The Great Charade
In an interview she gave in 1980, the eminent British writer Doris Lessing said the following: "I can't remember any time in my life where I wasn't sitting looking at the grown-up scene and thinking, this must be some great charade they've all agreed to play." On an intuitive level, I had a similar perception about my childhood environment when I was about 8 or 9, and subsequent events have only served to reinforce that perception. It's one reason why I have been attracted to Lessing's novels, some of which reiterate this theme--in particular, Briefing for a Descent into Hell, which I occasionally assigned to my classes when I was teaching at various universities.
posted by Morris Berman at 8:43 PM
188 Comments:
What is the problem with empire? They think they are so powerful that they can afford mistakes. But issues accumulate, until eventually, they become unsolvable. The US is confidently striding in the same direction as the Soviet Union.
Vladimir Putin
Is Putin reading your books? This was back in February but it’s obviously declinist.
https://twitter.com/Geopolitics_Emp/status/1622740168116514816?lang=en
More or less the entirety of the official Western response to the Gaza attack in Southern Israel could be summarised as "The Cynical Misleading the Stupid". It's pure, industrial-grade propaganda, blasted across the eyeballs of Western audiences like a well-hung stud spattering the face of an eager porn starlet.
Hardly a part of the mainstream media any longer, the always astute Jonathan Cook has written a good article on how nauseating it all is:
https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2023/10/09/the-wests-hypocrisy-towards-gazas-breakout-is-stomach-turning/
Also, a good place to keep tabs on up-to-the minute events is here. Hopefully a watched WWIII pot never boils:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-gaza-war-live
"Meanwhile, the whole world is outraged at the Hamas uprising, when they too would be retaliating if something similar had happened to them."
Absolutely right. I awoke this morning to read that Canada's political leadership is fully supporting Israel without even a whisper of acknowledgment that the Palestinians have been horrifically abused for decades. Biden's reaction is similar as he pledges yet more military support for Israel. These clowns should be ashamed.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-politicians-rally-israel-support-1.6991211
Thank you for your unwavering commitment to truth and facing reality.
Jamie-
How can I get Putin to arrange for a translation of my bk on Russia into Russian? What a rush that wd be. Meanwhile, he understands that the US is headed for collapse.
Budget-
Terrific article by Cook, thank you. Altho he doesn't discuss al-Nakba (1948), the analysis of who the real terrorists are is rt on pt.
Michael-
This is indeed the world turned upside down.
mb
The day before the Hamas attack on October 7th, I read a strange news story about an attack on the Israel Museum's permanent exhibit in which "a sculpture of the head of Athena, the daughter of the Greek god Zeus, and a statue of a griffin grasping the wheel of fate of the Roman god Nemesis, were targeted, the Times of Israel reports: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/us-tourist-arrested-roman-statues-israel-jerusalem-b1111958.html
This could be an instance of Jung's notion of synchronicity as an acausal connecting principle between two events, the attack on the symbolically rich sculptures (Wisdom and Nemesis), and the Hamas attack. The 40-year old Jewish-American man, the alleged attacker, is said to be suffering from "Jerusalem Syndrome," a mental aberration acquired by tourists who visit Jerusalem and then imagine themselves to be characters in the Bible. Perhaps, it could be said that Zionism was a mass form of "Jerusalem Syndrome?" I believe that the desire of Jews to end several thousand years of diaspora and find a homeland, especially after the concentration camps of WWII, was understandable, but that it was executed (ha!) with the help of the British in the worst way imaginable, a toxic legacy whose end is unknown.
The house still doesn’t have a speaker. While there is an international crisis going on. The u.s government is incompetent and paralyzed. I think this is related to the decline of America.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/us/politics/republicans-speaker-house-mccarthy-scalise-jordan.html
What Hypocrisy! Dept.:
Biden calls Hamas attack "an act of sheer evil." During his entire political career, did he ever call the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians an act of sheer evil? Did he ever use that label to describe what the Jews did to the Arabs in 1948?
mb
ps: Check out Amazon for bks by Ilan Pappe and Nur Masalha
Dr. Berman,
Once again, you are spot-on in regards to your assessment of the American mainstream media landscape. It's elite-backed propaganda now. I regularly watch the NBC Nightly News and they are already pushing the narrative that Iran was associated with the attack. The first two links below come out of ABC (Australia) and FoxNews. Interestingly enough, the third link is an interview between NBC's Lester Holt and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi from 3-4 weeks ago.
The absolute arrogance behind some of Lester's questions were appalling. The timing of the interview and attack is a bit weird, but this is the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0GFIaPQIok
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZHwlQqDorA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otmseam7SDo
Sang-
In the case of the Ukraine war, and the Israeli war, the MSM consistently plays up the atrocities of the other side, and says almost nothing abt the atrocities perpetrated by our side. Our 'news' is little more than propaganda, and the American public laps it up.
mb
Mo-
Sorry, cdn't run it (24-hr rule).
mb
Along the lines of the books MB has recommended, I recommend Goliath, Life and Loathing in Greater Israel by Max Blumenthal:
https://www.amazon.com/Goliath-Life-Loathing-Greater-Israel/dp/1568586345
This came out 10 years ago, but it's relevance isn't going away.
Blumemnthal is, of course, Jewish, which means he is often name-called as a self-hating Jew. I guess name-calling is perfectly OK in this context, or in any context that opposes the establishment.
This is not easy book to read because of the brutality described. Which is all the more reason it should be read. His more recent book, The Management of Savagery, is also worth a read.
Dr Berman,
given the statement by Defense Minister Gallant: " “Hamas — the Islamic State of Gaza — will be wiped from the face of the earth. It will not continue to exist,"* would you suspect that this will basically translate to the genocide and/or the mass expulsion of the two million Palestinians in Gaza?
* https://www.timesofisrael.com/gallant-vows-to-wipe-hamas-from-earth-after-the-worst-terror-attack-in-history/
MB, in a country where people still wear porous masks to guard against covid and line up for their booster shots can one expect anything other than absurdity in all things political? As Carlin said - our leaders don't come from Mars, and you say "these people are your neighbors."
have a laugh:
“Hi. This is Sarah Palin. Is Senator Lieberman in?”
“No, governor. This is Yom Kippur.”
“Well, hello, Yom. Can I leave a message?”
Martyn-
The odds are that Israel will pursue the worst possible course of action. Of this, you can be abs. sure. It has no ability to understand where Palestinian rage comes from, and has no interest in any such understanding. The bottom line, the crucial fact, is that the situation is asymmetrical, and always has been. The dice are loaded against the Palestinians, and yet practically the entire world is unable and/or unwilling to recognize this. Biden's recent pronouncements are a perfect illustration of this asymmetry, and for that reason sound hollow. I am, of course, not condoning Hamas' massacre of civilians; it's just that Israel has also, as of this writing, murdered hundreds of Palestinian civilians--wh/typically gets much less coverage in the press.
Understanding the Hamas attacks is not to justify them, but it is important to recognize the horrible humiliation, torture, and abuse that Israel has visited upon these people. Life had become a complete dead end for them; what other options were open, at this pt? The entire world was willing to allow the status quo to just drift along, and it has been a brutal status quo. For that reason, I find it hard to see Israel as the victim here. Sure, in one sense it is, but the victimization of the Palestinians has gone on for decades. Finally, militant Arabs said, Enuf is enuf. Sooner or later, this uprising was bound to occur. The Palestinians were not going to eat shit forever.
An analogy: I wd never condone the massacre of civilians, such as occurred in 9/11. But Michael Scheuer, in "Imperial Hubris" (2004), compiled a list of grievances that Osama bin Laden had against the US--a long list--and concluded, "You know, this guy had a point." This is understanding, not justification; but America has never had any interest in understanding its enemies, and 9/11 was certainly no exception (to this day).
To get back to Israel and Hamas: there has always been a double standard operating, and in such a situation, blaming the occupied rather than the occupiers is blatant hypocrisy. In addition to the works already cited above, let me recommend the following articles (for starters):
-The double standard with Israel and Palestine leaves us in moral darkness | Moustafa Bayoumi | The Guardian
-Spaywall | Israel Hamas Attack Gaza 9 11 Cautionary Tale
"In war," wrote Aeschylus, "the first casualty is truth."
A second maxim is: In war, it is the civilians who suffer the most.
mb
ps: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/11/middleeast/israel-palestine-us-saudi-normalization-mime-intl/index.html
ps2:
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/9/rashid_khalidi_palestine_israel_explosion
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/11/mustafa_barghouti_gaza_israel_hamas
Unlike American leadership, Putin is decidedly informed. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had read your books. Are you thinking of having your work published in Russian?
I came across this article back when I was in graduate school for Middle Eastern studies. Though it was written in 2009, it still sheds light on the bargains the West (in this case Israel) made in order to defeat leftist governments at all costs. If anything, this latest conflict seems like the legacy of mid 20th century Western fear of the decidedly secular and leftist politics of Iraq’s Ba’ath, Egypt’s Nasser or the mujahideen of Afghanistan. It seems Israel made the same bargain when it supported Islamist Hamas over secular Fatah.
https://archive.ph/iPO3z
In my experience, using archive.ph or archive.md will get you past most any paywall.
Came across a recent interview (from 2 days ago) with the great Norman Finkelstein. He of course has been buried (along with his academic career) for decades now for writing and speaking true things about Israel/Palestine conflict. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I consider him a genuinely heroic figure.
Both links represent different parts of the same interview:
The Palestinians Had NO OTHER OPTIONS – Norman Finkelstein
https://youtu.be/G12Z0td-Nqo
Russia Has The Solution To Gaza Crisis! – Norman Finkelstein
https://youtu.be/kZfgEHclL98
More USAin anger. The coach should have given that guy’s son more playing time.
https://apnews.com/article/youth-football-coach-shot-st-louis-6aa076fc0e6fb659ae0cdc6003984498
Also, as part of always adoring authority here, praise the military!:
“But the fact is it’s the Americans themselves on an individual level that have applauded the military. They have bumper stickers on their cars. They go to rallies. They think the military is great.” -The GSWH, Universidad de Monterrey, February, 2013.
With that in mind, as the popular saying goes by self-proclaimed patriotic conservatives, “Thank you for your service, sir.”
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/10/11/air-force-general-court-martial-rape-allegations/9551697065108/
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/naval-officer-punched-girlfriend-in-the-mouth-three-times-while-celebrating-his-promotion-at-doubletree-hotel-sheriff/
And remember to always “Back the Blue”!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfmDKfsM8P0
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Another discussion on differences in infrastructure between China & Amerikkka. The title is in the form of a query: "Is China surpassing the US in public transit & infrastructure?"
2 me, the question is somewhat redundant. Amerikkka is falling behind on EVERYTHING under the sun but Nat'l debt & military expenditures, among other stuff.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w-5oREoJc_o
Comrade-
Try this as a format-
1. State your argument or thesis
2. Provide evidence in the form of links or reliable references
Thank you.
Jamie-
Wd love to have my bk on Russia translated into Russian, but I have no connections w/Moscow publishing houses.
mb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8TGW10jkCM
I watched what the Palestinian ambassador said in response to Hamas attacks. There is no attempt by the news commentator to attempt to try to understand where the ambassador is coming from. No attempt to understand this man's point of view. The commentator does a number of things to avoid even discussing this like changing topics all of a sudden. There is no questioning of anything the ambassador says. Everything he says is glossed over.
