Constitutionless

Japan just voted for its Peacexit - or is it Democracexit? After securing a 2/3 majority in the House of Councillors, Shinzo Abe is getting closer to his lifetime dream: undoing the nation's postwar constitution and restoring the fundamentals of the imperial rule that disgraced it.

The UK doesn't have a constitution to protect, and it doesn't have a clue how to cope with the Brexit mess that left the whole political spectrum in shambles. David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn, all lost face, leaving to Mother Theresa May the tough job of caring for untouchable issues. At least, something is working in the UK this Summer: Sadiq Khan got elected, and the Chilcot Report exposed Tony Blair's responsibility in George W. Bush's Iraq imposture**.

Europe doesn't have a constitution, but it remains ruled from 101 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001, the headquarters of Goldman Sachs, a company that gave us Draghi, and is hiring Barroso. Mario Draghi is certainly not Jean-Claude Trichet, Jose-Manuel Barroso is certainly not Jacques Delors, and Hollande is not even Giscard. Where's there's no political will...

No constitution? No problem: 101 Constitution's so easy to learn! Just dial Constitution 101, and ask for instructions from Goldman Sachs

Israel doesn't have a constitution, and it helps when you want to circumvent the rule of international law. In the 2008 and 2012 tradition (see "Deja vu all over again"), I expect Bibi Netanyahu to seize the US election year opportunity and further fuel tensions with Palestine. It would only take a few skirmishes to start the fireworks... who wants to bet?

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* "Japan votes Peacexit - if not Democracexit" Seoul Village 
** reminder: "Invasion of Iraq: The Bush Legacy in 3 Impostures"

Thank you, Bibi, for shooting yourself in the foot

A great classic, the pounding of Gaza on a US election year*. But this time, Benjamin Netanyahu went too far too early, losing critical support at a critical moment.

Of course he didn't get rid of Hamas, because that's not what he wants, remember? Radicals need radicals at their doorsteps to play ping pong and justify their own stronghold. The idea was to surf on the ISIS panic wave, to weaken key entry/exit points for awhile, and by fueling fear in Israel and hatred in Palestine, to comfort both governments (the Hamas, Bibi) as the only ones legitimate to defend the land against bad guys (Bibi, the Hamas).

The problem is that US elections haven't really started, and that these are mid-term elections, not presidential ones. Big guns were not compelled to publicly pledge allegiance during the conflict. Worse: more candidates might seize the opportunity to emancipate themselves from a declining, hawkish AIPAC, and to support Israel via J Street**, which represents the moderate views of a growing majority of US Jews, and a much more sustainable path to peace.

If Bibi doesn't care about international outrage, he cares about support from the US. And because he went too far, at long last, the US internal political debate about Israel has suddenly become mainstream. Most recently and notably - and significantly location / media-wise:
- The Times refusing to publish a diatribe by Elie Wiesel comparing the Hamas to Nazis
- the ad run in The New York Times where 327 survivors of the Holocaust denounce "the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza" and calling for a complete boycott of Israel
- articles condemning the AIPAC, such as the recent "Friends of Israel" by Connie Bruck in The New Yorker

Now that bad guys are exposed on both sides, it's OK to publicly challenge the AIPAC and to mention J Street. It's soon going to be not only OK, but totally P.C. to support Israel by criticizing its government.

Yes, Barack Obama needs a strategy against ISIS, but showing progress between Israel and Palestine would send very strong messages across the World. The US can truly help Israel. If John F. Kerry can't do much, mainstream American moderates have the power to help moderates become mainstream in Israel.

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* e.g. "Deja vu all over again", "Israel accepted as true the choice between its security and its ideals"
** more than ever, "J Street : It's Time"!

Invasion of Iraq: The Bush Legacy in 3 Impostures

It's been 10 years since the invasion of Iraq, and I won't repeat my usual rant. In case you missed the previous episodes, here are 3 messages you should remember:
 

***

1) The invasion of Iraq was meant to spread fundamentalism worldwide, not democracy in Iraq:

Always keep this in mind: "George W. Bush didn't act as a President of The United States of America in the interest of his country. And George W. Bush didn't even act as a Republican in the interest of his party. George W. Bush acted as a fundamentalist in the interest of fundamentalism."

I wrote the "Universal Declaration of Independence from Fundamentalism" to expose the imposture of fundamentalism (a totalitarian, political program advertised as a universal, religious program), the way it undermines both democracy and religion, and the ways to defuse the sick ping pong between supposedly opposed extremists.

As I posted for the 5th anniversay of this masquerade ("Iraq - 5 years of success for fundamentalists"), the invasion of Iraq was a triumph: as expected, it boosted fundamentalism and terror worldwide. "Mission accomplished".

And we should consider ourselves lucky these lunatics didn't go all the way (see "Iran : who wants war and why").


