RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/
Few figures in American political life have been as consistently wrong as often as John Kerry. The former Senator bet on every Communist leader and Middle Eastern tyrant he could find only to watch the wheels of history roll over his mistakes. And now as Secretary of State, Kerry is at it again.

In between peddling a Syrian peace process that no one but him believes in, he took a break to peddle the even more discredited peace process between Israel and the terrorists.

In a speech to the American Jewish Committee, Kerry invoked the litany of failures, “Madrid to Oslo to Wye River and Camp David and Annapolis”, but urged his audience not to pay attention to history and “give in to cynicism”.

“Cynicism has never solved anything,” he said. But then again neither has the Peace Process. And while cynicism isn’t likely to usher in an era of peace or grow money on trees, it offers you the power to extract yourself from bad situations instead of taking refuge in more of the same wishful thinking that got you into them.

If you find yourself mailing your tenth check to that Nigerian prince, cynicism won’t get you a 200 percent return, but it will keep you from losing more money.

“Why should any Israeli start giving in to that cynicism now?” Kerry asked. Perhaps because it’s been twenty years. Or because thousands of Israelis have been killed and wounded. Or because there isn’t a single piece of supporting evidence to show that the other side is interested in any kind of final peace agreement.

http://pjmedia.com/blog/are-we-tired-of-fighting/?print=1

In a June 9, 2005 speech [1] in New York, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, praising what would turn out to be Israel’s disastrous unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, announced that “we are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies. … We want them to be our friends, our partners, our good neighbors.” This misguided gesture of reconciliation came back to haunt Israel in the form of thousands of rockets launched from Gaza upon Israeli population centers and a humiliating conflict with Hezbollah in the 2006 “Summer War.” Olmert is further on record [2] as assuring us that “peace is achieved through concessions. We all know that.” Well no, we don’t. What we do know, or should know, is that the concessionary mentality without credible force to ensure reciprocity empowers tyrants and warlords. In such cases, peace now means war later. Or even sooner.

I refer initially to Olmert since he strikes me not simply as a failed and timorous Israeli leader but as a figure representative of our times. It is no secret that the liberal and “progressivist” echelon in the Western media and political circles long ago capitulated to our despotic and theo-totalitarian enemies, going soft on Russia and bending the knee to an aggressive and supremacist Islamic juggernaut. We can expect no better of a pervasive left sociopolitical orientation that envisages the erosion or supersession of the Western cultural heritage, including the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 which established the rule of nations, in order to promote the agenda of transnational governance and the oversight of the United Nations. Also under assault are the core principles of individual liberty (freedom of thought and speech, habeus corpus or freedom from arbitrary arrest, freedom of assembly, and non-intrusive government), to be eventually replaced by certain precepts and maxims of Islamic law, not the least of which are the so-called “blasphemy laws.” Under the rubric of “hate speech,” it will become an indictable offencs to criticize Islam. Indeed, the media, political, and ecclesiastical effort to scumble [3] and pardon the horror of Islamic ideology as it remorselessly encroaches has an evident purpose: to find a means of living with it, to posit distinctions that enable us to legitimize it, and thus to relieve us of the civilizational duty to confront the greatest menace of our day.

All this is standard fare. But what is profoundly shocking is the strange turn in the Western conservative consensus that has seen it veer into nominal alignment with the sensibility of its opponents on the left. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is also distressed by this unfortunate divagation, lamenting with respect to his party that “we’ve sort of lost our history.” [4] What is one to make, for example, of a Republican senator like John McCain — a former presidential candidate to boot — leading the charge against Michele Bachmann when she called for an investigation into the problematic Muslim Brotherhood ties [5] of Hillary Clinton’s aide Huma Abedin? This example serves as a good indicator of the extent to which liberal values — undifferentiated tolerance of the Other and ultra-sensitivity to charges of Islamophobia — have come to trump even national security at the highest levels of political authority.