Is there an agenda here or is there simply an extreme discomfort in admitting even the slightest possibility that one may be wrong? Is there some sort of conspiracy or simply an ego thing? I've noticed, a number of people in the USA have extreme discomfort in admitting when they're wrong on anything or admitting the possibility exists. I guess Britain as well.
cube-
My bk 'Healing' might answer some of your questions.
mb
"Israeli military has told 1.1 million in Gaza to move further south in next 24 hours, UN says" [*]
So it begins, I reckon there is nothing much to add to that. Israel got its "10/7", the Palestinians get their Second Nakba.
I know, this is not the nature of this discussion board, but I'm simply out of words.
* https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/oct/12/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-biden-hamas-attack-holocaust-gaza-displaced-palestine
This inability or unwillingness to try to understand the reasons behind human actions seems universal to me, but, it seems more prevalent in the western sphere. Maybe because the other parts of the world have plenty of problems that the west imposed on them ( say Taiwan/China, Kashmir, the way borders were drawn in africa and the middle east, etc.), or maybe it is a power dynamics thing or god knows what. Honestly, I do not care, the truth is out there, and any one, with however little honesty a human can have, can find it. For me, it is a simple metric to distinguish a buffoon from an honest, smart person.
In my parents hometown they have a saying for expecting people to act differently than who they are "expecting honey from a wasp's ass" (both the insect and the white anglo saxon protestant). Expecting buffons to be intellectually (and existentially) honest is expecting honey from a wasp's ass.
On another note, the Aircraft carrier is in the mediterranean to threaten Iran, Iran is threatening Israel if the situation in Gaza continues. Feels like 1938.
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202310134145
french-
See my note to cube, above.
mb
Martyn and other Wafers, not much to say in this times of unhinged madness. I am only posting two links. The first one is an interview of Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy by the well known Indian journalist Karan Thapar. Thapar could not survive in the Indian MSM after the present (Indian) govt came to power. And is with the indie news portal the wire. The clarity of both of them in understanding and explaining the current situation is somewhat of a joy in these dismal period.
https://thewire.in/video/watch-invading-gaza-israels-biggest-ever-war-crime-haaretz-columnist-gideon-levy
The second one is a link to an indie middle eastern portal middle east eye:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/
Refreshingly different from the western propaganda, be it CNN, guardian or the BBC. Do read the piece by David Hearst.
Doctor & Wafers,
Check out this interesting piece on USAin anger. It’s a symptom of this violent dog-eat-dog capitalistic wasteland imploding perhaps. While we’re at it, what example is each Wafer’s favorite? Mine is the woman banging on the restaurant door because it was out of beef. LOL!
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/question-everything-why-is-everyone-so-angry/
Wafers-
For months now, Americans have been running around, waving the Ukrainian flag. But events in Israel have eclipsed that, so now Americans are outraged at Hamas, perhaps waving Israeli flags, I dunno. In a short while, Israeli will destroy the Palestinian people, either killing them and/or creating 1.1 million refugees who have no place to go (al-Nakba redux). Once that tragedy is no longer front pg news, the US will probably shift its energy to Chad. Americans will then run around waving anti-Chad flags.
I look forward to it. Down w/Chad, the great evil! Its president is Hitler. Etc.
mb
ps:
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/13/israel-gaza-evacuation-atrocities/
Yes, Maury, you're prescient as usual, and I suggest that all Wafers get ahead of the game and drape themselves in the simple tricolored flag of the Republic of
Chad, an easy home project! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Chad
Meanwhile, although I can't provide a corroborating link, Ned and Yahoo have plans for a new Zionist front targeting Chad with full support of the US and the EU!
Artemis, a high school teacher, and a regular call-in guest on John Zerzan's Anarchy Radio pinned up a Free-Palestine banner to his classroom door but was asked to take it down, at time mark 13:39.
John also read a passage from Levi-Strauss' _Triste Tropique_ that put me in mind of your, Maury's, rich monograph (my favorite among your enlightening oeuvre) _Wandering God_. At time mark 11:01.
The preceding time marks refer to this link:
https://archive.org/details/anarchy-radio-10-10-2023
Kel-
13:39 didn't work. But glad you liked WG. Down w/Chad, the arch-enemy of civilization!
mb
Indian-
Gd refs, thanks. Ha'aretz is a drop of sanity in an ocean of madness.
mb
GSWH, here's a question I've been wrestling with for a while: since countries in general rarely take military action unless there is a need or a payoff for them, why do you think the US and NATO bombed Serbia? I seriously doubt it was to do good in the world and save Muslims from Serbian genocide, the US has a genocidal streak of its own.
Do you think there's a bigger and lesser known reason for this?
Cherith-
They claimed it was to bring peace. Ha ha. I really don't know, but the historical reality is that America loves war:
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/595752-the-us-has-been-at-war-225-out-of-243-years-since-1776
Consider Bush Sr.'s war against Iraq in 1991, for an alleged "liberation of Kuwait." In reality, neither Bush nor the US gave a damn about Kuwait, and the American ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, had assured Saddam Hussein that the US had no interest in internecine Arab conflicts. The whole war against Iraq was concocted, based on lies. Check out the essays in QOV: war provides America w/psychological coherence; any excuse will do. This is why, when Russia defeats us in the Ukraine, we'll shift our attention to Chad, or some other verkakte country that poses no threat to us.
About his motives, Bush Sr. once famously declared, "Don't stretch me out on the couch." In other words, don't psychoanalyze me. He had no self-transparency at all, and neither does the country at large. When I say that we are a buffoon country filled w/buffoons, I am not exaggerating. "Damaged people damage people."
mb
Biden & his goons ok'd the expansion of the border wall along South Texas. He waived a sizeable amt of laws that has 2 do w/ protecting Indigenous rights, Indian burial grounds, endangered species & other stuff.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/10/06/biden-backs-out-on-campaign-promise-announces-expansion-of-us-mexico-border-wall/
I hafta wonder what Schmiden & his gang r so afraid of. Take a close look @ Amerikkka rite now & even a blind man can see it. It's in decline in just about every category except bullshit, lies, fraud and military belligerence to get its way. The observant 1s who were able 2 c the writing on the wall have left. Amerikkka is a sinking ship on its way 2 the bottom.
Sven
Schmiden is a senile doofus, but also a warmonger and a pernicious piece of dog-do. Wafers need to go to the W.H. w/bags of urine.
mb
A congressional report is calling for the USA to be ready to fight Russia and China simultaneously by expanding its nuclear weapons arsenal. But why stop there; why not prepare to fight the entire world simultaneously? Seems like the logical end state of American exceptionalism and militarism.
The Chinese know the score, and call a spade a spade:
The military-industrial complex, like a geopolitical monstrosity, parasitically clings to American society, manipulating its every move, pushing Washington step by step to introduce and even prepare for ideas that were once considered "impossible." The prosperity of the American military-industrial complex is built upon blood and corpses, and carries a primal guilt. Serving the interests of the American military-industrial complex is unethical.
See: www.globaltimes.cn/page/202310/1299831.shtml
I don't know much about Israeli settlements in the West Bank, so I was doing a little research. I can't vouch for the accuracy or fairness of these, but I figured some people might find it interesting. The first one (two parts) are the more "manicured" version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0uLbeQlwjw
And part two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6L9mS9ti6o
This looks more like the truth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BETNqgBCjwc
Good luck ever getting this fixed. You really have to accept these things with a kind of "tragic sense," knowing that some things just have no real possibility of a solution.
Tree-
Sen. Lindsey Graham recently called upon the US to "bomb the entire world." Not kidding. We have entered a period of national dementia. Freud once wrote that it was possible for an entire civilization to be neurotic, but I think we can now say that 'psychotic' is a more accurate description. Freud's concept of the Death Instinct is also applicable to contemporary America. We are thrashing around, in our death throes, and I think the rest of the world knows it.
From a World Systems Analysis perspective, it seems clear now that the hegemony of the Global North, and the whole arrangement of Western dominance put in place after WW2, is in its twilight phase. What is arising--and the revolt of Hamas against Israeli oppression is only one part of this--is the increasing (potential) hegemony of the Global South. I.e., the subalterns, the hitherto excluded nations. It seems to me that this is slowly emerging on the horizon: China, India, Islamic states, Russia, South Africa, BRICS, and so on.
Will this make for a better world? Only time will tell. We are in the midst of tectonic change, and in such a case, all that is guaranteed is that things will be different, not necessarily better. In the meantime, my own scenario for a better world is put forward in the 2nd story of "The Heart of the Matter." Also check out Ariel Dorfman's discussion of Salvador Allende, and of a new set of social arrangements struggling to be born, in the NYRB of Sept. 21.
mb
The incoherence between the large protests across much of the west (London, New York, Glasgow, Sweden, Ireland, many more) opposing what appears to be an imminent genocide in Gaza, and the full-throated support for war crimes and crimes against humanity by their governments is quite something. It is revealing as never before the utter hollowness of the west's pretensions of being champions and defenders of human rights. As Norman Finkelstein has pointed out: Israel says it will (and has) cut off food, electricity, water, and fuel to Gaza. It has also said this will be a "long operation" of weeks and months. Reminder: even the healthiest humans can only survive a few days with no food and water:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201016-why-we-cant-survive-without-water
Put two and two together and Gaza is simply not survivable. And as crazed as the US neocons are sounding, prominent voices in Israel are leading the west to even darker places:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-sara-netanyahu-advisor-torture-gazans-rant
Budget-
Regarding the imminent genocide in Gaza: you'd think, of all people, the Jews wd know something abt genocide. Guess not.
mb
All the talk is about the violence going on in Israel and Ukraine. Meanwhile back at the (peaceful {sic}) ranch……..
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/driver-shot-and-killed-man-in-road-rage-incident-then-shot-a-bystander-who-started-recording-police/
https://6abc.com/north-philadelphia-mcdonalds-road-rage-shooting/13917146/
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/slammed-her-down-like-she-was-a-bag-of-potatoes-teen-who-left-woman-paralyzed-in-jugging-attack-sentenced-to-decades-in-prison/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FPysJfYFWQ&list=PLoW1SIeAWaWYnLs3HdjyU9MTTAV9Ve982&index=3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVxsUKI2p6Q&list=PLoW1SIeAWaWYnLs3HdjyU9MTTAV9Ve982&index=29
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Remember that story about Trump trying 2 get more Norwegian immigrants? They said "HELL NO" 2 that proposition.
"Many Norwegians rejected a suggestion by U.S. President Donald Trump that they would be more welcome to move to the United States than immigrants from “shithole countries” such as Haiti or African nations."
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-norway-idUSKBN1F11QK
Sounds like the Norwegians r actually smart. They know a move 2 Amerikkka would b a BIG step backwards. Norway has a social safety net that Amerikkka's "leadership" wouldn't dream of providing 4 its ppl. And many Amerikkkans see universal healthcare as "communistic" while a lot of 'em drown in medical debt. The USA is a cautionary tale on how not 2 run a nation
Spaghettimonster - People in the US always reject or underfund options where everyone contributes to the greater good. Single-payer health care, public transportation, and public housing are some examples. I'm surprised they still have public libraries. The prevailing attitude is "why should I help those bums, what did they ever do for me?" Americans with few exceptions lack the ability to see outside themselves. The root of this is a national culture of narsicissm.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/07/03/america-is-a-nation-of-narcissists-according-to-two-new-studies/
https://humanparts.medium.com/the-all-american-narcissist-28daef151277
I just learned of this horrible story from a Muslim friend:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/15/palestinian-american-boy-stabbed-to-death-in-gaza-war-related-killing-in-us
This happened somewhere near Chicago. The story comes from Al Jazeera.
This is so disturbing that I don't even know what to say about. But I ask: Is Joe Biden fundamentally any different than the moron who did this? Is Netanyahu? It's hard for me to see how. I suspect that these blood-thirsty morons inspired other blood-thirsty morons to go an do likewise.
ccg-
What a tragic thing, a little boy brutally murdered just because of his ethnic identity. Much of white America lives in fear and hatred of the Other--Muslims, certainly, but also Jews, blacks, Asians, etc. That's not gonna chg any time soon, I don't think.
mb
Wafers-
Check out Bill Maher's latest monologue, "The Lone Danger."
mb
Miko Peled has been fighting the prevailing view of the Israel / Palestine 'conflict' since 1997, when his niece died in a Palestinian attack. At the time he said "Why not tell the truth... That this and similar tragedies are taking place because we are occupying another nation and that in order to save lives the right thing to do is to end the occupation and negotiate a just peace with our Palestinian partners?"
The fact that someone in Peled's position (with serious skin in the game and truly expert-level first-hand knowledge and experience) is being ignored in favour of pursuing this criminal and suicidal folly... well, there are no words. I just don't get it.
It's been far too many years since I read Coming To Our Senses - but I keep thinking of mirrors and narcissism in connection with this tragedy. Perhaps, more specifically, carnival mirrors...
jennings-
Check out my bk "Healing" for a kind of sequel to CTOS. Meanwhile, perhaps you cd provide a link to Peled (we like evidence, on this blog). Thank you.
mb
My bad - I thought I had included this link in my earlier comment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miko_Peled
See also https://mikopeled.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfKXaE0pv8c
Thanks for recommending "Healing" - I'll look for it in my local bookstores.
Maury, your prediction about a tectonic power shift from North-West to South-East is beginning to come true if the Hamas-Israeli war is prolonged according to this Washington Post article penned by Trifomov. The South may look to China as its "benefactor" instead of the US. https://apple.news/A02ii94wtTiqcbv8zr6t6Qg.
Kel-
Link didn't work.
jennings-
Yr local bkstores won't have it. Amazon is yr best bet.
mb
Maury, I copied and pasted the link from my iPhone on which I accessed Dark Ages America blog. Maybe that had something to do with my link not working. My computer crashed on Friday the 13! Anyway, here's a new attempt at sending a working link:
https://www.wsj.com/world/how-the-israel-hamas-war-is-tilting-the-global-power-balance-in-favor-of-russia-china-6fe4710a?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
I hope it works. If not, it's the article with the title in the link by Yaroslav Trofimov published today in the Wall Street Journal; I was mistaken: it was NOT the Washington Post. I think it's a well-attested article although I don't agree with Trofimov's assessment of Russia's stance vis a vis The Ukraine as a colonial grab. I hope this resend of the link doesn't violate the 24-hour rule. I know that you can only respond to a limited number of posts in a 24-hour period!
Kel-
I came up against the WSJ paywall; even spaywall.com didn't let me thru. Dead end, in short, but thanks for trying.
mb
Wall Street Journal article posted by Kelvin.
https://archive.ph/p1AUn
Interesting video here on what is going on in Egypt (for starters, their side of the Rafah crossing is open and aid is waiting to go through to Gaza, but the Gaza side has been bombed by Israel and is not). More important is where all of this frantic military and strategic jockeying in the Middle East is going. These events are not at all unrelated to the titanic struggle of the dying US empire to hold back the emerging multi-polar world led by China, Russia, Iran, and the rest of the BRICS+ countries. So we may be looking at the final, potentially apocalyptic, battle to ward off the dying of the America's imperial light:
https://rumble.com/v3ps65m-egypt-high-alert-as-this-is-about.html
In a real sense, the fate of the world now rests with corrupt, war-mongering, demented old Joe Biden: the erstwhile "Senator from MasterCard". And this brings to mind that leaked quote by Obama: "Don't underestimate Joe's ability to fuck things up." Hold onto your asses...
Budget-
Well, that's my analysis as well. This is the tectonic shift I referred to earlier. It is the return of the repressed, the rise of the subaltern, Global South. Schmiden, and America as a whole, would rather the world come to an end than have a situation in wh/China et al. replaced America as world leader. Better ecpyrosis than American psychosis, is the idea. Schmiden is a senile doofus, but he is a dangerous senile doofus. As for Israel, it is guided by vengeance rather than by intelligence, while the Palestinians seek vengeance for what was done to *them*, from 1948 to the present. Perhaps only Kamala (Schmamala) can save us now (flanked by Tulsi and Gisele Bundchen).
Jamie-
Thank you. This reinforces what Budget and I are arguing.
mb
Another bridge bites the dust, this time in Colorado. There's the added train derailing & smashing into a truck. I'm amused by the state Amerikkka is in...the biggest joke of the western world
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pueblo-bridge-collapse-train-derails-and-smashes-onto-road-below-killing-truck-driver/ar-AA1iiMOe
MD:
I just learned about this blast at a hospital in Gaza where hundreds have been killed:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/17/middleeast/israel-gaza-rafah-crossing-week-2-tuesday-intl-hnk/index.html
It's "nice" to know that the US supports the assholes that did this. Biden will be in Israel tomorrow. Will he even mention this atrocity? Extremely unlikely, I think.
Here's a link to a very recent lecture (last week, I think) by Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University (he is The Edward Said Professor their discussing the current situation
https://www.scientists4palestine.com/webinar-latest-phase/
What he says very much agrees with what you and others have been saying on this blog, I think. His predictions already seem to be pretty accurate. This is heart-wrenching.
Treasury secretary Yellen said America can afford to fund both Ukraine and Israel. While the country is in deep debt. She is either stupid or doesn’t care about the future of her own country.
https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/17/yellen-says-the-us-can-afford-to-fund-wars-in-gaza-and-ukraine/
Here is a YouTube video below of John stossel talking about the nation debt. He made this video 3 years ago and the national debt was 24 trillion dollars. Now it’s at 33 trillion. I think americas suez moment will be hyper inflation.
https://youtu.be/OmjkEM3AJ1Q?si=zF5PtiG60bUtoMHw
Mo-
Janet is living in fantasy land, but all of America has been living in f.l. for many decades now. This is but one aspect of our national suicide, a process wh/has accelerated quite sharply since 9/11. Check out my new bk, "Buffoons Out Of Control."
mb
ccg-
Both sides are blaming the other side for the Gaza hospital explosion that killed hundreds of Palestinians. I'm guessing that Israel did it, but as of this writing, there's no proof one way or the other. IF Israel was indeed responsible, it suggests that its goal is not just to wipe out Hamas, but to wipe out the entire Palestinian population. Clear genocide, in short. This is such a grim horror show. As for Schmiden's upcoming visit, I can't see how it will make things any better. He's pro-Israel, and a doofus.
mb
If I might revisit the subject of accessing articles that are behind paywalls?
The site spaywall.com offers the opportunity to enter a desired address into a search bar; if the stars are aligned, that will deliver you to the article you’re after.
If for some reason spaywall can’t deliver, you will see the words Google Cache on the same page as the spaywall search bar. Select that/click on it.
This should produce the desired item.
Apologies to GSWH for this aberration from the blog theme.
About Flyingspaghettimonstr's Norwegian immigrant post: Amerikkka always had a xenophobic attitude towards foreigners & immigrants, esp. Mexicans. So it's a bit strange that Trump would propose Norwegians move there. Scandinavians faced much discrimination when they emigrated in droves around the turn of the 20th century. There was a Finnish guy who was lynched by a vigilante group in the WWI era. He was accused of being anti-war. There was a strong anti-immigrant hysteria @ the time.
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2001/06/lynching/olli.shtml
The tables have certainly turned now, & Amerikkka is decaying. No-one w/ half a brain would dare move there if they already had a decent life where they are.
Wafers-
Schmiden in Israel. Who cares what he thinks or says? Everyone knows he has no real power, and most understand that he's a doofus and a buffoon.
mb
ps: These are the Jews I stand with:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/18/israel-gaza-hamas-palestinians
Back in the USA, a riot breaks out at a Taco Bell that ran out of Crunch Wrap Supremes. Distraught employee shouts "I don't give a fuck" at the seething baffoons:
https://x.com/picturesfoider/status/1714027784341959156?s=46
I recall that one commenter to this video said something like "Is America in decline?" No doubt, a potential Wafer.
No shit!
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/10/18/america-root-cause-war-israel-gaza-palestine/
Coming back to the question of who bombed the hospital, I'm pretty sure it was Israel. First, I don't think any Palestinian group has such fire power, else they would've used it long ago. Second, Israel has a history of doing atrocities and blaming them on the victims, the massacres that happened in the Lebanon invasion for example, or the killing of Muhammad Al-Durra which was caught on camera and still was denied and blamed on palestinians.
https://youtu.be/5_AwLgZHFLg?feature=shared
And this is exactly what makes them, and whomever stands with them, disgusting.
french-
Israel and US keep doing the same old thing because they don't know what else to do. (Buffoons usually don't) Great article by Walt.
Kel-
I love a gd buffoon.
mb
A non-profit L.A. housing trust designed to get Skid Row residents off the streets has failed. This link documents the ppl who were left hanging.
https://www.chirpla.org/news/fallout-skid-row-housing-trust-collapse-big-and-small-broken-promises-homelessness-lost
Skid Row Housing Trust had experienced long-time mgmt and $ woes, when a fire ripped thru a hotel they designated for housing these folks. The hotel's condition was declining for some time prior to the inferno putting it out of its misery. Amerikkka sounds like a nation others should aspire to, rite?;)
More and more! More and more! More and more! Dig deeper! And deeper! And deeper! The deep well of the U.S. Treasury that doesn’t go, as the saying goes, “to China.” It instead is bottomless! More and more! More and more! More and more! More and more! More and More!!! Our tax dollars at work to “defend freedom”. You go, Joe Biden!
p.s. Tomorrow’s hot stock tip from the military-industrial complex: Ratheon!
