Ilhan Omar

Let's get one thing straight: criticism of Israel is not the equivalent of antisemitism, and criticism of AIPAC is even less so.  It has been years since the American Israel Public Affairs Committee could be said to lobby on behalf of the State of Israel.  Today, it lobbies on behalf of Israel's Likud Party and, more specifically, on behalf of Bibi Netanyahu.

“It’s all about the Benjamins baby!”
It's true that AIPAC itself makes no political contributions: it merely "suggests" that favored candidates for office enjoy the largess of wealthy Jewish (and Evangelical) supporters – and those supporters write substantial checks to favored candidates and their superPACs.  (I can't help thinking that part of the problem with Omar's remark was that "Benjamin" sounds like a Jewish name.)  Pelosi forced an apology for that one, even though much of the uproar was motivated by prejudice against Muslims.

"Allegiance to a foreign country"
Dual loyalty is a "Jewish stereotype" that, frankly, I'd never heard of before.  I do remember people questioning whether John F. Kennedy would be more loyal to the Constitution or the Pope, but somehow I missed the part about Jews and Israel.  (Granted, my Hebrew school taught more Zionism than Hebrew, so I guess it's plausible.)  Notwithstanding all that, "allegiance" was a very poor choice of words.

Congressional support for Israel, not limited to Jewish members, is more a conditioned response than a true allegiance.  The US has supported Israel since 1948, usually with ample justification; but Netanyahu's Israel has become a different country.  The Palestinian "territories" are governed like the bantustans of apartheid South Africa, and Bibi is forming political alliances with open racists — not just the closeted ones.  This is happening with the encouragement and support of American conservatives, not all of whom are Jews.

The rebuke of Ilhan Omar seems to be intended as a warning to other young, progressive Democrats who might have the temerity to suggest American support for Israel might become a little more conditional.  I hope they don't knuckle under: it really is time for a change.

Jerusalem: Why now?

Are you ready for the end of the world?  The core voters of Tr*mp's base not only are ready, they can't wait!

Christian fundamentalists have eagerly been anticipating the onset of the Apocalypse at least since 1947, when the creation of the state of Israel began to fulfill one of its preconditions: the return of the Jews to Jerusalem.  When the End of the World arrives, they expect to be "raptured" straight to heaven, while the other 90% of the world's population is relegated to eternal damnation.  That makes Tr*mp's recognition of Jewish suzerainty over the "Holy City" a very encouraging development.

Meanwhile, in Alabama, Roy Moore's campaign still is threatened.  For Moore to win, substantial numbers of Alabamian Christian conservatives will have to choke back the vomit and vote for a child molester.  Tr*mp's recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel is a reminder to support their favorite President's agenda by electing his fellow sexual predator — and Moore's vote may be required to pass the tax bill.

At the same time, Tr*mp is providing a much-needed political boost to Bibi Netanyahu, who has been fighting corruption charges; and, certainly, moving our embassy to Jerusalem will make Sheldon Adelson happy.  All in all, it was a smart political move, especially since most of America doesn't care one way or the other.  Hopefully, the ensuing chaos will be confined largely to the Middle East.  If not, well...  I'll see you in Hell.

Can the Middle East get even worse?

Sure it can — and the cheerful young man you see here is just the one to bring that about.  Now apparently in complete control of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman already has exacerbated regional turmoil, and promises to do more.

For the past four decades, Saudi Arabia was stabilized by oil revenues, religious authority, and gerontocracy.  MbS, as he's known, aims for continued stability, with special emphasis on the stability of monarchical rule.  He very much enjoys being the man in charge — of everything.

Admittedly, keeping Saudi Arabia stable will not be simple for anybody, direct descendant of Ibn Saud or not.  MbS needs to diversify the national economy away from oil and gas while engaged in a complex contest for power with Islamic authorities.  Ultraconservative Islam has been the foundation of his family's rule, but also its most significant rival for power.  Attempts to relax the Kingdom's medieval interpretation of Sharia Law are met with powerful opposition.

The greatest potential for making things "even worse," though, arises from MbS's efforts against regional rival Iran.  After over two years of war crimes in Yemen (with US collusion) and spending many times what Iranians give Houthi rebels, he has produced what the UN calls the worst humanitarian crisis on Earth, and no sign of resolution of the conflict.