I have seen this shift, this reversion or deflection, surreptitiously yet starkly — a truly troubling paradox — at work in a number of my own friends: a Red Tory behaving from one day to the next like a Blue Liberal; an intelligent poet (another paradox) suddenly casting aspersions at anyone voting Republican; an exceptionally talented writer and close colleague who, without the slightest warning, began denouncing Israel and celebrating Ramadan and who now appears to have converted to Islam; an apparently staunch conservative, and a friend of many years, at a convivial supper one evening, attacking Pamela Geller as “arrogant” and “a disgrace,” slandering “mosque buster” Gavin Boby [6] as an unreconstructed bigot, tarring the brave and much-defamed Tommy Robinson of the English Defense League as a community-dividing fascist, expressing suspicion of Geert Wilders’ bona fides, and dwelling approvingly on the distinction between Islam and Islamism. What has happened?

It seems as if some sort of microbial agent has subtly infected their minds, manifesting as a falling away from an earlier critical outlook accompanied by a growing tendency to regard Islam as inherently peaceful, beneficent, and innocuous. Terrorist violence is to be understood as the tradecraft of an “extremist fringe,” conveniently known as “Islamists,” as opposed to the sociable and nonbelligerent character of the “moderate majority” and the living marrow of Islamic orthodoxy.

Pointing out that “moderate Muslims” are largely invisible in the public arena as a countering presence to their more enthusiastic brethren cuts no ice with these new proselytes. Suggesting that the “moderate majority” actually provides the religion of violence with the continuity and staying power that it requires, lending it viability and enabling its more extreme practitioners to carry out their scriptural mandate is dismissed out of hand. Showing that violence against the infidel and the apostate is intrinsic to the Koran, Hadith, Sira, and Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) — the normative bedrock of the faith — and that jihad constitutes a bounden duty for all believing Muslims is equally ineffective. Limning the 1400 year history of civilizational warfare prosecuted by Islam, detailing the provisions of Sharia law insinuating its way into Europe and America, and alluding to the thousands upon thousands of Islamic-sponsored terrorist acts and attempts, from the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center to the Boston Marathon atrocity to the plot to blow up [7] a VIA Rail passenger train over Niagara Falls to the beheading [8] of a British soldier on a London street, has no impact on these insulated fantasists. After all, none of them has been singed by Islamic fire. They do not have to worry about mosques being erected in their generally tony neighborhoods and the ensuing thuggery forcing them out of their homes, as in many English working class districts. They have yet to confront bombs exploding at their festivities and communal events. They are not in wheelchairs but in Passats.

The gradual weakening and even betrayal of a once reasonably robust conservative consensus has begun to exert its influence even on those commentators and analysts whose acumen and traditional allegiances we have previously trusted. According to the swelling legion of propitiators and accommodationists, we must under no circumstances offend the community of “moderate Muslims” who presumably represent the last best hope for both Islam and for us — a hope, be it said, projected into a distant and Arcadian future. No matter. It is thus no surprise that a considerable number of our intellectual and social elite have been profoundly impressed by Bassam Tibi’s 2012 book Islamism and Islam [9], with its intent to bifurcate what is canonically one, and by Daniel Pipes, who insists on the same distinction.

http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2013/06/04/white-house-counsel-robert-bauer-architect-of-irs-abuse/?print=1 When the FBI finally fires up its criminal investigation of the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups, there is one person the special agent in charge better be sure to interview — former White House Counsel Robert Bauer. The FBI may discover the whole IRS mess leads through the land of campaign finance “reform” […]

The Old New Egypt http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324063304578524991086919054.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopBucket A Cairo court on Tuesday sentenced 43 democratic activists to up to five years in prison. The charges include operating illegal nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and receiving foreign funds without permission. Egypt’s spiral down continues. Robert Becker of the National Democratic Institute is the only American citizen who remained in Egypt […]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324063304578520952503319368.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

The first IG scandal started in 2009 with the shameless firing of Gerald Walpin….This entire issue of IGs is right out of the Hugo Chavez handbook- hiring “independent investigators” and firing them when they unveil inconvenient truhs about chicanery…..rsk

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124511811033017539.html
The White House Fires a Watchdog
The curious case of the inspector general and a Presidential ally.

The president was on notice at least by 2010 that the State Department was impaired by a lack of IG independence.

With so many scandals breaking in Washington, one may well ask: Where were all the inspectors general when these bad things—at the IRS, at Justice, and at State before, during and after Benghazi, for instance—were going on? Where were the presidential appointees who, since the Inspectors General Act of 1978, are meant to root out gross mismanagement, fraud and other abuses at their federal departments and agencies, or among those whom the agencies regulate? The sad truth is that in the Obama administration many of the most important IGs mandated by Congress simply are not in place.

