were in the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology of takfir [accusing other Muslims of apostasy]. Sayyid Qutb’s [2] book Milestones was the inspiration and the guide for all of the takfir movements that came afterwards.

“The founders of the violent groups were raised on the Muslim Brotherhood, and those who worked with Bin Laden and Al-Qa’ida went out under the mantle of the Muslim Brotherhood.the rest is here.

posted by Judith.

Andrew is kind enough to let me read your emails. Keep them coming. But if you wish to have your comment automatically posted and even debated, you can do so on my History News Network blog .
posted by Judith.

After landing in Normandy, the allies concluded the capture of France and announced that they will establish in it a democracy which will serve as a model for the rest of Europe. The rest of the European nations including Germans who suffer under Fascism will rise and overthrow their evil regimes. No historical parallel is ever exact but this exercise should help focus the minds of our policy makers. Does anybody believe the Nazis would not have organized an insurgency to undermine the French “occupation?”

So, please, no more WWII parallels.

It is clear that we have decided instead to fight the last war, the Cold War, which took 50 years to win but cost fewer American lives. During that time we fought a number of counter insurgency battles. We won some and lost some. In his recent testimony before the Senate ,Ken Pollack suggests the US Army alter its strategy in a manner which will better protect our Iraqi allies and end efforts to win the hearts of the Sunnis. There is no better way we could start than by protecting recruitment centers.

I read General Petraeus is finally leaving. Finally.

posted by Judith.

Hello, Andrew’s audience. It is an honor to be given the opportunity to write on his blog. Hope you’ll find some of this stuff of interest.

In a week in which bombs were exploding in Britain, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel and Turkey, the topics dominating the week-end talk shows were the Plame affair and the appointment of the “brilliant” John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Why deal with facts when empty speculation is so much more fun?

Following 7/7 Nick Cohen told his fellow liberal that he knows that “Fighting your government is what you know how to do and what you want to do.” So, he understood the reluctance of his peers to refocus on the totalitarian attack disrupting their lives. He, too, had little patience with the shortcomings of Bush and Blair. Indeed, pointing out the failings of the party in power is what the loyal opposition must do. How else could it convince the voters to replace it? Affirming the villainy of a foreign power merely strengthens the party in power. With very few exceptions (such as the past week), it is far more useful politically to blame your own government for the villainy of your enemies. In other words, the logic of the democratic system is to look inwards and blame political rivals for everything that goes awry. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that democracies do not fight each other?

I may be clutching at straws but in a terrible week, I found comfort in the following little item: “A snap on-line poll conducted by the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi asked respondents who was responsible for inter- Palestinian fighting. Those who said the PA were 43.3 per cent, Hamas 42.9 per cent, and Israel 13.8 per cent.” Usually, it is all the fault of Israel or the US.

The increasingly adversarial media follows the same logic even more ferociously. It does not need votes and it is not interested in the events which lead Mona Eltahawy to conclude that “there is no more “us” and “them.” It is all “we.” Why talk about the dead and the maimed when we can discuss the expected level of rancor which will accompany the confirmation hearings of John Roberts in September!
posted by Judith.

What happens when events refuse to follow the media’s preferred script? The extremist Israeli settlers are going to prove to the world that they are just as bad as Hamas. The BBC had arranged to broadcast an entire week from Gaza. But the settlers, who knew violence would alienate the Israeli populace, refused to cooperate. That did not stop the NYT editorial board. It merrily published an editorial entitled “Midsummer Mideast Madness” in which it equated the deadly Palestinian infighting which worries even the Arab press with the non-violent settlers’ efforts to show their true colors.

The truth is that Hamas must learn that elections have consequences. The primary responsibility for teaching that lesson belongs to Abbas’ government. But the Western media could help to delegitimize Hamas’ actions in the manner some of the Arab press is beginning to do: Can you believe this headline Two Palestinians killed after slaying of Israeli couple”?
posted by Judith.