How about a trade embargo against all countries that bad mouth Israel?
One almost expects that. Because fundamentally the escalation of confrontation is what Texas republicans do best.
I really can’t find any other language with which to describe their behavior:
They are bullies itching for a fight.
I wish I could say there was some sort of political philosphy going on here. Some sort of shrewd policy making. But there is none of that. What is happening here is too simple and too primitive for that.
In essense, the Texas Taliban has taken over Congress. They like to beat the shit out of the opposition. And right now their brass knuckles are being flexed towards you Europeans.
How does that make you feel? Mad as fire? Peeved? Get used to it, because with Bush there is more nasty on the way.
Those of you who claim there is little difference between the French-speaking Kerry and the Texas-speaking Bush are in for a crude surprise.
If Bush gets reselected, expect more knives, clubs, and groin kicks aimed at Europe.
If Kerry gets elected, expect at the very least: sotto voce appologies and a return to diplomacy.
This election is between consultation and confrontation.
Between a valedictorian and his diplomats
and a bully and his Texas thugs.
There really is no other fair way to parse it.
What you see is what you get.
Thugs and turmoil or diplomacy and dialog?
The choice couldn’t be any more stark or any more critical.

Posted by: koreyel | Oct 14 2004 18:28 utc | 3

koreyel:
In case you missed it, this legislation is passing through the House of Reps. I guarantee you that you will find Democrats flocking to support it as well as Republicans. They are all in the pocket of AIPAC, and you will not hear Kerry do anything but support it.
I urge you to carefully read the following two paragraphs from the article cited above:
The law, the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act, also ordered the establishment of an office at the State Department dedicated to monitoring anti-Semitism, again over the department’s protests.
The resulting internal row must now be resolved by President George W Bush as the legislation heads to his desk from Congress. With the act overwhelmingly backed by both parties, officials in Congress said they expected he would sign it into law.
The Democrats in the House obviously have backed it. They have to, they can’t go against AIPAC. It’s the State Department (currently administered by Republicans, note) that does not want this legislation. It’s all a part of the election year nonsense and getting AIPAC’s support.

Posted by: jody | Oct 14 2004 19:09 utc | 5

Is Chris Floyd a traitor?

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Oct 14 2004 21:00 utc | 7

Mad? No.
Surprised? No, not that either.
All in all I think it is a good thing when european countries are critizised because our politicans can use some spanking from time to time, whether it is deserved or not. And from a internal perspective I think the disagreement over Iraq has slowed the european acquiescence to the new american standards on human rights and detentions (that is anti-americanism in action).
But this piece of legislation I think is solely for internal use in the USA. By painting out the rest of the world as anti-semitic it creates a frame to view all critizism of Isreal as anti-semitic and shows why the USA must give shiploads of cash and weapons to Israel. So I understand the diplomats feeling bad.
And I hope Kerry will win, not for Europes sake (our politicans have enough photo-ops) but for the iraqis. And the afghanis. And the iranians. And the syrians. And the americans.

Posted by: A swedish kind of death | Oct 14 2004 22:49 utc | 9

You will be conquered by Stealth and Deception: in the swift advance of a long-planned coup against secular society, to launch an American theocracy, “the Dominionists” are succeeding in their quest for national control and world power” – Kathleen Yurica, founder of the Yurica Report which, like Theocracy Watch , monitors the American religious right writes “Since the writing and posting of my essay, The Despoiling of America in February 2004, there is more and more evidence that not only has a cultural war been launched, but that the plotters are winning it….First the hard right dominionists took over the Southern Baptist Convention with its 16 million members and a fortune in corporate businesses. Then they took over the Republican Party …they are moving to limit the power of the Supreme Court
. Now there is evidence dominionists are trying to take over the U. S. military Praise Allah!

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 15 2004 0:49 utc | 11

Hello again Koreyel,
You write:
If Delay et al. weren’t spreading their venom in a House of Reps lorded over by Republicans, would this thing ever have come into being?
If you can show me that it would have… then I stand correctly (but not necessarily amended in my overall theme of confrontation-bush vs. consultation-kerry).

All I can point to is the history of this type of legislation, pushed by AIPAC and then pushed by AIPAC’s supporters. Like, for example, a fairly recent bill supporting Israel’s building the Wall. This was championed in the Senate, for example, by Dianne Feinstein, Democratic Senator of California (among many others).
Again, quoting from the article above:
Tom Lantos, a California Democrat and Holocaust survivor who was one of the sponsors, denounced State Department talk of “favouritism” as an alarming nod to “the worst stereotypes of Jews perpetrated in anti-Semitic tracts throughout modern history”.