Nobody doubts considerable Saudi pressure on Saad Hariri when he announced his resignation as Prime Minister of Lebanon from Riyadh, nor that the move was intended to delegitimize Iranian ally Hezbollah's role in Lebanese government.  Apparently, MbS thought the pleasure of sticking a finger in Iran's eye was worth the risk of the Syrian Civil War spilling over the border into Lebanon.

The boycott and blockade of Qatar continues, punishing the Qataris for the sin of conducting diplomacy with Iran, with which they share vast natural gas reserves under the Persian Gulf.  The pure, spiteful pique involved is positively Tr*mpian.

Actually, it was just after a sleepover party with First Boy Jared Kushner that MbS seized all police power for himself and had about two hundred potential rivals arrested, including the oft-mentioned eleven princes.  The White House is quite fond of MbS, who exercises the kind of arbitrary authority Our President wishes he could have for himself.  In return for American support, we can expect MbS to weigh in on upcoming Israeli-Palestinian "negotiations," pressuring the Palestinians to accept whatever Bibi deigns to offer them.  (The Tr*mp "negotiating team" consists of three Orthodox Jews and a Coptic Christian.)

Saudi Arabia has potential as a manufacturing center because of its energy resources — including a huge and uninterrupted supply of solar when the oil runs out.  All MbS will need is a reliable pool of cheap labor.  Saudi men are unlikely to take those jobs, so "progress" in allowing women to work outside the home is a strong possibility, provided religious authorities can be brought along.  Failing that, there are bound to be plenty of impoverished Palestinians in the neighborhood.

It's Time for a One-State Solution

Israel is an apartheid state.  Mahmoud Abbas has no more real power over Palestinian areas than tribal chiefs had over South Africa's "Bantustans" in the 1980s.  Workers are funneled through barrier walls to provide cheap labor for Israeli businesses.  The expansion of settlements into the West Bank continues apace. Functionally, there is only one state: the "two-state solution" is a chimera.

It is time to stop paying lip service to bygone fantasies, and recognize the facts on the ground: there is only one state, and that state is Israel.  In that state, a large minority is denied the rights and privileges of citizenship, an unjust situation that must end.  Just as the world pressured the government of apartheid South Africa to recognize the natural rights of its black population, it must pressure Israel to recognize the rights of its Palestinian minority.  Nothing but full Israeli citizenship for West Bank Palestinians will suffice, including voting rights and all the legal protections that citizenship provides.

Jews have their own history with marginalization and repression.  If Israelis choose to forget the history of the Jewish people, it no longer can call itself a Jewish State.

So Much Shit

Apprehension tumbles into despair.  Despair is a poor response, albeit understandable in the face of so much shit.  A brief review of recent saprogenic events:

Cabinet picks
From a comment in the New York Times:

Let’s see, so far we have a guy from Alabama dedicated to upholding the fine Southern tradition of voting prevention heading up the Justice Department, an alleged reincarnation of Patton affectionately known as “Mad Dog” for defense secretary, a general who wants to expand the Al Qaeda terrorist training camp in Guantánamo for Homeland Security, a conspiracy theorist as national security adviser, a fast-food billionaire who opposes health care benefits and better wages as labor secretary, a guy with a plan to dismantle health care access as Health and Human Services, a neurosurgeon with zero leadership experience for Housing, a billionaire who wants to divert funds from public schools for Education, a climate-change denier from fracking earthquake country for the Environmental Protection Agency, an interior secretary who wants to sell off public lands and half of the top management of Goldman Sachs for the rest.
What could go wrong?

Conflicts of interest
If the President-elect fails to divest himself of his financial holdings, he will be in clear violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause.  The only legal remedy is impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate.  Will it happen?  (The Magic 8-Ball says, "Don't count on it.")

Syria
The fall of Aleppo is a clear indicator that Assad, backed by Russia and Hezbollah, will win his war.  It is conceivable, though, that the Kurds can carve out and control a piece of the north, which has the potential to inspire an Assad-Ergogan alliance.  How would our president-elect respond?  Might a promise to end current efforts to change the name of Tr*mp Towers Istanbul influence his opinion?  (The Magic 8-Ball says, "Signs point to yes.")

Israel
Tr*mp's selection of David Friedman as ambassador to Israel signals the last gasp of "the two-state solution." A Tr*mp-endorsed Israeli annexation of the West Bank might have the unintended consequence of making clear that Israeli policy towards the Palestinians under its control is a policy of apartheid, and create international pressure to grant Palestinians full Israeli citizenship — possibly the best solution to seventy years of conflict. (The Magic 8-Ball says, "Reply hazy try again.")