For years, President Obama has neglected his duty to fill vacant inspector-general posts at the departments of State, Interior, Labor, Homeland Security and Defense and at the Agency for International Development. The president has nominated only two candidates to fill any of these six vacancies, and he subsequently withdrew both nominations. All told, an IG has been missing in action at each of those cabinet departments and the AID agency for between 18 months and five years.

At a time when American confidence in the integrity and transparency of the federal government has been shaken, inspectors general can help Washington get back to basic principles of accountability—but only if the IGs are properly appointed and allowed to do their jobs.

Although there are 73 inspectors general in the federal system, less than half fall into a category that indicates their special importance for the effective functioning of the government. The nomination of these IGs typically involves a collaborative process between the president and his cabinet secretaries. Congress has also mandated that each cabinet-level inspector general “shall be appointed by the president, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or investigations.”

http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2533/-Essentially-You-Are-Saying-That-ALL-of-Post-1930-American-Geo-Political-WWII-Cold-War-History-Is-a-Fiction.aspx I posted my three-hour interview with Brooks Agnew of X-Squared Radio at my Facebook page (yes, I have a Facebook page). I am now cross-posting them at this site (see links in letter below) after getting the following email from a listener. The letter is now logged in with other reader reader reactions to […]

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
http://blogs.jpost.com/users/just-look-us-now
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Fixing the rarest of heart conditions. In only the second case in Israel in the last 30 years, a baby was born without a breastbone to protect its heart. Using 30-year-old medical notes, doctors at Haifa’s Rambam hospital removed deformed bones and re-assembled the baby’s chest. After one week, the infant was able to go home.
http://www.rambam.org.il/Home+Page/About+Us/News+and+Events/News+2013/A+30+Years+Old+Book+Teaches+Doctors+to+Perform+Surgery.htm

Technion scientists develop advanced biological computer. Using only bio-molecules (such as DNA and enzymes), scientists at the Israel’s Technion have constructed an advanced biological transducer – a computing machine capable of manipulating genetic codes – and used the output as new input for subsequent computations.
http://www.ats.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7848

A valve to fix faulty heart valves. (Thanks to NoCamels) 7-8 million people a year suffer blood leakage from their heart’s mitral valve. Now Israel’s MitrAssist is developing a valve implant that will to work in unison with the body’s own valve to prevent leakage and restore normal blood flow.
http://nocamels.com/2013/05/open-heart-surgery-may-soon-be-possible-for-people-with-mitral-regurgitation-disorder/

Israeli nanobots will change medicine. Founder of several biotech companies, Dr Ido Bachelet is also assistant professor in the faculty of Life Sciences and the Nano-Center at Bar Ilan University. He explains what computers the size of molecules can do inside the body. These tiny computers exist in Israel today.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000847295
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-5KLTonB3Pg

Dental implants give children confidence. Children with Ectodermal Dysplasia have no teeth. Doctors used to wait until the children grew up, but a new rehabilitative process at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem fits implants and dentures to 5 and 6 year-olds. It benefits the children’s appearance, eating and social interaction.
http://www.hadassah-med.com/about/news/hadassah-offers-comprehensive-care-for-children-missing-teeth.aspx

Doctors saves stroke victim. A medical miracle – a Haifa man suffered a massive stroke and had only a 10 per cent chance of survival. Doctors at Rambam Hospital operated even after they believed it was too late. Next morning, the man awoke from his coma with no brain damage and plans to dance at his wedding this summer.
http://www.rambam.org.il/Home+Page/About+Us/News+and+Events/News+2013/A+Medical+Miracle+Man+Wakes+from+Coma+after+Surgery.htm

One small step. Israel’s Re-Step has developed a “magic” shoe called “step of mind” that allows people with brain damage to re-learn how to walk. The first treatment cycle using the computerized shoe at Israel’s Reuth Medical Rehabilitation Center has improved the walking competence of 10 people with brain damage.
http://www.americanfriendsofreuth.org/reuth-launches-innovative-method-for-rehabilitation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OUmgViA2D0Y