This bill was first introduced in a much weaker form originally by a Republican from New Jersey, but its current form was actually written by Lantos, a prominent Democrat from California, as a much stronger version of the same legislation. It’s also referred to as the “Lantos bill.” And I don’t think you can blame that one on DeLay.

Posted by: jody | Oct 15 2004 6:22 utc | 13

Uncle- thanks for the posts. I’ve been reading Yurica for a while and, while I don’t know how the power struggle will play out, she is raising real concerns. the latest, the last link to the way the military is getting “dominionized” is truly chilling.
jody- I do not think AIPAC is the real problem in the United States right now. The religious right “Talibornagains” in America have a nihilist view and they insist, in order to bring about their desired “end of the world” scenario, that politicians pass a litmus test…do they support Israel, no matter what.
…Because the Talibornagains believe that Israel has to control all of area mentioned as Israel in the Bible in order to bring about the end of the world.
The talibornagains are not the majority in the U.S., but they control the Republican Party (Yurica is exactly right about Texas as a model) and they have found common cause with the neocons who have a different reason for their agenda, but a similar goal.
And the Republican Party controls all the branches of the Federal Govt.
The problem for the world at this time is the possibility of a “self-fullfilling prophecy” in the groupthink of the religious right in America.

Posted by: fauxreal | Oct 15 2004 12:35 utc | 15

jody:
And I don’t think you can blame that one on DeLay.
Yes you are right, I can’t blame the “Lantos bill” fully on DeLay. But I can, and still do, blame him for today’s sweltering climate of calumny:
——– snip————–
DeLay has repeatedly put pro-Israel measures, such as last October’s Syrian Accountability Act, to votes in the House.
DeLay’s litmus test-vote strategy establishes a track record of GOP support for Israel and requires House Democrats to cast votes that some, especially left-leaning supporters of Palestinian rights, are reluctant to cast.
DeLay exults in these test votes: “The Republican leadership, especially that leadership in the House, has made pro-Israel policy a fundamental component of our foreign policy agenda and it drives the Democrat leadership crazy — because they just can’t figure out why we do it!”
———–another article snip———-
“Israel’s fight is our fight. And so shall it be until the last terrorist on Earth is in a cell or a cemetery,” DeLay said, drawing loud applause from the crowd of lawmakers and Cabinet ministers.
Palestinian lawmaker Saeb Erekat called DeLay’s remarks “despicable and satanic.”
“Our world is not divided between those who are pro-Israeli and those who are pro-Palestinian,” Erekat said after hearing the text of DeLay’s speech. “It is divided between those who are pro-peace and those who are against it, and DeLay truly deserves to head the camp of those who are against peace.”
———————-
Before DeLay got reincarnated as a Congressman he was a bug exterminator. Before that, he was a cockroach. I suggest God send him back in his next life as a Palestinian.

Posted by: koreyel | Oct 15 2004 16:46 utc | 17

I agree with you Blackie. I did not mind at all that the Swiss people had to revise some of their views about their roll in WWII – but I still feel somewhat frustrated because I feel that Switzerland has been singled out – there are other countries (as far as I know also the US) and banks that did the same. But most of all it is the hypocrisy, that Jewish banks in Israel don’t have to lay open silent Palenstinian account. They simple refused to and that was it. No pressure no nothing.
Also interesting that Switzerland is considered anti-semitic, after all it is one of the few countries who had until recently a Counsellor and President who was Jew.

Posted by: Fran | Oct 15 2004 19:41 utc | 19

I think it might be time to mention the controversial-and-very-informative book The Holocaust Industry . . . which I hasten to say is not the work of some lone, obsessed White Power nutcase in a basement in Montana who thinks he’s “proved” that the Holocaust of European Jewry never happened — no, it is a harsh, realpolitikisch analysis of the “cult” of Holocaust memory, memorabilia and so forth, and (the author asserts) its exploitation for profit. The author is Norman Finkelstein, (imho) a very gutsy Jewish scholar, child of survivors. His motivation appears to be a deep outrage that some persons (opportunistic capitalists, basically) have turned the tragedy of European Jewry — his own family’s personal tragedy — into a profit-seeking business.
The subtitle is “Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering” and it’s one of the most mind-upheaving books I have ever read. Of course no one author has all the little pieces of the One and Only Unified Historical Theory that covers all bases, explains everything etc., and I’m sure nits can be picked, but NF asks some good questions and reveals some fascinating dirt. If one is struggling with the bizarre uses to which “anti-semitism” (accusations thereof, real incidents thereof) is being put these days — to silence criticism of Sharon and the Likudniks, etc — NF’s book is like a breath of fresh, if somewhat scary, air.
It’s a scary book in more than one way. The ideas are radical, the revelations are very challenging to the received consensus, but it’s a dangerous book in that it risks feeding the genuine antisemitism that thinks “all Jews are only interested in making money.” One can imagine genuine antisemites latching onto it as “proof” of the bad character of Jews in general, though of course the book proves no such thing. NF took a lot of heat from the AIPAC/ADL camp, of course — his name is basically mud throughout much of the conventional/conservative Jewish community. Anyway, it’s an interesting read and certainly opened my mind to a more complicated view of the post-Holocaust decades in the diasporic community and in Israel. I think that in the end he made the right decision — that the fear of airing dirty laundry in front of a potentially hostile and biased audience, is never a good reason to keep the dirty laundry buried deep forever, festering. It’s a glasnost-what-the-hell kind of a book, maybe that is why I liked it.

