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Syria- Understanding Before Condemning
Don't be too easily taken in by the bad guys in their reaction to the current bloodshed in Syria. Understand what is going on before you rush to condemn Assad.
The idea of a democratic revolution seems simple to the Americans and Australians, inhabitants of homogeneous settler states with no ancestral problems.
But what is happening in Syria appears not to be any such thing, but a Sunni versus Alawite civil war. If that it true it is typical bad guy behaviour to take the side of the Sunnis, and the objective is likely to be to destroy Syria as a state.
Understand what is going on rather than responding reflexively to the horrors trumpeted by the bad guy media.
Understand who the Alawites are. I don't know either, but it is easy to pick up that they are a relatively benign offshoot of the Shiites and that the Sunnis hold them to be heretics and have persecuted them for centuries.
There are a number of divisions of the Shiites. Those of Iran, the Twelvers, seem the nastiest (possibly excepting the Assassins), the Ismailis apparently far more moderate, and the Alawites even believe in drinking wine, and have something resembling a communion service in which wine is taken.
In the present conflict, if the death toll is higher among the rebels, notice that that does not create right on one side and wrong on the other. Remember, if the bad guys want to destroy Syria, there is a corresponding imperative driving the Syrian government to preserve and ensure the survival of Syria. In the face of armed revolution the imperative of the state to preserve the state may look very nasty, but may just be responsibly doing what's needed.
In that situation also you can understand why all the Arab states, including the Sudanese government, murderers of millions, all Sunni-controlled countries, are unanimously condemning Assad. Don't imagine that they are doing that from a moral high ground.
The bad guys are demanding that Assad "step aside". Now, look at that already deceptive language, which doesn't at all mean step aside, it means rush out the back door, jump on his motor bike and disappear into the sunset. That's not stepping aside.
Look at what the good guys, the Russians, are doing. They seem ready to help Assad work though the problems besetting the country and put such reforms in place as will allow all citizens to enjoy similar human rights, but do it realistically, doing what is feasible in the social and historical context.
Not trying to forcibly impose five centuries of political evolution before the evening news. That doesn't work, it results in endless bloody conflict following the electoral cycle. It is not democracy but outside interference that remains permanently in place and makes the country a permanent Haiti.
If it is really a Sunni versus Alawite conflict (and I don't really understand it, but it's something like that, nothing like class conflict in a settler society with those lacking rights demanding them), the violent denunciations and threats of the bad guys should be taken with a pinch of salt, and we should be thankful for the Russian and Chinese vetoes against outside armed intervention.
The Russians are saying, don't take sides in someone else's civil war. Sounds like good guy talk to me.
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Understand, if you can
At present I can't follow links to videos. I go to the sites and am prompted to download software, but I can't afford to pay a lawyer for a month to go through each licensing agreement. If it's not bundled with the OS it's not on my system. I realise that I'm out of date, that no-one needs to write any more, and I did regret not being able to view Noam Chomsky's latest, which seem to be all videos, very numerous, but there it is.
So I can't respond directly to Geoff Pahoff's latest, but will make some general comments on recent news from Syria.
As a preliminary, the Rudd - Gillard stoush has provided information about back then that we never knew back then, when all concerned were concerned to move on, not gratuitously shout public insults. Now,they are not gratuitous, and we are hearing what we didn't back then.
Back then, we were quick to express our own outrage against one camp of the other, but we did it without inside knowledge, and without understanding.
Turning to Syria, the death of Marie Colvin was horrible. And the death of the Syrian in the next house was horrible, and all deaths and injuries being caused by the shelling of Homs are horrible.
War is horrible.
The huge outpouring of outrage over the death of Marie Colvin suggests an element of racism and imperialism. A white woman was killed and that is particularly bad. Well, it is not, particularly. It is a tragedy for her friends, but there is nothing special about it.
The reports I heard on the radio (no video, remember) giving news of Colvin's death also gave some description of the situation in Homs. One fact was that the rebels controlled the perimeter of the city, preventing government forces from entering.
In one incident, government forces, both infantry and tanks, attempted to enter the city at one point on its perimeter, but rebels lightly armed with AK-47s drove them back.
Perhaps that signifies great heroism and magnificent marksmanship on the part of the defenders. But just as likely, it indicates great restraint on the part of the attackers, that they withdrew when they had sufficient forces and munitions to obliterate the defenders.
So, why did they even attempt to enter a city in the hands of the rebels? Why do they keep shelling it? Why not seal it off, give it up for now, withdraw 10 km from the perimeter, let the rebels administer it? Wouldn't that be harmless and civilized? Couldn't the rest of Syria get on with it's business?
The fact is, we don't and can't know the inside story. But the bombing of the peaceful city of Aleppo may hint at part of the reason. Perhaps Syria is subject to continuous terrorism emanating from the rebels controlling Homs.
One story being promoted is that Homs is being subjected to "indiscriminate" shelling, targeting "civilian areas". Such commentary is virtually meaningless. We can be reasonable sure that the shelling is not indiscriminate, that it has a military purpose, but that shelling from outside the city may prove inaccurate or misdirected. The claim that a particular house was being targeted specifically because there were journalists in it is intrinsically improbable. If the forces outside the city could locate and target individuals so accurately the rebellion of Homs wouldn't have lasted this long.