An all-round endoscopic success. I reported in January that Israel’s Peer Medical merged with EndoChoice of Atlanta, USA. Now the combined company has released “The Fuse” –a next generation endoscope for examining the colon. It has two cameras providing a 330-degree view to detect more cancerous polyps quicker.
http://www.rambam.org.il/Home+Page/About+Us/News+and+Events/News+2013/The+Israeli+Fuse+Extends+Life.htm

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Fruit and veg stay fresh for a year. At Israel’s Volcani Center, Potatoes sprayed with spearmint oil are not sprouting for months; Granny Smith apples deprived of oxygen stay fresh for over a year. Tomatoes are flourishing despite being infected with the common yellow leaf virus.
http://www.themedialine.org/news/print_news_detail.asp?NewsID=37720

Fill her up – Israeli style. Israel’s Gasngo has developed technology solutions to enable authorized drivers to refuel without having to use a credit card or perform a cash transaction. A Radio Frequency (RFID) tag on the vehicle is read by the pump’s nozzle. The solution has been installed in more than 3,000 gas stations.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000847169&fid=1725

Piecing together the fragments. In the basement of Tel Aviv University, a network of 100 computers is running a sophisticated artificial intelligence program to re-assemble the 157,514 fragments from the Cairo genizah. The pieces from documents dating from the 9th to 19th centuries should be matched by June 25.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/world/middleeast/computers-piecing-together-jigsaw-of-jewish-lore.html

Science on the streets. Visit Rehovot on June19th to hear top Weizmann lecturers at the 4th annual “Beer, Science and Good Spirits” event. In local bars and cafes you can learn about secrets of the universe, curing cancer, growing body parts, quantum computing, the origins of life etc. over a glass of beer, wine or coffee.
http://israel21c.org/news/weizmann-scientists-take-their-lectures-to-the-streets/

Israel’s scientists of tomorrow. Once a week, 76 excelling and gifted students from Haifa’s Hebrew Reali School visit Haifa’s Science Museum (MadaTech) to crack codes, discover the secrets of chemistry, engage in mathematical thinking, construct robots and explore the world of space. They conduct their own in-depth research, develop problem-solving strategies and strengthen their critical thinking, originality and creativity.
http://www.madatech.co.il/Pages/MenuItemPage.aspx?ContentItem=2342

Sorek desalination plant comes on stream. Starting this month, the new Sorek desalination plant will provide up to 26,000 cubic meters – or nearly 7 million gallons – of drinking water every hour. When it is at full capacity, it will be the largest desalination plant of its kind in the world.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/with-desalination-a-once-unthinkable-water-surplus-is-possible/

A bumper crop of Israeli olives – in India. The Israeli firm Indolive is helping farmers to grow olives in the Rajasthan – a desert state with complex soil conditions in the west of India.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-indian-israeli-olive-agribusiness-experiment/

Swedish prize for Israeli water company. Israel’s Netafim, the pioneer of drip irrigation and the world’s largest irrigation company, has been named the 2013 Stockholm Industry Water Award laureate. The award committee said, “Netafim’s remarkable achievements, helping farmers across the world to ‘grow more with less’, are directly contributing to a more water and food secure world.”
http://www.netafim.com/news-item/154609
http://www.greenprophet.com/2013/05/netafim-drip-irrigation-stockholm-industry-water-award/

http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/06/04/the-palestinian-popular-violent-resistance/ Americans have become accustomed to each new presidential administration trying its hand at forcing a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Repeating the same mistakes, administration in administration out, the latest effort marks several steps backwards in strategy and tactics. For more than twenty years, the U.S. and Europe have tried to […]

http://www.city-journal.org/2013/eon0603cb.html   The Turkish prime minister may have miscalculated with his brutal crackdown     As I began to write this, at 4:00 AM on May 31, protests against Turkish police—prompted by their crackdown on demonstrators opposing the demolition of Taksim Square’s Gezi Park—were spreading from the heart of Istanbul to the entire country. As of today, […]

http://www.gloria-center.org/category/meria-journal-meria-journal/ Why has the U.S. government called certain Islamic groups supporters of terror in federal court, and then turned around and called these same organizations “moderates” and embraced them as outreach partners? In a number of cases from the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations, the leaders of these organizations (some of whom are now in […]