Free Calorie Counter - MyFitnessPal.com
munaeem | 26 August, 2007 13:48
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Backlash Over Book on Policy for Israel
munaeem | 20 August, 2007 13:11
via Spielgel:
By Patricia Cohen
In an article last spring about the pro-Israel lobby, two scholars set off a firestorm of charges of anti-Semitism. Their new book on the topic has re-ignited the fire and led many to question the wisdom of providing a forum to what some consider a "conspiracy issue."
"The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" is not even in bookstores, but already anxieties have surfaced about the backlash it is stirring, with several institutions backing away from holding events with the authors.
John J. Mearsheimer, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, and Stephen M. Walt, a professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, were not totally surprised by the reaction to their work. An article last spring in the London Review of Books outlining their argument - that a powerful pro-Israel lobby has a pernicious influence on American policy - set off a firestorm as charges of anti-Semitism, shoddy scholarship and censorship ricocheted among prominent academics, writers, policymakers and advocates. In the book, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and embargoed until Sept. 4, they elaborate on and update their case.
FOUND IN...
This article has been provided by the New York Times as part of a special agreement between NYTimes.com. You can also find SPIEGEL stories at the New York Times on the Web. "Now that the cold war is over, Israel has become a strategic liability for the United States," they write. "Yet no aspiring politician is going to say so in public or even raise the possibility" because the pro-Israel lobby is so powerful. They credit the lobby with shutting down talks with Syria and with moderates in Iran, preventing the United States from condemning Israel's 2006 war in Lebanon and with not pushing the Israelis hard enough to come to an agreement with the Palestinians. They also discuss Christian Zionists and the issue of dual loyalty. Opponents are prepared. Also being released on Sept. 4 is "The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control" (Palgrave Macmillan) by Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League. The notion that pro-Israel groups "have anything like a uniform agenda, and that U.S. policy on Israel and the Middle East is the result of their influence, is simply wrong," George P. Shultz, a former secretary of state, says in the foreword. "This is a conspiracy theory pure and simple, and scholars at great universities should be ashamed to promulgate it."
The subject will certainly prompt furious debate, though not at the Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a Jewish cultural center in Washington and three organizations in Chicago. They have all turned down or canceled events with the authors, mentioning unease with the controversy or the format.
The authors were particularly disturbed by the Chicago council's decision, since plans for that event were complete and both authors have frequently spoken there before. The two sent a four-page letter to 94 members of the council's board detailing what happened. "On July 24, Council President Marshall Bouton phoned one of us (Mearsheimer) and informed him that he was canceling the event," and that his decision "was based on the need 'to protect the institution.' He said that he had a serious 'political problem,' because there were individuals who would be angry if he gave us a venue to speak, and that this would have serious negative consequences for the council. 'This one is so hot,' Marshall maintained."
Mr. Mearsheimer later said of Mr. Bouton, "I had the sense that this phone call pained him deeply."
Mr. Bouton was out of town, but Rachel Bronson, vice president for programs and studies at the council, said, "Whenever we have topics that are particularly controversial or sensitive, we try to make sure someone from another point of view is there." In this case, she said, there was not sufficient time to set up that sort of panel before the council calendar went out. There are no plans to have the authors speak at a later date, however.
"One of the points we make in the book is that this is a subject that's very hard to talk about," Mr. Walt said in an interview from his office in Cambridge. "Organizations, no matter how strong their commitment to free speech, don't want to schedule something that's likely to cause controversy."
After the cancellation Roberta Rubin, owner of the Book Stall, a store in Winnetka, Ill., offered to help find a site for the authors. She said she tried a Jewish community center and two large downtown clubs but they all told her "they can't afford to bring in somebody 'too controversial.' " She added that even she was concerned about inviting authors who might offend customers.
Some of the planned sites, like the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, a cultural center in Washington, would have been host of an event if Mr. Mearsheimer and Mr. Walt appeared with opponents, said Esther Foer, the executive director.
Mr. Walt said, "Part of the game is to portray us as so extreme that we have to be balanced by someone from the 'other side.' " Besides, he added, when you're promoting a book, you want to present your ideas without appearing with someone who is trying to discredit you.