***

2) Oil was the means of corruption, not the aim of the game, and the undermining of US democracy was not just collateral damage:

To make it short: theocons set the agenda with the help of neocons (what better duet than Bush-Cheney to achieve this?), and sold the war to paleocons*.

In other words: the aim of the game was to undermine democracy (the theocon - fascist purpose), and the official cause an intervention to free a country from its dictator (typical neocon stuff), but in order to launch the war, the blessing from the oil and defense lobbies was needed (enter the paleocons).

The only thing missing was an alibi for immediate action. A clear and immediate danger. The outrageous lies and forged cases about WMDs or Saddam-al Qaeda ties did the trick.

Of course, there was always the risk of nosy reporters doing their jobs, of citizens exercising their rights to transparency.

The Patriot Act became effective more than one year before the invasion. The trickier part was the media, and the Bush Administration offered a deal to US majors: don't get at us until after the 2004 elections** and we'll help you consolidate your power. At the head of the FCC, the son of Colin Powell did his best to alter competition laws, and was instrumental in the concentration that followed at a critical moment in the history of traditional press, broadcasting, and internet. Michael Powell went as far as organizing a phony forum to settle the case just weeks ahead of the invasion. He later joined the RAND Corporation.

In general, the Bush administration more or less successfully tried to undermine the separation of powers at the root of democracy:
. executive? too far (right) reaching, and totally unaccountable.
. legislative? corrupt, and producing anti-democratic laws
. judicial? promoting torture and the negation of all rights
. media? at best embedded, at worst accomplice
. netizens? brainwashed by pervasive propaganda, monitored by a dystopian state
. ....
. and, of course, the theocons' priority: destroying secularism, the pilar of democracy. Again, mixing religion with politics, education, science... is the best way to attack democracy and religion at the same time (see "France, secularism and burqa : a political issue, not a religious one")

Yes, a lot of money was at stake. For the religious lobbies that pushed against the separation of church and state as well as for the military and oil lobbies. And the mass plundering of Iraqi resources is only one side of a scheme that turned record surplusses into record deficits (among other vital rescue missions: saving private Halliburton... a charity movement that continued in another Gulf, following Kathrina - see "Red blogule to Halliburton and the 40 thieves").

But the corruption reached much deeper, to the very fundamentals of democracy.
 

***

3) The Arab Spring owes nothing to the Iraq War, to the contrary:

 
George W. Bush and his fan club try to sell us the Arab Spring as the consequence of his invasion of Iraq, a "liberation war" that "spread democracy across the region", but this imposture is totally unacceptable.
 
First, Bush's crusade contributed to silencing moderates, and strengthening radical islamists as the only political force capable of taking power.
 
Second, his illegal invasion for anti-democratic purposes cannot be compared to self determination movements aiming at genuine freedom and democracy. The only nation Bush ever tried to build was a theocracy: he may be an inspiration for islamists, certainly not for actual freedom fighters.
 
Third, the Bush administration did serve as an example in the region, but not in the arab world (see "Israel accepted as true the choice between its security and its ideals").


 
***
Justice has yet to be done, and I guess the last words of Tomas Young (in "The Last Letter") are worth remembering:
"A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran": "I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. I hope that before your time on earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness.".

And as always, we should expose and denounce the impostures, and blow the whistle each time a government tries to alter the separation of powers or to play with the fundamentals of democracy.


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* ... and if the "anticons" were not yet in the picture, they're not a model for democracy either: "the Tea Party is not just an alternative to the Republican or the Democratic parties, but the very negation of the republic, the very negation of democracy" (see "Grand Old Parting - enter the anticons")
** Heck, even until the 2008 elections for most of them (see "The Silence of the Lambs (War in Iraq and US networks)"). How dare collaborators give lessons after such a disgrace (see "What Fareed Zakaria got wrong")?

Bubba Clinton rocks DNC 2012: GOP Unity My Ass!

The day the NRA and the AIPAC stop dictating political platforms, the USA might become an independent democracy.
 
Day 2 of DNC 2012 started in damage control mode: the Democratic platform had to mention God and Jerusalem to pass the theocratic cut. The POTUS didn't need to receive a 3 A.M. call from the AIPAC to sense the danger for November 6. You can count on conservative pundits to spin this non-event as a blahblahgate blown to biblical proportions, but the case got easily closed. For good measure, Madeleine Albright pinned a splendid "Pro-Israel" brooch on Obama's chest. 
 
And the incident proved that at least, the Democratic Party remains open for debate. Heck: Sister Simone Campbell was even allowed to deliver her "pro-life stance"! And she didn't crucify Romney just to redeem herself or simply because he's a Mormon. 
 