A point that occurs to me as worth reflecting on is the degree to which the modern entertainment media have extended the conflict and greatly increased the death toll. The real offence may not be that of Assad in trying to keep the media out. The real cause of the high death toll may be that the media have gone in. We hear spokesmen for the rebels demanding that the international community do something to save them. They have this avenue, this contact with the outside, and this hope.
If none of that were present, if this were happening a couple of generations ago, all would have been silent as far as we were concerned. But also are far as the rebels of Homs were concerned. They would be surrounded by government forces, completely isolated, no hope of assistance, well-founded or not, and would long ago have negotiated their surrender. The total number of deaths might have been a tenth what they are to date. Maybe nine tenths of the deaths have been caused by the media.
So, perhaps, the real villain is us, as usual.
Granted, Assad's father is reputed to have killed thousands in another such rebellion, but let's not engage is facile comparisons. Again, we don't understand the inside stories of the two epochs,
Something to remember is that if Homs is a city of Sunnis waging war against Shiites it is not about democracy, it's not about freedom, it is murderous fanaticism, and murderous fanaticism would follow the deposition of Assad.
Something else to notice is that the rebels are as much to blame for the deaths of civilians in Homs as the government forces are. They could throw away their weapons, go home, take up their normal employment, and the deaths of civilians would cease.
Lose, lose.
A negotiated end is possible, and the international media and goverments might then indeed have a productive role monitoring government vengeace and treason trials, ensuring moderation on the part of the government.
Gays
Anti-Zionism = Antisemitism = Genocidal Racism = Hate Crime
It's Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and the other Arab states that keep the Palestinians on display in cages like animals in a zoo and have for over sixty years.
Why do you think they do that, Justin?
Anti-Zionism is nothing more than a particularly nasty form of antisemitism. It seeks to rob the Jews not only of their right of self determination but also of all of their civil and political rights for no other reason than they are Jews. It seeks to rob them of their land and property and hand it over to life hating, xenophobic theocrats and war hungry autocrats who treat their own populations worse than they treat foreigners. In its most honest and frank forms it demands the genocide of the Jews not only in Israel but worldwide.
No one has the right not to know this anymore. Anti-Zionism is the racism of the left and is a hate crime. In a civilised society it would be regarded as at the same level as the rants of the Ku Klux Klan. Probably it should be illegal.
Resolution 242 and its successors calls for the withdrawal from "lands" (not all the land) occupied as a consequence of the war in return for peace.
Read it. The ugly antisemitic left always leave that last bit out.
I'm fucking sick of hearing that Israel was established on Muslim, Palestinian or Arab land. It's a fucking lie and if that is all you've got to say it would be better for the world if people like you just shut the fuck up. The Israelis are not going to give up their state without a fight to the death. Get used to it and stop demanding a dangerous war.
Israel has more "grunt" than you give it credit for. Iran is never going to have nuclear weapons. Get used to that fact as well.
Meanwhile in Syria ...
Warning: graphic violence.
Don't be too easily taken in by the bad guys in their reaction to the current bloodshed in Syria. Understand what is going on before you rush to condemn Assad. -- Michael Talbot-Wilson
Let his own words condemn him.
Iran and MAD
Why containment will not work on a nuclear Iran.
MAD - Manipulative Analytical Deceptiveness
Psychopath suicide bombers are too insane for MAD
That video again, Justin. Nothing to say? Why the studied determination to ignore it and the hundreds of other examples of this sort of thing that pour out of the Middle East? Including from your beloved oppressed and so terribly innocent Palestinians?
You can and will blame Israel for this. How dare they want to live? At least the Iran regime, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Nazis everywhere are open and honest about it, at least when talking among themselves. They say it is the Jews fault they hate them so much. Nazis and antisemites have always said that. Perhaps you do to.
This is like blaming women for being raped because they are women. They do that too.
Do feel free to wank as much as you like. Not that you need any encouragement from me. You're at no risk. You're already blind.
Water off a cooked duck's back.
A MAD Tear Jerker
That video again - I didn't watch it but I read some of translation of another one of your links, and yes there was a reference about doing evil stuff to Jews - even though they don't.
Buy hey, there are plenty of big mouths on both sides of the (mass) debate, this lunatic calling for the annihilation of Iran for example. Plenty of crazies for all.
It's all part of the game and it's good for oil companies, hedge funds etc. especially when Iran that needs all the cash it can get. Yep here we are with global demand for oil tanking yet oil prices are going bananas. That's supply and demand for you (think about it) - good little earner for some, especially people with big mouths.
Geoff, as much as you try to manufacture consent for war it ain't gunna happen until the timing suits the Yanks (Israel simply doesn't have the grunt), which could be some time yet - and when (and if) war happens then it aint gunna be pretty.
Let's hope for Israel's sake the war goes to plan, for if it doesn't can you imagine the backlash of public opinion against Zionist trouble makers, when it all goes pear shaped - which it will most likely do.
Make a good job of the war Geoff, wise Zionism could be a dirty word for generations to come.
So there ya go Geoff, I commented about that video I didn't watch - even though I've posted heaps of stuff you have never addressed, undressed or redressed. Especially stuff related to the guts of the problem: the brutal and continuing theft of other peoples land and livelihoods.
Pathetic, why don't Zionists just get an honest job?
Here's looking at you kid.
Justin will be OK
I watched that tape until the bit about "Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 in defiance of international law." I watched the second tape until "That year the UN passed resolution 242 calling on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. Israel is yet to comply".
