"The fire-breathing Rebels arrive at the party early,
Their khaki coats are hung in the closet near the fur.
Asking handouts from the ladies, while they criticize the lords.
Boasting of the murder of the very hands that pour.
And the victims learn to giggle, for at least they are not bored.
And my shoulders had to shrug
As I crawl beneath the rug
And retune my piano."
– Phil Ochs
Karl
Marx once famously said that a specter was haunting Europe and that
specter was Communism. Today, specters are haunting the world. They are
"progressivism" and Islamism. Yet these are misunderstood because the
progressives want to pretend they are liberals and the Islamists want to
pretend to be normal, technically pious, traditional Muslims of a
century or half century ago.
Islam
is a religion, Islamism is a revolutionary movement. Liberalism is a
center-to-left political movement, progressivism is a revolutionary
movement.
In
fact Islam/Islamism and liberalism/progressivism are parallel in many
ways. Their differences are distracting, one as a religion and one as an
atheist non-religious ideology.
For
example; progressivism and Islamism both seek to be political
monopolies and ideologies. They're comprehensive. Both use intimidation,
though progressivism is more verbal and Islamism is more violent.
Whenever anyone takes one to task, they insult the whole system. They are not rational systems and are not open to debate.
Both
invite large elements of opportunism and careerism. People who see the
winning side endorse them to benefit their own careers, not out of
genuine belief.
Both
of these institutions should be studied coherently. They've not been
studied well on political terms. I will explore Islamism further in an
upcoming article.
The
English Civil War from 1642-1651, the struggle between monarchy and
religious political ideologies, mirrors what Islamism is going through
now. This was the West's struggle between "Christianity" and "politics"
which is now the equivalent of the struggle between "Islamism" and
"politics."
This
could be called a Manichean model. One side is completely right, and
one side is completely wrong. Therefore, a democratic dispute would not
be possible.
Phil
Ochs, quoted above, was creatively mocking the situation. He showed
this ambiguity. Incidentally, I was his guide at the 1968 Democratic
Convention in Chicago.
Here
was the new professional elite: so pompous, so arrogant. They were
benefiting materially, yet were contentious, simultaneously arrogant yet
luxury-loving, but also virtuous and well-intentioned, superior. What
more perfect combination would there be but the well-heeled Bill Ayers,
the son of a senior Detroit automaker, and yet a bombing revolutionary
who did nothing to deserve his good estate!
Imagine!
Someone with a gold spoon in his mouth made a scruffy revolutionary,
and yet the recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars from
conservative Republicans, superior to everyone. Surely a new ruling
class if ever there was one.
You
get the privilege but pretend you are the victim. You can take a lot of
wealth while pretending to be the champion of the downtrodden.
Nowadays
nobody seems to know what "progressive" means, though it is in the
history books. From around 1910-1924, "Progressive" meant liberal, which
was not anything like what it is today. When Theodore Roosevelt was
disappointed by his chosen successor, William Taft, he formed the Bull
Moose Party from the Republican, often referred to as "the progressive
party."
The progressive party of that day did well among people who wanted to continue liberalism.
FDR
was always conscious that the American system might turn sharply to the
left if he failed, leading to some kind of Obamaesque situation.
Remember there was large scale violence (mostly labor related) and an
extremely left-oriented culture war. People forget that there was a
looming radical threat at that time, for example the Labor Movement.
In
1924, Robert Lafollette decided that his party, Republican, was not
liberal enough, and ran under the "progressive" title. He actually got
17% of the popular vote, but concluded that this was not the amount of
people needed to win an election, even though this was a rare
opportunity to create a three-party system. Ultimately, he decided that
the country was not left enough. The brilliance of President Roosevelt
was in playing the centrist view. There were communists and progressives
and horrid "reactionary republicans."
Roosevelt,
however, pitted the idea that the far left (i.e. communists and
socialists) were the only other alternative to the "reactionary
republicans." Often, liberals said that these were the only choices.
During
the 1924 election and the 1930s, Earl Browder and other Communist Party
leaders used the word “progressive” as a cover. In 1948, it was the
name chosen by the Communist Party for its front party.
Consider how the Communist Party approached the New Deal. Here’s that party’s leader, Earl Browder, in a 1936 interview:
"Roosevelt
was being pulled by some to the left and by the others to the right.
Consequently, it would be wrong for 'all progressives to unite around
Roosevelt as the sole means to defeat reaction.' …It seems that
personally Roosevelt and [Republican leader Alf] Landon look pretty much
alike to Browder."
Incidentally,
I've never seen anyone note that when the 2010 electoral organization's
far-left organized, it was called Progressives for Obama. The head was
Carl Davidson, the former chief of SDS in the 1960s.
What
the Obama movement did was to combine philosophical idealism, the
farthest left of the old democratic party, and the lumpen proletariat,
convincing more moderate liberals that this more radical movement
identified with them, while everyone else was reactionary (as was done
in the 1930s).
Furthermore the Republican leadership was headed by an unimaginative "rhino."