 
Day 2 of DNC 2012 soon switched back to full groovy mode. The floor fretted at the news that Barack would meet Bubba on stage later in the night, and everybody waited for something special from Liz Warren.
 
Meanwhile, with only a few VIPs on stage to hammer the messages (in substance: if Barack Obama stands for working people in the US, Mitt Romney rather watches his own money work in the Caymans), CNN served slices of Hillary to fill the blanks. The Secretary of State had seeked refuge in NonCharlottistan during the Convention, and I bet John Kerry will succeed her for Obama Season V, but when she was abruptly asked how she judged her "boss", she answered with one of the sweetest compliments she ever made to her 2008 rival. Amazing "grace" indeed.
 
Meanwhile, still, John King delt his full deck of maps. I'm pretty sure that when he sleeps, John King sees red and blue county maps. Grey ones when he's got a nightmare. And when he can't fall asleep? He probably recounts Florida 2000 ballots.

Eventually, we didn't have to wait long for great moments. Sandra Fluke did more than deliver a pro-choice speech. She brought down the house and for that, she didn't even have to raise her voice. Sandra Fluke simply rose and use her voice, exactly what conservatives don't like in a woman.

At the beginning of Elizabeth Warren's "warm up act for President Clinton", I confess I thought she too needed a warm up act. Then she started addressing the issues that count, and my oh my, if independent voters listen to her speech, they'll instantly tear down the GOP ballot. Warren stood for all humans against the inhuman program of Romney-Ryan. The best answer to Mitt's infamous "corporations are people".

Bill Clinton trumpeted Barack Obama's second term from Yesterday's Gone to Forward Folks. Not as perfect as Michelle Obama yesterday (Bubba can be too talkative and professoral), but he won her heart by offering his best support to the "man who had the good sense to marry" her. What a one man show! Simply unstoppable. Barack ? "A man cool on the outside but burning for America on the inside". The RNC 2012? In "an alternative universe". Correct location, Bill. And we're not even mentioning Romney's "moral compass", more than questioned by Randy Johnson, a former Bain employee, a couple of hours earlier. By the way, Mitt: Joe Biden's seat is not empty, but all others are. For the standing ovation in his honor, courtesy POTUS #42.
 
Professor Bill Clinton slammed Mitt Romney: the wannabe should learn arithmetic before giving lessons on budget. And even on jobs. America is better off without Republicans who cost her one million jobs by crippling the Congress, and of course GM is better off without Romney in the driving seat. Paul Ryan? It takes an Irishman to know one, it takes a saxophonist to know brass, and "it takes some brass to attack a guy for doing what you did". Struck out, the rookie.

Not only did Bill deliver an even better speech than he would have for himself, but this final, powerful Clinton-Obama embrace? You couldn't find a more perfect union at work.

Cruel comparison with that cold reunion of losers right after Ryan's acceptance speech... Last time Mitt Romney hugged someone so hard, nine month later Ann had their last kid.

 
blogules 2012
Since 2003, nonsensical posts about noncritical issues in nonenglish (get your blogules transfusion in French)
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* see "DNC 2012 Day 1: Come Together, Now"

2012 Mitt Romlympics

Mitt Romney brought back a couple of titles from his overseas tour:
- from London, a Gold Medal in Nosediving followed by a Gold Medal in Backpedalling
- from Israel, a Gold Medal in Bootlicking
- for good measure, his aide added more gold from Poland (Short Range Insult Shooting)

As if the guy needed more gold. You'd expect him to excel in Sailing or Polo, but he's even better at Artistic Gymnastics:
- Floor exercise (undefeated champion, great master of flip-flop and foot-in-mouth)
- High Bar (his income bracket)
- Parallel Bars (with a weakness for the kind that vertically cross a big fat "S") - Still Rings (after all these years, they never left Mitt's and Ann's fingers - and all other rings are safely kept in the next apparatus)
- Vault (main stashes in Switzerland, Cayman Islands)
- Pommel Horse (Romney's whole universe revolves around the only part of him that never changes and never moves: you could rodeo on his hairdo, not one hair would break ranks)

The only thing missing is a record or two, but the ones from Bain and Salt Lake City have either disapeared or been destroyed, and his tax returns are far from telling the whole story. Furthermore, Romney's main achievements remain tainted, since he openly abused dubious performance-enhancing methods to optimize returns on investment.

Anyway, according to this great expert in Olympinomics, "the most important thing is not winning but taking shares".

blogules 2012
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Deja vu all over again

It never fails: election year in the US, fear feeding frenzy between ultraconservatives from DC, Tel Aviv, and Tehran.

This time, warmongers from all sides share a common target: Barack Obama. And clearly, "44" has more to fear from them than from Romney or Santorum. Among the usual suspects:

- Khamenei and Ahmadinejad clearly remember this guy who, as soon as he took over the White House, adressed the Iranian people for Nowruz*. The message got through, and if the regime crushed the first non-Palestinian uprising in the region, it lost for good whatever was left of its credibility at home**.

- Four years ago, Tel Aviv hawks perfectly seized the Bush-Obama transition, launching an infamous attack on Gaza to secure a crucial vote on February 2009, before putting out the fire with more gazoline***. With Netanyahu back, and all moderates eradicated from the national debate, these guys managed to survive the Arab Spring, deliberately playing it as a threat instead of embracing the opportunity. They are not likely to release the pressure now, and will give all the support the AIPAC needs to keep the upper hand over J Street in the vetting of candidates (beyond the White House, the Congress remains key).

- At home, Obama still has to cope with a minority of dangerous fanatics who badly want a war between Israel and Iran because it's supposed to bring back their Messiah****, but at least they don't control the Oval Office anymore. Of course, the usual Cassandra crew keeps lobbying and forging a case with smoking guns and nuclear mushrooms, but what they want is to secure fat budgets for defence contractors, not necessarily a real war. The people I fear most are the likes of Frank Carlucci, Donald Rumsfeld, or Paul Wolfowitz: amoral thugs who'd do anything to turn the tables, even if it means the humiliation of the United States of the loss of thousands of lives. Preferably when a Carter or an Obama is in office, but the trick also works when it comes to maintaining a friend in power (guess whom).

Okay. When boys start playing with a certain kind of toys and matches, things can go really bad, but they may not need to go all the way. A well timed second dip could sink Barack Obama more efficiently than a torpedo. And if you need a quick fix, ye ole oil crisis easy does it. Not very original, I know, but these guys are more often into creationism than into creativity.

One thing's for sure: we'll never run out of bad guys for this kind of show.


blogules 2012
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*as well as Israeli leaders (Beyond the Iranian people, Obama is addressing Israel)
**"Khamenei's death wish"
***"Bush's Farewell : Mission Accomplished... as Fundamentalist in Chief", "Netanyahu's al Aqsa intifada"
Iran : who wants war and why

Newt Gingrich enters McCainistan

How low can GOP candidates go to get the nomination?

Four years ago, John McCain set a record by selling his soul to fundamentalists: a visit to the Discovery Institute (a creationist joint) before the primaries, an ayatollah with lipstick as a running mate (Sarah Palin). Even Fundamentalist in Chief Dubya had to give his nod to his former rival.

Newt Gingrich scattered the crass ceiling in an interview to the Jewish Channel by referring to Palestinians as "an invented Palestinian people"*.

As ludicrous as his depiction of Netanyahu's dystopia as "a civilian democracy that obeys the rule of law".

What next The Grich: picking Billy Graham as VP? recruiting armies of Timothy McVeighs to reduce the number of civil servants?

What's the point of winning the favors of AIPAC if he loses the rest ?

Does this man really think the "invented American people" will vote for him?

blogules 2011

* see "Newt Gingrich: Palestinians are 'an invented' people [video]" (LA Times 20111209)

Palestinian Statehood and the DSK Jurisprudence

Last Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu seemed confident no vote on Palestinian statehood would happen at the UN this week, and it looks like 2012 candidate Barack Obama is dutifully making sure both the American and Israeli governments are spared the humiliation of a recognition by the international community followed by a veto from a supposed promoter of Palestine's emergence as a state.

Mahmoud Abbas was right to push his luck in the wake of the Arab Spring. No dialog being possible between the two radical factions ruling over Gaza and Tel Aviv, moderates had to remind the public opinion of the need to stop an unacceptable injustice.

But these days, there's no justice to be seen in New York. The Dominique Strauss-Kahn jurisprudence ruled that a rape victim has no right to be considered by justice unless she's the Virgin Mary*, and that's exactly what's happening to Palestine.

It could be worse : if UN headquarters were in Georgia, Mahmoud Abbas could be sharing the fate of Troy Davis.

blogules 2011

* see "DSK is not 'not guilty' : US Justice's standards are poor"

Obama 2012

Out of the blue, an e-mail from Barack, simply titled "2012"*, with a link to a YouTube video (is it "it starts with us" or "it starts with US" ?).

Obama does remain the favorite for the next elections. In spite of the Mid-Term Elections disaster. In spite of the disappointment of his liberal democrat base (not very happy with the reforms' compromises and the Bush heritage (Gitmo and Iraq mess). In spite of the Republican revival (the party has split anyway, remember "GOP, time to split" ?). In spite of an army of potential opponents : Jon Huntsman, Tim Pawlenty, Donald Trump, Bobby Jindal, Mitt Romney...

Among key achievements : a Nobel Peace Prize, ambitious reforms, two moderates at the Supreme Court, diplomatic success in Tunisia, and a spectacularly improved image for the country overseas (even WikiLeaks failed to destroy it). All this while facing a major depression, the country's worst environmental disaster ever, and series of uprisings across the Muslim world...

Among key disappointments : a very poor communication for internal affairs (disconnected, maybe overprotected by Rahm Emanuel ?), and Israel for foreign affairs. The POTUS obviously spared AIPAC and finance lobbies to secure his reforms, and then to limit the damage at the mid-term elections.

Overall, Barack Hussein Obama governed from the center and rather well, even if he exposed some limits. In a perfect world, he would be easily reelected, then get rid of the Geithners and Summerses, and finally would focus on history and in particular the Israel-Palstine case. Once again thrashed, the GOP would at last start its own reforms, get rid of the Palins and Pauls, and push a moderate and pragmatic candidate for 2016.

In the worst case scenario, Americans would elect a pseudo-Republican populist impostor and irreversibly cut the country in two.


blogules 2011

* Stephane --

Today, we are filing papers to launch our 2012 campaign.

We're doing this now because the politics we believe in does not start with expensive TV ads or extravaganzas, but with you -- with people organizing block-by-block, talking to neighbors, co-workers, and friends. And that kind of campaign takes time to build.

So even though I'm focused on the job you elected me to do, and the race may not reach full speed for a year or more, the work of laying the foundation for our campaign must start today.

We've always known that lasting change wouldn't come quickly or easily. It never does. But as my administration and folks across the country fight to protect the progress we've made -- and make more -- we also need to begin mobilizing for 2012, long before the time comes for me to begin campaigning in earnest.

As we take this step, I'd like to share a video that features some folks like you who are helping to lead the way on this journey. Please take a moment to watch:




In the coming days, supporters like you will begin forging a new organization that we'll build together in cities and towns across the country. And I'll need you to help shape our plan as we create a campaign that's farther reaching, more focused, and more innovative than anything we've built before.

We'll start by doing something unprecedented: coordinating millions of one-on-one conversations between supporters across every single state, reconnecting old friends, inspiring new ones to join the cause, and readying ourselves for next year's fight.

This will be my final campaign, at least as a candidate. But the cause of making a lasting difference for our families, our communities, and our country has never been about one person. And it will succeed only if we work together.

There will be much more to come as the race unfolds. Today, simply let us know you're in to help us begin, and then spread the word:

http://my.barackobama.com/2012

Thank you,

Barack

Sand curtain

If protorevolutionary movements across the Arabo-Muslim world tend to remind me of the late eighties in Eastern Europe, this is completely different.

This time it's not about the regionwide collapse of a corrupt system and ideology with a top-down benediction from a pro-reform leader (Gorbachev), but about several grassroot movements challenging local dictators, corrupt regimes sans ideology.

Note that both Ben Ali and Mubarak were already ailing caids. Beyond their political deaths, what matters now is the removal of entourages controlling most of the power in each country.

Of course, nature abhors a vacuum, and fundamentalists would love to step in to fill the ideology void. At this defining moment, most people on the street seem to reject as false the choice between dictatorship and fundamentalism, but most people on the street prefer order to chaos, and uncertainty shouldn't last too long.

Israel nervously watches as Jordanian and Egyptian regimes falter under popular pressure. Muslim friends who could turn enemies, with the benediction of Iran, whose own corrupt regime postponed its ineluctable fall by a few years by crushing popular uprisings at home. Unfortunately, these days, Israeli leaders seem to position themselves as a corrupt regime with some ideology. Not a dictatorship, mind you, but not a bunch of nice guys either.

Barack Obama is a nice guy. Unfortunately, these days, the US leader doesn't seem to be in charge of foreign policy, so huge is the gap between what he says and what the US do. And the poor lad doesn't have one Gorbachev to call if he wants that sand curtain torn down...

So what's ahead ? Probably trouble and uncertainties, but somehow this transitional period has started after WWII and independence wars, and we're closer to the end than from the beginning. Something new will emerge and eventually, something positive. Societies freed from political and religious deviances. Hopefully, the time has come for a true Muslim renaissance.

Right now, most dictators across the globe must have gotten some kind of message. But even supposedly strong democracies should be thinking twice when they applaud successful local uprisings or self-determination processes like in South Sudan : what is a nation in this globalized world, what will be holding its members together in this networked millenium ?

More than ever, each individual will reach for the universal (as a human being), and the personal (identity).

blogules 2011

J Street : It's Time

It's time for moderates to speak up and denounce impostors.

It's time for Palestinian and Israeli democrats to say no to radicals who keep torpedoeing peace and undermining their own camps.

J Street is running a full page ad in the NYT to remind opinion leaders that a majority of Jews in the US think "it's time for Israel to stop allowing extremist settlers and their sympathizers to endanger not only the friendship of the United States, but also the very future of Israel"*.

J Street also sends a message to AIPAC : now that Obama's healthcare reforms have passed, the politics of fear cannot rule the agenda until next elections. Change must come to the Middle East, with full support from the US, but also from Israeli citizens who reject as false the choice between their security and their ideals**.

blogules 2010

* see "Our Full-Page Ad in the New York Times"

** see "Israel accepted as true the choice between its security and its ideals"

Joe Biden's stand-up comedy routine

Back from Israel, Joe Biden at 2010 Radio & TV Correspondents' Dinner : his trip in Israel, his tips from Tiger Woods, his palm reading of Sarah, his foot in mouth disease...



blogules 2010

Barack "No Crisis" Obama

Joe Biden publicly humiliated by Bibi Netanyahu* ?

Israeli hardliners pushing provocations to new standards, embarrassing even their "regular hawk" followers ?

General David Petraeus confirming the impossibility to support at the same time this clique of warmongers and peace ?

"No Crisis", answers Barack No Drama Obama.

The POTUS doesn't mean that there is no crisis between the US of A and Israel : he simply doesn't want a crisis between his healthcare reform agenda and AIPAC ahead of US mid-term elections.

So be it. No Crisis, then.

As planned by Netanyahu & co, Salam Fayyad and Fatah reformers will lose to radicals, the Palestinian Authority collapse for good, and even if Bibi doesn't get the intifada he wants**, Tel Aviv extremists will strengthten their grip on the Israeli democracy without even the weakest reaction from the Israeli people (I won't even mention Israeli opposition parties : they either joined or condoned this infamous coalition, and Amir Perez is not my idea of a peace maker).

No Crisis, Oby wan Kennedy said.

Barack Hussein Obama also said these few words, during his inaugural address : "to those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy". Netanyahu obviously took it as an encouragement : "great ! I will destroy peace, and I'll be rewarded for the illegal colonies I build."

No Crisis, I'm telling you : all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

blogules 2010

* maybe, instead of Joe The Biden, the Israeli PM expected Joe The Plumber, who would have more cheerfully given a hand for new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem ("Home Improvement" after "Israel's Funniest Away Videos" ?)
** see "Netanyahu's al Aqsa intifada"

Israel's Funniest Away Videos

Following the murder of Hamas VIP Mahmoud Abu Al-Madbouh in Dubai, the Emirate's authorities have been pointing a collection of fingers and cameras at the Mossad.

Of course, the question is not : "did the Mossad do it ?" but "did the Mossad lose its mojo ?"

I mean : one can expect blunders from say French inspectors Clouseaus (remember the "Rainbow Warrior" ?), but these guys are not supposed to be a bunch of amateur spies or Borat wannabes smiling for the surveillance cameras.

I wish CCTVs were that omnipresent when Ehud Barak used to dress as a woman to play pranks on Palestinians in Beirut... Maybe there's a record somewhere, who knows ?

Anyway, let's keep this UAE footage for "Israel's Funniest Away Videos".

blogules 2010

After Arafat, will Tel Aviv hawks terminate Mahmoud Abbas ?

Abandoned by the US, humiliated by Netanyahu, crippled by his own behavior during the destruction of Gaza, Mahmoud Abbas announced that he had "no desire to run in the forthcoming election".

The parallel with Yasser Arafat is clear, and Tel Aviv hawks used the same strategy. The main disapointment for "Abu Mazen" came from Obama, unable to deliver the goods and to prevent Israel from pushing its radical agenda (see "Israel accepted as true the choice between its security and its ideals").

Yet, it's not as if Abbas said he wouldn't run in 2010. There's still a chance, a thurst for "desire". But the message his clear : my "authority" is a farce, only Israel and the US can decide the future of Palestine. They were the ones who put the Hamas where it is, and the Fatah in this terrible shape. My failure is their failure, and I'm afraid the US will keep washing their hands on my martyrdom until I die.

Before this speech, Abbas didn't stand one chance to win in 2010. Now, he is provoking change : status quo or any further delaying from Washington would be be as lethal as if Hillary and Barack themselves hammered down the nails.

He's not as much saying "I quit" as asking "hey Barack, do you want our blood on your hands ?"

If Israeli moderates want to speak up, now is the time. J Street is gaining ground in Washington, the UN is pressuring for a follow up to Goldstone's report, and there is still room for peace. Palestinians need real, tangible hope. If Hamas wins, Netanyahu wins, Israel loses.

blogules 2009

Israel accepted as true the choice between its security and its ideals

Ahead of a September 29 presentation to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the United Nations' Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict released its key conclusions.

Unsurprisingly, both Hamas and Israel have been proven guilty of war crimes in a report covering 36 "incidents".