Both were at the five second mark.
Maybe in a parallel universe far far away.
No one has the right to retail these lies anymore. Not even schoolkids engaging in playground foreign affairs. Not if they are pretending to be in good faith. This is what is so disgusting about the left. The spit in your face lying.
Watch the video, Justin. We are talking about the official ideology of a modern totalitarian state. We have established you are not Jewish and therefore you do not feel at all threatened; but from what you have said your kids would have been fair game under the Nuremberg laws and you can be certain that the Nazi race laws have been rehabilitated by these open admirers of Hitler.
We can also take it as read that you are not a woman without the hijab, homosexual, lesbian, Saudi Arabian, Sunni, rock musician, a member of the Lions Club, Rotary or a Freemason.
Good for you. That means you should survive the first wave. Unless of course you get in the way.
Wish I can say the same for your kids.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Geoff, lesbians will be OK because sharia law makes no mention of lesbians at all. Very Victorian don't you think. Muslim chicks can lick carpet to their hearts content, just the way it should be.
Resolution 242 a lie you say, what ever, but that still doesn't change the fact that Zionists are bludgers, want something for nothing at the expense of others, and go about it in a brutual manner. And what justification does Zionism have for this theft? A self obsessed sense of entitlement underpinned by sick and twisted logic.
It's us or them hey Geoff, agree with the Zionists ideology and you are a good guy, challenge the ideology and you are an arsewipe.
I'll say it again Geoff, if Zionism was a person then it would tick most of the boxes for someone suffering from narcissistic personality disorder of the pathological variety, and them types are sick, yet in their own minds they think they are special, and have a sense of entitlement. Control freaks of the worst kind.
Zionism is not only a brutual nationalist political movement, it like Nazism is a mental illness. If Zionists treated the Palestinians like human beings instead of caged animals the things might be different. But those suffering from NPD have no concerns for their victim, they are indifferent, in the manner you are Geoff to the plight of the Palestinians - it shows, boy does it show - because as far as the Zionist mind set goes: it's all about me.
Here's looking at you kid
Blatherskite
"What, the United States doesn't have "a defensive unit to deal with possible radioactive contamination"? Iran is being aggressive and endangering the world in foreseeing the need for defence, something no other country has every done?"
Fair dinkum Richard.
You publish a lump of incoherent, meaningless blatherskite like this without comment and then you accuse me of strawmanism?
Next thing he will be citing the Book of Joshua as an insight into modern Jewish nationhood. Perhaps he can order the sun to stand still?
Or even worse, quote the discredited Schlomo Sand, who just loves inventing people, as authority for the proposition that the Jews are Nazis.
Hang on ...
Some Christians can say and do anything I suppose. Anything at all.
Trash Squared = Hatred
I was just quoting from Pahoff's link to this, where it is written, horror of horrors, that "The Guards also announced the imminent formation of a defensive unit to deal with possible radioactive contamination. Although they did not say why, they could be preparing for a nuclear exchange with the West once Iran becomes nuclear-armed."
The insinuation in the second sentence, suggesting that Iran is preparing for nuclear war because they are taking normal defence precaution, is hate-filled. An alarmist article that defames Iran for doing what even Israel has possibly, just possibly, done, take national defence precautions, is the kind of slime that Pahoff, pedlar of hatred, recommends.
“The eye altering, alters all”.
Bad news Geoff, got chucked out of Iran; something about a stolen camel. But the good news is they dumped me in Israel. You can bomb the crap out of Iran now, them guys got no sense of humour; especially the police chief, who owned the bloody camel. Oh well, what can you do?
Israel's great, and the chics are gorgeous, not unlike the Iranian chics. As a matter of fact I had lunch with an Israeli chic just now, and exactly like my Iranian lunch mate-ess she insisted that sex was off the menu. It's amazing how women all over the world can be so similar, as my experiences always prove.
Anyway Israel is cool, so cool I'm enjoy free digs on a kaputz, all I have to do is chuck a few rocks at Palestinians every now again, easy, but I'm a rotten shot.
Time to mosey on down to the King David and sink a few cold ones with Father Park, if he's not otherwise engaged. Enjoy the war Geoff, and let's hope it all works out in the long run.
Here's looking at you kid.
Every word
How would you know what I am "by religion"? I am not a communist or other hard left crackpot so I don't feel the urge to shove my religion in other people's faces.
I will grant you that Antony Loewenstein is no more Jewish than you.
Read every word have you? Sure you have. Just you like you read every word of Giles MacDonogh's book.
Richard: Toto, I don't think we're at 84 Charing Cross Road anymore.. Geoff I remember this passage well, but this unenightened reader has to wonder if the argument hasn't gone a bit "straw man" (?) Never been fond of wicker since the Woodward..
1 + 1 = 666
Geoff, I had to bail out of the Gog attack mate, decided it was not worth the effort. Not enough targets. But don't worry, I'm no piker, I decided to go to Iran and take care of all their evil people, at least 25,000 I was told.
Anyway, after I did me training (load a shit if you ask me) I traded my weapon (the gold coin) for a trip on 27th class with that airline that never had sex. I reckoned in Iran there would be enough crazies to assist with the slaughter of the evil bastards, at least that's what everybody reckons.
Landed in Iran in no time flat (I think Caz and her magical clock had a lot to do with that), dived out of the wheel housing, jumped on the nearest camel, and fronted up at the Boss of Crazies abode, then tabled my grand plan to slaughter the 25,000 evil people of Iran: which was simply a matter of 80 odd million people wiping a mere 25,000 off the map; great odds don't ya reckon. All I planned to do was take pics and urinate on dead bodies.
But you know what the Boss of Crazies said to me (in no uncertain terms)? "Fuck off you lunatic" (methinks BOC went to the Marylin School of Diplomacy - but his abruptness did save us both a lot of time). And such language coming from a man of the cloth!!! You have been correct all along Geoff - these guys are crazy.
Anyway this is what I found:
Sorry Geoff, this appears to be a case of: what if they gave a war and nobody came. Mate, I have no idea who CMWEP is but I suspect he spends far too much time stroking his fantasies and far too little time paying attention.
You see, if Iran is a radical nation pregnant with crazies intent on killing all Jews, one would expect they would simply go ahead and do it; pick the low fruit, wipe out the home team - but they don't.
Somethig doesn't add up mate.
Anyway I'm fucked, got no cash, and no way home (you didn't plan it like this did you Geoff?). But never fear I have been looking around and you know what? Iranian chics are fantastic, enjoyed lunch with one today, and she didn't even want me to have sex with her afterwards, she insisted in fact - so considerate don't you think?
Anyway I off to have a look at the land of the crazy bastards, if it's anything like the chics then you may not see me for some time.
BTW, if CMWEP decides to bomb the shit out of Iran would it be too much to ask to wait until I have found my way home again. Ta.
Here's looking at you kid.
Numbers
There are 25000 Persian Jews in Iran. There are 250000 Persian Jews in Israel. The number has halved since the Islamic revolution.
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Jews]
Numbers
Not sure what number has halved, so let's have a closer look, as one does with everything our RZA serves up, more from Geoff's Wiki link:
Under those definitions my ex wife would been counted as Jewish as would my daughter and son, mmm. And 47,000 + 87,000 = 135,000 ?Maybe if that "Zionist entity" treated Palestinians like Iran treats Jews then there wouldn't be any problems.
Here's looking at you kid.
Thanks, Cyrus!
Justin, this is delicious! There are 25,000+ Jews living in Iran! They consider themselves among the most ancient Iranians!
How ancient? They don't want to go to Israel? They treat Israeli bribes with scorn? But then, they didn't want to go back 2,500 years ago, when the Ezra-Nehemia gang, having learned about monotheism from the Iranians, enlisted by Cyrus to reform the religions of Canaan, set up their own invented version. (As I infer from the Shlomo Sands account.)
They are the original, genuine article, and want no truck with the European-style Nazism, aggression and colonialism of those who pretend to have re-founded Israel by dispossessing the inhabitants of the land, Joshuan style?
So that is why Iran is the target of Israeli aggression! :-)
Geoff - help
How men die
That's how most men in combat lose their lives, Justin.
Nothing heroic. Just shipped off to the over side of the world to die in some foul fuck up officered by seriously intellectually challenged dickheads without the brains to remember what side the sun rose on.
Don't tell me about this Justin. I have a feeling I know more about it than you.
How the left encourages war and genocide
You really do need to take a close look at that video that this analyst has helpfully translated as well as read the article. Here's an earlier article by the same analyst on the prevailing ideology in Tehran. It's about 28 minutes but I suggest you find the time to see it through to the end.
Please do not respond by linking some crackpot comment by some Christian, Hindu or other clergy or delving into the juicy bits of 3000 year old religious texts. If you do you have lost the argument and you have confirmed you are part of the problem. We are talking about the official ideology of a modern totalitarian state. There is nothing like this in the West. If you feel the urge to quote Numbers then you may as well quote the Mayan Calendar for all the good you are.
There is of course the usual blood curdling genocidal antisemitism that does not trouble the left at all and hasn't for decades. Water off a duck's back. Soon it will be water off a cooked duck's back. That in itself sends a message to Tehran loud and clear especially when it magnified and echo chambered across Europe and the West. Everyone hates the Jews. Their eradication will be welcomed in the West..
It should not come as a surprise either how crude the antisemitism is. Straight out of The Protocols of Zion. It could be a product of Goebbels. The destruction of the "Jews" (no mealy mouth, politically correct, leftist euphemism there) is essential to herald the coming of the Mahdi; and the coming is imminent. The Jews are the enemies of God. Even the Christians agree. Jesus will also appear at Armageddon and convert to Islam.
But you should also note the range and depth of the hate list. The tape spends more time on Saudi Arabia than on Israel. Anyone who successfully kills King Abdullah (who is some kind of antichrist) will immediately trigger the coming of the Mahdi. Wouldn't you love to be the devout young Shiite who pulled that one off?
It goes on of course. The US is even more hated than Israel. Europe. The Yemeni government fighting a Shiite insurgency. Well all Sunnis really. Women who abandon hijab. Rock musicians. The Lions club. Rotary. The Freemasons.
Especially the Freemasons. They really really hate the Freemasons. They spend more time on doing in the Freemasons they do the Jews.
Above all there is the apocalyptic central theme which is imminent and is core to the whole horrible warped life hating ideology. God demands the destruction of the world as the prelude to the coming of the Mahdi to herald an Islamic paradise across the planet.
So what should we do? I know. Let these guys build all the nukes they can. That sounds like a good idea.
