Thursday, January 29, 2009
After Gaza: what�s behind 21st-century anti-Semitism?
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First, a health warning. For some time now it has been difficult to have a grown-up discussion about anti-Semitism. In post-Second World War Europe, this issue, perhaps more than any other, has provoked powerful memories and emotions. The debate about what constitutes anti-Semitism, and where it is being expressed, can be a moral minefield, and it can impact both positively and negatively on European attitudes towards Jewish people. As a result, there are frequently controversies about whether or not a certain statement or act is anti-Semitic.
For example, in early January an appeals court in Cologne, Germany, ruled that Henryk Broder, a German-Jewish journalist, could describe the statements made by a fellow Jew, Evelyn Hecht-Galinski, as anti-Semitic. 'Even German courts are beginning to understand that it is not enough to be Jewish in order not to be anti-Semitic', boasted Broder (1). This court case highlighted another difficulty in understanding the nature of anti-Semitism today. In recent times, how Jews are perceived has become closely bound up with the issue of Israel. So Broder had denounced the Jewess Hecht-Galinski as anti-Semitic because she had equated Israel's policies with those of Nazi Germany. As far as Hecht-Galinski was concerned, Broder's claim that her criticism of Israel in such a fashion was 'anti-Semitic' represented defamation against her character.
Disputes such as this one should remind us that there is a powerful subjective and interpretative element to how we characterise another individual's words and behaviour � and these acts of interpretation can be influenced by unstated cultural and political assumptions. Today, there are at least four important trends that complicate our understanding of how anti-Semitism works.
First of all, contemporary Western culture continually encourages groups that perceive themselves as victims to inflate the wrongs perpetuated against them. As a result, we are always being told that racism is more prevalent than ever before, or that homophobia and Islamophobia are rising, or that sexual discrimination is more powerful than in the past. It is unthinkable today for advocacy groups to concede that prejudice and discrimination against their members have decreased, and that the status of their community or people has improved. Such groups are acutely sensitive to how they are represented in the media, and to the language in which they are discussed and described. And this identity-based sensitivity is shared by Jewish organisations, too, which in recent decades have often been all-too-willing to interpret what are in fact confused and ambiguous references to their people as expressions of anti-Semitism.
DF soldiers leave racist graffiti on Gaza homes
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Gaza residents returning to their homes in Zeitun neighborhood find their houses covered with slogans such as 'Death to Arabs,' and 'One down, 999,999 to go.' IDF: Those responsible will be reprimanded
A painful reminder for Operation Cast Lead remained evident in Gaza in the form of blatant, racist graffiti left on houses' walls by IDF soldiers.
Photo: AFP
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Residents of the Zeitun neighborhood who returned to their homes once the fighting in the region was over discovered that their walls had been marked with slogans such as "Die you all," Make war not peace," "Death to Arabs," "Arabs must die," and "One down, 999,999 to go."
Photo: AFP
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Some of the graffiti was written on the ruins of the homes of the al-Samuni family, who lost dozens of its members during the war.
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CIA chief in Algeria accused of drugging and raping Muslim women
By Alex Spillius
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that the 41-year-old officer, named as Muslim convert Andrew Warren, had been sent home in October. He could face charges as early as next month.
Investigators from the Justice Department allegedly found more than a dozen secretly recorded videotapes of the Mr Warren performing sex acts with other women. An official said one woman appeared to be in a "semi-conscious state".
Both the women who came forward to complain and made sworn statements are Muslim, and the case could spark a strong reaction in the Arab world. One of the women said she met the him at the bar in the American embassy before going to his residence, where she was drugged.
Algiers is one of the most sensitive posts in the agency, as it works closely with local intelligence services against a branch of al-Qaeda that has been responsible for major bombings, including an attack in the capital last August that killed 48 people.
The CIA refused to confirm that the investigation was taking place, but a spokesman said: "I can assure you the agency would take seriously, and follow up on, any allegations of impropriety." ABC's sources said the investigation had expanded to Egypt where the officer, who has not been named, served previously.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/algeria/4377232/CIA-chief-in-Algeria-accused-of-drugging-and-raping-Muslim-women.html
Plant a Victory Garden
As part of the war effort, the government rationed foods like sugar, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, coffee, meat and canned goods. Labor and transportation shortages made it hard to harvest and move fruits and vegetables to market. So, the government turned to its citizens and encouraged them to plant "Victory Gardens." They wanted individuals to provide their own fruits and vegetables.
Nearly 20 million Americans answered the call. They planted gardens in backyards, empty lots and even city rooftops. Neighbors pooled their resources, planted different kinds of foods and formed cooperatives, all in the name of patriotism.
Farm families, of course, had been planting gardens and preserving produce for generations. Now, their urban cousins got into the act. All in the name of patriotism.
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Magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and Life printed stories about victory gardens, and women's magazines gave instructions on how to grow and preserve garden produce. Families were encouraged to can their own vegetables to save commercial canned goods for the troops. In 1943, families bought 315,000 pressure cookers (used in the process of canning), compared to 66,000 in 1942. The government and businesses urged people to make gardening a family and community effort. The result of victory gardening?