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-israel-ukraine-war-49354728b347178a4bf7508a0dc8f1d2
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
The good Jews (ones w/heart, ones not fooled by US and Israeli rhetoric):
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/19/jewish-protest-israel-gaza-washington-dc
mb
ps: more:
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/19/biden-jewish-americans-israel-gaza-call-for-ceasefire
Also impt:
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/19/biden-israel-palestinians-foreign-policy
https://www.spaywall.com/search/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/19/israel-president-joe-biden-violence
Individual Americans are also spending crazy to. Total household debt just reached $17 trillion dollars. Just credit card debt is 1 trillion dollars. This is never going to be paid back. It seems like everything in America is on the edge. Congress still doesn’t have a speaker.
https://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/news/research/2023/20230808
Mo-
It might be useful to provide some buffoon data. Did you know that the # of buffoons per hectare in the US is 188.5, whereas the # for Denmark is 0.6? This is the result of a scientific survey.
mb
KAMALA SCHMAMALA
SCHMAMALA KAMALA
KAMALA KAMALA
SCHMAMALA SCHMAMALA
is a dope.
https://www.spaywall.com/search/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-19/progressive-jewish-protest-israel-ceasefire-kamala-harris-los-angeles-home
https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-forces-in-syria-iraq-red-sea-come-under-militant-attack-c2c8a07
Other countries are no longer afraid of us. History is punishing the United States. This is a trend that will gain momentum. We are heading toward 2030. Every day, America loses a bit of ground. The forces lined up against us, both w/in and outside of the US, are slowly but steadily chipping away at us. The rest of the world senses our weakness. And as stupid as Americans are, on some level they do understand that we are finished.
MB and Wafers, Two links for whatever they are worth.
David Hearst, co-found and editor-in-chief of the Middle East Eye says wheels are coming off the US's middle east policy.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-war-us-middle-east-policy-wheels-coming-off-cart
Do watch this interview of Egyptian TV host Bassem Youssef by Piers Morgan. It is unbelievable how Morgan fails to see the other side's point of view though he gets that dark humor and the sarcasm quite well. Is this fundamental inability to see others' perspective a basic human quality, or is something American about this trait? Your take, Wafers?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4idQbwsvtUo
Indian-
Good essay by Hearst. BTW, Piers Morgan is British, not American.
mb
Amerikkka has pledged 200 mil for a "multilateral security mission" in Haiti. The U.N. security Council voted 4 this. But it seems 2 b yet more imperialism bankrolled by Amerikkka under the guise of bringing "law & order".
https://therealnews.com/the-kenyan-led-multilateral-invasion-of-haiti-is-a-smokescreen-for-us-imperialism
Never mind the many swarms of ppl taken by gun violence in Amerikkka. Yet it's worried about supposed gangs somewhere else. Is this an example of a dying beast in its final stages or what?
“The perception of Hamas until now, was of a national liberation movement like that in third world countries, an anti-colonial movement. I think what their behavior in Israel has demonstrated is that they have more in common with jihadist movements like ISIS and Al Qaeda.”
“What never changes is the fragility of civilization. And the rapidity with which it can dissolve into barbarism. Chaos. That’s what not changed.“
John Gray, philosopher: ‘The West has a false view of Hamas as an anti-colonial movement. It has more in common with ISIS’ The author of ‘Straw Dogs’ — one of the most influential political thinkers of recent decades — analyzes the Israeli conflict and argues that populism is a reaction to liberal policies
https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-10-19/john-gray-philosopher-the-west-has-a-false-view-of-hamas-as-an-anti-colonial-movement-it-has-more-in-common-with-isis.html
Thanks for all the links on this, Wafers and MB. Wanted to supply this essay by the English Philosopher John Gray as well.
Beil-
Thanks for the refs. As for Gray: Wha?? This is a straw man argument. Most of the West emphatically does *not* view Hamas as liberatory or anti-colonial. Only a tiny fraction of the West holds that view. The majority are on board w/Schmiden, (99% of) American Jews, and (99% of) the Israelis. Mr. Gray has apparently lost his mind.
mb
Wafers-
It's a kind of declinist's dream: watching Schmiden make one blunder after another. Imperial overstretch is his latest. I'm guessing he'll go down in history as one of the greatest douchebags of all time.
mb
Re John Gray, this is nothing new for him. He learned his hardcore Zionism at the feet of his mentor Isaiah Berlin. There's a hilarious bit in his study of Berlin where he decries the evils of nationalism, but then suddenly interjects with "There is one people who form an exception to this: the Jews..." and so on. Gray for all his Olympian posturing is at heart an Establishment figure.
Karl-
Thanks for the info on the Berlin connection. It's amazing, that Gray cd be so glaringly wrong, claiming that the West viewed Hamas as anti-colonial. Talk abt inverting reality--this is 180 degrees off. What a colossal blind spot.
Wd be gd if you cd provide a link to Gray's study of Berlin, wh/u refer to. Note that I have a chapter on Berlin in "Eminent Post-Victorians," tho I don't discuss his Zionism.
mb
Re: Gray, that is disappointing. Critiquing the violence of the Hamas attack is akin to critiquing the violence of the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising who killed as many German soldiers and civilians as they could get their hands on. Were there atrocities? You bet! Are they almost entirely beside the point? If you're being at all intellectually honest, yes. I can't believe I have to state this, but the problem is not the atrocities committed by desperate people attempting prison breaks, it's the ethnic ghettos, camps, prisons, and policies themselves. These uprisings are also frankly suicidal: Israel has killed 1500 Hamas who entered Israel that day, the Germans 13,000 Jews in the WGU). Yet you want to label one bravery and the other mindless fanaticism?
The moral decline from Jimmy Carter to Joe Biden mirrors the moral decline of the US at large. Nothing but more fuel on the fire. Not even a word (in fact a ban on the word!) about a cease-fire. Very interesting interview by Glenn Greenwald with an Israeli member of the Knesset sending up a flare about the potential for civil war in Israel (almost never mentioned in corporate media), how that increases the risk of regional escalation, and just how far off the map the Israeli right are running:
https://rumble.com/v3qkzzp-we-are-on-the-brink-israeli-mk-ofer-cassif-denounces-the-war-system-update.html
Budget-
Can't agree w/u. The Hamas massacre of the Be'eri kibbutz was entirely of civilians, not of oppressors. The WGU was an uprising against the SS and the Polish police, who were intending to deport the Jews in the ghetto to Majdanek or Treblinka. This is hardly a moral equivalent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be%27eri_massacre
mb
Top quotes from Biden this week:
Mericans urged not to walk away from their role as “a beacon to the world.”
“American leadership is what holds the world together.”
Academic Michael Brenner has written a convenient overview to the mindset that leads the US to declare war on reality, i.e. on the rest of the world. Brenner presents alternatives, but sees them as unlikely to be pursued by those at the levers of power confronted by “unaccommodating reality”:
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/20/us-declares-war/
Meanwhile, walking in my Cascadian neighborhood this week, I’ve been struck by the proliferation of Halloween lawn and house decorations with elaborate displays of skeletons, goblins, ghosts and the like, more numerous than the holiday decorations for Christmas and New Year’s. Americans have an unhinged fixation on death and apparitions, perhaps an unconscious knowing that the game is up.
Boe Jiden has just called for more BILLIONS to go to Ukraine, Israel, Gaza..and elsewhere, but NOT to broke, busted and homeless Amerikkkans
https://web.archive.org/web/20231021010322/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/20/us/politics/bidens-funds-israel-ukraine.html
So, Biden wants $61.4b for Ukraine, $14.3b for Israel, but nothing for the millions who are living like refugees in Amerikkka, he wants $7.4 billion for Taiwan because…well…just because. But his wants are going to have to wait because there is no Speaker of the House and so long as that remains the status quo, Biden can just want, want and want and as far as I am concerned, the wait can continue into infinity because we bottomed out here in Amerikkka. The fat lady has sung, died and been buried
Wafers-
At this pt, pray for a Trump victory in 2024. Not kidding. Schmiden is taking us into the Abyss.
mb
MB. just finished Destiny. My wife was right to suggest it. Thanks for writing and keep it coming.
USAin anger at its finest! Here is an example of your typical angry, impatient, frustrated USAin citizen in, his opinion, an unnecessary a traffic jam.
https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/dash-cam-video-shows-man-driving-through-portland-parade-196100165873
Here’s somebody who is angry at what somebody wears.
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/man-arrested-for-hate-crime-after-beating-sikh-man-in-queens
And poor Mickey D’s. Anger seems to be so rampant there. The angry dregs of USAin society seem to congregate there. So with that in mind, here is today’s mugshot.
https://www.nbc15.com/2023/10/04/mcdonalds-manager-burned-when-angry-customer-slaps-coffee-out-her-hand-police-say/?outputType=apps
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Joe-
I love hearing abt violent morons. Keep them coming. Also note that Schmiden is a violent moron.
ion-
Thank you! Most people don't read my fiction. Here are 2 sequels to "Destiny":
-"The Man Without Qualities"
-"The Heart of the Matter"
Enjoy!
mb
Wafers-
A couple of poems for yr post-its:
"Buffoon levels are high;
Soon, they will reach the sky."
"Our lives are X-rated,
For we are buffoons--and degraded."
mb
Andi-
Sorry, you exceeded the half-pg limit. Pls compress by abt 20% and re-send. Thank you.
mb
Hard to say exactly what will happen in the next few days but crisis is being multiplied by crisis in a dangerous and unpredictable manner:
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/20/biden-government-war-fears-israel-hamas
Despite being worried about a large scale war happening I find it funny that they still feel the need to state the official line about the hospital attack, while pointing out that the US is facing a multitude of threats to its standing in the world.
I’ve read a number of reports about intimidation of protesters in western nations other than the US over the last few days. Are their governments under pressure to toe the line right now? Macron made an idiotic statement about bad parenting and video games feeding protests.
Flab-
See also the link posted by Jack L., above. Brenner's analysis, abt how the US is psychologically driven to try to rule the world, mirrors what I've argued over the yrs, in QOV and elsewhere. Another way of stating this is that America has gone insane. Biden's recent Oval Office speech is clear evidence of this. And there simply is no way to penetrate the fog of unreality in wh/our leaders (and almost all of the American population) are living. America never, ever learns from its mistakes.
mb
ps: China is no longer afraid of us:
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/10/18/chinese-fighter-jet-us-military-contd-no-orig.cnn
MB, thank you for correcting me on Morgan.
Here is a nice piece from another well known, senior Indian journalist Saeed Naqvi in which he makes the point that the US and Isarel need to wake up to the reality of a new world order, one in which the US is a much diminished power. That definitely poses an existential risk for Israel. So it is time they treat their neighbors keeping this in mind.
But hey... is anybody listening?
https://epaper.telegraphindia.com/imageview/450082/184649852/71.html
Dear Dr Berman,
I may have posted about this to an earlier posting of yours.
Your prediction of American decline becoming more evidently true with the appearance of academic studies of Kim Kardashian, and such.
This study is of Taylor Swift.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/iu-to-gather-swifties-scholars-for-world-s-first-taylor-swift-academic-conference/ar-AA1iwzGh
Glenn-
At one pt some university gave Kanye an award. See my essay on Pitirim Sorokin. He wrote than when a civ dies, kitsch is mistaken for creativity.
Indian-
Those 2 countries wd rather the world go up in flames, than that they lose power. Have u ever tried arguing w/a Zionist? They can't lose the argument, since they are fighting for their psychological lives. This also applies to arguing w/an American.
mb
An Olympic gymnast had 2 crowd-fund her hospital bill for pneumonia.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/the-tragedy-of-american-healthcare-olympic-gymnast-mary-lou-retton-s-family-is-crowdsourcing-for-her-hospital-bills-she-s-not-alone/ar-AA1i3sMl
Someone commented:
"This happens to Americans every day - we end up bankrupted by medical bills, get dumped by insurance companies when we have catastrophic illness/injury, or die because we can't afford treatment. This does NOT happen in any other industrialized nation because they have universal healthcare"
Someone replied:
"No, no, and no to universal HC. It is a horrible idea. Not the solution"
They say don't knock something 'til you try it. Has Amerikkka ever tried universal healthcare? If not, then how can one say it's "not the solution"?
