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And there lie the bodies By Gideon Levy

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052348.html

      The legend, lest it be a true story, tells of how the late mathematician, Professor Haim Hanani, asked his students at the Technion to draw up a plan for constructing a pipe to transport blood from Haifa to Eilat. The obedient students did as they were told. Using logarithmic rulers, they sketched the design for a sophisticated pipeline. They meticulously planned its route, taking into account the landscape's topography, the possibility of corrosion, the pipe's diameter and the flow calibration. When they presented their final product, the professor rendered his judgment: You failed. None of you asked why we need such a pipe, whose blood will fill it, and why it is flowing in the first place. 

 Regardless of whether this story is legend or true, Israel is now failing its own blood pipeline test. As Israel has been preoccupied with Gaza throughout the entire week, nobody has asked whose blood is being spilled and why. Everything is permitted, legitimate and just. The moral voice of restraint, if it ever existed, has been left behind. Even if Israel wiped Gaza off the face of the earth, killing tens of thousands in the process, as a Chechnyan laborer working in Sderot proposed to me, one can assume that there would be no protest. 

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Summary of his Article:

The two-state solution for Israel-Palestine will disappear for good if Obama doesn't move fast. Living without a solution - was understood by Israel as the key to maximizing the benefits of Conquest ( quote: Geoffrey Aronson, FMEP, the Foundation for Mid East Peace.)  If the Occupying Power continues to serve as judge, jury and executioner, violence is inevitable and peacemaking out of reach. ( H S)

His advice to Obama is therefore: Act fast! There is no time to lose. Israel is the party with overwhelming  military, diplomatic and economic advantages; but it dare not compromise the United States. It is wrong to the think that the warnings of earlier American Peace processors that a solution imposed by the US will fall apart: it will not if Pres. Obama advocates the same that both Israel and Palestine signed on to when they formally endorsed; UN Resolutions 242, 338, the 1993 Oslo Accords, the 2003 Road map, and the 2007 Annapolis Understanding. The concept that Palestinians must make "painful concessions" to match those that Israel is making when it finally agrees to obey the above principles is untenable. Palestine, and the Arabs have made all the painful concessions since they have agreed to surrender fully one-half of the territory awarded to them in 1948. One cannot expect them to surrender parts of the remaining 22% of the UN award. What is left !

The United States must make it clear that Israeli Occupation is not the "default" situation if the move does not go forward. To do this offers an irresistible opportunity to avoid making peace. And the US must make this clear before negotiation begin.

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My Opinion:

Amen ! to all the above.&nb... [Read More]

The causes of this economic crisis and the rapidity with which it developed, needs a separate discussion. But a careful perusal of the Wall Street Journal which breaks bad news gently, suggests that the long hoped for turn around has now been pushed to the first quarter of 2010 if not later. Without admitting it explicitly, it is now suggested that the Middle East be the new President's first priority. The official line will be - as it is now - Bush II's cliche, ' Two Nations living side by side in Peace.' Apparently, the word 'Peace' has many meanings; all of which (except the naive, commonly understood one,) are vigorously promoted on the Jerusalem Post, YNet and Haaretz. Bibi Netanyahu in his talks with Pres. Sarkozy has explained how far the Likud would go (taking the Haredi Right Wing along) in this regard. He envisages a situation on the West bank identical to that of Gaza. The views of Bush II have evolved from a near identity with Sharon's ( in 2000) to a position somewhat different from Bibi's. Apparently, the offer of the Arab Summit ( Beirut, 2002) itself a near ditto of the offer made by Yasser Arafat and Hanan Ashrawi at Madrid in 1991, is still a little way off though he does accept the Green Line with modifications and an exchange of land to accommodate the Settlers. Perhaps the word 'evolved' is inaccurate, if we note his strange behaviour re the Hizbollah War - he said in essence, that a little bit of violence would clarify the situation: he probably had in mind a prescription more like the one he imposed on Iraq. In the event, the Hisbollah proved as recalcitrant as the Iraqis and Hamas. Vacillation is probably the better word: Pres. Bush will follow the advice of Condi in these matters, now that Rummy, Wolfie and Karl have let him down. This kind of a solution would be swallowed with grimaces by the Christian Right if administered by Bush but they and the Christian-Zionists of the Right Wing Press would never accept from the hand of the new Pre... [Read More]