The Iran regime is something more than a particularly ugly example of a militaristic totalitarian state viciously oppressing its own population. It can't be dissuaded by MAD. To them MAD is a good idea preordained by God. That is something new in modern times. Hitler wanted to take Germany down with him but that was at the end when he knew he had lost. He did not set out to destroy Germany. The Iranian regime does want to see the destruction of Iran. They are too insane for MAD.
This is nothing more than one gigantic doomsday death cult with the lives of hundreds of millions in its grip and that's before they get the bomb. Jonestown with missiles. Waco with nukes. Iran is trying to turn itself into the mother of all suicide bombers and they seem determined to build the mother of all suicide vests.
No one wants a war wth lunatics like this. With a lot of luck hopefully it will implode. In the meantime, if there is a chance of avoiding the war, it comes only with the world standing together and saying no way.
Instead what do the left do? The Iranian tyrants look to the West and they see their own thoughts and words bounce back. Just knock off a few rough edges and substitute a few weasel word ("Zionists" for "Jews" etc) and they know they are on track.
Idiots. Do you really think this is helping?
Trash
What, the United States doesn't have "a defensive unit to deal with possible radioactive contamination"? Iran is being aggressive and endangering the world in foreseeing the need for defence, something no other country has every done?
A known writer of trash refers us to trash. His mind works at that level.
Everything GO!
Geoff, your business plan for the left is Amazing, totally agree, but I'm a wee bit nervous about our business plan, you know, me and you waging holy war, rape, pillage and doing weird stuff to our evil victims.
Now if I am correct your plan, no doubt the one created by CMWEP (you know who he is) requires that I front up (without my lotus to support me) at the Sephardi Synagogue with a gold coin. I thought this was our war Geoff, but I suppose if you don't want to come along then I can't make you. I'll have to wage war on me pat '-(
OK, I went and bought a gold coin on eBay. There was no way I could afford even the cheapest coin up for auction: but I managed to nad a 1/20 troy ounce lunar dragon for $100. I had to borrow $63 from the Muslim guy next door (now I feel like Greece), let's hope I can cover the loan before this Sunday night's over.
BTW, I've got no idea how I'm gunna murder my targets with 1.55 grams of gold, but I'll Google it, I'll find something. Actually it might have been easier if I took a handful of double bungers, but that might annoy the cops; best stick with the CMWEP's plan.
Anyway got a lot of training to do, the Muslim guy next door said he could assist with that, probably just wants to make sure he get's his cash back, but he seems to know a lot about the extermination game, especially BBQing poor little sheep.
Won't waste any more time, I'll miss you Geoff, just think, we could have crossed swords, over a body or two, maybe next time. Oh, best take me camera, I'll send you a few snaps when it's all over.
Here's looking at you kid.
What the left can do
Want to help Justin to avoid a particularly ugly and dangerous war?
Here's a business plan for the left.
Pull your heads out of your bums.
The Forgotten Refugees
Don't forget to spend some time Sunday night taking in a movie, Justin, and a few personal accounts. You might learn something.
7.30 pm at the Sephardi Synagogue 40-44 Fletcher St, Bondi Junction. Gold coin donation.
Not that I would expect to see any leading lights of the left there (and not just because I won't actually be there myself -- living 1000 kilometres away). Or even minor, tiny, almost invisible, follower lights of the left. The left cares even less for these people than they do for Afghans or Palestinians.
Except it is a lie
The Arab nations did not expel the bloody Jews, the Israeli's bribed them to go to Israel because they wanted more Jews and the Europeans wanted to go to America or Britain.
The movie is a hoax.
Tom Segev covered that period brilliantly in his massive book 1967. The jews in arab countries were not refugees.
Tom Segev
I read every word of it
And "Who Invented the Jews" by Shlomo Sand
Accidental Empire by Gershom Gorenberg.
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe.
Lords of the Land by Akiva Eldar and Idith Zertal
They all say the same things.
Funny how you Geoff who is no more Jewish by religion than I am is so obsessed with the Zionist lies about Israel and it's more amazing how you simply dismiss the excellent and honest work of actual Israeli historians.
I'm in - now let's have a look the business model.
OK Geoff, I'm in, you've finally convinced me. Let's eradicate this world of them evil bastards.
We'll have to kill them all, every fucking last one of them, literally, wise they might return like an aggressive cancer - that means we'll have to kill all them evil women and girls - if we let them breed we'll have to do this all over again in another generation, or sooner.
That means, we'll have to do a far better job of it than Hitler I'm afraid. He only managed 6 million, we'll have to murder 100's of millions.
Now, let's get down to business - just how do you intend that we go about this extermination process? I trust the logistics have been well thought through, by a very clever man - with an enormous penis.
Oh, and when will we get our chance to piss on a few dead bodies, you know, like real men. I'm already practising on dead cockroaches, they don't seem to give a shit.
Finally, when it's all over, and every last one of them evil bastards have been exterminated, what can we expect?
And what can we expect if we don't manage to kill every last one of them evil anti-semitic bastards?
Let's all pray that our holy war goes to plan (whatever the plan is), so we can smite the enemy (totally) and then bask in the glory of our own self righteousness, and powerfulness.
Jerry Coe.
Morality 2
Do take a look at that video that analyst has helpfully translated.
You are looking into the core of pure evil. This is what a psychopathic regime looks like. A group of men who are capable of anything.