Posted by: DeAnander | Oct 16 2004 3:51 utc | 21

Bush signs global anti-Semitism law

Posted by: b | Oct 16 2004 18:25 utc | 23

i think it is absolutely necessary to study the exterminationj of european jewry – there rest still only one book that is magisterial in its comprehension of the subject & that is raul hilbergs book – the destruction of european jewry’
the book is very, very clear on the mechacnisms & on the terrible reality – his work cannot, is not & will not be contradicted in any of its basic tenets
what hilberg tells us is absolutely necessary top understand the genocidal politics that came after the shoah & if we read him well – we can read what happened in algeria, in indo-china, in latin america, in africa & in the middle east
what hilberg has to teach us in the practical details is how many of those mechacnism the nazis used – the israeli state reproduces today
a) territorial imperatives
b) ghettoisation
c) criminalisation of resistance
d) collective punishment
e) disproportionate incarceration
f) incarceration directed towards death implicitly or through execution
g) laws based on race
h) subversion of civic & political institution
i) target assassinations (murders)
j) the beurucratisation of death
k) utilisation & debasement of language
in all these aspects & many others there are profound similarities – disturbingly it is the young who created the warsaw ghetto uprising – it is the youth who created & led the intifada
bernhard knows better than i the language used but words like vernichten or einsatzcommando describe extermination as cleansing & as a police actions. the german language hid well the physical realities of that extermination as does the english language with meaninggless words & in the case of al zaquarwi – meaninglless character – even if they turn up in one piece
in saying this – we must always be absolutely clear – as indeed finklestein is – on seperating the zionist project & the opposition to that project & anti-semitism
we need to define it also because the language that is being used – in the war against the arab people – is the same used by the nazi – if not in form – then absolutely in substance
it is interesting to note that jewish intellectuals like hannah arendt did all in their power to silence hilberg & his scholarly work because it implicitly attacks capital (not so vulgarly)& connects that with a real practical history of fascism. it was attacked also because he was the first to speak openly of the traitorous actions of the judenrats – jewish councils in all the occupied territories
hilberg is hard with his history but his firmness is absolutely necessary
a real anti semitism, though it has pockets of power – is an empty vessel – in europe – there is a prfound hatred of what sharon is doing – i think largely it is simply affective – a big powerful guy is beating the shit out of a relatively helpless smaller man & because like bush israeli policy on the ground ever since sharons walk on the temple mount has been provocative in the extreme. there are problems with the young north africans in the ‘hot districts’ – but lets be clear here on this in morroco, algeria & tunisia there has been a long & close relation with their jewish communities. but here in france – the destruction of nearly all forms of panarabism & the provocation & the humiliation meted out to the arab nation has created instinctive & passionate responses – they are neither learned or are particularly hegemonic – though there are those like tarek ramadan who hide between the double language of ‘taffikiyah’ whp would like to concretise these instincts & passion into something ideological
it is also a reflection of their own difficulty in their relation with the french nation – but in my mind it dies not constitute anti- semitism of substance
with people crying wolf all the time they permit real fascist to work & to be integrated into the political process
it is not an accident that the last two significant ‘anti-semitic’ incidents in france were completely fabricated from thin air
it is by forcing the melodrama of the calls of wolf which are in essence – melodramatic – hides the situation on israel with the wall & the daily terrorisation of the palestinian people
the young jews who fought in the warsaw ghetto were not accidentally communists – it was as communists they inderstood the real threat, it was as communists they understood resistance & it was as communist that they understood as human being the historical iperatives of their action
an action we would do well to understand in all its implications today
still steel

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 16 2004 23:14 utc | 25