18 December

 Much has changed since last September when the first intimations of of the collapse stunned the complacency of the Western World. President Sarkozy's prophetic statement, ' Le Laissez-faire, c'est fini', in spite of the disbelief of our Leaders and the Stock Exchanges of the world, has come to pass. Indeed if anything, it understates the case. One needs to go back to Marxism to find a fuller analysis; or to Veblen, Spengler, Nietzsche, Hegel, all the way back to Plato. Or to plain commonsense.

 First, the collapse of the GOP - God's Own Party. How do we explain the rout of Sen. McCain the hero of Vietnam and that true Christian-American the gentle lady, Sarah Palin who energized the GOP and today even after defeat, has a favorable rating of 72% among Republicans. Two facts will suffice: first, that American Soldiers abroad contributed more to Pres-Elect Obana's campaign than to Mr McCain's : the other is that the worsening economic situation, in September/October became impossible to conceal. The poor-white class who who form the bulk of GOP voters ( and 50+% of the population) lost hope in the willingness of their ruling class to do something about health-care, invest money in America, and help their children get a good high-school education let alone college. The "brave man and women who defend our freedom abroad so that terrorists don't come over here" as the cliches go saw only an uncaring penny-pinching military and political establishment who asked them to buy their own body-armor, pay for their food when in hospital and would do nothing about rehabilitation, about jobs or about training. Meanwhile, the price of gas at the pump was rising even as the profits of oil companies rose into Billions per year.
 

It is the life of a slave a wage-slave. Their health-care ( such as it is) is tied to their job (such as it is.) And it they did find a  better job somewhere else, and plan... [Read More]

Vol. 1

 http://www.thatminoritything.com/?p=53193

If you’re a minority and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates you’re a “token hire.”

If you’re a conservative and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates you’re a “game changer.”

 
If you live in an Urban area and you get a girl pregnant you’re a “baby daddy.”

If you’re the same in Alaska you’re a “teen father.” (Actually, according to your own MySpace page you’re an F’n redneck that don’t want any

kids, but that’s too long a phrase for the evil liberal media to take out of context and flog morning noon and night).

 
Black teen pregnancies? A “crisis” in black America.

White teen pregnancies? A “blessed event.”
 

If you grow up in Hawaii you’re “exotic.”

Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you’re the quintessential “American story.”

 
Similarly, if you name you kid Barack you’re “unpatriotic.”

Name your kid Track, you’re “colorful.”

 
If you’re a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fulling vetting the individual you’re “reckless.”

A Republican who doesn’t fully vet is a “maverick.”

 
If you say that for the “first time in my adult lifetime I’m really proud of my country” it makes you “unfit” to be First Lady.

If you are a registered member of a fringe political group that advocates secession that makes you “First Dude.”

 
A DUI from twenty ... [Read More]

 Events seem to be moving at a pace that defies the mental capacities of the participants-never very robust, one surmises - and commentators alike. Vesuvius blew its top on Monday, September 15th, and shows every sign of gathering an intensity that is certain to overwhelm all of America's friends. The present writer is unable to provide links to the several articles and diagrams that he refers to; and requests interested readers to consult the print edition of the Wall Street Journal, September 15 onwards. Last night, Sept. 24, Pres. Bush acknowledged the fact that this catastrophe - Warren Buffet calls it a Pearl Harbor event - may involve the entire economy.

