RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/815/british_diplomats_behaving_badly_in_israel
British diplomats behaving badly in Israel

If the British government hopes to salvage any credibility as an ‘honest broker’ in the Middle East, it must rein in the Foreign office strongly and immediately

In April 2011 the world celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and next year will also mark 50 years since the signing of the related Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Both these documents contain an identical clause (in the former, article 41 and in the latter, article 55) regarding “Respect for the laws and regulations of the receiving state”:

“Without prejudice to their privileges and immunities, it is the duty of all persons enjoying such privileges and immunities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State.They also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State.” (emphasis added)

http://sarahhonig.com/2012/01/19/another-tack-ziva-for-prime-minister/
When things get tough – or just seemingly tough – the not-so-tough invent an instant leader, another new, shining hope for the shallow masses yearning for magical interventions.

Existential dangers that can’t be eradicated in one simplistic swoop are a drag. Admitting that some problems are altogether intractable can be oppressive, especially to generations reared on the 45- minute TV plot where everything is fixable in a tight time frame. Life’s burdens would diminish if reality only conformed to Hollywood scripts.

Given that, there’s just no denying that the ultimate candidate for prime minister of Israel is none other than Ziva David – the boob tube’s outstanding Israeli patriot, a self-disciplined and self-reliant Zionist warrior, a virtual one-woman army and a sharpshooter guided by an unerring moral compass.

She’s quite possibly the only Jewish regular on American TV who’s unapologetic, complex-free and not comically dysfunctional. She’s surely the only full-time Israeli character on any mainstream network hit drama.

http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2007/When-Will-We-See-Red-Over-Green-on-Blue-Murder-in-Afghanistan.aspx This week’s syndicated column: Is there a single public official who is examining – who cares about – the murder spree by Afghan security forces against Western troops and security contractors in Afghanistan? I can list well over 40 such murders in the past two years. These incidents even have their own phrase in […]

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/korol/120118

Harvard’s mission statement contains words such as: open the minds, respect ideas, critical thought, productive cooperation, developing full intellectual and human potential — not to mention explore, advance knowledge and promote understanding.

Under the direction of anti-Semitic activist Paul Beran, a product of supercessionist Presbyterianism, Harvard has become a hotbed of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against one country in all the world, Israel — the one country in the Middle East that is actually the only voice of compassion and justice. The assigned readings and visiting speakers have been entirely pro-Palestinian (pro-totalitarianism and anti-democracy), such as Ilan Pappé, Noam Chomsky, and Richard Falk (among the most infamous in their demonic category), influenced by the works of no less than the epitome of evil, George Soros (a very disturbed but wealthy and influential man), with representatives from one of his many nefarious organizations, Jewish Voice for Peace.

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=254400 Today’s anti-Semitism is predicated on preferring Palestinian and pan-Arab nationalism to Jewish nationalism. Anti-Semitism may not yet be a litmus test for social acceptability in the US, but it has certainly become acceptable. Proof of this dismal state of affairs came this week with the publication of a supportive profile of University of Chicago […]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rejecting-the-keystone-pipeline-is-an-act-of-insanity/2012/01/19/gIQAowG6AQ_story.html

Rejecting the Keystone pipeline is an act of insanity

President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity. It isn’t often that a president makes a decision that has no redeeming virtues and — beyond the symbolism — won’t even advance the goals of the groups that demanded it. All it tells us is that Obama is so obsessed with his reelection that, through some sort of political calculus, he believes that placating his environmental supporters will improve his chances.

Aside from the political and public relations victory, environmentalists won’t get much. Stopping the pipeline won’t halt the development of tar sands, to which the Canadian government is committed; therefore, there will be little effect on global-warming emissions. Indeed, Obama’s decision might add to them. If Canada builds a pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific for export to Asia, moving all that oil across the ocean by tanker will create extra emissions. There will also be the risk of added spills.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/288483/eternal-peril-simple-answer-thomas-sowell

The Eternal Peril of the Simple Answer
History is harder to untangle than politicians would lead us to believe.

Anyone who has ever been in a Third World country, or even in a slum neighborhood at home, is likely to wonder why there can be such dire poverty among some people while others are prospering.
Both politicians and intellectuals have tended to have simple answers to that question, even if these simple answers have been different in different eras.

Did military rules cost a soldier his life? .http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57362374/did-military-rules-cost-a-soldier-his-life/ Combat medics call it the golden hour — the window of opportunity to provide treatment and save a life. On a September night in Afghanistan, the minutes ticked away as an American soldier lay wounded, waiting to be evacuated. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin […]

http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/19003-Wuterichs-Tough-Choice-Exit-or-Honor.html
Nat Helms at Defend Our Marines and Tony Perry at the Los Angeles Times, both able reporters of the Haditha prosecutions, have similar stories up about the choice that Frank Wuterich must make tonight. As Perry puts it, “This could be the longest night of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich’s life since he became a defendant in arguably the largest war-crime case from the war in Iraq.” Helms brings in the deeper meaning: “The 31-year-old father of three can bite the proverbial bullet and ask for administrative separation, or he can dig in his heels and fight for the principles he has already proved he is willing to die for.”

http://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2012/01/20/monkeys-with-clubs-the-case-of-la-gingrich/?print=1

I am down in Antigua for a few days with friends sorting out the problems of the world. It seems as remote as it is beautiful here high on a bluff overlooking Green Island then three thousand unobstructed miles to the coast of Africa. Modernity is just about everywhere, though. The beach below my window is empty all day long, except when we do our daily perambulation and the heartier among us plunge into the ocean to swim. But there is plenty of ice for the rum punches and, more to the point, the satellite-enabled wifi silently connects us to the chatter back home.

And what chatter it’s been. Yesterday, I popped out of my room to announced that Rick Perry had dropped out of the race and was endorsing Newt Gingrich to the chagrin of some and the delight of others in my party. I popped out again to provide a précis of Marianne Gingrich’s nasty and indecorous rant about her ex-husband in an interview with ABC’s Brian Ross. “Monkeys with clubs,” said one of our band of studious researchers. “That’s what politics is: monkeys with clubs.” He was not, by the way, a Gingrich partisan, but he could recognize a monkey — and a club — when one paraded by.