Russian hacks
Did Russian interference deny Hillary the presidency?  There's no way to know, but Russophobia remains a conditioned reflex among many Republicans in Congress.  The "pivot towards Russia" may prove more difficult than Tr*mp and his heartthrob Putin anticipate. (The Magic 8-Ball says, "Ask again later.")

Death of a hero
Larry Colburn died this past Tuesday.  He was the last survivor of the three-man helicopter crew that intervened in the My Lai massacre, the 1968 atrocity that shook America's faith in its moral superiority.  Colburn testified against Lt. William Calley, the only man convicted for the slaughter of roughly 500 women, children, and elderly men.  Calley was sentenced to life in prison; he served three-and-a-half years under house arrest.

Briefly...

The Democratic Debate
All the Democrats gave the impression of being more serious and sane than any of their Republican rivals, which was not hard.  Hillary came across as human, and held her own, especially with a little help from Bernie.  His endorsement of the fact that the Bengazi/email inquisition is purely political may have been the high point of the evening.  Bernie was on the defensive regarding gun control, even though everything he said made perfect sense.  I don't think it hurt him at all.

Palestinians with Knives
Netanyahu can't blame Hamas or any of his other boogeymen for the recent attacks on Israelis by young Palestinians who armed themselves from their kitchen drawers.  None of them even was particularly religious, so it's not "fundamentalist extremism."  The attackers are understandably frustrated to a point of hopelessness by the Israeli apartheid state, and only the rights and privileges of citizenship can make a difference.  The "two-state solution" is dead.

Tamir Rice
I watched the surveillance video, and listened to the 911 call.  Tamir's movements in the video are those of a boy playing a game, so I believe identifying him as a child from the much closer vantage point of the police should have been easy.  On the other hand, the pellet gun looked very real.  Most disturbing to me was the incompetence of the 911 operator, who seemingly failed to process what she was told by the caller, and failed to communicate to the police the caller's clear belief that the suspect was a child and that the gun "probably" was a fake.  I believe the district attorney should give a jury the opportunity to decide if the shooter was at fault.

Some final thoughts for 2014

Guns don't kill people...
...two-year-olds who dip into their mothers' handbags while shopping at Wal-Mart kill people — well, one of them killed his duly licensed for concealed carry mother, at any rate.  I guess she thought putting the safety on was a violation of her Second Amendment rights.  Let's hope the kid never finds out what he did.

Syriza
Reading about the upcoming Greek elections, I was surprised to see the Times referring to Syriza as "radical."  Hey, NYT!  Being anti-austerity does not make a party radical.  It just makes it Keynesian and, hence, more likely to help the Greek people than "center-right" parties dedicated to kissing Angela Merkel's ass.

Scalise
Why is anybody surprised to learn that new House Republican Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana delivered a speech to David Duke's white supremacist EURO organization?  He's a southern Republican, which means he has to pander to racists.  (It won't hurt him a bit.)

Palestinians and the ICC
Israel and the USofA have their knickers in a twist because the Palestinians want to join the International Criminal Court.  It's not just that the Palestinians may bring charges against the Israelis — the big problem is that they just might win.

Dead Boys

Three Israeli boys were hitchhiking home from Yeshiva.  They caught the wrong ride, and ended up dead.  Bibi, as usual, blamed everybody he didn't like, and punished them all.  A bunch of young stone throwers found their stones met with bullets.  Then, an Arab teen — who probably wasn't even hitchhiking — was kidnapped and killed.  Revenge, people said, as if shooting the stone throwers was not enough.

Bibi "disapproved" the reprisal killing, even though he himself had created the atmosphere that made it pretty much inevitable.

Those three Israeli boys, it seems, took a ride with a couple of Palestinians — now conveniently disappeared.  Clearly, they were bad guys — but, most likely, they didn't "represent" Hamas.  Most likely, those Israeli boys had taken rides from Palestinians before, and never had a problem.

Nobody wants dead boys, but nobody seems to want a two-state solution either.  Bibi seems to want to continue the apartheid state, so Israel can continue to be the "Jewish" state.  Maybe a two-state solution is the wrong answer, though.  Maybe Israel should be the model for the multi-ethnic democracy that isn't working in Iraq or Syria.

Maybe Israel is the last, best hope.  Most likely, though, it's just hopeless.