 The Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) which is the Home Room of the Managerial Classes of the US and a Founding Member of the 'Managerial Revolution' that has advocated an unbridled greed. This New Economics (really, the Manchester School of the 1820s-q.v.) was revived by Milton Friedman and the Neo-Con Age was inaugurated with the capture of the Economics Departments of almost all Universities, around 1972-1974. Since then, under Ronald Reagan, the theory has been buttressed with a slight modification of Fundamentalist Christianity and a militant Foreign Policy. Pres. Reagan however, knew that these annexures were only for internal US consumption: a means to win elections as his students the late Lee Atwater and Karl Rove elaborated into a Fine Art. It will be recalled that Reagan, when the bombing of a building in Beirut leading to the death of 236 Marines, wisely withdrew from Lebanon and allowed Yasser Arafat to return, angering Israel. Unfortunately, under the Bushes this restraint went missing. The Iraq War is an outcome of this misunderstanding.

 Now, all of a sudden, the GOP is shocked and puzzled. The WSJ worries about the future of Capitalism itself. They know that weakness of the economy at home will lead to serious consequences abroad.  Can we increas... [Read More]

The spectacular collapse of Investment Banking on Wall Street last week poses some serious questions. If it takes hold, it may lead to drastic changes in the world: as important as the end of the Pax Britannica in AD 1947 or that of the Pax Romana in AD 410 or the defeat of the Byzantine Empire at  the Battle of the Yarmuk.

The reasons for this sudden development deserve a separate and special treatment; but it is fair to say that the $3 Billion a week (or more) of expenditure in the Iraq war and prospects of a further  increase that may be necessitated by troubles in the Caribbean, the Black Sea, the Arabian Sea etc. would have led to a substantial increase the borrowings of the US in the International Money Market led by (who else, ) China. The United States may be the only great Power in world history that financed its efforts to create  a new world order, entirely on borrowed money  - a brilliant strategy that escaped the genius of all in this business from Hitler and Mussolini of recent memory back to the Emperor Darius.

These worthies  could have taken President Bush's correspondence course with extra material  from the Palin-McCain campaign on the coming Hundred Years War. Alas ! it was not to be. The American People who have the money couldn't suffer the prospect of increased borrowings from America's enemies, though the 50% of Americans who are technically paupers ( those whose debts are greater than their assets,) were ready to enroll in the effort. The patriotism and self-sacrifice of this large group of blacks, hispanics and rural poor-whites is really touching. Our brave men and women in the armed forces would never have rebelled like the core Macedonian contingent in the armies of Alexander the Great when faced with a march into Further India.

No Sir! The problem for President Bush lies not with the soldiers and their commanders but with the reluctance of financiers on Wall St... [Read More]

Setting the Parameters: 

 Is  history a science? In many Eastern European countries, the answer is often , yes! Elsewhere in Europe the answer is usually, Not quite; but the subject is treated with respect with the faith that an objective study of history is possible. The late Henry Ford however, is reported to have said 'History is bunk!.'

This is understandable: America as a new country, a new Zion perhaps; tasked with the settlement, development , the creation of wealth and the construction of a new social order immensely superior to Old Europe and would agree with Ford that it is irrelevant to those who are certain of their calling.

Steeped in a religious zeal based upon a holy book traditionally the repository of all wisdom and knowledge; America, has always exhibited a missionary's insistence in spreading the true word of God:  in modern language, this would be the conversion of all nations to the principles and practice of Democracy, Representative Government, Free-market Capitalism and the acceptance of America as the spiritual and temporal Leader of a Righteous Community called the Free World; more briefly, 'the new World Order.'

In this context, Ford's epigram should be amended to read, 'History, outside the American experience, is incompetent and immaterial.'

 Until almost to the present, and especially since the Second World War, America has largely succeeded. Who can deny the dominance of this Colossus that bestrides this narrow world!  We take our hats off in amazement and gratitude to this manifestation of vigorous and muscular Certainty; the Founding Myths characteristic of all Civilizations, says the historian Toynbee, in the Early Morning of their Advent.  Nevertheless, we must take our coats off, to attend to the problems of the future.

 For the future has now come upon us; and it is ugly, violent, brutish and equally certain of its truths. Th... [Read More]