Between December 2008 and January 2009 or, as I pointed out (see "A Christmas Gift for Fundamentalists ?"), during the no-top-man's land between Obama's election and his formal inauguration, 13 Israeli and more than 1,400 Palestinians died.

Against Palestinian terrorists, the reports pointed out indiscriminate bombings, but found no evidence of "human shields", bringing even more pressure on Tel Aviv hawks who get most of the blame : disproportionate actions, collective punishment, use of illegal weapons (white phosphorus shells)...

Worse : this is the consequence of wrongdoings by a few rogue soldiers, but "the result of deliberate guidance issued to soldiers", or as Richard Goldstone put it, "policies". I suggested another word for that in "Israel openly embraces fascism". The report went as far as mentioning "crimes against humanity".

The mission wants the United Nations Security Council to investigate further and to consider bringing charges to the International Criminal Court. If the US don't put a veto on it, it may fly, but up to a certain point : the ICC's jurisdiction is not accepted by Israel.

Israeli hawks denounce an unfair and biased mission and as a matter of fact, Christine Chinkin, a member of the commission, accused Israel of war crimes in an op-ed published last January.

But blaming the thermometer doesn't cure the flu.

And even after the embarrassing revelations on a prominent Israeli human rights activist*, Israeli moderates are more than ever welcome to speak up and loud against their unruly rulers.


blogules 2009


* Human Rights Watch's Marc Garlasco happens to collect Nazi memorabilia !

Israel openly embraces fascism

"Let's face it: they're fascists".

Beyond a certain point, you have to give up politically correctness and diplomatic circumnavigations.

Israel is being ruled by fascists.

This week-end's outrageous expulsions of Palestinian families* in the middle of Palestinian territory (East Jerusalem), only confirmed a recent hike in deliberate provocations from Tel Aviv following Obama's clear warnings issued at Benjamin Netanyahu during his last White House visit : illegal colonization unleashed, hatemongering declarations or actions... (see "Netanyahu's al Aqsa Intifada").

These provocations soothingly comfort Israel's extreme right voters as Avigdor Lieberman feels the heat : following years of investigation, the police officially demanded that the extremist Vice-Prime Minister / Minister of Foreign Affairs shall be charged for a massive corruption scheme.

But Israel had already entered deep into illegal territories long before the Netanyahu Administration V2 even reached power : illegal attacks on Lebanon and Gaza, illegal anschluss of Palestinian land, illegal use of weapons of mass disinformation, illegal colonies, illegal walls, illegal murders on foreign land, negation of basic rights of Palestinian AND Israeli citizens...

Israel is now officially being ruled by fascists, and I'm weighing my words the way I weighed my words five years ago, using the very definition of fascism by Benito Mussolini himself to define Bush-Cheney Amerika (see "Let's face it they're fascists").

Once again, this is not about religion, and this is not even about the existence of Israel. This is about justice and politics, about the legal and political framework wanted by the people of Israel (see "Justice in America - Democracy in Israel?").

If any Israeli citizen refuses to see his or her country embracing fascism any further, let he or she speak out, speak out loud, and speak out now, without waiting for the next elections.

Beyond the future of Palestine, the future of Israel is at stake.


* "Police evict two Arab families in Sheikh Jarrah, sparking furious int'l reaction" (Haaretz 20080801)

If Americans knew

It's easy to twist figures or maps, but they simply can't lie when unfairness is so obvious.

Founded by journalist Alison Weir, If Americans Knew (ifamericansknew.org) is one of many trying to fill the gaps, but this site targets the American audience and that's an essential step towards peace in the Middle East.

Fair pedagogy is crucial, and the American audience must hear Palestinian voices as well as Israeli voices. Right now, that's not the case : US media tend to take the Israeli side even when Israeli leaders err on the wrong side of the road

Traditionally, Americans are not well informed of what's going on overseas in general. And too often, they can only see one side of the coin. It's not only a matter of networks being biased, but also of viewers with a short attention span for things not American.

Yet change seems to be coming with new voices (Obama, J Street...), and the internet. In spite of the Israeli blackout (foreign media were blocked outside of the strip), all major channels had to somehow mention things happening in Gaza because these things were all over the web, because that was the "story" to "tell".

What Americans have been told for decades is that Palestinians are terrorists and Israeli under siege. What the world is realizing is that terror has changed sides, that Palestine is under siege, and that if hatemongers are gaining ground in Gaza, it's mainly because hatemongers are winning in Tel Aviv.

BTW, excellent and timely report from the Red Cross today.

blogules 2009

Netanyahu's al Aqsa intifada

Benjamin Netanyahu has a sense for timing. To answer Obama's ultimatum on illegal colonies on Palestinian ground, he waited for the POTUS to be silenced by uproar in Iran*.