If
you want to understand Obama and his movement, you have to go back to
the 1960s and 1970s. For more on this, see Barry Rubin, Silent Revolution: How the Left Rose to Political Power and Cultural Dominance (Harper Collins, forthcoming April 2014).
|
Who’s to Blame? Palestinians Seek to Avoid Responsibility for Their Situation
Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:41 AM PST
The presentation of the Palestinian Authority argument is really pitiful.
Take, for example, a December 25, 2013, New York Times op-ed by Ali Jarbawi.
"These
days, life appears to be going along as normal for Palestinians in the
West Bank and Gaza. Appearances can be deceptive, however. Prior to the
1987 intifada, too, things appeared to be normal–until they exploded,
much to everyone's surprise. But no one should be surprised if a new
intifada erupts in the next few months. Many experts, even those within
the Israeli security apparatus, like the former Mossad chief, Meir
Dagan, are predicting it."
Note
that this is supposed to be the victimization argument. Thus, even if
Palestinians refused the UN Partition Plan (1947) as well as Camp David
(2000) and they don't even pay their electric bills, they are
nonetheless eternal victims; their problem does not have anything to do
with their actions.
Actually,
Mossad Chief Meir Dagan did not predict an intifada. He said it was
possible that an intifada could occur but it may not also. In fact, the
Mossad report said that it was quite possible that an intifada would not
occur. Dagan was thus misquoted, and an intifada is not definite.
"We
Palestinians are living through the worst situation in years. And,
despite surface appearances of normal, mundane, routine everyday life
under occupation, four significant factors have begun to interact that
may disrupt the seemingly stable status quo."
Indeed,
it is certain that the conditions of the Palestinians have not improved
over time, despite having received billions of dollars in aid, much of
which Hamas stole or wasted. And if they truly are in the worst
situation in 50 years, who is to blame? The situation of the
Palestinians is due to decisions made by Palestinian rulers,
negotiators, and terrorists.
"The
first, and most potent [factor], is the collapse of any hope that the
occupation will ever end and Palestinians will attain their freedom and
independence. This hope had allowed Palestinians to endure the daily
injustices of occupation in the expectation of a better future. It is
this same hope that led them to support negotiations with Israel and the
idea of a two-state solution."
Again,
this is an extremely selective view of the situation over the past half
century. For example, "The Palestinians' strategic mistake was to think
that conceding 78 percent of the land of historical Palestine in 1993
would be enough." Note the subtlety here, as the author is in fact
hinting that the Palestinians should have demanded a one-state solution.
The
entire peace negotiations (1993-2000) were based on the premise that
there would be a two-state solution. "It didn’t occur to them that
Israel wanted to split this remaining land with them, leaving them
with–in the best of cases–a state of leftovers."
"And
the price that is being demanded for this state is so exorbitant that
the Palestinian Authority cannot sell it, nor can the Palestinians
accept it." In fact, the "exorbitant" price for the Palestinians
consisted of the recognition of a Jewish state in exchange for the
recognition of an Arab state, the cessation of terrorist attacks on
Israel, and other similar conditions. Yet in the previous month alone
there were at least five murderous attacks on Israelis, a bomb on a bus
within Israel, a border attack against Israel from Gaza, and
the–especially creative–effort of a member of the PA security Forces who
had requested to be treated for an eye injury in Israel intending to
use that humanitarian gesture as an opportunity to commit a terror
attack on an Israeli hospital.
Every
day, there are verbal attacks on Israel as well. In other words, Israel
is only offered real peace as a propaganda measure. "The promised
Palestinian state will be nothing but a shadow entity completely ruled
by Israel." Remember that if the Gaza Strip is being included in the 22
percent allegedly offered to Palestinians, Gaza is not controlled by the
PA. Therefore the PA has no authority to be negotiating about Gaza and
Hamas is not ready to accept Israel under any conditions.
Meanwhile, another op-ed by Ahmad Tibi in the Hill–a
publication that is widely read by Congressional staff–claims that in
the negotiations on a two-state solution Israel is subjecting
Palestinians to "'Jim Crow' treatment." In other words, Tibi's claim is
that the problem is not a conflict between two national groups, but
rather systematic racist control in which Palestinians are always the
victim.
Note
that since 1994, Palestinians have had self-government and have voted
to determine who would rule in the West Bank and Gaza. After two decades
of Palestinian self-rule, including its own armed forces and economy,
and after having received billions of dollars in aid, Tibi is arguing
that the Palestinians should never be held responsible for ruling
themselves.
In
a recent poll, two-thirds of Jewish Israelis agreed that they would
hear the Palestinian narrative in school. Can you imagine the opposite?
Of course not. Some years ago, I actually lectured at a Palestinian
university and apparently my affiliation was omitted from the syllabus.
Despite
50 years of cross-border terrorist attacks against Israel, missiles
fired against Israel, attempts of boycotts against Israel, and failure
to pay Israel for providing electricity to the Palestinian territories,
the New York Times article claims, "The Authority's financial
insolvency is creating more problems for Palestinians in the Occupied
Territories, especially the young." If a PA government that has existed
for two decades wants a situation in which stability is impossible, how
can the virtual state of war be blamed on Israelis? Note that when
Israel withdrew from the settlements in 2005, the equipment that was
left was either stolen or broken by Palestinians and was not used for
prosperity. And who started the rocket wars? For 50 years, Palestinian
attacks and victims have been bragged about.