Religion 2013

Yes, it's nice that Time named Pope Francis "Man of the Year," but it's hard to imagine that even a very charismatic religious leader can steer the world away from all the violent stupidity the practice of religion has  brought us this year.

Sunni Muslims, Shi'a Muslims, various Christians, Hindus, and even Buddhists and animists have been killing each other this past year. Iraq and Afghanistan, of course, continue to be torn apart, and Syria is worse.  Then there are Cambodia and the Central African Republic and Chad and Ethiopia and Lebanon and Ceylon and Burma and Uttar Pradesh and Bahrain and the Northern Caucasus and more places I can't remember right now.  Oh, yeah, and don't forget the Israeli ultra-orthodox zealously expanding the settlements, and the Palestinians who hate them.

Then there are the secularists and the Putinistas and the radical atheists and Kim Jong Un.  It's all religious craziness, even when there's not much obvious religion involved.  It's all religion.

There was a very long time before you were conceived, and there will be a very long time after you are dead.  We are very, very finite, and there are no angels nor virgins nor reincarnation awaiting us.  We occupy a finite space in time, the same space we always shall occupy.  Those who intentionally truncate that time — by volunteering as suicide bombers, for example — get no special consideration.

In the long run, of course, it doesn't make any difference.  It doesn't make any difference at all.

Happy New Year.

Recent Events

Yes, I watched the final presidential debate, albeit I had to watch a good deal of it on the C-SPAN replay because I fell asleep on the live broadcast.  Maybe it was because I had tuned to CNN, and my attention kept shifting to that line graph showing how a group of "undecided" Florida voters, separated by gender, were responding to what the candidates had to say.  Watching that graph was, well, somewhat hypnotic.  Whatever.  I passed out, but dutifully watched what I'd missed later on.

Mind you, though, it's not as if the debate itself was especially stimulating.  It sounded pretty much like Romney would not do anything different from Obama, with the possible exception of rattling his spear with greater emphasis.  The only one who's talked truth to Bibi Netanyahu recently is good old Jimmy Carter, who observed that Bibi has abandoned the two-state solution.  I think that's a valid observation.

So, let's consider what that entails.  If there's to be just one state, the choice is between Palestinian citizenship in Greater Israel — and apartheid.  Granted, the ultra-Orthodox Jews are reproductive marvels comparable to the proverbial bunnies, but I still think the Palestinians, given that they are starting with larger numbers, would emerge victorious in the fecundity Olympics.  Hence, it's either apartheid or bye-bye "Jewish State."

No, it's not an encouraging situation.

Getting back to the alleged "debate," I did not notice any mention whatsoever of Europe.  At the moment, the most significant economic problem for the United States is the fiscal fuck-up in Europe, driving down our manufacturing exports.  Why did Our President not bother to mention that the European austerity policies, which Republicans want to impose on us, over here, have pushed Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Ireland into depression and the UK and France into recession, soon to be followed by Germany and everybody else the Vaterland has bullied into submission?

It seems the GOP has done much too good a job creating deficit panic, and Obama is much too much of a pussy to fight back.

Egypt, again

As embarrassed as I may be (not much) by saying "I told you so," well, I told you so. Here was my prediction for the Egyptian revolution. Fuck it. I told you so.

Yes, the Egyptian military has no desire to give up the power it has exercised since Nasser replaced Farouk. Would you? Hell, they have all the money and all the power. Who the fuck needs democracy when you have the army?

....

Not entirely related, I heard on the BBC today that the number of Israeli settler attacks on West Bank Palestinians has tripled over the past two years. The UN official in the area — some guy from India — says the settlers are largely responsible. Okay, the Palestinians are far from perfect — but the Israeli settlers seem to be total pieces of shit. Why burn a guy's olive trees, trees that his great-grandfather planted?

(Answer: if he's still around when and if a Palestinian state comes into being, he actually may get to keep his land.)

...

As you may have noticed, I do my best to stay away from mideastern bullshit, as best I can. My avoidance, however, does nothing to stop the carnage.

Assholes.

Obama at AIPAC

I was very interested to hear what Our President had to say to AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Many think of AIPAC as the chief lobbyist for Israel, but that is somewhat off the mark. AIPAC is the chief lobbyist for Likud. When Labour is in power, AIPAC's perspective does not change in any way. AIPAC represents the Israeli right wing, not Israel as a whole, and could not care less where Israeli public opinion falls at any particular time. Supported by old-line Zionists and Christian fundamentalists hoping to accelerate the advent of "end times," AIPAC has no interest in making peace with the Arab world. As long as American taxes go to feed the Israeli military, AIPAC has achieved its purpose.

