The Three Secrets
Rabbi Steinsaltz once remarked that “there are two kinds of secrets in the world, make-believe secrets and real secrets.”
A make-believe secret is one that depends on its concealment . . . when it is revealed, the mystery vanishes and the secret loses its fascination. Such is the secret of the . . . stage magician. When the . . . trick becomes apparent . . . the magic disappears.
Such is not the case with the real secret. A real secret can be open and apparent to everyone . . . Nevertheless, the more it is looked at and examined, the more of a secret it becomes . . . The story in the first part of the Book of Genesis is very well known . . . and still it remains a secret.
It’s obvious that the Rabbi is unfamiliar with American politics. If he were, then Steinsaltz would have added a third category. The Fake Secret. These are secrets which everyone pretends are confidential, but which are broadcast on the front pages of newspapers. For example:
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said.
And this secret program which President Obama authorized in the most secure manner has, naturally enough, a “secret command center”. Its own Batcave. And to prove it, Reuters tell its readers where it is.
A U.S. government source acknowledged that under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.
Last week, Reuters reported that, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey had established a secret base near the Syrian border to help direct vital military and communications support to Assad’s opponents.
This “nerve center” is in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 60 miles from the Syrian border, which is also home to Incirlik, a U.S. air base where U.S. military and intelligence agencies maintain a substantial presence.
Fans of the Rabbi might argue that the Fake Secret is nothing but a variant of his Make-Believe Secret. But of the really deadly sorts of political secrets there is no question: they are precisely of the second kind that Rabbi Steinsaltz described: the encoded pattern within the well known facts whose meaning we struggle to understand. The more complex and profound a thing is, the greater the amount of information that it contains.
Steinsaltz noted that the more we delved into them, the more puzzled we became. “As greater illumination is turned on it, new facets of inscrutability become apparent … Every deepening of inquiry merely shows how these short, plain sentences lead to another intersection from which innumerable paths branch out, paths which a person can continue to [tread] all the days of his life.”
The Syrian civil war is exactly that kind of mystery. Behind the simple narrative of Assad versus the Rebels there is a world of complexity.
ALEPPO, Syria and BEIRUT, Lebanon — As evidence mounts that foreign Islamists are fighting alongside Syria’s increasingly radicalized rebels, Christians in Aleppo and elsewhere are taking up arms, often supplied by the regime.
“We saw what happened to the Christians in Iraq,” Abu George, a Christian resident of Aleppo’s Aziza district told GlobalPost. “What is going on in Aleppo is not a popular revolution for democracy and freedom. The fighters of the so-called Free Syrian Army are radical Sunnis who want to establish an Islamic state.”
While the 30-year-old shopkeeper said he had not received any direct threats from Syria’s Sunni Muslim rebels, he fears a repeat of Iraq’s sectarian bloodletting.
Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the UN Human Rights Council estimates around half of Iraq’s 1.4 million Christians have fled the country, driven out by nearly a decade of church bombings, kidnappings and sectarian murder.
An honest policy establishment would share with the public the agonizing dilemmas involved. But either they are too lazy to be aware of these themselves, or they prefer to treat the public like children. It is probably the latter. In that way everything is reduced to a slogan, from the problem of coercive interrogation to the question of whether unilateral disarmament is possible. “What’ll we tell ‘em about Syria, boss?” Well say it’s like the Minutemen versus the Redcoats. Or Robin Hood versus the Sheriff of Nottingham. Or maybe the Rebel Alliance versus the Galactic Empire.
The truth is too difficult to explain. A lie is always simpler.
So perhaps the real reason that newspapers foist the Fake Secret on the public is so that it will look no further and ignore the actual secrets. We are given the soundbite in place of history, the comic-book story in place of the actual situation report, a slick visual in place of the tangled story. All we need to know about the world we can learn from Time and Newsweek while waiting in the dentist’s office. This and more, from the people who pretend to be our betters. By the way, that’s the subject of another secret, one which I will not reveal, or at least, at another time.
Belmont Commenters
How to Publish on Amazon’s Kindle for $2.99
The Three Conjectures at Amazon Kindle for $1.99
Storming the Castle at Amazon Kindle for $3.99
No Way In at Amazon Kindle $8.95, print $9.99
What is truth?
We can’t handle the truth.
The tao that can be told is not the true tao.
Here’s what I’d like to see in Syria. Assad wakes up tomorrow morning determined to be a western, secular democrat. First thing he does is convert to Christianity and ban Islam from his country. Second thing is he declares peace with Israel. Third thing is he clears Hizboolah out of south Lebanon and returns the country to its own people. He then invites US inspectors in to count and destroy his chemical weapons, declares Chick-Fil-A the national bird, and cedes a third of his country to become the start of an independent Kurdistan.