I was doing a search to find out how many non-Jews died in the Holocaust and found this at The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website in the 2nd paragraph under the heading:
How Many People Died In The Holocaust?
"During the Holocaust, the Nazis, and their allies and collaborators murdered Jews in many places using several methods. The two main methods of murder were poison gas and mass shootings. They also murdered Jews in other acts of violence and by deliberately denying them access to adequate food, shelter, medical care, and other necessities." (water, perhaps?)
"history doesn't repeat but it rhymes"
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution
yer-
As a prelude to killing Jews, the Nazis exterminated people who were crippled, or incapacitated in some way. In addition, they also killed Roma people (gypsies).
Dub-
Easy: they are dummies.
Wafers-
Here's a quote from Carl Jung: "When an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate." You are invited to state how this applies to contemporary America.
mb
yer - What's happening in Gaza reminds me of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943. When people are trapped in an impossible situation, they eventually are left with no choice but to fight back.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-warsaw-ghetto
Such a great country, Israel:
https://www.spaywall.com/search/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/22/an-atmosphere-of-fear-free-speech-under-threat-in-israel-activists-say
ps: and in America, you also hafta toe the party line:
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-10-22/maha-dakhil-agent-caa-resigns-leadership-role-israel-hamas-social-media-post
I suppose I would consider myself a "left-of-center" critic of Israel, and many Israeli policies (I'm especially against the aggressive settlement movement in the West Bank.) That said, I fear I have a more "Israel-friendly" outlook than many here. At any rate, one failing I find in almost every hard left critique of Israel (Chomsky, Hedges, Finkelstein, etc.) is that there is almost no acknowledgment of the fact that the Palestinian side is completely lacking in a coherent set of conditions (such as a two-state solution that they will actually agree to) that would even theoretically satisfy them. Whatever grave sins Israel has committed in her past, the notion that they still have no right to even exist (as Hamas maintains), seems like an unserious non-starter to me.
In any case, I cherish the fact that we can speak our minds here, and don't have to give in to "groupthink." So, on that note, I think this Benny Morris is pretty reasonable and sharp, and is a nice complement to more extreme people like Ilan Pappe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RazPPi2wKBA&t=4s
Also, if you can just listen to this guy without ideology, it is hard not to admire him and his deeply courageous stance. (His book, "Son of Hamas" is also really good.):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v738Wogza0&t=23s (I can't speak to the Christian people who made this. I'm not sure about them. I just admire this man for his courage and lofty spirit.)
ps2: But then there's this:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/23/us/jewish-palestinian-protest-israel-gaza/index.html
Megan-
Of course anyone is free to disagree w/me and this blog; it just hasta be done in a civil manner. That being said, let me list a few pts 4u 2 consider.
-Your 1st para is a rather typical case of blaming the victim, it seems to me.
-Exactly what rt does Israel have to exist? The Jews drove the Palestinians out of their homes, and off their land, land that they had occupied for 1000 yrs. This was indeed al-Nakba, and Israel is currently doing al-Nakba redux in an even-worse version. Edward Said was rt: the Pals are "the victims of the victims." The Pals were required to pay for the Holocaust, in effect, not the nation(s) that were responsible. Sure, there were German reparations, but the Pals hardly deserved this fate.
-Ilan Pappe is no extremist, this is just name-calling, in lieu of acknowledging, and addressing, his empirical evidence. Ethnic transfer was in Zionist minds very early on. Have you read his bk? His empirical evidence is hardly extreme; it's just real. You might also read the work of Nur Masalha, and "Goliath" by Max Blumenthal.
-I am, in any case, not trying to justify the massacre of the Be'eri kibbutz. Massacring civilians can never be justified, whether committed by Hamas or by Israel.
mb
Megan-
Here's some (additional) food for thought (23 Oct 23):
Israel hits Gaza with one of deadliest bombings so far in war against Hamas | Israel-Hamas war | The Guardian
Doctors, poets, families, babies: victims of Israel’s war on Gaza | Israel-Hamas war | The Guardian
Noted a few interesting news items coming out of Israel that are not being much talked about, and found one in particular quite striking: 80 percent of Israelis are putting the blame for the attack squarely on Netanyahu. Consider how different that is as compared to the 90+ percent approval rating George W. Bush received from Americans in the wake of 9/11. Despite a calamitous loss of life (quite a bit larger in relative terms to 9/11), Israelis remain politically clear-eyed enough to refuse their government a free pass. Quite impressive:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/poll-80-of-israelis-say-netanyahu-must-publicly-take-responsibility-for-oct-7-failures/
Also, WRT drawing any equivalence between the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the recent Hamas attack, Norman Finkelstein discussed the moral complexities involved in doing so in the interview below. The most recent figures I saw had Hamas having killed around 300 Israeli military personnel and 750 civilians. I'd contend Finkelstein's opinion here carries some significant weight as both the child of two participants in the WGU and his voluminous scholarship on the conflict itself:
https://youtu.be/B0aemeCbRTk
Budget-
Great, of course, but the Palestine 'problem' far antedates Bibi. How many Israelis put the blame on the events of 1948, I wonder. As for the WGU etc., Finkelstein notwithstanding, I think my earlier reply 2u still holds.
mb
Greetings MB and Wafers,
I would also like to recommend the book "Under the Cover of War: The Zionists Expulsion of the Palestinians" by Rosemarie M. Esber as well to our continuing dialogue about current and past events in Israel:
https://www.amazon.com/Under-Cover-War-Expulsion-Palestinians-ebook/dp/B08746L1GY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2HFKZ9XJHUF63&keywords=Rosemarie+esber&qid=1698081566&sprefix=rosemarie+esber%2Caps%2C174&sr=8-1
Personally, I believe Netanyahu is a war criminal, and a very dangerous one at that. Most of the world knows this even if the amateurish US media and buffoonish Schmiden can't say it. In addition, I'm frankly sick and tired of hearing the phrase that the "Israel/Palestine situation is complicated." It's not. Zionists colonized Palestine through incredibly violent means, and have been dehumanizing Palestinians for decades. There was nothing ad hoc about it at all. It was a planned out strategy of ethnic cleansing, as MB indicates. Check out the Plan Dalet called for by David Ben-Gurion. Practically every native population in the history of the world resists colonization by any means necessary when you are living in a concentration camp of 2 million people in 40 square kilometers. What did Israel expect would happen? And now Netanyahu is turning that densely populated city into a war zone, killing and wounding thousands. How the fuck is this madness and mayhem gonna help the situation? We are watching a genocide take place in Gaza right before our eyes, live in front of a cowardly west. This is a total mockery of international law.
Jeff
"Our society is ran by insane people for insane objectives"
~John Lennon
Jeff-
Ben-Gurion's instructions to his generals in 1948 was explicit: "Garesh otam"--expel them.
mb
There is a new book about your hero Rom Mitney, and from what I heard in the interview with the author on NPR today, he's one of the least buffoonish members of the US Senate.
Romney: A Reckoning by McKay Coppins
Quote:
Based on dozens of interviews with Romney, his family, and his inner circle as well as hundreds of pages of his personal journals and private emails, this in-depth portrait by award-winning journalist McKay Coppins shows a public servant authentically wrestling with the choices he has made over his career. In lively, revelatory detail, the book traces Romney’s early life and rise through the ranks of a fast-transforming Republican Party and exposes how a trail of seemingly small compromises by political leaders has led to a crisis in democracy. Ultimately, Romney: A Reckoning is a redemptive story about a flawed politician who summoned his moral courage just as fear and divisiveness were overtaking American life.
US soldiers in Iraq recently came under attack. 2,000 of 'em are on heightened alert now, ready 2 deploy on short notice
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/u-s-forces-under-attack-in-iraq-amid-escalating-middle-east-tensions/ar-AA1iCCjt?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=d957b0c0136947ef89e1ddd800b19067&ei=98
But Amerikkka's army isn't prepped 4 a big ass war. Here's why
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/11/12/army-lifts-ban-recruits-history-self-mutilation-other-mental-health-issues/853131001/
The shit is coming home to roost 4 Amerikkka, & it couldn’t happen 2 a more deserving bunch of deranged lunatics, who've been in denial so damn long, they reek of it.
Dub-
The Army recruiting men and women w/serious mental problems is indeed a sad thing, and a sad commentary on the country in general, really. The US is being punished by History for what it has done to the world, but 'punished' is not quite the correct word, because in order for punishment to be real, or effective, those people need to understand that they *are* being punished, and for what reasons. The problem is that Americans are simply too stupid to understand this. They think that their behavior, and that of the country, has been just fine.
Sav-
Gd to know. I had been working on a 5-vol. study, "Cornerstones of the Mittnaic Philosophy," but gave it up in favor of "Tulsism for Dummies," soon to be appearing at yr local bkstore.
mb
Censorship and repression in America: everyone hasta follow the party line on the Palestinians:
https://www.spaywall.com/search/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/opinion/israel-cancel-culture-debate.html
Wafers-
I have a v. relaxing meditation I'd like to share with you. I call it "Dumb Americans." I sit on my sofa, close my eyes, and contemplate the stupidity of the American people. Of course, this has many aspects (no surprise there). The one I selected today was how Americans explain anything bad that happens to the country in terms of some outside force. They never ascribe the cause to something they, or the country, is doing. No. It's always some evil outside of us that is to blame. This lack of self-awareness, of course, contributes to our decline. I typically meditate on this for 10 mins. or more. I encourage all of you to pick a typical stupid American behavior and meditate upon it. You will open yr eyes feeling completely refreshed.
mb
Here's my American behavior for meditation: the rest of the world has decided on an easy to use, logical system of weights and measures. The USA refuses to adopt this system and clings to the system it inherited from its imperial overlords 400 years ago. I'm not sure what Americans are trying to prove by doing this, other than the fact that they are stubborn and not very bright.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/the-metric-system-housing-markets-inflation-and-paying-for-roads-we-answer-your-questions-to-kick-off-2021-1.5859911/failure-to-convert-why-the-united-states-still-uses-imperial-measurement-1.5859929
Dr. Berman,
I certainly meant no disrespect to Ilan Pappe by characterizing his views as "extreme." I perhaps should have used less freighted language, but I wasn't thinking of it that way. I simply meant that, to my knowledge, he represents the most incisive, well-documented, historical critique of Israel, coming from a very "left of center" (where the center is the "blue and white" Biden White House) outlook. Right alongside Finkelstein, Hedges, Chomsky, and perhaps yourself, good doctor. Nothing pejorative was implied or intended.
