http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/afghanistan_americas_willful_deception.html Afghanistan: America’s Willful Deception By John Bernard The battlefield is as fluid as diplomatic efforts to shape the outcome are convoluted. While diplomacy during peacetime can be described as the efforts between two national representatives to overcome obstacles to a good, healthy, and mutually productive relationship, diplomacy during hostilities cannot. “Diplomatic efforts” during an […]
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/
“Education has long ago given way to indoctrination, to political finishing schools where it’s hard to learn anything worthwhile, but easy to learn the habits of intellectual snobbery. “I got a crazy teacher, he wears dark glasses,” went the old song. “Things are going great, and they’re only getting better.” These days all the teachers are crazy and they all wear dark glasses. Nobody studies nuclear science anymore, only the science of telling other people what to do because it’s what best for them. There’s no nuclear armageddon ticking away in labs, just a million community organizing Dr. Strangeloves who know that they have to destroy the nation to save its soul.When the speeches are done, the obligatory jokes, the namechecks of the university president, the multitude of variations on “Reach for the stars, keep your shoulder to the wheel and go camp out near Wall Street to complain about corporate bonuses,” then the students sweating under the hot sun, will walk away feeling oddly heavy and light at the same time. On their shoulders is a bundle of debt and the hopes of a nation. The future’s so bright they gotta wear mortarboards. ”
The commencement address has become part of the campaign trail. How better to showcase your candidate as a man with a vision for tomorrow than to feature him passing along some of his wisdom to the people of tomorrow, those bright-eyed and bushy-tailed graduates going off with an average twenty grand in debt into a marketplace with few job prospects.
Not everyone can get Obama to deliver their commencement address. It helps if your college is female and affiliated with the Ivy League, where downtrodden Barnard students can be counseled to “fight for your seat at the head of the table” by an unqualified man who began and ended his career by pushing out better qualified female candidates from Alice Palmer to Hillary Clinton. Barnard women are free to fight for a seat at the head of the table, so long as it’s not his seat or a seat that he wants.
Polanski’s “Dreyfus”
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/05/16/polanskis-dreyfus/print/
Roman Polanski, Hollywood’s favorite child molester, is making a new movie he thinks will bring attention to his own supposed persecution. Called D, the movie is described by the Los Angeles Times as “a political thriller based on the story of the French soldier who was wrongly accused of spying.” As the Times reports, Polanski has always been fascinated by the tale of Alfred Dreyfus, who was wrongly sentenced to life in prison after being charged with spying for Germany because of his Jewish heritage. His case had a tremendous impact on the Jewish world in particular, driving Theodor Herzl to embrace Zionism and sparking a renewed interest among secular Jews across Europe in reconstituting a Jewish homeland to avoid persecution.
“I have long wanted to make a film about the Dreyfus Affair, treating it not as a costume drama but as a spy story,” said Polanski. “In this way one can show its absolute relevance to what is happening in today’s world – the age-old spectacle of the witch-hunt of a minority group, security paranoia, secret military tribunals, out-of-control intelligence agencies, governmental cover-ups and a rabid press.”
He may want to make the story of Dreyfus into a leftist parable, but it was a real event with a real underlying cause. But Polanski has a history of ignoring real anti-Semitism in his films, despite the fact that he is a Holocaust survivor. The Pianist had several soft stereotypes of Jews in it, including guests in a café checking whether their gold coins are genuine; meanwhile, the film soft-pedals the brutality of the Germans – in the film’s climactic scene, the main character is let go by a German officer who is converted to kindness by the character’s piano-playing.
This is typical Hollywood. Anti-Semitism can never be treated as an actual phenomenon – instead, it is a metaphor for other suffering. No doubt; Emile Zola, who exposed the Dreyfus prosecution as a fraud, will be portrayed not as an enterprising truth-teller, but as a synonym for today’s modern leftist press.
Israel: Why Land Matters, Part III
URL to article: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/05/16/israel-why-land-matters-part-iii/
It is an undisputed fact that Israel’s army reserves are the backbone of the IDF in times of war. The question, therefore, is: how does Israel buy the 48 hours it must have to fully mobilize and deploy its army reserves?
Israel’s citizen army naturally mobilizes its reserve troops where they live. This means primarily an “L” shaped land mass, from Jerusalem at one end and Haifa at the other with Tel Aviv in the middle. Along this short and narrow strip resides some 70 percent of Israel’s population (and 80 percent of its industrial base) and therefore, about 70 percent of the nation’s reserve soldiers (as well as 70 percent of its labor force).