As for City University, Aoibheann Sweeney, director of the Center for the Humanities, said, "I looked at the introduction, and I didn't feel that the book was saying things differently enough" from the original article. Ms. Sweeney, who said she had consulted with others at City University, acknowledged that they had begun planning for an event in September moderated by J. J. Goldberg, the editor of The Forward, a leading American Jewish weekly, but once he chose not to participate, she decided to pass. Mr. Goldberg, who was traveling in Israel, said in a telephone interview that "there should be more of an open debate." But appearing alone with the authors would have given the impression that The Forward was presenting the event and thereby endorsing the book, he said, and he did not want to do that. A discussion with other speakers of differing views would have been different, he added. "I don't think the book is very good," said Mr. Goldberg, who said he read a copy of the manuscript about six weeks ago. "They haven't really done original research. They haven't talked to the people who are being lobbied or those doing the lobbying."
Overall Mr. Mearsheimer said he thinks the response to their views will be "less ferocious than last time, because it's becoming increasingly difficult to make the argument in a convincing way that anyone who criticizes the lobby or Israel is an anti-Semite or a self-hating Jew." Both Mr. Mearsheimer and Mr. Walt pointed to the growing dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq, criticism of Israel's war in Lebanon and the publication of former President Jimmy Carter's book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" as making it somewhat easier to criticize Israel openly.
"This isn't a cabal; this isn't anything secretive," Mr. Walt said.
American Jews who lobby on Israel's behalf are not all that different from the National Rifle Association, the anti-tax movement, AARP or the American Petroleum Institute, he said, "They just happen to be really good at it."
"It's the way American politics work," he continued. "Sometimes powerful interest groups get what they want, and it's not good for the country as a whole. I would say that about the farm lobby and about the Cuba lobby."
To the authors, dual loyalty is as American as Presidents' Day sales and "Law & Order" reruns. As Mr. Mearsheimer explained: "People are allowed to have multiple loyalties. They have religious loyalties, loyalty to family, to an organization and you can have loyalty to other countries. Someone who is Irish can have a loyalty to Ireland."
"The problem," he said "is when you raise the subject of dual loyalty, many people tend to think of it in the context of the old anti-Semitic canard and making the argument that Jews are disloyal to the U.S."
In print and in interviews both authors have stressed that they hold no animus towards Israel or Jews. "We think Israeli policy is fundamentally flawed," Mr. Mearsheimer said, "just as we think American policy is fundamentally flawed."
Horrible consequences of arming Israel
munaeem | 18 August, 2007 00:46
Link: Pakistan Observer
THE US decision to provide $ 30 billion in military aid to Israel over a period of ten years will have very negative impact in the already volatile Middle East region.
The Jewish State is already armed to the teeth with most devastating and advanced weapons in addition to about one hundred nuclear warheads. Before this announcement, Washington announced the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf States to pacify the Israeli neighbours.
Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians are threatened day in and day out by Israel which is almost a mini superpower in the region while Egypt and Jordan have already submitted themselves to the will of Tel Aviv and Washington and have no aggressive designs. Naturally $ 30 billion aid for arms is aimed at building further the Israeli military might which suffered humiliating defeat at the hands of Hizbullah in Lebanon most recently.
Massive economic and military aid to Israel is being extended because of the pressure of strong Jewish lobby in America. Since 1992 the United States has sold over 20 billion dollars worth of arms to Israel in an effort to keep up good relations and protect its ally in the Middle East.
By selling arms to Israel, the U.S. strains relations between itself and Palestine, as well as between Israel and Palestine, not to mention between the U.S. and most other Middle Eastern nations. On average the U.S. sells 1.8 billion dollars worth of arms to Israel every year, which is no small sum of money. If the goal is to protect the United States’ only ally in the Middle East in order to maintain a footing in such a volatile part of the world, the sale of arms seems mostly counterintuitive since it disrupts relations with the rest of the Arab world.
US arm sales to Israel greatly complicate the relations between Palestine and Israel. While the core conflict lies between Palestine and Israel, the Palestinians feel cheated by the US’s overwhelming preferential treatment of Israel in the conflict.
The advisable course of action for the policy makers in Washington is not to make Israel a dump of deadly weapons but pressurize Israel to resolve its dispute with Lebanon, vacate Golan Heights and accept Palestine as a sovereign State in line with the Saudi backed land for peace plan. That is the only way for a lasting peace in the region
Web Hosting
munaeem | 08 August, 2007 19:45
Link: Munaeem's News & Reviews Blog:
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LA plastic surgery, ca breast enlargement , la breast implant
munaeem | 08 August, 2007 15:31
Link: Munaeem's News & Reviews Blog:
According to one survey, over 56 per cent of women and 43 per cent of men are dissatisfied with their appearance. That dissatisfaction motivates a whole host of behaviours - weight loss, cosmetic and fashion purchases, and cosmetic surgery. Last year, 291,000 American women had bags implanted in their breasts.