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/crops_02.html
Friedman: Abdullah II's five-state solution
In February 2002, I traveled to Saudi Arabia and interviewed the then crown prince, now king, Abdullah, at his Riyadh horse farm. I asked him why the next Arab summit meeting wouldn't just propose to Israel full peace and normalization of relations, by all 22 Arab states, for full withdrawal from all occupied lands and creation of a Palestinian state. Abdullah said that I had read his mind ("Have you broken into my desk?" he asked me) and that he was about to propose just that, which he later did, giving birth to the "Abdullah peace plan."
Unfortunately, neither the Bush team nor Israel ever built upon the Abdullah plan. And the Saudi leader always stopped short of presenting his ideas directly to the Israeli people. Since then, everything has deteriorated.
So, I've wondered lately what Abdullah would propose if asked to update his plan. I've even probed whether he'd like to do another interview, but he is apparently reticent. Not one to be deterred, I've decided to do the next best thing: read his mind again. Here is my guess at the memo Abdullah has in his drawer for President Obama. I'd call it: "Abdullah II: The Five-State Solution for Arab-Israeli peace."
Dear President Obama,
Congratulations on your inauguration and for quickly dispatching your new envoy, George Mitchell, a good man, to the Middle East. I wish Mitchell could resume where he left off eight years ago, but the death of Arafat, the decline of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war in Lebanon, the 2009 Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, the continued expansion of colonial Israeli settlements and the deepening involvement of Iran with Hamas and Hezbollah have all created a new reality.
Specifically, the Palestinian Authority is in no position today to assume control of the West Bank, Hamas is incapable of managing Gaza and the introduction of rockets provided by Iran to Hamas has created a situation whereby Israel won't turn over the West Bank to any Palestinians now because it fears Hamas would use it to launch rockets on Israel's international airport. But if we do nothing, Zionist settlers would devour the rest of the West Bank and holy Jerusalem. What can be done?
I am proposing what I would call a five-state solution:
1. Israel agrees in principle to withdraw from every inch of the West Bank and Arab districts of East Jerusalem, as it has from Gaza. Any territories Israel might retain in the West Bank for its settlers would have to be swapped -- inch for inch -- with land from Israel proper.
2. The Palestinians -- Hamas and Fatah -- agree to form a national unity government. This government then agrees to accept a limited number of Egyptian troops and police to help Palestinians secure Gaza and monitor its borders, as well as Jordanian troops and police to do the same in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority would agree to five-year "security assistance programs" with Egypt in Gaza and with Jordan in the West Bank.
With Egypt and Jordan helping to maintain order, Palestinians could focus on building their own credible security and political institutions to support their full independence at the end of five years.
3. Israel would engage in a phased withdrawal over these five years from all of its settlements in the West Bank and Arab Jerusalem -- except those agreed to be granted to Israel as part of land swaps -- at the same pace that the Palestinians meet the security and governance metrics agreed to in advance by all the parties. The U.S. would be the sole arbiter of whether the metrics have been met by both sides.
4. Saudi Arabia would pay all the costs of the Egyptian and Jordanian trustees, plus a $1 billion a year service fee to each country -- as well as all the budgetary needs of the Palestinian Authority. The entire plan would be based on U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338 and blessed by the U.N. Security Council.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/397789_friedmanonline29.html
Is the Republican Party Still the Racist, Character-Assassination, Culture Wars' Squad Created by Lee Atwater? Ask Stefan Forbes
�A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW
Anyone who thinks Obama will have easy sailing in Washington is profoundly naive. A lot of College Republicans have bought the ["Boogie Man"] DVD to study the Atwater playbook.
--� Stefan Forbes, Writer and Director, "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story"
As BuzzFlash readers have been debating whether President Obama's "bi-partisan" approach will work with an obstructionist GOP minority (particularly in the Senate), we decided to interview Stefan Forbes, the director of the remarkable Lee Atwater documentary biography,� "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story."
Our previous interview with Stefan in November 2008, gave you a feeling for the despicable, revolting and fascinating personality and reprehensible campaign tactics of Lee Atwater.� In this follow-up interview, particularly in light of the RNC dust-up over the "Barack the Magic Negro" Limbaugh song, we wanted to explore the implications of the Atwater legacy in an Obama era.
And what we found out from Stefan is simple: Don't be fooled, don't let your guard down.� Lee Atwater's vein is still running through the rotten heart of the GOP.
Paulson nets �100m from RBS slide
� Hedge fund manager profits from short-selling
� Bets also made on HBOS, Lloyds TSB and Barclays
New York-based Paulson, who made more than $3bn by betting against the US housing market, now appears to be profiting from positions placed on the assumption that bank shares would tumble in the aftermath of the market chaos caused by the demise of the sub-prime mortgage industry.
His hedge fund, Paulson & Co, was one of the few to trade through the ban imposed on short-selling by the Financial Services Authority in September to protect the rescue takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB. On the basis of the disclosures that his company has made since then, the Guardian estimates Paulson is likely to have made a profit of �100m - and possibly more - after making around 240p on each of the RBS shares he sold.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/27/short-selling-rbs-banking
Obama Gets Last Laugh: Tricks Chief Justice into Giving Him a Second Term
"RAHM, IF WE CAN JUST GET ROBERTS TO ADMINISTER THE OATH A COUPLA' MORE TIMES,�I MIGHT BE ABLE TO LAST�LONG ENOUGH TO REPLACE�SCALIA, THOMAS, ALITO ��AND THE CHIEF JUSTICE HIMSELF."