But to answer your crucial question, "Does Israel have a right to exist?" From an "original sin," Categorical Imperative standpoint--that of Pappe's "ethnic cleansing" and displacement--well, perhaps not. However, from a geopolitical "fait accompli" perspective, I do think that Israel has a pragmatic right to exist. In any case, she is not going anywhere, and the grandchildren of the founding Zionists in Sbarro Pizza parlors, whatever their forefathers' crimes, are largely innocent on this score (like their Pal counterparts). Also, while I'm not advocating for either Pappe's or Benny Morris' interpretation of '48 (they are arguing at a historical level well above my pay grade for this topic), I think one gets a richer overall understanding by listening to both of them. (For what it is worth, Morris' harsh criticism of "oral histories" which Pappe makes so much use of in support of "massacres" and so forth, is seconded by a foremost authority on the subject, Bart Ehrman, the esteemed New Testament scholar. I can expand on this in another post.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jGhC5vMY6s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzN3hHEvGdc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcVDZ2zuEyY
Megan-
To me, at least, the word 'extreme' is loaded. 'Intense' wd be more appropriate. As for sabras eating pizza: what abt the Palestinian kids in 1947 eating couscous (their Pal counterparts)? Sure, the Nakba is a fait accompli, but it is an evil fait accompli, and the cause of endless strife, and oppression of the (remaining) Pals, for 75 yrs. Finally, Pappe relies on more than just oral histories and fotos; he provides the data collection that Zionists did on the Pals leading up to 1948--activity that has been compared to the Stasi surveillance of East Germans. In any case, I don't think that a 'pragmatic' rt to exist is the same thing as a legal or an ethical one. It's basically saying that might makes rt, an ethically indefensible position.
One thing that happens in such cases is that the refugees, and the oppressed population, rattle like a skeleton in the closet. Not to justify the brutal massacre at Be'eri kibbutz, but this is what Hamas is all abt. Same thing can be said of the US Army's genocide of Native Americans, and the uprisings of Gen. Custer et al. These 'skeletons' come back to haunt the dominant power. You don't get genocide for free, in other words.
mb
ps: Sorry, I meant to say the uprisings *against* General Custer et al.
At this point, after reading the article below, I have begun to realize that “the elites are trash” often comes down to a few specific behaviors. First and foremost is the ability to figure out the dominant person or organization’s opinions, then suck up to them by parroting and promoting those views.
Case in point:
https://www.politico.eu/article/von-der-leyen-doubles-down-on-pro-israel-stance-lashes-out-at-iran/
Have international politics in the west been entirely reduced to sucking up by repeating official US talking points? Is this junior high school?
Unfortunately it seems to be. Competition to be the most servile, I’m nauseous.
Have a peek @ Amerikkka's shiny new toy: an ICBM dubbed the "Sentinel". Also note the ominous headline.."Is China the target?" Ohhhh shyt!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/u-s-preparing-its-most-potent-weapon-is-china-the-target/ar-AA1iEvTv?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=fde1f2c3f13d4eb8872c6fd7070fa606&ei=20
If Amerikkka thinks for one second that it's going to aim its Sentinel @ China, and that the Chinese don’t have their own weapons capable of destroying this shithole, remember that it's allied w/ Russia, and Russia will be more than happy to help China with ANY nuclear weapons China may need to counter Amerikkka’s sling shot nukes, slung by obese, drug addicted, and drunk cannon fodder.
Dub-
Understanding the US, its motives and behavior, is quite simple: it's a buffoon country filled w/buffoons. That's really all u need to know. The NYT offers 'sophisticated' analyses of our situation; the problem is that these writers are also buffoons.
mb
Congressmen Emmer just dropped out after 3 hours of being a speaker candidate. I think this dysfunction in congress is related to American decline. It’s almost a month with no speaker of the house. Even third world countries don’t have this kind of dysfunction.
https://youtu.be/vqclZ_6FcHA?si=RboLeFo8uEwFbWbt
Dr. Berman, I am writing my memoir about my zombie-like life in the US, my emigration to Spain, and living off the grid, in nature, within a rich and sane society. I would like to include you in one chapter of how I read your article from the Atlantic about Empty American Life, contacted you and you told me to emigrate. I don't think, it will be popular because America will be described in a very negative way, something like the in the book The Fight Club. Please let me know.
You truly changed my life.
Liv from Spain
Wafers-
Imagine Obama getting something rt!:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/24/obama-israel-food-water-gaza
Liv-
To my knowledge, I never published anything in The Atlantic. There's no way any of the MSM wd give me a platform. So I guess you read it somewhere else; wh/is OK, of course. But feel free to include me in your memoir. And I'm certainly glad I got u2 leave the US.
Mo-
See my reply to Dub, above. We are wallowing in degradation. Whee!
mb
Is she wrong?:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/24/middleeast/queen-rania-jordan-amanpour-interview-intl/index.html
Stating the obvious, in the face of Israel's willful, and apparently unending, denial:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/25/middleeast/un-israel-spat-guterres-gaza-intl/index.html
NEVER FEAR! MASS SHOOTINGS STILL ARE HERE!
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/active-shooter-incident-reported-lewiston-maine-live-updates-rcna122249
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/lewiston-maine-shootings-active-shooter-10-25-23/index.html
Only here in the great U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Joe-
I just saw the news on CNN. 16 dead, 50 or 60 wounded. We are drowning in meaningless brutality. Consider this heartbreaking event:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/25/us/claudia-quaatey-us-gun-deaths-gdpr/index.html
Can there be any doubt, that as a nation, our days are numbered?
mb
They are now saying the death toll is a least 22:
https://www.cnn.com/webview/us/live-news/lewiston-maine-shootings-active-shooter-10-25-23/index.html
This happened not too far from where I grew up. I don't recall any previous mass shootings up there, but how could Maine be immune to the national insanity?
On a separate topic, people I thought had some sense are telling me that Biden is just wonderful, he's right to aid Israel in the killing of Palestinians because Hamas started this war (that's what they say), and he's way better than Trump. Even someone who is upset over what Biden is doing said the same basic thing: "At least Biden is better than Trump." Long Trump derangement syndrome is alive and well. It's hopeless.
Found this bitterly funny and informative gem of an interview, one sure to amuse Wafers and Declinists everywhere. It's interesting that it takes an outside eye—in this case Russian military analyst Andrei Martyanov—to soberly break down exactly where America is in both financial and military terms as the neocons try to gin up the war with Iran they've been horny for for decades. He also talks about the intellectual decline of America's leadership and even calls them "buffoons"!
https://rumble.com/v3rjng1-israel-palestine-war-is-the-us-preparing-to-attack-iran.html
Budget-
I'm genuinely excited that this man referred to American leaders as buffoons. Hopefully we will see the word repeated in future analyses of US decline. But it's also impt that the word be applied to the American people at large. As George Carlin famously said, this is where our leaders come from. American buffoonage seems to be accelerating on a daily basis, and the greater the buffoonage, the faster our decline.
mb
ps: In an ocean of buffoonage, a drop of anti-buffoonage:
https://www.spaywall.com/search/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-25/california-city-first-in-nation-to-support-palestinians-in-gaza-with-resolution-accusing-israel-of-ethnic-cleansing
Dr. Berman,
A few final points. What irritates me about all the worldwide criticism of Israel, is how easily all the antisemitic filth piggybacks on the legitimate criticism and plays it up. And why is Israel held to such hyper-moral standards, when almost no other state is? Why aren't 35 Harvard student groups setting themselves on fire over the Uyghur genocide, sterilization programs and concentration camps in China? What about the torture, beheadings, and genocide in Myanmar? Or when Putin was bombing Chechnya into the stone age? Or North Korea, the world's actual largest open-air prison? It seems to me that everyone else gets a "this is just what state geopolitical actors do" pass. Just not the Jews.
Of course, I share a good deal of the common criticisms of Israel, such as the egregious settlement program in the West Bank, Netanyahu's endless corruption, etc. But I personally know several vile antisemites, and they have a field day over this stuff. Being against Israel is clearly not the same as antisemitism. But I fear that it provides a wonderful camouflage for people like that who are not as well intentioned as you are.
At any rate, here are two Pappe interviews. From the same series as the Benny Morris post I put up last time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipT1dHU1ya4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHI7Eel48mc&t=547s
And here is a good apropros book I'd recommend:
https://www.amazon.com/Devil-That-Never-Dies-Antisemitism-ebook/dp/B00BAXFEIO/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+devil+that+never+dies&qid=1698398700&sr=8-1
Megan-
There is no doubt that antisemitism is the oldest hatred, and that it never goes away. And yr rt, that other states get away w/murder, so to speak. But here are a few other things to think abt. 1st, Zionists have used the latter fact to divert attn from the brutality of Zionism. That China or North Korea are doing this or that hardly means that it's OK to oppress the Palestinians for 75 yrs. It's just no excuse.
2nd, the deliberate confusion that Zionists engage in--insisting that opposition to Zionism or Israeli policy toward the Pals is the same thing as antisemitism--is quite shameless, in my opinion. It is endlessly used by Israel, and millions of American Jews, to silence (bulldoze, bully) the slightest criticism, such that any change in the situation is rendered impossible. Beyond being a ruse--a 'wonderful camouflage', in fact--it is also a huge category error. Judaism is a religion; Zionism is a political movement. These are hardly the same thing. And if you want to criticize North Korea, for example, I don't think the North Korean leadership is going to object by saying, "Well of course; you are inherently, and rabidly, anti-North-Korean. Shame on you, you antinorthkoreanites!"
Historically, there have been legions of religious Jews in Israel and elsewhere who have been opposed to Zionism, and to playing politics w/Judaism.
But of course, this camouflage cuts both ways, as u pt out. Israeli actions do fuel antisemitism, altho I doubt antisemites need such activity to be antisemitic. Apparently a lot of Americans are convinced that wildfires in California have been caused by 'Jewish Space Lasers'. I also wonder how many people, worldwide, believe in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Etc.
Finally, here's a bk 4u:
https://www.amazon.com/Goliath-Life-Loathing-Greater-Israel/dp/1568589514/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1FQ7HTXFFKJ0V&keywords=max+blumenthal&qid=1698414871&s=books&sprefix=max+blumenthal%2Cstripbooks%2C3029&sr=1-1
mb
Greetings MB and Wafers,
How the mainstream and corporate media sets up a war frame and feeds the war machine against Gaza and the Palestinians ensuring that they face the worst kind of violence:
https://www.projectcensored.org/big-media-israeli-war-crimes-in-gaza/
Jeff
How low can individual human depravity go in Israel’s response to the Hamas attack from Gaza? Apparently, we haven’t reached bottom yet. Here’s a link (posted on Naked Capitalism’s WaterCooler today) to a TikTok video of Israeli youth mocking the conditions of the Palestinians and representing them as dogs – talk about depersonalization of the “other”:
Aisha on X: "���� Israeli people on TikTok are MOCKING Palestinians about bombings, their lack of electricity and even comparing them to dogs. #Gaza_Genocide #ArmiesToAqsa #Gazabombing Israel Palestine #turkey #Gaza #israelterrorist #iran #Gaza #كتائب_القسام https://t.co/OR1U6Udpvj" / X (twitter.com)
Meanwhile, according to Colonel Douglas McGregor in an interview with Tucker Carlson, the US is sending two additional aircraft carriers to the Middle East in apparent preparation for US military operations against Syria and Iran. McGregor fears events will quickly spin out of control, with potential direct military intervention by Turkey against Israel and direct US confrontation with Russia if Russian forces in Syria are attacked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrazXS2f34Y
Jack-
How barbaric some Israelis are. I'm guessing that most of them regard the Pals as *untermenschen*.
mb
"Israel rejects UN call for truce" (CNN headline)
The country is currently the world locus of self-destructive buffoons.
Is this country insane? The laughing stock of the world with our new Christo/fascist Speaker? Effed up in the head, especially when it comes to its citizens? Or all three? First off, nuclear insanity:
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/10/27/us-development-new-nuclear-gravity-bomb-B6113/8741698442851/
Second we have MAGA Mike, second in line to the presidency, who’s determined to make this pathetic country a Christian theocracy. His mentor: this Bible-thumping evangelical goofball creep from ( where else?) Texas who has been a Republican presidential delegate.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/evangelical-activist-influence-speaker-mike-johnson-rcna122313
https://time.com/6329207/speaker-mike-johnson-christian-nationalism/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/27/mike-johnson-christian-bible-lgbtq-abortion-rights
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/10/everything-to-know-about-mike-johnson
And of course we have our typical despicable citizens of the exceptional U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! who abuse folks young and old alike.
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/diaper-wearing-man-arrested-for-dropping-trow-shaking-genitals-at-kids-getting-off-school-bus-police/
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/employee-at-assisted-living-facility-fatally-pushed-elderly-woman-during-argument-cops/
So this will give a sense of the desperation of people in Gaza:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/28/so-world-knows-gaza-parents-mark-childrens-names-on-bodies-amid-bombing
Shame on Israel for carrying this out and on the US for supporting it, and for not even trying attain a cease-fire. But the people in these countries don't experience shame, I guess.
This is from a column by Nicholas Kristof in the NYT of Oct. 28:
"When Israeli Jews were asked in a poll whether the suffering of Palestinian civilians should be taken into account in planning the war on Gaza, 83 percent said “not at all” or “not so much.” I can’t help feeling that while we say that all lives have equal value, President Biden has likewise greatly prioritized Israeli children over Gazan children."
This tells us something abt the Israelis, and abt Schmiden, who is a destructive buffoon.
mb
More American buffoonery:
https://www.spaywall.com/search/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/28/opinion/marc-andreessen-manifesto-techno-optimism.html
Meanwhile, given the situation in the Middle East, we have yet to hear from the following cutting-edge intellectuals on the subject:
Gisele Bundchen
Tulsi
Sarah Palin
Kamala Schmamala
Lauren Boebert
MT Greene
These brave, powerful women are the only people who can end the war in Gaza, and take us to new heights of international accord. I call on them to speak out, and solve the crises of the day.
mb
Thank you, Dr. Berman. I read you for the first time here:https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/how-americas-culture-of-hustling-is-dark-and-empty/278601/
And finally, for the first time didn't feel crazy. I knew something was wrong with America but couldn't say it out loud. After reading your story I felt that someone else gets me and I am not alone.
We just had a chestnut festival (free roasted chestnut for citizens) in our village here in Spain, this could never happened in the States with elderly and kids at the plaza with some good Spanish rhythm music and dance.
Thank God no mass shootings like in the greatest country. OMG, how could I ever live there?
Some of my EU friends who still live in the US believe America is a sane country and the EU is collapsing, we are all starving here and jobless. Only in America, you can make a living. So brainwashed.
Liv-
Thanks for the ref. I had no idea! Anyway, I'm glad u found me in this indirect way, and managed to get out of the US. By the time I left, in 2006, I literally had no one to talk to. How does one converse w/buffoons?
Jim-
Sorry, we are not a bulletin board. I guess u don't know how this blog works. Shall I fill you in? Let me know, and I'll try to help.
mb
The other day I posted a link for Daniel Goldhagen's book "The Devil That Never Dies." Here is an hour lecture on the same:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld-Fuhm-oUE&t=14s
To get the most out of Goldhagen, I think it's best not to take an absolute "for or against" stance. There is plenty to disagree with, for example, whether or not John Mearsheimer's book "The Israel Lobby" is antisemitic. I found myself disagreeing with some things and passionately agreeing with others. But perhaps most of all, Goldhagen really opened my eyes to how deeply antisemitic the Arab world really is. (He cites surveys that say it is close to 100 percent antisemitic.) In any case, while I share most of the criticisms of Israel, this is something that most people leave out of the equation. To wit, the concept of "negative identity" which Dr. Berman talks about with regard to Americans. This is certainly at play with the Arab world, and in particular, with Hamas and many Palestinians. If Hamas ever got their wish, and Israel was indeed destroyed, I fear that many of them would feel a profound sense of existential emptiness, not having anything left to hate. So even if Israel made any and every concession, it would still not begin to touch the virulent and deranging mind virus that is antisemitism, and which animates so much of this conflict (In addition to Israel's human right's abuses.)
On another subject, here is another great interview with Benny Morris. Lots of fascinating information, such as the difference between the politics of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews living in Israel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYq7sy9h074
Megan-
I wonder if any studies have been done as to how anti-Islamic Jews are, as a whole. (Possibly also nearly 100%, tho no surveys have been made, to date.) Also, I suspect there are some concessions Israel cd make that wd chg Arab minds significantly: admitting that what the Jews did to the Palestinians in 1948 was a war crime; making massive reparations to them; freeing all Pals currently in Israeli jails, and jailing all of the rt-wing settlers; allowing all Palestinian refugees to take back their homes and their land; and working with the Pals to set up a separate Palestinian state, over wh/Israel wd have no control. Not gonna happen, of course, but this wd be real justice.
I think the core issue is that you cannot create an identity for yourself by depriving another people of their identity. If you do that, it will come back to haunt you--wh/is what we are witnessing today. I'm guessing that if Israel wd face that basic ontological reality, come to terms with it, Arab antisemitism wd drop off dramatically.
mb
ps: That being said, I don't for a minute doubt Goldhagen's thesis, that antisemitism is a very strong, worldwide phenomenon; that it continues to grow, and is quite fearful; and that it ain't going away any time soon. No argument there.
We obviously have to add another annual occurrence for mass shootings here in this violent shithole country: Halloween or its weekend. This year’s number is the lucky 13. More probably will come. Some of the places they occurred were Tampa, Indianapolis, and, of course, that great bastion of gun loving/2nd Amendment conservatism, Texas.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4283289-halloween-weekend-mass-shootings/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/halloween-weekend-shootings-leave-least-3-dead-40-injured-multiple-mas-rcna122661
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Dr. Jack Rasmus, an economics professor, made the following geopolitical and economic assessments on the Israel-Hamas War, as he calls it, and, briefly, on the Ukrainian endgame. His observations start at time mark 43:07. I was particularly struck by his shrewd discounting of the reason for Israel delaying its ground invasion of Northern Gaza, that it was because of the hostages that it wants released. Rather, Rasmus opines, it was to allow time for US military build-up in the region for a prospective war with Iran. (However, one objective doesn't necessarily rule out the other). Anyway, I found his take on this alarming in its geopolitical and economic implications, more than I had surmised, at least; think land grab and mass eviction.
Here's the link: href="https://www.podbean.com/pu/pbblog-rij3b-875b3".
Budget-
Cdn't run it because it was over the half-pg-max limit, but let me also add, on this blog we can disagree w/me, or w/other Wafers, but we cannot attack them in an ad hominem way. If you cd clean up yr message a bit, leaving out the 'attitude', but making the pts you wanna make in a courteous manner, I'll be glad to post it. Keep in mind that this is a forum for rational debate, and that the person you are attacking (and w/whom I also mostly disagree) is hardly posting 'trash'; rather, they come across in a civil manner, and provide links, refs, and empirical data. This blog is not, like the US or Israel, an echo chamber, where only 1 opinion is permitted on any given topic. Thanks for yr understanding.
Kel-
It's a reasonable speculation, in that the US and Israel can be counted on to do what is most destructive, most anti-peace. We'll hafta see how it plays out, how involved America gets, and what happens vis-a-vis Iran. Meanwhile, check out today's CNN headline, "Netanyahu rejects calls for ceasefire." (Gee, what a surprise)
mb
The world has apparently gone nuts:
‘McCarthyite backlash’: response to criticism of Israel alarms rights groups | Freedom of speech | The Guardian
Israel-Hamas war live: women and children make up nearly 70% of people reported killed in Gaza, says UN (theguardian.com)
Spaywall | Air Canada Wheelchair Disabled Man Drag Himself Off Flight
Well, have no fear! According to Times columnist David French, "Joe Biden Knows What He's Doing":
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/29/opinion/biden-israel-gaza-2024.html
I don't much about David French, but I know the HE doesn't know what Joe Biden is doing any more than Biden himself does. French does reveal himself to have been a supporter of Rom Mittney, though, which tells us much.
As this is probably behind a paywall for you, so I'll copy and paste it into an email.
ccg-
I think it's time for Wafers to descend on DC and stand opposite the White House, carrying the following banner:
BIDEN IS A SENILE DOOFUS AND A VIOLENT BUFFOON
mb
Recently I’ve watched several interviews during which commentators doubted the presence of U.S. military personnel or U.S. bases in Israel itself. Perhaps these commentators were simply unfamiliar with the Pentagonese lingo “life support area” and “cooperative security location”. That air base near Amman, Jordan, where U.S. fighter jets were flying into, whose presence was denied by the Jordanian government, must be a “cooperative security location.” A few days ago, the Intercept posted a report on secret Site 512 in Israel, just 20 miles from Gaza, and provides a primer on U.S. obfuscations now in progress:
https://theintercept.com/2023/10/27/secret-military-base-israel-gaza-site-512/
Be'eri massacre was probably done by accident by Israel partially or fully, no behaded babies, no recorded rapes, no baby in oven, and no news of this in MSM
https://new.thecradle.co/articles/what-really-happened-on-7th-october
Anyway, whatever atrocities done by Hamas may be morally and legally condemned, but, as Fanon may argue, it is fully justified logically and psychologically
"Once their rage explodes, they recover their lost coherence, they experience self-knowledge through reconstruction of themselves; from afar we see their war as the triumph of barbarity; but it proceeds on its own to gradually emancipate the fighter and progressively eliminates the colonial darkness inside and out. As soon as it begins it is merciless. Either one must remain terrified or become terrifying—which means surrendering to the dissociations of a fabricated life or conquering the unity of one’s native soil. When the peasants lay hands on a gun, the old myths fade, and one by one the taboos are overturned: a fighter’s weapon is his humanity. For in the first phase of the revolt killing is a necessity: killing a European is killing two birds with one stone, eliminating in one go oppressor and oppressed: leaving one man dead and the other man free;"
The Wretched of the Earth
french-
As far as I know, the massacre of the Be'eri kibbutz by Hamas has been fully documented. This alternative view strikes me as being some sort of conspiracy theory. And Fanon is surely wrong abt justification. We can *understand* events of this sort (e.g., the attacks of 9/11); but in no way can we justify the massacre of civilians.
mb
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/31/middleeast/jabalya-blast-gaza-intl/index.html
I'm really grieving for all the Palestinians killed in this attack--a refugee camp, of all things. What else is this but genocide? It looks like Israel is not just after Hamas; it looks like its real goal is to destroy or displace the entire Palestinian population. Netanyahu is clearly a madman, and Biden is backing and arming him. How shameful these 2 people, these 2 countries, are, soaking in the blood of innocents, and thinking they are on the side of the Good and the True. Yuck.
I'm so fucking depressed, rdg the news every day.
mb
Displacing the entire population seems to be the goal
https://politurco.com/israels-alleged-offer-to-erase-egypts-debt-in-exchange-for-accepting-palestinian-exiles.html
It seems to me and I may be wrong, that this is the same strategy as that of 1948: genocide and scaring people into fleeing their land.