The
basic construction of the argument is this: We fought and attacked
Israelis and yet throughout the years, only the Israelis were
responsible for our suffering. If Israel cannot be admitted into any
good act, how can the PA make peace with Israel? How credible can it be?
After
two decades of self-rule, Palestinian public figures can say that
Israelis don't want peace and that Jews subject Palestinian to Jim Crow
treatment, yet Israelis and Jews say nothing of the kind and yet are
condemned as horrible oppressors and racists.
|
The Middle East at the Beginning of 2014
Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:44 AM PST
"We
are at the beginning of a very long and profound transformation," says
President Barak Obama. True. Nowhere is this truer than the Middle East.
Egypt,
the largest and most populous Arab country, seems to have settled down
into the type of military regime that has existed since 1952, except for
2011 to 2013 when it had an Islamist government.
Nevertheless,
there have been some important changes in Egypt. First, in the
"Islamist" era, Egypt remains still at odds with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Second, in international relations, Egypt has been generally disgusted by the U.S. administration's–as one of my smartest, most democratic Egyptian friends says–"cowboy" behavior.
Since the Obama administration backed the Muslim Brotherhood government
from 2011 to 2012, Egypt has turned to Russia–just as in 1955, when the
United States confronted a radical Egypt.
It
should be amusing to Egyptians that while the U.S. aid is a gift, they
have to pay for Russian assistance. But then the Egyptians are more
suspicious of the Yankees than of Greeks bearing gifts. In addition,
since Hamas and Turkey–which support the Muslim Brotherhood and even
anti-Egyptian terrorists–have supported revolutionary Islamists against
Egypt, the two are in conflict with Egypt.
Since
Hamas is at war with both Egypt and Israel, Egypt and Israel have
common interests in this conflict. Thus, it may seem Israel's current
situation in the region is worse-off, but there are actually many
positive aspects.
Turkey's
situation is unstable too. On the one hand, Turkey has been the main
supporter of the rebel, Sunni side in the Syrian civil war. Turkey's
support of the Muslim Brotherhood is considered antagonistic to Saudi
Arabia and the military regime in Egypt. It also potentially damages its
hopes for business plans with Iran, since support is equally
antagonistic to the Shi'a bloc. This has seriously damaged Turkey's
relations with both the Arab and Iranian blocs; Turkey would like to be a
bridge among Islamists, but that is making Iran and the Saudi-Egyptian
bloc suspicious.
Sunnis
and Shi'as are in conflict, and although people may think that the Arab
world is obsessed with the Israel-Palestinian conflict, this is not the
case. The Arab world (being divided) is less able to do something about
the conflict, and it is far less focused on it than it has been over
the past few decades.
Saudi
Ambassador to Britain Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who
seems to be the Saudi regime's spokesman, wrote the in the New York Times, “Saudi Arabia Will Go It Alone.”
"Saudi
Arabia has been friends with our Western partners for decades…. for
almost a century. These are strategic alliances that benefit us both.
Recently, these relationships have been tested–principally because of
differences over Iran and Syria. We believe that many of the West's
policies on both Iran and Syria risk the stability and security of the
Middle East. This is a dangerous gamble, about which we cannot remain
silent, and will not stand idly by…. And yet rather than challenging the
Syrian and Iranian governments, some of our Western partners have
refused to take much-needed action against them."
The
Egypt-Muslim Brotherhood-Hamas conflicts, the Syrian civil war, the
conflict between the Shi'a and Sunni blocs (the latter including Saudi
Arabia), and Turkish-Arab friction are all signs of this. If the West is
willing to keep Asad as dictator of Syria, the Sunni rebels will never
accept this, and the Syrian civil war will only be intensified in the
coming year.
Ammar Abdulhamid, a respected analyst on Syria, has pointed out that "re-legitimating the Assad regime today, after all it had done, will green light genocidal ventures elsewhere in the world."
Of course, if the United States helped to overthrow the Asad regime in
Syria, there would also be a risk of genocide against the Alawites and
the Christians (who make up about 30% of the population).
I
hate to say it, but it is almost as if the Obama administration simply
wants to keep the supposed "deal" alive until after the 2016 elections,
so it can boast a great diplomatic triumph in the Middle East by
resolving all problems, only to then let the deal collapse. This could
explain why President Obama said there was only a 50-50% chance that the
deal would go through. Usually, the president and secretary of state do
not talk about the certainty of deals before they are much closer to
being completed.
|
An attempt is made to share the truth regarding issues concerning Israel and her right to exist as a Jewish nation. This blog has expanded to present information about radical Islam and its potential impact upon Israel and the West. Yes, I do mix in a bit of opinion from time to time.
Tuesday, January 07, 2014
Ideology: A Specter Haunting the World
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment