One shudders to imagine what noxious vapors swirled through the skull of French President Nicholas Sarkozy as he told Barack Obama that Binyamin Netanyahu was a “liar.” No-one has told the truth more clearly than Netanyahu: as long as the Palestinians cannot bring themselves to pronounce the words “Jewish State,” there won’t be a peace agreement. Where, pray tell, is the lie? Were he less diplomatic, Netanyahu might have added that with Egypt plunging into chaos, and likely to repudiate its peace treaty with Israel, and Syria in civil war, and Iran and Turkey vying to support the overtly (as opposed to de facto) terrorist wing of the Palestinians, the problem of a peace agreement with the beleaguered and unpopular Palestine Authority is moot.
In fairness to Sarkozy, he used the word “liar” advisedly. What does it mean to be a “liar?” Tell the Emperor he has no clothes, and he will scream, “Liar!” Tell the Heaven’s Gate cult that space aliens are not coming to meet them up on the comet, and they will shout, “Liar!” Tell a schizophrenic that the CIA did not implant a radio transmitter in his brain, and he will shout, “Liar!” Tell a trusting wife that her husband is cheating on her, and she will shout, “Liar!” (Tell Hillary Clinton that Bill is not cheating on her, and she also will shout “Liar!”). And tell a European politician that the world has changed such that the European political class no longer has a reason to exist, and he will scream “Liar! Liar!” until his lungs collapse.
Egypt is about to turn into Somalia-on-the-Nile, with unlimited leakage of weapons to Hamas in Gaza. That makes an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians about as probable as the return of the Pharaohs. The simple inattention of the world community to Egypt’s impending catastrophe astonishes. Last week we learned that Egypt’s liquid foreign exchange reserves were down to about $13 billion, about two months’ import coverage in a country that imports half its caloric consumption. A huge current account deficit due to the collapse of the tourist industry and workers’ remittances is partly to blame, but billions are leaving the country each month in capital flight.
On May 27, Sarkozy hosted the leaders of the Group of 8 industrial nations in France. The G8 promised $20 billion in aid to Egypt and Tunisia, and Sarkozy said that the amount might double. Since then, the subject has dropped out the news. If aid to Egypt was on the agenda of the Group of 20 meeting in Cannes Nov. 3, where Sarkozy called Netanyahu a ´ ¨liar,” it went unreported by the whole media. Last May’s emergency package evidently has been forgotten, because the Europeans are too busy figuring out how to bail out Italy and their own banking system, and Obama doesn’t want to defend a massive new foreign aid package in the 2012 elections.
Thank you for this. Throughout this whole episode, no one has stopped to ask what it was that Netanyahu was supposed to have lied about. As far as I can see, he is the only one in that crazy part of the world that is telling the truth.
Sarkozy has been worse than useless ever since he married that lefty bimbo.
Just sayin’.
sayin connery though
But we’re living in the upside down and backwards world: Palestinians tell the truth and Israel is lying.
The brilliant British journalist, Melanie Phillips, is the author of “The World Turned Upside Down” about just this lies are truth perversion of reality that we are currently living through.
“The loss of religious belief has meant the West has replaced reason and truth with ideology and prejudice, which it enforces in the manner of a secular inquisition. The result has been a kind of mass derangement, as truth and lies, right and wrong, victim and aggressor are all turned upside down. In medieval-style witch- hunts, scientists who are skeptical of global warming are hounded from their posts; Israel is ferociously demonized; and the United States is vilified over the war on terror-all on the basis of falsehoods and propaganda that are believed as truth.
Thus the West is losing both its rationality and its freedoms. It is succumbing to a “soft totalitarianism,” which not only is creating an ugly mood of intolerance but is undermining its ability to defend itself against Islamic aggression.”
She has also published today an article for her column in the Daily Mail, “Blaming the Victim”:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2059519/Benjamin-Netanyahu-Barack-Obama-Nicolas-Sarkozy-blaming-victim.html
I am familiar with Melanie’s work and she’s great except for her blind spot on religion.
I mean: ““The loss of religious belief has meant the West has replaced reason and truth with ideology and prejudice, which it enforces in the manner of a secular inquisition” is itself upside down. How can loss of religion mean replacement of reason and truth???? Islamists are religious — are they about reason and truth? (I’m sure they’ll say yes just like all believers but I doubt Melanie will agree). Secular inquisition???? Nonsense.
As to the ideology she refers to — I would suspect radical leftism but I would also add rightism — they are secular religions and, as such, not much different than religious faith. The former serve the same function as the latter and end up as badly.
Monotheistic religions do tend to enshrine reason. Of course, they all say reason proves their religion, but it is a part of the thinking.
All I can say is – Europe deserves to be taken over by Islam.
I’m not sure anyone ‘deserves’ to be treated in the manner Islam deals with women, “non-believers”, &tc..
Indeed, which means that one must defend oneself from being treated that way.
Those who don’t, not to mention those who facilitate being taken over, can’t complain how they’re treated.
Myself, I wondered whether there could be some quirks in translation, perhaps with a concept in French that only partially is “liar” in English.
There is a quote from somewhere that a Diplomat is someone who lies for his country. Maybe what really happened is that Sarkozy called Netanyahu a diplomat.
“An ambassador is a man sent to lie abroad for his country’s good.” I read that in Garrett Matingly’s excellent book “Renaissance Diplomacy”, but I can’t remember who coined it. He was English, I do remember.
“An ambassador is an honest man sent abroad to lie for his country.”
— Hanry Wotton, Sr., an English Diplomat of the 16th & 17th centuries.
He also said:
“Tell the truth, and so puzzle and confound your adversaries.”
I would suggest that, unique among world leaders, Bibi’s great crime (Liar! Liar!) is that he has done just that, he has told the truth to a world in deep denial. Good on him! He should wear it as a title of honor! Let’s all be Liars! too!
Personally, I’ve been wondering what language Sarkozy and Obama were speaking when these comments were made. I’m not aware of Obama speaking French or Sarkozy speaking English so I’m guessing that an interpreter was involved. Then again, if there had been, I would have expected the interpreter to be blamed as having mistranslated something.
“Je suis un espione.”
Well, as far as misintrepretation, I kinda doubt so. It (the comment) was overheard by Americans reporters who speak French, and French reporters which tend to make me believe they speak and understand French with all its idiocentricies.
what thoughtful analysis! what superb style! just kidding.
David – As the video I sent you last night make perfectly clear, the only liars are the ones who asked Israel to take a chance for peace. In the video, one of the singers uses the Hebrew word, ‘zomem,’ although the English translation at the bottom elides past it. The term derives from ‘eydim zo’mamim,’ and apt term for the world that stood as a false witness to the promises made to Israel.
It strikes me that France and the rest of the proud, strutting, Euroweenies operate in a delusional state of obliviousness, even as their looming future of ugly collapse becomes more and more inevitable. What a luxury. Israel’s existential struggle, which can’t be ignored if your burden is to run the place, seems to have no meaning to the likes of Sarkozy. Alas, a cocoon is a temporary residence, and when Europe at last emerges from its long post WWII slumber, it won’t be a case of happy flitting from flower to flower in a placid English garden. They are not going to like the new world they finally wake up in.
I’m glad you mentioned Egypt. In a couple of months, millions of Egyptians will be starving to death, and there is nothing France or anyone else will be able to do to stop it. Egypt, unlike most of the rest of Africa, will be hard to ignore when that happens. So I’m guessing they’ll find a way to blame the Jews.
You mean:
The PostWest
http://www.fallofknowledgeandreason.blogspot.com
hmm, I wonder which country will collapse the first? a bet?
will it take that long for the egyptians to starve? I think it is probably happening now.
north america is not immune to bankruptcy either. it seems to be policy for the present administration.
Not mentioned in all of this is who has investment money available. Printing presses do not add value, they only divide whatever hard assets there are into smaller pieces…until subatomic size is reached.
If EU lender have maxed out high risk assests, what investor has funds available to lend any to Egypt or other smaller economies? Regardless of ability to pay.
Government to government loans, with the lending country using printing press assets only raises the prices of the goods needed by the borrower. Ultimately the debt has to be dealt with at some level with the work product of a tax payer or borrower, somewhere. When this occurs is the big question.
Perhaps you should send your resume to Obama and Geithner. They obviously need someone to help them with at least a basic understanding of economics. You’ve got them both beat by a mile, already.
Elites, my ass. Elite fools.
I believe it was in reference to Netanyahu saying that Carla Bruni was “cute, but not All That.”
“No-one has told the truth more clearly than Netanyahu: as long as the Palestinians cannot bring themselves to pronounce the words “Jewish State,” there won’t be a peace agreement.”
But they can ask for a “rainbow, democratic, peaceful state of equality” and they’ll get whatever they want when the leftists capitulate. Egypt, Zimbabwe, Palestine, Cuba, anyone falls for this.
The South Africa Strategy remains dominant in this era. The solution is to keep a populace “ignorant” by not letting them get exposed to poisonous English media. Language exists to be a barrier to bad ideas that would otherwise destroy the world.
Sarkozy might be referring to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&feature=player_embedded&v=JaIQHWfj5f4
He might. I suppose, assuming he speaks Hebrew. But what good does a Hebrew language video do for the rest of us? (I’m particularly amused by the helpful subtitles–also in Hebrew).
Sarkozy’s mother apparently has some Jewish blood (according to Wikipedia), although I’m not clear if she is actually Jewish. It’s possible that Sarkozy actually knows Hebrew through this connection.
His grandmother was Jewish. Blood has nothing to do with it. Jews also can be jerks.
For those who don’t speak Hebrew: In this video, Netanyahu is visiting a woman whose husband and son were both murdered in separate terrorist attacks. He states that (i) Israel should strike back against the terrorists, and that it need not worry about what the US administration might say, since a large majority of Americans will agree with it. (ii) After Israel gave Arafat and the PLO certain territories (the Oslo “peace” process) and was rewarded by a large-scale terror campaign, he (Netanyahu) decided to slow down the process and to continue giving them further territories, but not as much as originally intended.
Your conclusion from all this? Netanyahu is a liar, bien sur!
BB DIDNT attend memorial services – you shmock!
Read Rabin about his loving and caring for our soldiers. (He used to sit at the back of the darkened operations room – chain smoking and wouldnt move until the last soldier was back. He would dump a diplomat to sit with a rifleman. Rabin as opposed to BB was a mensch.)
I described what happens in the video linked to by Jane as “Netanyahu is visiting a woman whose husband and son were both murdered.” This is clearly seen and explicitly stated in the video at 0:30.
For those of you who don’t speak Hebrew, you can read this descriptionfrom an impeccably left-wing and hostile to Netanyahu source: “It records a condolence call Bibi Netanyahu … pays on a group of West Bank widows whose husbands had been killed by Palestinian attacks.”
This is also stated by the notoriously pro-Arab Israeli, Gideon Levy, in Haaretz: “a visit by Citizen Netanyahu to the home of a bereaved family in the settlement of Ofra”
What this, along with his unprovoked insults, says about Zuni’s credibility is left as an exercise to the reader.
Levy is not pro arab – he is pro decency
connery !
Spengler:
You, with your(Mark)Steynian emphasis on demography, know very well what is in play here. France is now at least 10-12% Muslim. Muslim babies are 25-30% of the total born each year. Marseilles will be majority Muslim by 2035, most of France by 2050.
Sarkozy has to hate Netanyahu and Israel, because he cannot escape the fact that he is head of a proto-Islamic state.
Just for the record, Spengler was well ahead of Steyn on Demography.
Ben Wattenberg was ahead of both Steyn and me.
Spengler:
Truth be told, as much as I despise him (more than any other person on the right), Buchanan was probably the first to mention this in “Death of the West”.
but he also banned the burkha. so go figure. actually, I’m not so unhappy with Sarko (he’s French, after all, so he has no spine) as with Obama, although it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he despises Bibi.
yet, it’s mere BS from the same people, you know what, the racists are these people !
Liars? I can’t help remembering this Orwell quote: “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” These are definitely times of universal deceit.
I really enjoyed this article. It put things in perspective. Thank you!
Perhaps Bibi was caught opining that, despite history, the French could be trusted in a pinch.
The French cannot be trusted – in or out of a pinch!
ah a Brit that says so, what a surprise , coming for the ever plotters on the continental EUrope
Albion Perfide? All I know is that the Brits are always the first ones back from Holidays whenever the Arabs start throwing caca.
The French can be trusted…. to allow others to die heroically to defend the honor of France and to be ordered to surrender against uncomfortable odds.
Netanyahu let the truth be known that Sarkozy’s “shitty little country” is a whore.
Yes indeed!!!
shitty country, hmm, that whay so many visit it, tell me where you live and I’ll tell you how worth it is !
Congratulations, MC, for falling right into the trap. Before getting offended about the expression “shitty little country,” you might have bothered noticing that it was presented as a quote. Why don’t you google the source of that quote, and then come back and lecture us about savoir-faire.
pff, from nigauds?
Seems that the unqualified Usurper Hussein identifies with the ‘Cheese eating surrender monkey’ French. But then that is no surprise as he has toured the world apologizing for America ever since his immaculation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2-ZXpchUO4&feature=related
The Fall of Byzantium (dubbed into Canadian English) Part 5
You can watch the parts were the narrating priest discusses the ‘power vertical’ set up by Emperor Vasily who put the oligarchs of his day in line in the earlier bits. But this one is the most interesting because it addresses three roots of Byzantine decline:
1) The ‘national question’ that started to trump Orthodox Christian unity between Arabs/Syriacs (Syriac or the tongue of Damascus well into the middle ages being a very close language to the Aramaic Jesus spoke), Armenians, Germanics/Nordics, and Slavs — all of whom made up the bloodlines of the Byzantine emperors
2) The ‘fleeing to the center’ in the wake of ineffective or rapacious governors — this is the priest’s backhanded way of saying Moscow has expanded and grown fat in the last twenty years even as the regions outside St. Petersburg and perhaps oil-rich Tyumen oblast have withered. Even oil-rich Muslim-majority Tartarstan around Kazan has one of the lowest birth rates in the Russian Federation. Thus while Moscow is headed towards being the largest megalopis in Europe and one of the largest in Eurasia, too many farming villages die off with fallow fields full of black earth some foreigners may covet.
3) Finally, the demographic question in Byzantium — the Orthodox got outbred, which needs no commentary here.
Re: “Last week we learned that Egypt’s liquid foreign exchange reserves were down to about $13 billion, about two months’ import coverage in a country that imports half its caloric consumption. A huge current account deficit due to the collapse of the tourist industry and workers’ remittances is partly to blame, but billions are leaving the country each month in capital flight.”
This paragraph, in comparatively few words, describes the crisis facing post-Mubarak Egypt. Depleted foreign exchange, a declining tourist trade, and political instability in a nation that cannot even adequately feed itself and lacks the oil reserves of its neighbors. As destablizing as regime change has been for Libya, that nation at least has oil with which to cushion the economy blow. Egypt does not have even that. The Muslim Brotherhood is poised to take over, and will undoubtedly want a more-confrontational foreign policy against Israel. As dark as this prospect is, the Ikhwan face a stark choice of “guns or butter,” that plays in Israel’s favor. If the MB and new leaders of Egypt choose the “guns” option, they can’t possibly attract foreign investment or restore the tourist trade. The hard-line Islamists who favor jihad would applaude such a choice to fight Israel, but not the everyday apolitical Egyptian, whose foremost concern is feeding himself and his family.
Eric R., re: “Sarkozy has to hate Netanyahu and Israel, because he cannot escape the fact that he is head of a proto-Islamic state.” I believe you’ve analyzed this correctly, Eric. President Sarkozy is expressing the politically-correct Europe view, which all heads of state there are now required to do, i.e. that Israel is the enemy, not Islamic jihad and imperialism.
So sorry! Egypt will choose guns because,
1) the rulers, whoever they will be, will need to protect themselves
2) there is no history of a different type of choice in Egypt
3) if they can conquer Israel, they will bring fame and fortune to Egypt
4) if, in a war they lose to Israel, Egypt will then be advantaged by having a population denuded of excess men
5) and excess population
6) so it will be more manageable politically and easier to feed
7) and will garner more international support out of fear of mass immigration
There are many good books and articles about Egypt. I think you would enjoy learning from them. You can start with the Rubin Report. BTW for Egypt to be denuded of excess population through a war with Israel it would have to lose millions of men. I believe total Egyptian casualties in all the wars are less than 60,000.
Another BTW when will people remember that there was no revolution in Egypt. Mubarak was removed by a military coup and that they remain in charge.
Correct.
But his last point is also correct. The only problem is that the West is utterly bankrupt and, I believe, without ability to recover.
However, starving Egyptians and other “springers” still see it as a fata morgana of salvation, so with the EU collapsed, who will be able to stop them from joining their co-religionists in Europe?
“3) if they can conquer Israel, they will bring fame and fortune to Egypt”
No, it would only bring death on an imaginable scale from which Egypt will never recover. Two or three H-bombs on Cairo-Giza, another on Alexandria and another to break Aswan. How many dead would that all bring? 20 million? How many would die in the ensuring starvation and return to stone age? Another 20 million?
Yeah, that’s what I meant! Israel will solve Egypt’s population problem – win or lose. That statement was meant as a rational analysis, not a prideful statement of triumphalism. Indeed, Egypt’s government might seek to solve its population by going to war – not unusual in world history.
Incidently, Bob of Virginia, I recognize my ignorance about Egypt. Indeed, my knowledge approaches zero, if I must say so myself. However, that 60,000 Egyptian military personnel died in previous wars (which ones I do not know), speaks not a hint about any future conflagration. That is an unassailable point of logic.
fool.
Boff
‘”What does Sarkozy mean by the term “liar”?’
Good question, but I would also ask what did President Obama mean by, ‘”You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you”, (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/us-mideast-netanyahu-sarkozy-idUSTRE7A720120111108)’?
Perhaps, “this Jew is not sufficiently compliant when I tell him to move his sh*tty little country back to the …. what was that funny expression(?), … ‘Auschwitz borders’”. I imagine that BHO is also irked by the fact that Bibi is a special forces combat veteran, highly praised finance minister, successful businessman, and author of some insightful books on matters of consequence (terrorism, the place of Israel in the world community).
It’s hard for a “community organizer” to keep up his self-esteem when he has to stand next to that.
…. Bibi is a Special Forces Combat Veteran, highly praised Finance Minister and Prime Minister, successful businessman and author of some insightful books on matters of consequence. (Terrorism and Israel’s place in the world)
May the G-d of Israel continue to bless him and to guide his every move, activity and action.
Especially the one to deliver their just deserts to Jimmy Carter’s plenipotentiary, Ahmadinejad — and to Buraq Hussayn bin Buraq Hussayn bin Hussayn Oogooboogoo Ubambi’s Mad Mullah’s.
“May the G-d of Israel continue to bless him and to guide his every move, activity and action”
Amen to that, Mr. Brian Richard Allen. “Amen” especially to watching over the both Israel and the U.S. and thwarting the designs of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its allies.
I will add though that, while I’m certainly no fan at all of President Barack Hussein Obama II, one of the bravest and most principled men I have ever worked with was an Iraqi security official named, “Hussein”. Hussein was a fairly religious Shia Muslim, but his preference for a Middle Eastern foreign policy would have put him on the editorial board of Commentary.
Bibi, I have been told was one of the worst section leaders of Sayeret Matkal. Im not allowed to tell what I know. As a Finance minister he sent one third of the country into miserable poverty – if America payed their workers what we pay ours – America would overcome China. He plays up to the uneducated then flies off to meet his American tycoon friends, the very day after being elected the first time. Give me a break! Every one I know swithes off the TV the moment he appears – to prevent getting sick on the carpet, Please dont let him fool you he is a danger to us living here – next to our shelters and gas masks.
Zuni Lan, please write for yourself. I also live in Israel.
Though I do not always agree with B. Nethaniyagy (he made and some-time makes mistakes), I certainly consider him the best prime-minister in last 20 years (including Rabin). I have never heard anything bad about his military past, actually only heard praises. I also remember that in 96, during the election company, Ehud Barak called him a talented commander, who is still not ready to be a prime-minister. And he was his worst political enemy and his commander in the past.
As for his being financial minister, I should mention that he saved the country from very close economic collapse, and established a basis for the continuous rapid economical growth. A lot of people here just pretend not to remember it.
One comment. Its late and I am begining to be an old man. The economy has been growing fantasticly but all the wealth is at the top. Our doctors earn the wages of Ruwada. The contract workers (20% of Israel – the highest in the world) earn starvation wages with absolutely no social benefits. Invalids have to live on 500 dollars (not soldiers). True we have more billionares than Scandavia.
I came in 67, we were the most eglatarian country. Oh! I wonder who changed it.
I am ashamed that this is called a Jewish country
Tsedek Hevrati!!!!!!
Dont insult the memory of Rabin please. BB came in as a result of Rabin’s death, which BB was an instigator of. Yesterday on TV Rabins sister said she is still waiting for an apology from BB!
Please Zuni get a grip! Granted I only visit in Israel frequently and do not live there, but I do not hear any of the stuff with which you are trashing Netanyahu. I think he was foolish to give in to Obama’s demand to stop building for nearly a year, because nothing will satisfy that fool but complete Islamification of the ME. Actually nearly everyone I meet with and know in Israel think he is doing a good job, and did an even better job as Finance Minister saving Israel from financial disaster. What I can not get any answer to is why he keeps Ehud Barak as defense minister, who is in my estimation an incompetent buffoon.
Sarkozy seems to be losing it. Only last week he was screaming at British PM Cameron to shut up about the EU economic, actually their monetary, crisis. Perhaps it is lack of sleep with the new baby, or postpartum depression? In any case, it is not his country constantly being threatened by Islamic terror, it is Israel. And those two fools, S & O, should apologize to Israel and her Prime Minister.
I, too, am baffled about why Bibi keeps Ehud Barak. I admit, it does make me distrust Bibi. I suppose time will tell. Does anyone on Pajamas have a thought on the subject? Barak appears not only to be incompetent but his handling of the Jewish settlements (Yishuveem) in Judea and Samaria makes him a cruel anti-Zionist
I saw on the BBC internet that Sarkozy has done this ten times before to various leaders!
We obviously dont keep the same circle of friends. Where do you visit – the occupied territories? Jerusalem?
He has NOT done anything right and if anything was done right – it wasnt him
Sorry Isabella – he is a liar – he knew that there would be no negotiations in such a short time. IT was another typical Bibilie. Every single time there was some posiblity of negotiation he came in with another demand. Listen, if he did negotiate his govt would immediately fall. Thus he risking the lives of our kids for his government/ He is a liar and I despise him.
Zuni Lan has some reason to feel the way he does. The problem is that while the past may be proven to be imperfect, the future is essentially unknown. Zuni Lan cannot predict that life under Livni would be better. The dictatorship of the proletariat has not worked in the past. Nor has capitalism given us unadulterated benefit. Dreams of the future are always more beautiful than cold hard analysis of previous errors. The best we have are indicators. The per family income of Israelis today is $29,000 per year; Jordan – $4300 per family per year. Not evenly distributed among Israelis! What can you do? The hunt for perfection will have to be left to computers that will be smarter than the smartest humans combined.
Of course, Zuni Lan might try the Bible for solutions. The world is now being dragged through the 50th (Jubilee Year) kicking and screaming, when it should simply accept its inevitability and get on with life – momentary equality restored, wealth redistributed (or destroyed) and then back to 49 years of “working to get ahead.”
this reminds me of Pauline Kael’s famous comment about Nixon. she couldn’t imagine how he had won, she said, because “nobody I know voted for him.”
your comment is helpful in one way, however: you remind us that Israel is the ONLY COUNTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST where it’s possible to have a negative opinion about your leaders and not have to worry about being killed. you can stand up and say “Bibi is a jerk!” and nothing will happen to you–actually, you’ll probably get a guest column in Ha’aretz. try saying “Ahmadinejad is a jerk” in Iran and see what happens. oh–that’s right–we already know what happens…
We are meant to be a developed country comparable to US France and Holland. The Arabs are still in the 3rd world and are not expected to behave otherwise. Unless you prefer to compare yoursef with them of course.