On better news , Bolivia severs tiew with Israel and Columbia and Chile recalled their ambassadors (one of many reasons I love Latin America is that they still have brains and hearts)
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/bolivia-severs-diplomatic-ties-with-israel-citing-crimes-against-humanity-2023-10-31/
At this point I believe that the only viable way (meaning the one with the less bloodshed) is giving Israel the same treatment as South Africa in the 80s, but that will take alot of effort in a world becoming more brain dead by the minute.
Ignore Blinken’s recent blather about humanitarian concerns, a truer picture comes into focus when one examines the Biden administration’s budget request for aid to Israel. $24 billion of the aid would finance either outright ethnic cleansing (i.e. killing) or forced displacement of Palestinians. The budget request even provides a list of countries where displaces could go. This post provides the details. You didn’t think Israel was going to finance this all on its own, did you? Once again, the US enables a proxy that ex-CIA analyst Larry Johnson has called America’s NATO-lite outpost in the Middle East:
https://stephensemler.substack.com/p/biden-budgeted-for-ethnic-cleansing?
Jack, french-
America is a butcher, no less than Israel. The 2nd al-Nakba, in any case.
mb
Kids and Tweens. Shots on Halloween!
The weekend was great. Plus the holiday itself was pretty good.
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/crime/2023/10/31/3-shooting-victims-salem-woods-bear-delaware-halloween-night/71403279007/
https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/triple-shootings-in-bensalem-pennsylvania-and-salem-woods-delaware-mar-halloween-festivities/
https://www.kcra.com/article/north-highlands-halloween-party-fight/45708881
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/teen-two-men-hurt-in-dc-shootings-on-halloween-police/3458293/
BANG! BANG! BANG!
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Wafers-
I have been hurting a lot these days, reading the news. I can't get over this horrible genocide of the Palestinians, backed by the US, wh/is now trying to send Israel $24 billion. One event in particular, however, turned my stomach:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/15/us/chicago-landlord-attack-muslim-boy-mother/index.html
Poor little innocent child, brutally murdered by his sick landlord (check out the pics of both), just for being a Muslim. Imagine how his mother--who survived the attack on herself--must feel, that her little boy was suddenly snatched from her in this horrific way. That he is no longer in her life, and that she has to live with this memory from now on. The craziness, and the cruelty, of some Americans is beyond belief.
mb
When the US vetoed the already watered-down humanitarian aid resolution for Gaza because it did not confirm Israel's right to defend itself, did you get the impression that the rest of the world has had enough of the US's bullshit? I sure hope so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKMZKGWA3dE
Hezbollah's leader is to give a speech tomorrow concenrning his organisation's position in this war. Things may be grim ( let's hope not) as there are news of Wagner sending air defense systems to Lebanon.
https://www.wsj.com/world/russias-wagner-group-may-provide-air-defense-weapon-to-hezbollah-u-s-intel-says-37dc8f45
The Yemenis have already bombarded Israel with ballistic missiles, US bases are being bombarded in Syria and Irak, and with the Ukrain war becoming more of a stalemate that have lost it's power of giving americans the war high , and with the US shifting focus to the Middle East, and with warmongering baffoons in the US and Israel, there is a high probability of an escalation of violence.
I'll end this with some words of Spinoza that may give us some clarity of why some people (or nations) are inavle of place.
"Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition of benevolence, confidence, justice."
Roy-
We are not a bulletin board, and we are not big on opinions. We are, however, big on evidence. Try this in the future:
1. You have a specific argument you wish to make abt the collapse of the American empire. State it clearly.
2. Defend it with links and/or reliable references.
Thanks!
french-
Pls supply evidence for yr 2nd para, the one beginning w/the Yemenis. I checked several news sources, and nothing of the kind has been reported. Pls be careful abt what you post, OK?
Grainey-
America is a sick, genocidal nation. Let's hope the rest of the world recognizes this.
mb
Scumbags on Parade:
White House condemns Fox News over ‘sickening attack’ on Arab Americans | Fox News | The Guardian
House gears up to vote on $14.3 billion in Israel aid, setting up showdown with Senate | CNN Politics
Kim Kardashian at Met Gala is 'dripping in pearls' with lustrous Lagerfeld tribute | CNN
Spaywall | Israel Free Speech Hamas Palestine.Html
Plus, Hillary is teaching a class at Columbia. It shd be called, "How to Become a Douche Bag."
mb
french-
Sorry, cdn't post it. You violated the 24-hr rule, and the half-pg-max rule. Pls edit down, and re-send in 24 hrs. Thank you.
mb
Forget about the cruelty and callousness going on in Israel and Gaza. These great citizens of the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! are in a league of their own. Let’s see. We have: a “good mom”; a “great kid”; loving parents; a member of the “Back the Blue” watching out for youngsters; and another “Back the Blue” Floridian bully who is gaining a dubious reputation in hick conservative Polk County. Just your normal daily occurrences here in the Land of Exceptionalism.
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/sunny-isles-beach-woman-arrested-after-video-shows-her-abusing-3-year-old-police/3148234/
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/13-year-old-who-stabbed-mother-to-death-in-hialeah-pleads-not-guilty/3146649/
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/mom-allegedly-beat-13-year-old-daughter-for-staring-at-stepfather-told-police-victim-needed-to-back-the-f-off/
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/deputy-who-resigned-rather-than-speak-to-investigators-is-sentenced-for-abusing-boys/
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/sheriffs-office-bragged-about-nurses-false-child-porn-arrest-publicly-broadcasted-name-and-address-lawsuit/
Here is an amazing speech by a Jewish MP in the UK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14si4mDQcVM
It's short and full of truth. But notice how empty the chamber is.
Hello Mr. Berman,
Here is something very important for Amerikkkans than the lives of innocent people getting killed in wars. These are the warriors that will kickstart Chris Hedges revolution.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/realestate/selling-sunset-netflix-season-7-fashion.html
Nam-
What a collection of clowns. Meanwhile, Hedges seems to have dropped outta sight. What a relief. He really doesn't have shit to say.
Grainey-
We are a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. Pls resend link, w/a para of yr own thoughts abt it. Thank you.
ccg-
Fabulous; but who's listening? Not Schmiden, nor Sunak, nor....
mb
House Speaker Mike Johnson blamed the fall of the Roman Empire on 'homosexual behavior'
https://news.yahoo.com/guess-maga-mike-johnson-once-143222772.html
One cutting-edge intellectual after the other filling these speaker roles, aren't they? Lol we are a stupid country...What will he blame for the v similar fall of this empire??
Europeans: fighting each other for even longer than had been thought…https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/nov/02/large-scale-warfare-occurred-in-europe-1000-years-earlier-than-previously-thought
The neolithic was brutal! Everyone should read my fav MB book "Wandering God"! Argues the Paleolithic wasn't so bad. We've been fucked ever since IMHO
Sorry, Professor Berman, I am very disturbed about the carnage in Gaza and have been impulsively posting comments on the internet. It's a useless thing to do, I know. I see your point about not using your blog as a bulletin board and will restrain myself in future. Your remarks about this all being a great charade resonated with me. The only people who are not playacting are the victims.
Ron-
Probably not, that douche bags got to occupy leading political positions. (Wh/wd be true)
mb
Wafers-
A few poems, for yr post-its:
Our hopes have all faded,
For we are buffoons--and degraded.
Our lives are X-rated;
We are buffoons--and degraded.
We are universally hated,
For we are buffoons--and degraded.
(Move over, Keats)
mb
I hadn't looked at this blog for a few days, but I just said to someone at work a few minutes ago, "This Gaza war is actually starting to make me really depressed." Then I saw that Dr. Berman and others feel the same. For the past few days I haven't been able to get the image out of my mind of the Hamas guy who put a baby in an oven, and raped its mother while he was burning and screaming. How deranged, that he could even get sexually aroused in that situation. What is scarier is the fact that he was probably not even a psychopath. (They are only 4 out of 100.) Probably an otherwise perfectly normal man who simply caught the "jihad mind virus."
I have also been reading "Goliath." Thanks for the recommendation, Dr. Berman, it is very good. Even if the Israelis aren't enraged enough yet to throw babies into ovens, I'm guessing that there are going to be plenty of awful war crimes, from the diehards, and it will be a real bloodbath. Talking about a "two-state solution" with this band of actors is as fatuous as talking about a Chris Hedges revolution. I think we just have to accept the tragic nature of the world. That said, these two are always thoughtful and pleasant to listen to, whether one agrees with them or not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBrn-tDjwio
Megan-
We need a reliable link or ref for your statement abt the baby in the oven. Thank you.
mb
More U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U. S. A.! callousness. This first one is unique. A woman within seconds gets hit twice by hit-and-run drivers, both who just leave her lying there to die.
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/woman-79-killed-by-2-hit-and-run-drivers-in-brooklyn
Here’s an impatient ax wielder upset at her roommate who’s taking too long to move out.
https://www.wcjb.com/2023/11/02/woman-marion-county-arrested-after-threatening-two-people-with-an-axe/
Here’s callousness shown to the relatives of a 12 year old homicide victim.
https://www.wcjb.com/2023/10/23/ill-lay-your-behind-out-woman-arrested-threatening-12-year-old-lake-city-murder-victims-family/
And here’s a callous killer nurse.
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/hard-to-comprehend-alleged-killer-nurse-charged-with-dozens-of-additional-crimes-after-prosecutors-identify-19-others-said-to-have-been-poisoned-with-excessive-insulin/
But on a funny post-Halloween note, the Far Right’s Ar15-toting conservative hero had someone dressing up as him on one of our unofficial annual mass shooting holidays. LOL!
https://www.wkow.com/news/car-dealership-employee-dresses-as-kyle-rittenhouse-for-halloween/article_242d138e-79d0-11ee-9884-a301592d6201.html
ps: Megan: I've searched the Net, and cd find no *reliable* evidence for the baby/oven story, although there are many listings to that effect. But 0 that wd count as real proof. I need to add that it is often the case, in wartime, that atrocity stories are invented to use as propaganda, to justify war. The US did this in 1990, to justify attacking Iraq. The story was that the Iraqis were taking babies out of incubators and putting them on the cold floor. The testimony proved to be false; the girl who claimed this turned out to be the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador. America put her up to this.
I very much doubt the baby/oven story. If true, it cd be used to justify Bibi's rejection of cease fire, I suppose. But as of now, it's all hearsay.
https://www.tbsnews.net/features/panorama/why-murder-babies-pinnacle-war-propaganda-731582
ps2: Megan:
https://averagebeing.com/fact-check-did-hamas-bake-a-baby-in-an-oven/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/did-hamas-bake-a-baby-in-an-oven-claim-explored-as-israeli-first-responders-claim-sparks-outrage-online/ar-AA1jn3Yr
I'm no fan of right wing libertarians, yet, they seem to hit the nail on the head every now and then. This audio interview from the mises institute has some good points on the fake China threar issue and on America playing empire. A bonus, around the 14th minute they talk about how the US will probably hit the 50 trillion dollars debt by 2030, which, in my opinion, adds an economic dimension to the Wafer's 2030 view that the US is going down.
https://mises.org/library/fake-china-threat
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