Even before Israel has the opportunity to field the full complement of its army, including its reserves, in time of war, Israel must prevent this area from being overrun by an invading enemy. Should the enemy forces succeed in cutting into the “L”, the damage to Israel’s mobilization and deployment process might well be beyond repair. Worse, if the invasion force cannot be stopped before the fighting reached the main cities, Israel would have lost the war.
This grave situation is recognized by Israel’s military, even if not fully grasped by all its politicians. In 1952, IDF Chief of Operations General Yitzhak Rabin ordered IDF Chief of Planning Colonel Yuval Ne’eman (who helped organize the IDF into a reservist-based army, developed the mobilization system, and wrote the first draft of Israel’s defense doctrine) to conduct an exercise to test the IDF under conditions of a surprise attack, under the then-prevailing 1949 ceasefire lines, i.e. the pre-’67 lines known today as the “Green Line.”
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/bush-arab-spring-is-broadest-challenge-to-authoritarian-rule-since-collapse-of-soviet-communism?f=must_reads
SHAME ON HIM! COMPARING SAKHAROV, IDA NUDEL AND SHARANSKY TO THE BARBARIANSI SURE HOPE THIS DRIVEL WILL NOT BE THE THINKING OF MITT ROMNEY…..RSK
Bush: ‘Arab Spring’ Is ‘Broadest Challenge to Authoritarian Rule Since Collapse of Soviet Communism’ by ELIZABETH HARRINGTONMay 16, 2012
Former President George W. Bush said Tuesday that the Arab Spring is “the broadest challenge to authoritarian rule since the collapse of Soviet Communism.”
“These are extraordinary times in the history of freedom,” Bush said in a speech in Washington, D.C., sponsored by his presidential foundation, the George W. Bush Institute.
“In the Arab Spring we have seen the broadest challenge to authoritarian rule since the collapse of Soviet communism,” Bush said. “Great change has come to a region where many thought impossible.
“The idea that Arab people are somehow content with oppression has been discredited forever,” Bush said. “Yet we’ve also seen instability, uncertainty, and the revenge of brutal rulers. The collapse of an old order can unleash resentments and power struggles that a new order is not yet prepared to handle.”
“Freedom is a powerful force,” Bush said, “but it does not advance on wheels of historical inevitability.” The event at which Bush spoke was entitled “Celebration of Human Freedom.”
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/former-counterterror-chief-cia-weakened-under-obama-leaks-very-damaging?f=puball
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/rodgrigez-cia-weaker-obama/2012/05/14/id/439036?s=al&promo_code=EE6D-1
Veteran CIA official Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr., who led all U.S. counterterrorism operations after 9/11, tells Newsmax that under President Barack Obama the agency has been forced to give up interrogation “capabilities” that it may need to protect American lives.
He also warns that al-Qaida still poses a “continuous threat” of a terrorist strike, and says the leaking of details regarding the new underwear bomber is “very damaging to national security.”
Rodriguez is the former director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, and oversaw the Counterterrorism Center, which collected vital intelligence from captured terrorists following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. His new book is “Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives.”
In an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV, Rodriguez discussed the leaking to the press of details about the new underwear bomber. The plot to use an underwear bomb was recently foiled by the CIA through the use of an operative posing as a would-be bomber, and some reports allege that the leak came from Obama’s White House.
“I am very distraught by the leak,” he says.
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/irans-grand-strategy
The Iranian regime believes what it says and can achieve its stated objectives. That’s the blunt truth that few can accept.
To determine Iran’s strategy, we must determine its goals and ideology. President Ahmadinejad consistently states that he acts in order to “hasten the arrival” of the Mahdi, also called the Hidden Imam, who is to appear during the End Times to bring victory over the enemies of Islam. Since at least July 2010, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has been telling his inner circle that he has met the Mahdi, who promised him an imminent return.
A number of voices opposed to a potential Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities reassure us that the regime is a rational actor and we should not take this rhetoric seriously. Former Mossad director Meir Dagan went so far as to say Iran is “very rational.” The statement made headlines but their simplicity is misleading. Dagan actually said that Iran is “not exactly our rational.” What Dagan likely meant is that the regime weighs costs and benefits. It rationally pursues goals that we’d consider irrational.