THAT”S why the Europians hate us and not even mention the 3000000 Uganadans or 2000000 Somalis who were killed in the past few years or Syrians etc etc. We are not meant to be compared them. We cant be compared to them!
Utter leftest nonsense!
Yes the last remnants of the left in Israel don’t like Netanyahu, but the vast majority, me included, think he is doing an good job steering us through the mine field of dangers. Has he made any mistakes? Sure he has. But I’ll be voting for him both in the Likud internal elections and in the national elections.
Just do what you feel – Ill go out to get a spare gas mask and body armour!
He also talks a lot and then caves. He is responsible for Israel’s strategy of appeasing the West instead of vanquishing the enemy, and look what his reward is for that.
His Shalit deal directly contradicts his writings on terrorism you mention.
Oao wrote: “His Shalit deal directly contradicts his writings on terrorism you mention” – well, I purposely didn’t write that he was one of Israel’s best PMs. On the other hand, he has a very tough hand to play. His lecture to BHO’s face (http://hotair.com/archives/2011/05/20/video-netanyahu-lectures-obama-on-why-israels-1967-borders-are-indefensible/) on the realities of the Middle East was impressive. Per Ariel’s comment, can you name a better PM in the last 20 years? IMHO, the Shalit situation was a tremendous challenge with no “right” answer. Rabbi Nathan Cardozo has written a wonderful short essay on the matter (http://www.cardozoschool.org/show_article.asp?article_id=718&cat_id=&cat_name=Contemporary+Issues&parent_id=2&subcat_id=41&subcat_name=Israel%2FZionism).
Zuni Lan – I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but I somehow get the impression that you don’t like Bibi …
I’m not an Israeli, and I can’t begin to imagine how terrible are the choices before the prime minister of that country. Yehuda Avner, author of the marvelous memoir “The Prime Ministers,” spoke at my synagogue in New York, and said something that sent a cold shiver down my spine: every prime minister of Israel had to take decisions on which the existence of the Jewish state depended, with no certainty as to the outcome. Great political leaders are the ones who bear the burden of uncertainty without flinching. Ariel Sharon was a great commander and a great leader. On the face of it he was wrong to pull out of Gaza, which became a terrorist haven; but he anticipated this and told close colleagues, “If this happens, everyone will understand what we are dealing with.” Now, “everyone” never will include the likes of Sarkozy; but who can tell whether the sacrifice of Gaza pre-empted greater sacrifices on the West Bank, by fostering a split in the Palestinian movement and persuading a majority of Israelis (and a plurality of Americans) that any “peace” offer from the Palestinians would be a rotten sham, absent security guarantees that the PA would not accept, and which Hamas in any case might veto. Without sitting in the cabinet room and hearing the intelligence briefings and the debates, I can’t tell whether Netanyahu was right to accept the Wye River agreement, or whether he was right to trade 1,000 terrorists for Shalit, or a dozen other things. That he understands the nature of the situation clearly, I am quite sure, for many reasons, including one self-interested one: He quoted my essay “Israel, Ireland the Peace of the Aging” in an interview with Ha’aretz. The reception he drew from the American Congress during his last visit here was, frankly, inspiring, and it takes the measure of his stature. Although I have heard any number of criticisms from Israeli friends, any number of which sound valid, I admire Netanyahu unreservedly. That he has made mistakes, and will make mistakes in the future, there is no doubt. God doesn’t ask us for perfection (and for Christian readers, when Jesus said “You shall be perfect,” I believe that he had in mind the Hebrew word “tam,” which does not mean “flawless” so much as “whole” and “having integrity,” as well as “healthy” or “mature.” See http://www.crivoice.org/terms/t-perfect.html).
David,
That was a beautiful comment. Thank you.
I agree that “The Prime Ministers” was an absolutely wonderful book. I recently gave my copy to a young, gentile U.S. Army infantry sergeant from Arkansas. This soldier, while stationed at Fort Polk, LA, somehow got the idea that he wanted to convert to Orthodox Judaism. Unfortunately for him, once we deployed to Eastern Afghanistan, I was his only resource for learning. I gave him Mr. Avner’s book as a sort of midrash.
Exactly. Perfect, as Our Father in Heaven is perfect, completed, whole, matured, even “grown up.” It does not mean “no mistakes.”
I have never met a right winger who has an ending solution to get to peace. They just look up to God! As our kids crawl across the desertd to count the missiles in Iran. Anyone living abroad should be ashamed to even think of a greater israel.
YES I dont not like BB, I despise him. I dont care about Gods and land and all this show of strength.
All I want is a little protected country until the world grows out of all the insane nationalism and my families ashes can finally rest in Kovna.
There is no “ending solution to getting to peace”, you @#$%^&!! Only stupid Messianic liberals think in such terms. I know, I was one!
All the leaders DID come to visit Olmert after tye Gaza war. No one ever visited BB – I wonder why?
David,
Absolutely. In fact, I suspect that striving to be the Pm of Israel is almost like the loss of reason. The responsibility and constraints are infinite.
BUT: in many ways the various Israeli politicians have committed strategic blunders which contributed to Israel reaching this situation. Examples: the failure to document the size of Jewish refugees and the costs of integrating them and use it as consistently to counter RoR as the Palestinian did theirs (with UNRWA’s help); not annexing the settlements area; Oslo, of course, was existential IMO; Lebanon 2006 and Cast Lead; several deals a la Shalit; and a strategy of appeasing the West instead of vanquishing its enemies, allowing the Pals to play a blackmailer paradox game with practically 100% success.
I mean, think about it: Israel made constant concessions for decades without getting absolutely nothing, nothing in return. And it does not seem to ever realize it and stop.
“as the opposition has a reported 22,000 men under arms…” Thank you too, David for acknowledging the reality that Syria is in a state of civil war, not simply a government mowing down crowds of civilians — though that seems to have happened in some cases. Watching Lebanese TV news the other night, I was struck by two things.
One was the similarity to Russian state news channels in that leaders got to talk uninterrupted for 10-11 minutes at a time what would be an eternity in American broadcasts. And the second was that Lebanese television depicted pitched battles with rebels yelling “Allahu akbar!” apparently armed to the teeth with (French? South African? Ukrainian, that favorite cutout for NATO?) heavy machine guns, RPGs, and I could even hear what sounded like mortar fire.
BTW, none of the Lebanese telepresenters (televidushiye?) were wearing head coverings, only some of the reporters venturing into Hezbollahland. And the news broadcast I caught last week at a Lebanese-owned restaurant also followed a Syrian TV show where the men were guerillas battling the occupying Turks. Hmmm…wonder if there was a message in there somewhere? None of the women on the Syrian show were veiled either. I suppose some of the same Qataris and others behind the scenes who put black-flag flying Libyan Islamists into power want to do the same thing in Syria. Which would just be wonderful for Israel. We seem once again to have come to a point where Israel’s national interest is simply not consistent with NATO, or should I say primarily French goals.
sorry X, Syria doesn’t buy french arms, but Russians, Iranians, and probably germans’
battling the occupying [sic] Ottoman Turks [in the post-WWI era].
And now my last comment on this thread, the most ‘Spenglerian’ part of the movie The Lesson of Byzantium — part 8 of 9 — the conscious dying out of the Byzantine population, loss of meaning for continued existence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=-HjtxWjiAH8
”As useful as fleas on a dead dog.”
Absolutely the best description of the EU political elite.
And the US blue state elites, as well. China also has fleas, but their dog is younger.
“”As useful as fleas on a dead dog.”
Absolutely the best description of the EU political elite.”
Terry, I think a better description of them would be
“Morally degenerate, depraved, murderous Nazi savages” – but that is just my opinion.
Where do you guys get the idea that Egypt has no hydrocarbons?
The top 4 earners of foreign currency in Egypt are, in no particular order, the Suez canal, tourism, foreign remittances, and oil&gas.
Agip, Apache, BP, BG, Shell, RWE all have large oil & gas concessions in Egypt. It exports 50% of its gas to foreign markets.
Foreign remittances, oil & gas and the Suez canal have not dropped significantly. Tourism is described as 11% of GDP and its down 40% year on year.
A large amount of money was taken out by the Mubaraks and their cronies, and there has been a significant drop in inward investment due to the uncertainty.
If you want information rather than supposition, try either
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en which is indenpendent daily paper in english or
http://www.english.alahram.org/eg which is government congrolled daily paper in english
Those natural gas exports just wouldn’t happen to cross the Sinai — thence into Israel and Jordan?
As in the pipeline that keeps getting shut down by explosions?
As for oil, Egypt is no longer a net exporter.
As for tourism — Spengler has it correct — no one’s coming. The camels are being slaughtered. It’s that bad.
…. Europe’s political class are an infestation of fleas on a dead dog ….
And while talking of dogs, wasn’t it Abe Lincoln who observed to the effect that if you call a dog’s tail its leg, you may truthfully say the dog has five legs. But it will not be the Truth, because no amount of calling a dog’s tail, a leg, will make it so.
Just as no amount of calling clusterings and hostile colonies of froth-and-foam-flecked fanatically and psychopathologically-hesperophobic islamanazis “peace partners” will raise them to the level, even, of an infestation of fleas on that five-legged dog.
If it dies……
(Go Bibi! – Tehran’s calling!)
Well just for the record brilliant article, truth today is called lies. Would just like to add that the Abrahamic covenant regarding those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse her will be cursed can be applied as we see events unfolding. Of course the intelligentsia, politicians etc would shout LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, however just because it is not what they want to hear does not make it untrue, the reverse in fact. That old cliche non so deaf, blind, dumb etc as those who choose not to hear, see, understand is absolutely true. Personally Mr Netanyahu puts them all in the shade, think he is the only trustworthy politician out of Cameron, Obama, Sarkozy etc. When Sarkozy points the finger at Netanyahu they actually all point back at him. Impudent little man suffering from the Napoleon complex. Mr Obama lacks reality and credibilty. He has no substance apart from the myth created by the liberal left media.
“And tell a European politician that the world has changed such that the European political class no longer has a reason to exist, and he will scream “Liar! Liar!” until his lungs collapse.” – bullseye.
Seven years ago I asked a wealthy landowner in Southwest France a question regarding elections … “What about the Communists?” (a roundabout way of finding out his political leanings)…. He replied and I quote, “There are no Communists left in France”.
I’ll never forget that. Not only is France, Fascist; but it has a massive Communist influence that is apparent at every little turn in the road – Leftist doesn’t even begin to describe France. There is no way in hell, that an oligarchal society like France that puts unbelievable regulatory burdens upon its citizens, can have ANY economic freedom let alone continue to pretend that it’s a world “super-power”. The truth hurts and the French are going to find out just how much it hurts and how they’ve simply swapped the boogeyman “monarchy” for an even more evil version that has literally brought the country to a point of implosion.
Sarkozy is simply jealous (just like Obama) of a real leader; a lover and defender of his people; a prophetic speaker, a fearless warrior and man of prayer: Benjamin Netayahu. It must be tough for Obama and Sarkozy to be bested by a small country like Israel.
They – Obama and Sarkozy – need to grow a pair.
BB IS NOT A MAN OF PRAYER. He has never been. BB is a man of BB.
LMAO
All hail to Nicola Sarkozy, President of Vichy and his frothing at the mouth anti Semite pal, Barack Obama!
There’s wingnut … and then there’s PJM wingnut.
ta gueule connard, Vichy saved more Jews than any occupied country by the Nazis
Inaccurate, poufiasse.
so your intervention nigaud
“France was one of the countries controlled by the Germans at the early stages of war, but it had a high level of democratic tradition of Liberte, Fraternity and Egalite. In France about 75000 Jews perished out of a population of 350,000, about 70% survived. Many factors contributed to the relatively high survival rate, the most important factor was the attitude of the silent majority, who made it difficult of the Germans to identify and catch the Jews. Even the local police cooperated only reluctantly with the Germans, Jews were provided with false identification papers, given shelter and moral support. Jews also participated massively in the resistance and at the beginning stages about 33% of the resistance fighters were Jewish.”
http://kimel.net/france.html
The percentage of French Jews saved is even higher than Marie Claire indicates.
The deportations in France were certainly nuanced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France is a good starting place.
Nuanced deportations? I must remember that one.
Pray tell Marie Calude de la connery,
Why were there Jews deported from France at all?
Why did that great country of Human Rights and Lights issue racial laws?
What was that collaboration thingy of French administration and government with the Nazis?
What were notorious Nazi collaborators such as Papon, Bettencourt or Bousquet (the latter two Mitterand’s personal friends) doing in the French administration after WWII ?
Denmark holds the best record on that front. They bailed their kinsmen to Sweden via rat-lines.
as long as the Palestinians cannot bring themselves to pronounce the words “Jewish State,” there won’t be a peace agreement.
because Sarkozy said, what was it two weeks, three weeks ago, that it was ridiculous to talk of a Jewish State; so it must be a lie.
Israel is a state for the Jews. There are after all one and a half million Arabs here. If you dont give back the Occupied territories there will be a stste for the Arabs.
What does a “state for the Jews” mean if it is qualified by the one and a half million Arabs to mean no Jewish state?
So how do the Jews keep their state if it is not a Jewish one with their traditions and culture.
Anyway what has the “Occupation” to do with the Jewish state if you deny the context of that occupation – the reason of it coming into existence?
This “Zuni” person is obviously unworthy of responding to. He/she is clearly incoherent, and contradictory. I’m guessing this person is an Arab, who may or not actually live in Israel. If you are actually a cynic, you can easily see it, Cynic.
“Occupied territories”? “Give back”? Give me a break. I believe the internet term of choice for people like this these days is “troll”: People who force their way into a good conversation and waste everyone’s time to disrupt it.
Obviously, there are hard left Israeli Jews who talk this way, and “Zuni” could possibly be one of them, but my advice is to assume he’s an Arab who wants to muck up a great conversation by muddying clear waters, and simply ignore everything he injects.
oopa- another conspiracy! Ich binst a linke yid. And if you dont close your eyes you would know that at least half the country is the same.
BUT writing in this blog is like being in shul without a yamulke – so as a result of all your insults and judeonazi crap I am leaving, hopefully for ever.
Bibi IS a liar! This is accepted in my Israel by everyone left and right. Even when he accepted the two state solution the extreme land of Israel part of his coalition didnt make a peep – they Knew it was a lie. His whole policy is based on lies. Mt favorite ones were 1. His brother was an Entebe hero! His brother was the worst commander of Sayeret Matkal ever. He had NOTHING to do with the planning and on landing he wasw meant to stay with the Mercedes NO one was to egage the Ugandans. He drove toward the airport – 2 Ugandans were on the roof – he tried to shoot them, against orders – one ran away, the other killed Netanayu. I believe BB saw an opprtunity and returned from the States where he had changed his name and married two womenm and has one daughter that Sarah(until rtecently) refused to meet. Here he had an affaiir and made a public apology on Sarah’s demand!
2. He tells CNN that he know what war is – he had a soldier die in his arm at the age of eighteen!!! Sayeret Matkal has a basic traing of 18 months. That makes him twenty at least.
He says he was dicussing the 73 war with Dado and Sharon ????? The highest he got to was leghtenant (segen ) The most he could have done was make coffee! I was there on the Zodiac transporting the paratroopers across the canal. I dont remember any Makalistim who as far as I know have totally different battle dress. As far as I know they were in the Golan.
I don’t know anything about the details of the Entebbe raid, but doesn’t it seem a bit cruel to call Bibi a “liar” for believing his dead brother to have been a hero? In any case, I doubt that Sarkozy had any of this in mind.
Mr Goldman,
Here we fight for our lives. You obviously have no idea what Israel regards as a hero!
Sarkozy had all Bibi’s peace and negotiation promises in his head as Bibi allowed 1000′s of new settlements to be built (while my children cant afford a room in Te Aviv BTW)
My boys and myself feel we have been duped and are frustrated!! We are serious thinking of leaving and let the religous do what they want. (Both boys captains one extremely combat and me with 29 years reserve duty and 5 wars – incld one intafada BTW)
“You obviously have no idea what Israel regards as a hero!”
Are you actually claiming that Yoni Netanyahu is not widely regarded as a hero in Israel?
“Bibi allowed 1000′s of new settlements to be built”
Name one single new settlement built during Netanyahu’s current term as PM. One.
> (while my children cant afford a room in Te Aviv BTW)
Do you think that might have something to do with the fact that no new settlements have been built, leading to more people having to live in Tel Aviv? Hint: Price is proportional to demand.
Moises–we have people in America like “Zuni Lan.” people who for some reason want to despise their own country. and of course, we have many self-hating Jews like I’m assuming Zuni is. it’s pointless to talk to them because they don’t really want conversation: they want to beat you over the head with their opinions and call you a fool if you disagree.
fortunately, the people who read PJM are smart enough to know that the they are just about as wacky as our American Left. maybe wackier, because Israel’s very existence is threatened…and here are “Zuni” and his/her friends, giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
and btw, “Zuni,” not only in Israel, but all over the world Yoni Netanyahu is a hero. what did the family do to you to make you hate them so much?
There is no such thing as the mythical self-hating Jews. It’s just a tired trope that takes the place of debate and arrogantly assumes an idiot knows more than a man he doesn’t even know knows about himself.
I did mean to say 1000, of dwellings – settlements – Jerusalem. Also as I never put a foot over the green line I havent counted but look up Shalom Achshuv for correcct information
Everything else you wrote is rubbish
Zuni: “I did mean to say 1000, of dwellings”
I’m glad we cleared this up, but if you’re going to make such glaring and consequential mistakes in writing, the least you could do is exhibit slightly more civility to your interlocutors.
” – settlements – Jerusalem.”
So that evil Binyamin Netanyahu stands accused of allowing the construction of thousands of apartments in Jerusalem. The horror! I can understand why you would lash out at him, his brother, and anyone who would dare defend him.
“Everything else you wrote is rubbish”
Everything else? That would be one of two things:
(i) Yoni Netanyahu is widely regarded in Israel as a hero.
(ii) Price is proportional to demand.
Perhaps you could enlighten us as to why you consider these two statements, both of which most people would consider truisms, to be rubbish?
Mr Goldman
Its far more cruel to the real heroes calling Bibi’s brother a hero. He wasnt even following orders and in fact could have risked the whole operation. I dont think he was given a posthumous tsiun leshach.
Also Israelis are usually very quiet about these things. I personally know two decorated heroes, years after they received their tsiune leshevach. As you know we have only 3 medals very very very seldom given – maybe 3times or 4. Kahali got one for basically holding up half the Syrian army on his own – not getting killed by a Uganda guard! BB simply used his death as a PR campaign. Another reason I cant stand that man.
Herman Wouk, novelist, playwright, author of the great apologia of traditional Judaism, “This Is My God” and veteran of three years of tough naval combat in the Pacific in WWII, edited Yoni Netahnyahu’s letters and wrote an introduction saluting his character and heroism (http://www.amazon.com/Self-Portrait-Hero-Jonathan-Netanyahu-1963-1976/dp/0446674613/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320863877&sr=1-1 ).
Wouk describes the letters as a “remarkable work of literature, possibly one of the great documents of our time.” A 1981 review in NYTs assesses that the letters are a “convincing portrayal of a talented, sensitive man of our times who might have excelled at many things yet chose clearsightedly to devote himself to the practice and mastery of the art of war, not because he liked to kill or wanted to, but because he knew that, as always in human history, good is no match for evil without the power to physically defend itself.”
Wouk is a so-so author, though at the time I read his Winds of War, its sequel, and The Hope I did enjoy them. Looking back, I could forgive his cloying, near-hagiographic treatment of Roosevelt and Stalin (among many other flaws.) However, those things did stem from his chief flaw: being far more sentimental than any good Jewish writer ought to be.
“Wouk is a so-so author”
You’re entitled to your opinion. I didn’t intend to go OT to the topic of great novelists of WWII and the Jewish dilemma in modern times. Please feel free to offer you own choice of authors with a defense of their merits.
In Wouk’s novels, he paints FDR as an impressive figure but also as an enigma who, in essence, admits that he’s ignoring the Nazi persecution of the Jews (well, except for leading the Allies to victory in WWII). He claims to be powerless to effect the problem, but Wouk presents seemingly valid policy options that FDR might have adopted. Wouk’s FDR is a gifted politician who has the gift of using people and making them enjoy it. That’s hardly “near-hagiographic”.
When I read fiction (not often) I tend to enjoy writers who have the gift of observing and relating both great events and modest human actions in a way which rings true and illustrates a few important things. I’ve gone back to Wouk again and again because he’s a master at it.
As to being “far more sentimental than any good Jewish writer ought to be”, Wouk sketches a few indelible (IMHO) portraits of imperfect people displaying real moral and physical heroism. The world is not entirely made up of snarky irony.
Wouk’s “This is My God” is a wonderful entry point for a Jew who is reengaging with Torah. Christians to whom I’ve recommended it tell me it’s a wonderful insider’s introduction to Judaism.
I agree that “The Hope” and “The Glory” were clunkers. The only worthwhile scene (IMHO) in “The Glory” depicted combat engineers bridging the Suez Canal.
I was in the middle of describing all the lies we have to suffer from that man – past and present. From his claimed army experience to politics and internal disgusting almost non-Jewish attitude\cruelty to his fellow Israelis when the screen went blank! I believe foul play!
His lying is too long to re write anyway so Lehit
should I take it you back Livni?
you seem to have a lot of anger in you. not that anger is bad .. it can be an excellent motivator.
People forget the role money plays in these delusions.
All these characters rely on money which Israel or the West in general can stop. The problem is that we believe in soft power tied to money. If you want the truth see an article by Nancy Birdsall, whom I know from SAIS in Afpak Channel. Her point is that soft power is not useful, after a certain point.
I think history has some interesting lessons on this matter. The Ottomans went broke: in the end they were paying in silver tinsel while the West could lavish undebased specie on their goals. Given Islamic bias for purchase over production you can see the problem coming their way again.
A reminder: Obviously “we” in Israel do NOT all know that Bibi is a liar, since we elected him to his present post and according to polls his popularity is only rising.
Not to get off the topic, but everyone in America knows that Obama is a liar, but the majority elected him anyway!
Sarkozy was just allowing his french asshole persona surface since he was in good company when he said the word.
Liar? The palistinians wish to destroy israel they don’t lie about it, The Israeli’s wish to survive and become safe from trrorist attack from everlunatic in the world, there’s no lie in that either.
The POTUS Obama (pbuh) says he has America’s interest at heart when he runs the country into the ground, that is a lie. Sarkozy is french and who actually gives a rats ass what a french president says.
Accrding to Indian scriptures, we’re in what’s called a “kalyug”, roughly translated meaning the age of evil/darkness. One of the attributes of this age being that truth will be turned on its head and become a lie – good will become bad and vise versa.
If we can perhaps view the ascendency of islam in this light, we can expalin why things are the way they are in these days.
Gee. Maybe we ought to have another drink.
I’m afraid that’s about all we can do.
Wow Zuni, and here’s me with only 22 years reserve, one war and two intifadas but only as a shekemist mind. Still serving BTW – But then again since when have us Israelis played who has the bigger dick? As for Bibi, thank G*D he’s our PM…..
You probably loved the Intfadas – beating up little children. Wow – maybe I will vote for BB so you can beat up so more. Anyone who is right-wing isnt a Jew – in my opinion
Here is an interesting problem: how do you deal with a suicidal enemy that will throw civilians, including children, directly into harm’s way in order to argue that we beat up little children (or kill civilians in Gaza, or whatever)? The question, I submit, comes down to whether the enemy is capable of such unspeakable evil, and whether it is suicidal. In that case, we may conclude that the enemy has staged civilian deaths as theater precisely in order to horrify us into submission. That is the question I sought to answer in my book “How Civilizations Die.” Civilizational suicide is actually quite common, even in a sense statistically typical.
…there are tough choices to be made .. unpleasant ones, but not making them usually creates many more unpleasant choices.
when push comes to shove you prove nothing by turning the other cheek. I do think I would know what to do. If you are right then you are right. when you appease the wrong you cannot be right.
The collapse of Western civilization has very little to do with Islamism, but mainly with its own self. All Islamism does is accelerates it by exploiting its weaknesses, which they are experts at. IOW, it would have collapsed even if there was no Islamism around.
Your are right. They are violent, illogical, and actually enjoy sending their children to there death. The big question is ARE WE!
“Here is an interesting problem: how do you deal with a suicidal enemy that will throw civilians, including children, directly into harm’s way in order to argue that we beat up little children (or kill civilians in Gaza, or whatever)?”
As I understand it, the Law of War considers that a combatant who places non-combatants in harm’s way (ex: setting up rocket launchers in houses in Lebanon) is culpable, not the combatant who fires on the rocket launchers and unintentionally hits civilians. Perhaps if Western militaries just followed the basic Law of War it would remove the incentive of irregular combatants to hide behind civilians. It might also help the West to adjust to the “horror (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FD27Ak01.html)” that this sort of war unfortunately involves.
On the other hand, there is also a good argument for patient efforts to achieve precise targeting and thereby avoid high civilian casualties (ex., the killing of Sheik Yassin in Gaza).
Netanyahu has been lying to the whole world for many years now, claiming repeatedly that Iran has a nuclear weapons program!
What’s that you say…?
I say if you think we are safe with the button in BBs hand maybe its time to make aliya – oh no – let my kids do the fighting while you eat kosher hamburger in NY
My sole point was the undeniable one that supposed “liar” Netanyahu has been raising the alarm about Iran’s nuclear weapons program for years now, while being attacked for either paranoia or fear-mongering.
Since this is undeniable, you resort to casting aspersions on Netanyahu, and to launching anti-factual attacks on me, based on denigrating stereotypes.
I suppose I deserve everything thrown at me, for daring not to acquiesce in the demonization of Netanyahu, but aren’t you worried in the least about your own credibility?
eating kosher hamburgers isnt denigrading. I am a Tsfati – I do it every day!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/barclays-says-italy-finished-mathematically-beyond-point-no-return
I don’t hold the Italians in as much contempt as I do other European nations (probably a combination of growing up in a mostly Italian-American suburb and the fact that nobody has taken them seriously since 476 CE), but since they are Socialists (even on their right), I think they are getting what they deserve.
Any chance that this ‘leak’ could’ve been deliberate disinformation designed to make Iran think that an attack is NOT coming after all?
No.
Israeli Jews as the “real nazis”: The german christian nazis, along with their european christian allies, mercilessly slaughtered six million european Jews. When the post-christian liberals took over Europe, they suffered from white guilt, which has now turned to resentment. Their current narrative is that the european Jews (and now the Israeli Jews), were the “real nazis”, and that what hitler and the other christian europeans did to the european Jews might have been “overkill”, but the european Jews had been “asking for it” and deserved it. In this scenario, since the Israeli Jews are the “real nazis”, then the palestinians become the “real helpless, innocent “jews,” and so any atrocity they perpetrate on the Israeli Jews is justified as their “only means of resistance”. This psychological defense mechanism leads the europeans to their obsession with the Israeli Jews, and their conclusion that the six million Israeli Jews living on a small strip of land nine miles wide are the “greatest threat to world peace”, and are “international war criminals” for the “crime” of defending themselves.
Sarkozy and Obama are Muslim lovers.
Yes, he meant it.
The worse dose of reality the Europeans are facing right now is that Iran is about to get a nuclear bomb. Remember all those years after 2001 when they tried to “negotiate” with the Iranians and thought that they could squeeze concessions from those rug merchants? The “negotiations” went nowhere after the Europeans discovered that they could out haggle the people who created haggling. Now the Europeans are actually going to have to DO something, or else risk a nuclear war in the middle east. I guess anybody who tells them that Iran is about to get the bomb would also be called “liars.”
“As for Syria, a former French colony, the latest round of government violence has killed a French-backed Arab League initiative, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe allowed this morning. Humanitarian organizations now estimate the death toll at 3,500. It seems certain to rise sharply, as the opposition has a reported 22,000 men under arms.”
I can’t wait until you say it’s all about the french !
hmm and of course you couldn’t avoid to talk of the Italian debt hold by the french banks !
update your infos, on objective economy blogs !
BTW, what’s that fuss on a private discussion? in case you don’t know, each politician hold such discussions off, but that aren’t displayed, cuz no uninvided ear was there !
Marie Claude, you are missing what seems a rather obvious point: Sarkozy knows that Egypt is on the brink of collapse, because he chaired a G8 conference last May promising $20 billion in aid (roughly a year’s financing requirement) and grandiosely announced that it might be doubled. Everyone knows that if Egypt runs out of cash, it can’t buy food, and that it imports half its food. And everyone knows that if Egypt falls apart, it’s meaningless to talk about a Middle East peace agreement. And Egypt is down to two months’ foreign exchange, and there’s not a murmur about the aid package. This is grotesque incompetence on the part of a posturing hypocrite. And Sarkozy calls Netanyahu a “liar.” Why? Because he won’t go along with this imbecilic and immoral charade.
hmm, how do you know that what was Sarkozy was talking about?
I doesn’t seem so, and if was rather about the UNESCO thing for the Palestinians?
Oh, I cannot reply to this without being accused of insulting, so I won’t.
C’mon, let’s be serious, shall we?
The reason the aid is not there has probably much more to do with bankruptcy than anything else.
Furthermore, it should be obvious that even 40 billion is just a temporary fix and that pumping billions into Egypt does not solve its fundamental problems. It’s the kind of problem similar to the Palestinians: they must be continuously supported forever. And just like the Pals a lot of those funds will go to corruption, the military and, if a MB government materializes, it will fund their plans.
So they might as well put an end to this nonsense right away instead of prolonging it.
You know Spengler, I’m amazed at the refusal of the World particularly the European left-wingers to refuse to accept that hatred for Jews in particular and ‘infidels’ in general is rooted in the Koran and Mohammed’s sayings,the Hadiths.The Palestinian ‘issue’ is all bunk. Even if Palestine comes into existence and Israel disappears this is NOT going to change.
Somewhat similar is the Kashmir issue.Nothing will change even if Kashmir is handed over to Pakistan.There is a Hadith which talks about Ghazwa-e-Hind.Which states that Jesus will be reborn,form an army (!)half of which will liberate Palestine and the other half will attack India,subjugate its women and bring its men to Arabia in chains.Though apologists for Islam claim that this is not an authentic Hadith, all serious muslims people I met in my 12 years in Saudi Arabia and the UAE accepted it as genuine.Even if this Hadith IS false what matters is,as Goebbels put it ,is how many people believe it to be true.Go to the internet to see how many people believe it to be authentic and how many think it is false.
Liars are those people who shut their eyes to all this.
Indian.
There are many reasons for Jew hatred, but they all seem trivial next to the one big reason, which is supercessionism: if the Jews are still the Chosen People, then other wannabe chosen peoples can’t be. Islam is explicitly supercessionist: the Jews falsified the revelations given to them, their Bible is a fake (as is the Bible of the Christians), and it was Ishmael, not Isaac, who was almost sacrificed. Some Muslims have tolerated Jews as powerless refugees in the past (e.g. the Turks after 1492), but few Muslims can live easily with the idea of a Jewish state in Israel with a capital in Jerusalem. Kind of takes the edge off the claim that the Torah is a fake.