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Extremists are not heroes
munaeem | 08 August, 2007 03:18
Link: Munaeem's News & Reviews Blog:
Extremism has taken a dangerous trend. They have now started taking mosques as their sanctuaries and launching pads for extremist activities. The die-hards claim to be better Muslims. They must know the sanctity of a mosque better than what they call rest of the people as ‘lesser Muslims’.
The Lal Masjid tragedy was twofold: one, its sanctity was damaged by using it as terrorists’ hideout, two, the security forces had to act against it, and extra care to uphold the sanctity of mosque took a number of lives of our soldiers.
Secondly, it gave an idea of using other mosques as bunker-hideouts to exploit the religious sentiments. Such a situation can lead to highly sensitive ends with greatly damaging repercussions. Under this backdrop the extremists have once again occupied yet another mosque in Mir Ali, giving it a name of another Lal Masjid, and announced to continue mission of Ghazi Abdur Rashid.
It means the extremists are neither true Muslims, nor do they want sanctity of mosques upheld. Our media has to draw line between extremism and heroism. Can those who hole themselves up in the mosques be in any way called heroes? Or are they the ones who can even resort to take our religion and sacred places as their hostage for achieving their nefarious ends?
Publishing their photographs on front pages and even calling them Ghazis or Shaheeds or Hussaini lashkars or what not, tantamount to lack of knowledge, psychological outcomes and ignorance of religious sensitivities.
Media will have to discourage use of mosque in such a desecrated way. Together with the help of media and the people, we will have to reject the exploitative forces and block their moves to play with our religious sentiments.
Why Fatah is Not the Answer
munaeem | 05 August, 2007 12:11
via Newsweek :
Engaging the Palestinians means engaging Gaza and Hamas. Fatah has been drained of credibility as a negotiating partner, and no amount of money and attention poured in from North America or Europe will compensate for that. Blair must therefore convince his Western colleagues that sticking to old patterns has become unrealistic. Supporting Fatah just because it recognizes Israel suffers from a fundamental flaw: the movement is corrupt and unelected and has been rejected by the majority of Palestinians. It will never alone represent enough of Palestine to strike a lasting settlement with Israel.
That's not to suggest it will be easy to work with Hamas, a hard-line group with a history of violence. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's statehood as a precondition for negotiations (something the Israelis and Americans have insisted on). But Hamas is a political-grievance-based entity—not an ideological one. This truth has been overlooked in the West. Faced with the prospect that its main grievance—the dispossession of the Palestinian people—could eventually be removed and a viable Palestinian state established, Hamas might finally recognize that no settlement is possible unless Israeli security gets the same priority as justice for the Palestinians. At the very least, this avenue should be properly tested before it is rejected. Direct engagement could leave a bitter taste in many mouths, but it would still be preferable to despair and violence.
Source : Blog Critic
US-India nuclear deal : A future nuclear test by India will not be examined by the U.S.
munaeem | 05 August, 2007 11:10
via Munaeem's Blog :
India and the United States have unveiled the text of an operating agreement for their controversial civilian nuclear technology deal.
The accord gives India reprocessing rights in facilities under global safeguards. It leaves India's military program out of its purview, while promising uninterrupted fuel supplies to the civilian nuclear program.
The agreement, which took two years to complete, spells out how a plan for the US to share nuclear technology with India will work, including thorny issues like reprocessing rights and a fuel reserve for India.
The innovative use of the English language has ensured that a future nuclear test by India will not be examined by the U.S. in a vacuum or in isolation.