There is nothing remotely like that in Israel, the US and the rest of the West. The left needs to wake up to itself.
Media Suicide
Something we have been hearing a lot of recently is the threat that the Internet poses to traditional media. If a private blog has just as large a readership as a major newspaper, costs the reader no more than newspapers, and in most cases (e.g. Webdiary) is free, like listening to a radio broadcast, and better yet, the reader can post a reply on the same blog site, what is left for traditional media? Haven't they been rendered totally obsolete?
Well, a reply that has been pushed by the print media is the greater reliability and higher quality of the information they publish. They have professional journalists directly interviewing the major players, whereas bloggers only collect and re-circulate information second-hand, and that information is unsubstantiated.
There are a few problems with this. First, it is almost proverbial that you shouldn't believe everything you read in the newspapers.
Then there is the systematic misrepresentation that has occurred to encourage and justify military interventions in Libya and Syria. In the latter case we have seen a switch in terminology: where the word "terrorist" was formerly employed we are reading "activist", indicating that the media have switched sides, joined the terrorists.
We see the unrelenting portrayal of Assad as a monstrous villain, responsible for all the bloodshed in Syria, when the truth is very different, and we can learn the truth by reading the news on independent blog sites (such as those Justin Obodie has referred us to) where the information has been systematically collected, examined and assembled.
What we see on those sites has on its face high credibility. What we read in the newspapers has on its face, that is, manifestly, very little credibility.
For example, one newspaper blames all the violence and bloodshed in Syria, including the Aleppo bombings on Assad. Manifestly, very little credibility can attach to such a newspaper,
Part of the cause may be the vice of sensationalism that has been so characteristic of journalism. There needs to be one monster, regardless of the facts. and the media go into a frenzy over that monster for no reason other than that it makes a sensational story, nice and simple, no reasons required, just an evil man. Says it all. Regardless of the facts.
So, if we want reliable news, let's dismiss as nonsense the pretence of the traditional media that they provide it. The very opposite is true. Let's look for bloggers who provide substantial information, look at the substance, and work out for ourselves what is going on.
Morality?
The internet is full of Jewish morality philosophers of one sort or another, Justin. Why shouldn't it be? The world is.
I say again you need to take a close look at what we are dealing with here as repugnant as it is. If it helps to bring some clarity try taking Israel out of the equation.
I know this subject disgusts good and decent people everywhere because it requires confronting things that rational people would prefer to avoid.
The problem is totalitarian lunatic political cultures and it is hardly confined to some Muslims or Arabs. Pretty much every "religion" "people", "nation", "race", ... on the planet has fallen to it at one time or another, or some primitive equivalent.
Iran, for example, is hardly the only source of this insanity in the ME and it may not even the most virulent. But there is something strange and scary about what the ruling clique believes. They believe that the destruction of their cities is a good thing if it is in the cause of the eradication of the infidel because it will bring forth an Imam who will herald the end of days and the final triumph of Islam over the world.
This is the ruling clique in Tehran at prayer. It's well documented. This link to an independent US news site is a good source but there is plenty of information on it. This means MAD does not work with these people. To them MAD is a good idea. That's something new. Pretty soon they will have missiles that will reach as far as northern Europe, Russia and China. They have blueprints for missiles that can reach North America. Would you trust such people with nukes?
http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/ayatollah-kill-all-jews-annihilate-israel/
Since when has any benefit of clergy extended to such people? Why should any benefit of clergy extend to anybody?
It is simply not good enough to link to some nasty death porn of a dead Palestinian child in Gaza in the face of this and blame Israel or neocons or Christian rightwingers or whatever. There are dangerous lunatics everywhere as you say and hateful clergy and crackpot extremists are hardly confined to Muslims but there is nothing like this in Israel or the West and it is specious of the left, and others, to suggest otherwise.
Justin, it really should not come as a surprise to you that soldiers in combat will behave like soldiers in combat.
Morons and silence
I should really go bone up on the history of Islam, but sufficient to say that the various Sunni and Shia factions have evolved over a long history as the new religion adapted to changing political and cultural landscapes as the political centre of Islamic empire from time to time changed location, from Arabia, to the Levant and through Persia and elsewhere.
The conflicts are like Christian theological conflicts, (or maybe a bit like some of the conflicts of the Jewish Maccabee era), as to the relative weight caried by metaphyics down through theology and mysticism against practical reason, law and administration, mediated through political imperatives.
Eg better an infallible Pope, or a synod or comittee, or even the laity running things? Should the religious leader, preoccupied with his theology, also be an emperor and what purpose or role, the rest of society?
The first factions derived from events shortly after Mohammed's death and involve confusion and conflict to as whether the Caliph was a Pope or Emperor or some thing else again and involved the split within Mohammed''s family as to who would succeed Mohammed. Initially Ali ruled, but was driven out by the founders of Sunni Islam who rejected his dynastic and familial claims, as the empire acheived military domination of its region, with the Sunnis the dominant faction. The blood shed led to the Shiites becoming more martyr oriented and more mystical, or at least informed of a different sensibility to the Sunni, as indeed has been the case between Protestants Orthodox and Catholic, and Christianity and Jewry, because the underlying metaphysics, truth claims etc, is both fundamental and to varying degrees unproveable, this side of the grave.
As with Christianity and the Virgin birth, or Moses parting of the Red Sea, your reading can be literal or or you accept much of what is written in a holy book as allegorical and the background for underlying theological and philosophical arguments depending on how you reconcile things like faith and reason.