That’s really what we’re talking about, right?
The Secret Sits
We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.
Robert Frost
Maybe the Left/MSM is Demonic?
Rep. Kelly’s Rousing Floor Speech Receives Standing Ovation and Chants of “USA!”
(rhymes w/chick-fil-a)
Actions have consequences. If there are no consequences then there was no action. Retailing what purports to be state secrets has no consequences. Therefor nothing happened. The Fake Secret is no secret at all. If it mattered then divulging a secret would result in poverty disgrace imprisonment and on occasion death. Behind the tissue of Fake Secrets is not a web of complexity but simplicity or even nothing at all. The Big Secret is that the spinning plates and white noise headlines and conspiracy theory leaks divert attention from the fact that the threats come from empty suits that can only wield power or accumulate wealth because we allow them to.
The culture as Romney pointed out matters. The Islamists and the Communists and other exporters of ignorance fear and death can offer nothing. They have nothing to contribute to theology philosophy statecraft technology or any other sphere of human activity. The Islamists had wealth because the elites in the West chose to transfer it to them, for kickbacks, based on a supply of exceptionally cheap oil that was usually not under the lands of the people who took the money, shades of the Canarsie Indians selling Manhattan out from under the natives who lived there. Without the connivance of corrupt partners in the West the purveyors of death have nothing.
Some topics cannot be discussed -and the fact that they cannot be discussed cannot be discussed
1-The fact that the Syrian insurgents will slaughter the Christian population of Syria
2- The fact that Israel is demographically doomed-not by the Palestinians-but by the Ultra orthodox Haredim
The ultra orthodox-Haredi have a negative contribution to the economy and they do not serve in the IDF-they live on welfare.
Currently 25% of primary school children in Israel are Haredi
In a few years 27% of 18 yr old males in Israel will be ultra orthodox-Haredi
The Haredi population will increase dramatically from then on-
-the Haredi earn no money, create no wealth, pay no tax and do not serve in the IDF
Demography is destiny-
- Israel is facing a demographic, economic and defense disaster via the Haredim
Yet no one talks about this demographic disaster-least of all Spengler.
The discussable in America is that our 3 main existential and strategic threats have nothing to do with Iran
Our 3 main existential and strategic threats are
1 Jobs-the real unemployment rate is heading to 9%
2 The US National Debt-which will bankrupt our children and our grandchildren
3 The US Economy-we now have a GDP growth of 1.5%-a 3rd world rate
All the rest is trivial-senseless bickering
“The story in the first part of the Book of Genesis is very well known . . . and still it remains a secret.”
Some religions have twisted Eve’s sin into a perverted lust metaphor. Not to mention God’s request not to covet, which actually means don’t be a jealous jerk. It has nothing to do with avoiding large married bosoms, rather we must let girls be girls.
Anyway, Eve’s true sin was being a scientist. As soon as her teeth cut the apple, she knew how to make fire. Then as she started chewing, she learned about chemistry and explosives were possible. Swallowing the chewed apple taught her physics. See Roger Corman’s Teenage Caveman to learn more about this, nuclear technology, Jewish diaspora, and many more things.
“As evidence mounts that foreign Islamists are fighting alongside Syria’s increasingly radicalized rebels,”
It seems that our agents have tricked kids from all over the globe into joining the wrong side. They end up in places like Syria where Assad kills them with helicopters. How long this has been going on (centuries?) may be disturbing to know. None of it would be necessary if it weren’t for that foolish girl Eve.
” The truth is too difficult to explain. A lie is always simpler. ”
yes, and the Best Lie — is the Truth
Is this so-called “secret base” in Turkey as big as an air force base or is it a storefront shop? Why is this “secret” being released to major news outlets during a campaign?
I think the real secret is that this is just another carefully crafted campaign ruse by the 0bama team to bring in donations from certain parties. Next, week there will be another “secret” released with a new set of donors to target.
This is no way to run a military operation. But, it’s a clever way to run a political campaign.
I saw the Reuters story and was instantly furious with them, with the President and the White House and wondering what Diane Feinstein would say tomorrow as another national security secret is leaked. I immediately went looking for who was commenting and, of course, Richard is way out ahead of everyone else. Frankly, I think this is another set up to make Obama look “strong re foreign policy” and a set for an October surprise, if we last that long.
What’s this? Adin Steinsaltz and Obama in the same article?
Oy. Of course, the problem is, what happens should the Confabulator-in-Chief suddenly say something truthful—even if accidentally? (Murphy’s Law would indicate that even that is a possibility.)
So where does that leave the honest, upright discerning person? (A devilish problem, no doubt.)
Especially as there’s no truth as poignant, as real, as true as being under physical threat (pace Dr. Johnson)….