Bush's latest Middle East plan is ambitious and dubious
munaeem | 03 August, 2007 21:13
 | Friday » August 3 » 2007 |
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| Bush's latest Middle East plan is ambitious and dubious | | | Jonathan Manthorpe | | Vancouver Sun |
Friday, August 03, 2007
In the world of politics, activity all too often becomes a substitute for accomplishment and motion is made to masquerade as movement. Many will hope that is not the case with President George W. Bush's new strategic policy for the Middle East being touted around the region by the sales team of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates. This double act is in itself an attempt to tell the Middle East and the world that finally, as the days of this administration dwindle down to a precious few, it has got its act together after years of open ideological warfare between the two departments. Many Middle Eastern politicians and commentators are saying, however, that the plan Rice and Gates have united behind is far too ambitious and unrealistic. The new strategy has three main elements, all aimed at trying to construct something useful and lasting on the rubble of the Bush administration's foolhardy invasion of Iraq. One is to try to contain the regime in Iran, which is aiding the insurrection among fellow Shia Muslims in occupied Iraq and which has gained much regional stature from its support of anti-Israeli terrorists Hezbollah and Hamas. The second objective is to entice neighbouring states into helping quell the internal conflict in Iraq so the United States and its coalition partners can get their troops out as soon as feasible. The third aim is to try to find a formula for the creation of a functional Palestinian state and the basis for a lasting peace between Israel and its neighbours. Inevitably, elements of all three objectives intertwine. The most pressing objective for the United States and ally Israel is to try to contain Iran, whose radical Shia Islamic regime is intent on developing nuclear technology. Tehran says it only wants to make electricity, not bombs, but a regime that openly supports regional terrorist groups and vows to "wipe Israel off the map" can't expect to be believed on that count. Both Washington and Tel Aviv regard sanctions by the United Nations as at best limp-wristed responses to Iran and most likely worse than useless. But the odds of destroying Iran's nuclear facilities by invasion or precision bombing are too long to make those serious options at the moment. Washington's counter-proposal is to lavish arms on its Arab allied states in the Middle East, most of which, conveniently, follow the rival Sunni form of Islam. So as Rice and Gates set off it was announced Washington is offering $20 billion US in military aid to the Arab Gulf states (most to Saudi Arabia) and $13 billion to Egypt. To win the essential support of Tel Aviv, the Bush administration is offering Israel $30 billion worth of top military technology, allowing the Israeli military to keep its strategic edge in the region. This approach has perplexed many commentators in the Middle East, both in Israel and in the Arab countries. Is it not more likely than not, they wonder, that seeing a massive military buildup on its borders Iran will rush even faster to acquire the relatively cheap and decisive deterrent of a nuclear weapon? Lavishing an arms bounty on Saudi Arabia is seen as especially eyebrow raising. The religious fanaticism fostered by the Saudi royal family at home and abroad has been perhaps the major component in the birth and growth of al-Qaida and associated terrorist groups. The Bush administration has been slow to recognize and accept the evidence. But recently Washington's ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, accused Saudi Arabia of "pursuing destabilizing policies" by encouraging Sunni fighters to join the Iraq insurgency. Washington's decision to mend fences with the Saudi government appears to be entirely pragmatic and based on the notion that Riyadh's support is essential to a settlement with Israel. That may be so, but the Saudi government has already set out tight conditions for the agenda, some totally unacceptable to Israel, if it is to participate in a regional peace conference the Bush administration plans to organize in the next few months. There is a lot of motion; the thing to look for is traction. jmanthorpe@png.canwest.com © The Vancouver Sun 2007
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M--LA plastic surgery, LA liposuction, facelift
munaeem | 03 August, 2007 17:25
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An Appeal To America's Jewish Leaders
munaeem | 03 August, 2007 11:40
By Thomas Daly
02 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org
House Members: Ackerman, Berkley, Berman, Cantor, Cohen, Davis, Emanuel, Engel, Filner, Frank, Giffords, Harmin, Hodes, Israel, Kagen, Klein, Lantos, Levin, Lowey, Nadler, Rothman, Schakowsky, Schiff, Schwartz, Sherman, Wassermann Schultz, Waxman, Weiner, & Yarmuth
Members of the Senate: Boxer, Cardin, Coleman, Feingold, Feinstein, Kohl, Lautenberg, Levin, Lieberman, Sanders, Schumer, Specter, & Wyden
Honorable Members of the House and Senate
Out of 525 members in the House, 30 of you, 5.7 percent, are of Jewish heritage.
Out of 100 members of the Senate, 13 of you, 13 percent, are of Jewish heritage.
You hold the key to world peace in your hands and I urge you to act now to bring about the needed changes to accomplish this goal. Throughout the Middle East there is one, and only one prominent problem which affects the entire region. The resolution to this problem will bring peace to the region and greatly enhance worldwide peace efforts. The problem is the ongoing, unresolved Israeli/Palestinian Conflict.