Now to Syria.
Yes, the Yanks are sabre-rattling again and the Israelis are in the thick of it also, given their fear of Iran and desire to see an international power structure more favourable to Israeli interests operative in the region. So are the Turks and Russians, and many others are also keeping watch, because it's all actually about who controls the oil and the supply lines that currently lead away from places like China and Russia and to the US, which now seeks complete hegemony throughout the region.
Morality? Now that you brought it up....
It's never a good idea to throw in the morality thing as an attempt to discredit your opponent - for the simple reason we are all (collectively speaking) by definition immoral.
The left at its worst
Please do not misunderstand me, Richard. Of course it's a valid opinion, probably widely held among a certain type and I would not for a second suggest that it offended any "moderation" policy or otherwise should be suppressed. It's just disgusting is all. It offends any acceptable standard of morality in any culture.
There are a number of reasons to have left this alone. Marilyn is an angry woman and I know from experience that it is a serious mistake to attempt to comprehend, let alone engage such a person. Even to make eye contact.
We are talking about the deaths of Australian soldiers murdered in cold blood in a most despiccable way while doing their duty. That in itself should give a centred person reason for pause whatever she or he might think of the cause their country is fighting.
But it gets worse. The murderer then gloats publicly about the murders. As if murder is a good thing. You and the dickhead left can bleat as much as you like about moral equivalence but that is because the left is morally depraved. In the US, Israel and the West there is nothing like the Taliban, or that hideous butcher in Damascus currently deploying snipers and battle tanks against his own population just like his dear old dad and currently being lionised or excused by moral degenerates every where including right here.
Or that child raping doomsday sect in Tehran right now threatening the world in the name of some warped religion and I don't mean the Christian Brothers.
I don't even mean the Church of England.
It gets worse still. The murderer whose foul act is being celebrated has killed in a cause that no one has a right not to know. They are open about it.. It includes the oppression of the Afghan people, and especially the women and kids, in a life of horror that is simply beyond the intellectual reach of the modern left and many others. Therefore to join in the gloating at this horrible crime is to betray the Afghan people and especially the women and girls.
I could go on. I've done my best to understand the left that was consistent with the principles of good faith at least , if not good will. I understand that it is possible to hold directly opposing opinions in one's head at the same time and that the left is the political manifestation of this quirky anomaly of human psychology. But even allowing for that I gave up expecting good faith from the left long ago.
Look again at what has been written here. I do not believe it is possible for a person to sincerely care about the plight of asylum seekers and at the same time have such a callous disregard about that from which they are seeking asylum.
I do not believe that people who think like this are in good faith about what happens to Afghan people either in Afghanistan or in detention here. I don't think they care. Just like they don't care about the Syrians. Or the Palestinians.
It's about something else entirely and it certainly has nothing to do with morality.
The Real Culprits (within Syria)
I've quoted before from this article in the "The Australian" for 11 Feb 2011 (page 11), but the last paragraph deserves quoting in full.
For all the blaming of Assad, he is doing just what an Australian Prime Minister woulld do in equivalent circumstances. There could be no question of the Prime Minister resigning in the face of military attack.
Another first for Webdiary
Times morons should be silent
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/mohammed-roozis-claims-in-video-false-propoganda-julia-gillard/story-fn59niix-1226268505692
Who are this "enemy" this stupid woman is prattling about? We gloat and crow over murdering Afghans, why should the Afghans just be silent about killing some of our invading selves.
Sometimes PM's should just shut the fuck up.
The whole world is watching
This one I mean.
Let's not be coy about this, Webdiary. Let me reproduce this in full so that no one can be in any doubt about my nomination for the worst comment in the history of Australian blogging in the last eight year..
Times morons should be silent
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/mohammed-roozis-claims-in-video-false-propoganda-julia-gillard/story-fn59niix-1226268505692
Who are this "enemy" this stupid woman is prattling about? We gloat and crow over murdering Afghans, why should the Afghans just be silent about killing some of our invading selves.
Sometimes PM's should just shut the fuck up
Richard: No matter how vehemently you disagree Geoff, and whether it's right or wrong, it's still a valid opinion, and one that many in the world would share.
Activists
Listened to ABC radio news in Adelaide at 5am today, 11 Feb 2012. The news from Syria was that two bombs had exploded in Aleppo, causing deaths and injuries.
Aleppo had not previously been involved in the conflict. It was represented by the ABC as a commercial city where up until these bomb attacks everyone had been going about there business.
The Syrian government blamed the attack on terrorists. What the ABC referred to as activists blamed the goverment.
You can see how obvious it is that the Syrian government set bombs to explode in a peaceful commercial city. It has always amazed me that the Australian government, with six state capitals to choose from, has never exploded bombs in any of them. What could explain this quirk? Imagine what a fabulous explosion you could have in Swanston Street in the Melbourne CBD on a Saturday morning. Then you could let off a couple more in Sydney's Market Street the following Monday. Why has this never happened?
Is it possible that governments don't do such things to their commercial capitals? I guess that must be it. But if so the bombs in Aleppo were undoubtedly set by "activists".
The designation of terrorists as "activists" shows yet again, the switch in propaganda to represent terrorism as something benign, shows that we support terrorism, we are the bad guys.
Interestingly, that news and that propagandist support for terrorism came from non-commercial media, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, financed by the Australian government.