You put it well,Spengler.It is not the Palestinians or the Al Aqsa mosque.Even if these issues are resolved,the larger issue as you say is that a successfully surviving Israel challenges the authenticity of the Koran.Even if by some miracle the Arab and Muslim world IS successful they need a defeated and destroyed Israel to prove that the Koran is correct.
It is the same between Pakistan and India….
And for the non-religious basis for Jew hatred we can look to “The Israel Test” by George Gilder for an explanation. A most excellent book, along with Mr Goldman’s latest, How Civilizations Die (which I just finished reading). Bravo!
Chosen for what? Sitting on the heads of 1.500.000 Palestinians. Slow down with your Torah a bit and start read Ha’aretz
Sure, read Ha-ha-haaretz.
Do your best to believe the nonsense too.
Then try finding ways to recycle the wasted paper.
At least you’ll end up doing something beneficial.
“A reminder: Obviously “we” in Israel do NOT all know that Bibi is a liar, since we elected him to his present post and according to polls his popularity is only rising.” Reminds me of a certain other Prime Minister turned President the Western elite media absolutely despises who still enjoys strong popularity.
http://www.forbes.com/profile/vladimir-putin/
Before Shalit he was down to something like 13%. hE FALL BACK UNTIL HE BOMBS Iran for eleCtoral reasons (BTW I DO think we should bomb but NOT for BB’s popularity, its just that Ahi is crazier than BB.)
The squawking of so-called world leaders, the insanity that infests the world, are the last gaps of global corruption. The world is being driven insane because all the false beliefs that have driven it to madness for a thousand years are coming undone. As the Testament of the Jews becomes more truthfully evident the world basks in lies because the Truth is too much to bare. The Jewish people have more temporal power now than at any time in history and the Nations of the world are desperate to convince Jews that this not so. The spiritual world and the material world are coming together. The writing is on the wall.
I’m an Australian of French background with no Jewish lineage. For me, Netanyahu is the one and only leader of the world today. It doesn’t matter that Israel is small in population and land area. It is big at heart and in spirit. And it is the only country in the world that is neither economically nor morally bankrupt and that, moreover, has balls. In my heart it is my country and its leader is my leader.
I really enjoyed this analysis of what it means to be a “liar”. Thank you, Mr Goldman.
Thank you for writing that Anne!
reposted comment from the previous thread re: taxes
66. Mr. X
“To David Goldman: I thought your book was excellent. Your observation that real estate taxes paid to the states are about equal to the mortgage payments assuming a national rate of about 4%. That will put home owners on the Republican side.”
That’s right, you don’t ‘own’ anything really in America anymore that’s not taxed, hence a return to feudalism where the lords/barons claimed 10% of the crop every year, in some sense taxing a property that’s sinking at 3-4% per annum is worse.
I believe, though maybe David can confirm this from the Torah tradition, that the Pharaoh that ruled with Joseph ben Yakov never taxed more than 15% of the national income of Egypt until the starving Egyptians had to sell themselves into slavery just to eat (which thanks to Joseph’s wise administration during the fat years, they were able to survive).
Whether resentment of the same had anything to do with the Israelites 400 years in slavery in Egypt is not stated in the Bible, but the story clearly implies some sort of double-edged sword given the Prophet Samuel’s subsequent warning to the Israelites about what a king would do: tax them and draft their young men into wars!
“I can’t wait until you say it’s all about the french!”
Marie, with all due respect, I’m not saying overthrowing Gaddafi was wildly popular in France, seems it was met more with public indifference just like in the U.S. But it’s no secret Sarkozy was one of the most fierce opponents of Gaddafi’s proposed gold dinar, which never got off the ground. And France was the lead European ally, perhaps even more militarily capable and involved than the British, in the Libya intervention. To suggest that they have nothing to do with the massive arming of opposition in Syria beggars belief. Israel’s border with Syria has been quiet even after the Israelis bombed that Syrian nuke plant in 2007, so I seriously doubt Bibi wants Assad overthrown and replaced by an MBO, Qatari-backed government like in Libya.
French document: Ma’ale Adumim part of ‘Occupied Palestine’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4146337,00.html
and its NOT????????????
Interesting analysis. So, Europe can’t find the money (suckers) to bail out it’s debt but doesn’t want to forgo the Euro or take on the fiscal burdens of becoming a transfer union (supposedly illegal) while the IMF is almost tapped out. The Chinese have apparently noticed this reticence and have nixed buying the bonds the Europeans refuse to buy. I assume the American Fed will float the Italians some ducats for awhile pending Rome going back to the lira, or closer fiscal union with the Germans (how likely is that?). So, what’s the odds of the Egyptian army going west to liberate those Libyan oil fields? Wouldn’t those oil fields make up for all that value added lost tourist trade? Was Libya or its geography ever an Egyptian territory or province (or plausibly claimed to be by the Egyptians)? Seems like Nato has done all the dirty work thanks to the French and British and the Italians, all the Egyptians have to do is drive in with their domestically built Abram’s tanks and establish stability and order in Libya, for a price. What do you think? 80 million Egyptians versus 6 million Libyans, seems like a piece of cake.
Anyone can see that the Froggie bint Marie Claude’s posts on here reveal that she is both Anti Semitic and Anti American too. Quelle surprise……….Not!
Are you talking about LEBENSRAUN???
‘Also as I never put a foot over the green line’
how on earth did you fight in two intifadas then Zuni if you never stepped over the green line?
very suspect (whats your mispar ishi?)
Since I finished the army never been (except a few dmonstrations). Though I do have a few Arab friends. 2031123. Volunteered in 67 for Nahal Mutsnach with Hashomer. Fought in Attasha lebanon1 lebanon 2, a few runnings around looking and catching thewm – had missiles falling on our heads in 1st gulf war and live now in Tsfat, close to 45000 missiles of Hizbolla. Have two sons who served 6 years each, one computer scientist, very very clever, other very, very combat – both Captains. (Combat made of steel that I love to hug and used to wait up all night till hearing his motorbyke from 30 miles away). And a daughter who when guarding at her camp in Tel Aviv I walked with her on the outside just in case! In the old days the parents used to check the grounds for bombs. My ex had a relationship with a bomb in the Supersol in Jerusalem.
We are all divorced ( baruch hashem) and all left-wing to some degree or other. Both economicaly and politically. My daughter still believes in god – but I am working on that.
John open your eyes – see the misery so many people live in and how so many people are giving up the chance for a peaceful happy life. I dont give sh__t for the territories – we need more and more migdalim for hi – tech. The territories just give misery to everyone – yes, including our Palestinian neighbours. I reall y believe if Shelli gets in life will again be worth living.
JOHN!!!! Are you Jewish? This is suspicious with such a name!
Re what someone else wrote – I love my country and the people – I hate BB and all those cuckoo right wingers. I am still prepared to give my life – dont know about my kids – please help my kids live on and be happy
BTW Zuni comes from Zundel – my Grandpa who had his head bashed in on his second day in Dahau
That psychopath Gideon “zona mimin zakhar” Levy pro-decency?! Haven’t laughed as hard in weeks.
No, he is not self-hating but a malignant narcissist who would sell his entire people for dog meat if it got him narcissistic supply.
Zona male = Zone.
Re Gidon Levy – he strips the king naked – over and over and over – dont complain just change your attitude and you will see how fast he will change his!
Zoneh al emet – “rav” Eylon
I strongly suggest not to feed the troll. It only provokes him to dump more crappola.
One hopes the left-handed compliment was taken as intended.
Especially as I comment infrequently.
David,
When it comes to supersecessionism, the Palestinians have both Muslim AND Christian proponents. The following may interest you:
“Palestinian Theologian” Trashes “Palestinian Theology”
http://www.hudson-ny.org/2573/palestinian-theologian-theology
Sarkozy is a Liberal. What more do you need to know ?
This gives you a pretty good idea of whom Assad blames for arming the ‘demonstrators’ to the teeth to overthrow him.