Emboldened by the crisis in Tehran, Tel Aviv hawks pushed ahead, financing new settlements. Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharanovitch's visit to al Aqsa Mosque was supposed to mirror that of then Interior Minister Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount back in 2000, which ignited the Second Intifada. Only Sharon didn't even dare entering the Mosque. Avigdor Lieberman's friend did, and his team went as far as exlaining that "the intention of the visit was to see how the police would deploy in case of an emergency"**.

The Temple Mount has been under considerable threat for years, several extreme right Israeli activist groups undermining its very foundations and claiming this sacred Muslim ground as theirs. One could hardly find any more controversial thing to do at this defining moment.

As advertised during his campaign, Benjamin Netanyahu is governing the most extreme way. His intentions are crystal clear : fueling hatred, destroying all peace attempts, strengthening radicals within Israeli as well as Palestinian ranks... business as usual for a post-Rabin Israeli PM. The difference : Netanyahu must act even bolder than his predecessors to maintain his coalition.

Joe Biden mentioned a test during the first 6 months of Obama's presidency ? Here we are. Die hard fundamentalists are putting their very existence in the balance in both Iran and Israel... And oh, Kim Jong-il plans another missile launch to celebrate July the 4th. Take your ticket and get in the line.

* see previous blogules on post-Bush Israel and Iran, and "Justice in America, No Democracy in Israel ?".
** from IslamOnline.net and "Occupied Jerusalem" : "Palestinians Blast Provocative Al-Aqsa Visit"

State of The World Union : The Obama Doctrine

Believe it or not, we live in a multicultural and diverse world.

A world with Muslim Americans, Christian Palestinians, and Jewish Iranians. A world where a woman can lead the biggest Muslim-majority country, where a Hussein can lead America (which by the way is not a Christian country*), and where an Israeli leader is allowed to survive a few hours after signing a peace agreement with an Arab or Palestinian leader.

Barack Hussein Obama delivered his first State of the World Union address in Cairo**.

A great and powerful speech, without any surprise as far as the content was concerned. But I guess much will be said about its form, around 7 points (a number rich of symbols in all religions) :

Priority given to "violent extremism in all of its forms". In a nutshell : "We reject as false the choice between the Bush Doctrine and the Qaeda Doctrine"***. Yes, dear reader, we're definitely heading towards a Universal Declaration of Independence from Fundamentalism. And U-Turn is not an option, because "violence is a Dead End".

Second point : solving the first point will be much easier once we settle the issues between "Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world" (note the address to the peoples, beyond the states)

Third point : North Korean and Iranian leaders must read Sun Tzu and Stan Lee. "With great powers come great responsibilities", said Uncle Ben to Peter Parker. In That One's mouth, it comes like this : uh... lllook, let's consider the "rights and responsibilities of nations on nuclear weapons".

Issue #4 : Democracy. A beautiful word, which the new POTUS doesn't want to define nor to force into other countries (leaving that to his predecessor). He does expose clear directions, though : "the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere. And we will welcome all elected, peaceful governments – provided they govern with respect for all their people." The perfect message ahead of the Iranian elections, stressed by this spectacular act of contrition on behalf of the American people : "the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically-elected Iranian government". Change is coming to the CIA as well...

The 5th branch of this verbal Menorah is "religious freedom". But not as the "freedom of proselytization" envisioned by W., willing to open the gates of secular Europe to fundamentalists, cultists, and megachurch franchises... Religious freedom is first about "the ability of peoples to live together". Obama prefers "Interfaith service" to that more or less literal cut-throat competition.

Number 6 : "I am not a number, I am a free man!" And a free woman. Always keeping in mind that "women's rights" are not threatened only in the Muslim world. The US or France are lagging behind "Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, we have seen Muslim-majority countries elect a woman to lead". Obama scores another big hit when he blames hastive judgements : "I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who CHOOSES to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality".

The 7th and final point can seem a trifle commercial, but "economic development and opportunity" does include education and science, and not the way intended by promoters of Intelligent Design and other creationists of all confessions. We are facing a future where, even if peace emerges soon, many generations will have no experience of it beforehand. This is about preventing a relapse to "violent extremism in all of its forms", preventing a return to square one.

A call for mutual respect wrapped up in references from the Torah, the Quran, and the New Testament. Religion never mixes well in politics but precisely, somehow, Obama managed to draw a most precious line in Egypt.



* according to the first international treaty signed by the US (Treaty of Tripoli, 1796, Art. 11.) : "the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion". That's right before the part quoted by Obama in Cairo ("the United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims").

** see transcript (NYT 20090604)

*** If you miss the Bush-Cheney, us-vs-them mantras, there's still Osama Bin Laden :
""Antagonizing Muslims" ?!? Look who's talking, Osama"