Oddly, the capitalist media reporting of the Aleppo attack seems relativelt honest though there is still propagandist slant. At least the particular rag that takes the name of our country as its own name, which I only buy for the James Jeffrey column, on this occasion (11 Feb 2012 page 11), says nothing about "activists".
There is a large picture of a massive street procession of mourners in a north-western Syrian town, marching to the funeral of a "ten-year-old boy" and rebel fighters killed during clashes. Prominent is an unshrouded corpse carried by pall-bearers, with a large black beard on its chin. Probably that beard was ten years old. In a world hot with propaganda, let's be very skeptical about whether among that procession of rebel corpses there was a boy's.
But that is just the caption. The report below the picture is about the bombings in Aleppo, "Syria's largest city". The report refers to the "battle between the mainly Sunni militants and the Assad regime". One of the explosions, according to the regime, "targeted a military intelligence centre and the other a base for the security forces".
There are said to be "splits in the opposition", i.e. the rebels (so, a bit of propaganda here, designating armed and fighting rebels as "the opposition") over whether to welcome foreign intervention in the conflict. The problem, presumably, is that foreign forces would be infidels, even worse than Alawites.
Russia is reported to be "pushing Mr Assad to introduce reforms rather than step aside". So a bit more of the propagandist misrepresentation, "step aside".
The Kremlin is said to have "faced wilting international criticism" over its Security Council veto. So, "wilting", more propagandist language. I doubt if the rage of the bad guys has caused Russia to wilt, but it may have long-term consquences. The future may be one of endless war between the bad guys and the good guys. Fortunately, the bad guys are running out of money. But I guess they need a war because they are the long-term losers without one.
Finally it is mentioned that the conflict in Syria has grown increasingly violent in recent weeks as the rebels ... "ontained more potent arms".
So they are being armed from outside. Guess which bad guy will be shipping armaments to them? Must be the USA, or Israel, the country that set up and armed Hamas. Of course,the first is demanding an end to the conflict in Syria. In words. Actions speak louder.
Deeply Evil
Justin Obodie's piece and the links he provides demonstrate how deeply evil the bad guys and their collaborators, the bad guy media are, suppressing the facts that the Assad regime is acting fairly decently in very nasty circumstances, that the claims of attacks on Homs are largely bogus, that the violence is Homs is essentially the initiative of the rebels there, that they are the attackers, that many false claims of attacks by government forces are being made by the rebels when the claimed attacks have not occurred, and the the Syrian people don't want outside intervention.
But to be balanced, let's interpret the last point with a little caution. Unless I misunderstood it the report on Washington's Blog doesn't say that the rebel side doesn't want outside intervention, but that the "citizens" don't want it. In a civil war situation that is very ambiguous.
What is clearly enough shown, though, is the deep, deep evil, murderous and fraudulent, of our side, and the despicable and evil character of Kevin Rudd.
Something else to notice in the bad-guy media, the frequency with which they rely on and promote the claims of Syrian "activists". Look carefully at that word "activist", and note its essentially fraudulent character. In a civil war situation, "activist" means combatant. A civil war is no place for genuine social activism, not an appropriate time for it, it's a time for genuine activists to suspend the pushing of their agendas, take a rest. In that situation the only genuine activism is peace-making, but that is very much not what the evil ones of the media want or are promoting.
Neocons and the New World Order
Neocons and the New World Order
Not surprising, if true:
Syria would be just another neocon traffic hump on the road to squeeze the shit out of Iran. If they decide to clobber Iran then we can expect to hear stories about Mullahs eating babies and stuff like that. It's always best to hate your enemy.
Michael, a few more links to have a look at, which from a neocon perspective one could assume it's all going to plan. And if they have their way it could be a blast.
Propaganda
Thanks, Justin. Impressed by this. Worth a read, folks.
I noticed at the time of the media frenzy over ousting Gaddafi that many of the claims of murder, torture and rape against him and his regime, published in the media, were strangely pat and without substantiation. And he was accused at on-line newspaper sites of saying the most absurd and outrageous things but there was never, never, never a link to his relevant speech, even in Arabic, still less in translation.
So, the same thing again. The United States organizing and arming "with more potent arms" Sunni terrorists too fanatical to realise that they and their families are better off under Assad, going peacefully about their business, than in any other scenario, that they are destroying their country and their lives and that's all. Any other scenario realistically available, I mean.
And the cruel and lying propaganda, exposing what our side is really like, flowing again.
I'm sorry to say the destruction of the Assad government, really the destruction of Syria, is pretty well assured with that kind of support. Unless the Russians come in pretty strongly, good guys to the rescue. But then the bad guys would unite against Russia.
All looks pretty horrible.
Neo Trouble Makers
Neoconservatisim.
Who are they?
Their Manifesto
Syria:
Crazy bastards:
Sovereign rule a thing of the past?
Thanks for this information Michael, it does help to get an informed breakdown of the country's internal troubles. Once upon a time countries had borders, and the rulers of a land decided what happened within. These days you only get to do that depending on the outcomes required by US national interest.. and woe for anyone who thinks that non-democracies aren't immune to that particular problem.
Fair enough that countries who disagree are withdrawing their own pieces of sovereign soil (their embassies) from such a place. That's their right, as it would be to kick the Syrian embassies from their own lands. But will diplomatic isolation reduce or enhance the problems? I'm guessing the former.