…Which has helped the State of Israel greatly over the past 64-odd years; and which is always the greatest threat (or one of them) of long periods of relative tranquility.
Israel is facing a demographic, economic and defense disaster via the Haredim
Pray hard, Victor. Pray very, very hard. And then pray that your prayers are—finally—answered.
File under: Holy inanity!!
About 50 years ago I was involved in some clandestine activities. I observed some things first hand that are now in the public domain. Guess what? Didn’t happen that way.
Disinformation pervades. What’s a secret? Almost impossible to tell.
After a lifetime of believing that the Fake Secrets reflect reality, the “informed” citizen who studies this crap comes to the inevitable conclusion that everything would be all right if we “would all just get along.” The John Lennon Imagination! It’s not complicated! The problems start when the believers in Fake Secrets vote, and demand that the dream weavers deliver the world of one brotherhood, stop climate change, and save the whales.
“Reuters) – President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said.”
A “secret” order … reported by Reuters. At first I laughed because I thought this was the height of absurdity. Then, I said, no, it must be me who’s absurd, because this sort of “report” has become so “normal.”
“The truth is too difficult to explain. A lie is always simpler.”
Perhaps more inconvenient than difficult.
That our most effective freedom fighters in Syria display the black flag of Al Qaeda is certainly one inconvenient truth. Another is the developing tragedy of the Syrian Christians.
In December, as AQ became increasingly visible among the freedom fighters, we began to see reports like this:
“Syrian Christians maintain “that the fall of the Assad regime would be disastrous for Syria’s nearly three million Christians, including hundreds of thousands of Assyrian-Chaldean refugees from Iraq. To discredit this, Western and Arab media are spreading the propaganda that Assad is fear-mongering, exploiting the Christians’ supposedly unreasonable and irrational fears of Islam. However, the Christians are not only reflecting on their own history but are looking around at their co-religionists facing genocide in Iraq and massacres in Egypt. Even now, reports are leaking out about Syrian Christians being forced out of their homes and arson of Christian businesses.
One chant being heard in the protests has been: ‘The Alawites to the grave and the Christians to Beirut’. Consequently, Christians fear that should the Assad regime fall or Syria break up, Christians would be left defenceless before a flood of violent persecution and ethnic cleansing. Their fears are definitely justified.”
By January specifics began to emerge: “The Christian community in Syria has been hit by a series of kidnappings and brutal murders; 100 Christians have now been killed since the anti-government unrest began.”
By April, the numbers had increased to tens of thousands and a note of despair appeared.
As time progressed, so have the numbers.
Finally, in late July, we saw a break in MSM secrecy with an interview with a Christian family which had fled to Lebanon – reported in the German media.
“Somehow, though, the interview was arranged in the end. Reserved and halting, the women described what happened to their husbands, brothers and nephews back in their hometown of Qusayr in Syria. They were killed by Syrian rebel fighters, the women said — murdered because they were Christians, people who in the eyes of radical Islamist freedom fighters have no place in the new Syria”.
This really is Bush’s fault. Really. NSA was working the international banking system to trace the financial support for terrorism. European banks were co-operating. Then the N.Y. Times splashed all the gory details over their front page. Nothing illegal here. The taps were NOT on American soil and were done with a court order anyway. After the NY Slimes blew the op, the terrs stopped moving money through the European Banks.
That was treason of course. Bush would not let Justice prosecute the Owners and Editors of the N.Y. Times. Salanger ( I think that is the owners name) twisting slowly in the wind as his feet stopped twitching would have put a halt to the media giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
Why did Yahshua come into this world? In his own words:
“…for this I have come into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
(John 18:38) Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?”
It is clear and becoming clearer, that man’s truth is of his own creation.
Over and over again He says, ‘he that has an ear to hear’. We interpret that in a certain pre-conceived way, but I think it means that it is already understood that many (or most) don’t and won’t. So those that do hear, listen.
stoicheon 15,
The NY Times is owned by the Sulzberger family. They control the Class B voting Common stock that controls the Board of Directors. The general Class A shareholders will never be allowed to control the corporation. BTW the current head of the family is the Publisher Pinch Sulzberger, and just to forestall slurs he was not raised as a Jew. Pinch once told his father Punch Sulzberger that he would side with the Viet Cong who were killing American soldiers. When he gained control Pinch and his friend Frank Rich, the erstwhile theater critic turned general Op-Ed scold, remade the paper into something more doctrinally gay friendly. In doing so they forced out Abe Rosenthal.
Perhaps you were thinking of Pierre Salinger, JFK/LBJ Press Secretary, briefly US Senator from California, ABC News and Sports European correspondent, and conspiracy nut. Unlike some he kept his word and moved to France when Bush (43) was elected.