Eight Christian leaders are among those that want the U.S. to embrace a policy of containment towards a nuclear-armed Iran. On March 5, the director of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Office of Public Witness co-wrote a letter to Congress, urging that resolutions ruling out such a policy be shot down.
shia population map hi res
It said the resolutions “sets a dangerously low threshold for war” and compares Iran to the Soviet Union.
http://www.sdjewishworld.com/2012/05/14/the-relegitimization-of-israel-and-the-battle-for-the-mainstream-consensus-article-from-the-israel-journal-of-foreign-affairs/
Article from the Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs
“If Israel intends to regain its legitimacy, it must advance its historical claims aggressively and forcefully. The Jewish State cannot permit others to define its identity or distort its past. It is necessary to discredit the fraudulent claims of the other side and expose its lies. Such an effort should include a long-term campaign of relegitimization. Israel must defend its sovereignty and take its rightful place in the community of nations. These are the responsibilities of nationhood.”
The Delegitimization Process and the Boycott: Background and Context
The purpose of delegitimization on the international level is to isolate an intended victim from the community of nations as a prelude to bringing about its downfall or even destruction. This process denies the victim the rights and prerogatives enjoyed by other members in good standing of the international community, particularly the right to make one’s voice heard. The side that initiates a campaign of delegitimization endeavors to obliterate the history, national identity, culture, and rights of the other as a sovereign state, particularly the right of self-defense. The perpetrator seeks to propagate a culture of defeatism within the society ofits intended victim and bring about a paralysis of will to defend itself. There should be no misunderstanding: The ultimate goal of delegitimization is neither reconciliation nor peace but politicide.
Modern asymmetrical warfare operates on two tracks: political and military. When a weaker opponent cannot afford the cost of conventional war, it may attempt to achieve its strategic goals by political means. These include deception and subversion. Delegitimization is the central method of a form of asymmetrical warfare known as “people’s war,” which was successfully employed in Algeria and Vietnam. Because its effects are cumulative, the party that initiates prolonged conflict does so over an extended period of time.1 After the Second Intifada failed to bring about the collapse of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and its allies, notably Iran, resorted to intensive political warfare. Accordingly, they assumed a prominent role in the World Conference against Racism, which took place in Durban from August 31 until September 8, 2001.
More recent examples of this determined campaign of delegitimization and defamation may be found in the malicious accusation that Israel massacred civilians at Jenin in its Defensive Shield campaign (2002); the Goldstone Report (2009), which was published after Operation Cast Lead; the efforts to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza; the Palestinian effort to seek recognition for itself at the UN as a first step toward reversing the international recognition of Israel, forcing it out of that body and taking its place in the community of nations;2 and, finally, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
Ehud Rosen, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, has drawn attention to the fact that Muslim Brotherhood affiliates in Europe have been taking an increasingly active part in the cooperative international effort to delegitimize Israel. For their part, Fatah and senior PA officials have also joined this initiative. Both groups “started to expend more effort on the political/civilian sides of the struggle immediately following Israel’s Gaza Operation in 2008–2009.”3
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4229295,00.html
“Little birdie in the sky, Is it true that you’re a spy?”…..
Ankara investigating possibility that bee-eater was ‘implanted with Mossad surveillance device’; Israeli wildlife officials say accusation ridiculous
According to a Tuesday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, an investigation to that effect was launched in Ankaraseveral days ago, after a farmer discovered a dead Merops Apiaster, commonly known as the European Bee-Eater, in his field. The bird had a ring reading “Israel” on one of its legs.
Related stories:
* Iran exposes pigeon espionage ring
* ‘Mossad may be behind Red Sea shark attacks’
* Iranians arrest 14 squirrels for spying
Bird-banding is a common practice in ornithology, meant to help scientists track bird migration routes. The band, however, was not the most damning piece of evidence against the bee-eater: Its nostrils were. The bird-beak in question reportedly sported “unusually large nostrils,” which – combined with the identification ring – raised suspicions that the bird was “implanted with a surveillance device” and that it arrived in Turkey as part of an espionage mission.
http://pjmedia.com/andrewmccarthy/2012/05/15/moderation-happens-to-islam-not-in-islam/?print=1
“If you want meaningful moderation in Islam, then turn for more lessons to the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, Indonesia.” I imagine my colleague Irshad Manji is having second thoughts about that line (brought to my attention by Andrew Bostom).
The assertion is found at page 179 of her latest book, Allah, Liberty and Love. It was in attempting to promote the book that Ms. Manji was virtually run out of Indonesia last week. A number of her scheduled appearances had to be cancelled due to protests by Muslim supremacist groups. At one Jakarta venue, things got particularly ugly: jihadists yelling “Where is Manji? Where is Manji?” reportedly stormed the hall, tore the place apart, ripped copies of the book to shreds, and assaulted the participants, some of whom had to be hospitalized – although Irshad was not seriously hurt (her assistant’s arm was badly bruised by a man wielding an iron bar).