Regular readers of this blog will appreciate how pleasantly surprised I was when Our President actually held his ground while addressing yesterday's AIPAC convocation, and did not pull back on the statement which referred to 1967 borders despite a major hissy fit by Bibi Netanyahu. Yes, he recognizes that some land swaps will be necessary to accommodate forty years of imperialist incursion, but he didn't back down. Whoopie doo!

Interestingly, it was Bibi who backed down, despite encouragement from Mitch McConnell and others who pander to Christians hoping to bring about an early Apocalypse. Did Obama suggest that the United States might not block the Palestinian Authority's attempt to gain recognition as a nation from the UN unless the Likudniks made enough concessions to get Abbas back to the bargaining table? I'd like to think so, but then, there are a lot of things I'd like to think.

(I'd like to think BSK was set up, but I know he's just another of those powerful men who thinks his dick is a scepter embodying unlimited sexual power. Somebody really ought to inject all those guys with medroxyprogesterone 17-acetate. It would be a far better world.)

Israel in Gaza

As long as images like this are appearing in the New York Times, Israel can't expect a lot of sympathy.

Do Hamas fighters mix in among the civilian population, intentionally drawing Israeli fire on children? Of course they do. Today, Hamas managed to draw fire on a UN sponsored school, which led to Israel racking up two dozen more civilian deaths. "But there were two dead militants too," Israel complained. "They were firing rockets!"

It doesn't matter. Tomorrow's Times will have pictures of more dead Palestinian children. If Israel hopes to compete for the hearts and minds of the rest of the world, it had better start rushing Israeli children into the paths of Hamas rockets. The only politically useful response to the other guy's dead children are dead children of your own.

So, suppose you're a member of the Israeli Knesset, and you think sending Israeli children to be blown up by Hamas rockets might not be too popular among your constituents. The "Hamas War," however well planned, is shaping up to be no more successful than the "Hezbollah War." What's to be done?

Sadly, you're likely to see the problem in political terms. Netanyahu and his Likud party have been leading in the polls lately, so Barak and his Labor Party are determined to show they can be even more belligerent than Likud. Kadima, still reeling from Olmert's problems, needs both Labor and the religious zealots of Shas to cling to power. It begins to look like peace isn't a viable option, unless some real pressure comes from an unlikely source -- the United States.

Nobody of any consequence in American government has ever dared criticize Israel, thanks to AIPAC and to wealthy American Jews who have been big contributors to political campaigns. This is not to say that Israel has not deserved American support -- it has, most of the time. Nevertheless, even one's best friends screw up royally from time to time, and real friendship demands that we stop enabling their self-destructive behaviors.

Right now, Israel claims it is trying to stop Hamas rocket attacks. Anybody actually paying attention, however, can see that Israel is engaged in a probably futile effort to destroy Hamas -- just as it tried to destroy Hezbollah when it invaded Lebanon in 2006.

Hamas won't be destroyed by a military incursion. Every dead Palestinian child will serve to recruit many more Hamas militants, and Iran and Syria will find ways to provide them with arms. The only way to destroy Hamas is to delegitimatize it, and the only way to do that is to help Fatah grow strong enough to become a viable alternative.

Mahmoud Abbas does not enjoy much respect in the Muslim world, primarily because he's been unable to win any real concessions from Israel. Israeli settlements continue to expand in the West Bank, movement from place to place remains severely restricted, and economic growth is impossible. Israeli political leaders, afraid to stand against religious fanatics and land hungry immigrants from the former Soviet Union, refuse to do anything that might help Abbas gain some legitimacy among the people he allegedly leads.

The incoming Obama administration could make a difference if it is willing to exercise some of the power three billion dollars a year in military aid ought to give the United States over Israel. Whatever the outcome in Gaza, and whatever the outcome of the elections that will be held in Israel next month, the United States must persuade Israel that its own interests will best be served by significantly improving the lives of Palestinians of the West Bank -- and making sure that Mahmoud Abbas gets the credit.

Abbas has made significant efforts to cooperate with both Israel and the United States, and it is time he got some cooperation in return. The only route to a two-state resolution of the Palestinian problem is letting Fatah succeed in helping Palestinians lead better lives. Killing Palestinian children -- no matter what justifications are offered -- is not the answer.