This conflict has lasted for almost 50 years and much of the blame for not resolving the conflict rests in the hands of the American government. Influenced by powerful lobbies the American government has always taken a decidedly one-sided approach to the conflict. (Info about Jewish and Arab Lobbies see:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/
jsource/US-Israel/lobby.html). The result of this one-sided view is obvious to anyone who will take the time to actually look at the situation. Led by a relative handful of Zionist (see: http://www.mideastweb.org/zionism.htm), generations of Israeli governments have continued to occupy and oppress the Palestinians. Armed by the U.S., the Israelis are able to reek havoc upon the Palestinians on a daily basis. Rather than return to the 1967 boundaries, the Israelis have continued to occupy more and more of Palestine's land. In addition, they are in the process of building huge walls to further isolate and separate the Palestinians.
Largely at the insistence of the U.S. Government, the Palestinians held democratic elections. However neither the U.S. nor Israel were willing to accept those elections. Nor were they willing to even hold dialog with the winning Palestinian party. Now a cleverly orchestrated wedge has been driven between differing factions of the Palestinians which will undoubtedly lead to more land grabs by Israel.
None of this is to say that the Palestinians are blameless. In their efforts to resist the Israeli encroachments, Palestinians have committed many unspeakable atrocities. Their suicide bombers have extracted and alarming toll upon largely innocent Israeli citizens. Their actions are always labeled as terror by the U.S. and Israel while equally alarming atrocities committed by Israeli troops upon largely innocent Palestinians are always labeled as defensive moves.
The unending occupation of Palestine and the failure of the Israelis to negotiate a real and lasting peace has brought, and will continue to bring, hostile relations toward Israel by much of the free world, especially the countries of the Middle East. (See http://www.mideastweb.org/briefhistory.htm). Travel anywhere in the Middle East and nearly every citizen will tell you there will be no peace unless and until Israel recognizes Palestine and withdraws to the 1967 borders. The Arab League has had a peace plan in place (see: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/
jsource/Peace/arabplan.html) since 2002 which has been largely ignored by the George Bush led American Government and the Israelis. Today, that plan has been resurrected and emissaries from several Arab countries have recently visited Israel. Secretary of State Rice is currently shuttling around the region in an effort to stimulate the dialog. (see: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/888657.html). There is serious talk now about a Regional Peace Conference sponsored by the U.S. It is important that the Conference be held and, it is equally important, that all countries in the region be included.
You, members of the House and Senate and influential leaders of the American Jewish Community, have an important role to play and the time to assume your role is now. You must look at what is happening in the entire world and explore worldwide attitudes about what is driving the anti-American and anti-Israel campaigns. These sentiments are caused by the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the disastrous war in Iraq, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the calls for democracy and then the rejection of democratically elected governments, the refusal to even talk with Iran and Syria, the labeling of Hamas and Hezbollah only as “terrorists”, and many other events which have only served to embolden Muslim fanatics. Rather than stem “terrorism” the actions of America have only fanned the flames. Hatred of America grows daily.
While Israel is an important part of the overall equation, it is not the only factor which should influence your opinions and your votes. There are active groups within Israel who are urging their government to make peace and settle the Palestinian conflict. Their voices are growing, but are largely unreported in the U.S. press. You, the American Jewish Leaders, must set aside much of your old personal views and prejudices, many of them generated by influential American lobbyist, and look more closely at the entire region and the entire world and then use your substantial influence to bring about a permanent solution of the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict. Peace in Israel and Palestine will go a long way toward bringing peace to the entire world. Peace in Israel and Palestine will greatly help in diminishing the influence of radical Muslim groups who use the conflict as their primary call to arms.
Throughout American history Jews have played a vital part in numerous causes. Many of the freedoms Americans enjoy, such as rights to vote, civil rights, and labor rights were all brought about by the assistance of dedicated and hard working American Jews. I urge you to take your places in history now by leading the American government in achieving a permanent peace settlement in Israel and Palestine.
Sincerely in peace,
Thomas Daly
Thomas Daly is a retired California newspaper publisher.
Commentary: Israel approves textbook featuring Nakba
munaeem | 02 August, 2007 22:12
via metimes:
The Israeli education ministry recently authorized Arab schools inside the Jewish state to use a history book that includes the Palestinian side of the 1948 War - or Nakba (Catastrophe), as it is called in the Arab world. Speaking on Israeli radio, education minister Yuli Tamir noted: "The Arab public deserves to be allowed to express its feelings."
In an unprecedented move, the education ministry approved a textbook for third-graders referring to the events of 1948 as the "Nakba," stating that Arab citizens were expelled from their homes and became refugees after their lands were confiscated by Israel. The book also emphasizes that Arabs rejected United Nations Resolution 181 calling for the division of the territory between Arabs and Jews, which, it says, the Jews were prepared to accept.
