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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (17512)	1/29/2002 12:06:23 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

>>DIASPORA Jews amidst Greeks and Romans ERICH S. GRUEN What was life like for Jews settled throughout the Mediterranean world of Classical antiquity--and what place did Jewish communities have in the diverse civilization dominated by Greeks and Romans? In a probing account of the Jewish diaspora in the four centuries from Alexander the Great's conquest of the Near East to the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 C.E., Erich Gruen reaches often surprising conclusions. By the first century of our era, Jews living abroad far outnumbered those living in Palestine and had done so for generations. Substantial Jewish communities were found throughout the Greek mainland and Aegean islands, Asia Minor, the Tigris-Euphrates valley, Egypt, and Italy. Focusing especially on Alexandria, Greek cities in Asia Minor, and Rome, Gruen explores the lives of these Jews: the obstacles they encountered, the institutions they established, and their strategies for adjustment. He also delves into Jewish writing in this period, teasing out how Jews in the diaspora saw themselves. There emerges a picture of a Jewish minority that was at home in Greco-Roman cities: subject to only sporadic harassment; its intellectuals immersed in Greco-Roman culture while refashioning it for their own purposes; exhibiting little sign of insecurity in an alien society; and demonstrating both a respect for the Holy Land and a commitment to the local community and Gentile government. Gruen's innovative analysis of the historical and literary record alters our understanding of the way this vibrant minority culture engaged with the dominant Classical civilization. Erich S. Gruen is Professor of History and Classics, University of California at Berkeley. << hup.harvard.edu Quaere: if the Jews left Israel voluntarily, why do they claim the right of return? In fairness, there is an alternative view, that they did not leave voluntarily. Who's right? us-israel.org Why does it matter? Because the Zionists claim the right to the fullest extent of land that ever was under Jewish rule - and we are their allies in achieving this goal. Aren't we? The corollary to "know your enemy" is "know your friends."

To: Ilaine who wrote (17512)	1/29/2002 12:22:14 PM
From: maceng2	Respond to of 281500

Cobalt, First some humor guardian.co.uk Here is the Sun explaining the real situation with detainees in Cuba. (there was a big noise in the press about it). Remember you can't even say boo to a cat here, never mind hunt foxes -g- guardian.co.uk Sun denounces media 'lies' over Camp X-Ray Jessica Hodgson Media Tuesday January 22, 2002 The Sun today launches a blistering attack on the "lies" being disseminated by "hand-wringing liberals" in the media following the outcry at photographs of al-Qaida prisoners at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a front page splash, the paper pours scorn on the concerns of human rights groups about maltreatment of the prisoners. "No torture, No shackles, No gags, No blindfolds, NO SCANDAL", the paper says. And in a dig at papers such as the Mirror - basking in its new reputation as the tabloid home of foreign news - and the Guardian, it berates the "hand-wringing liberals" who questioned the prisoners' treatment. The paper reports that "British investistigators" found the prisoners were "well fed, were called to prayer through public address loudspeakers and were even sprayed to protect them from mosquito bites". "They are given as much drinking water as they want, three meals a day and food that complies with their religious practices, if they wish it," the paper reports, quoting the foreign office minister Ben Bradshaw. And the Sun rejects as "completely false" the "lurid stories about torture and sensory deprivation". The move represents a bid by the tabloid to make the continuing story of the US's war on terrorism its own again. It sets itself up against rival red-top the Mirror, which under editor Piers Morgan has championed a staunchly critical stance to American foreign policy and more recently, its treatment of prisoners taken during the war in Afghanistan. The Mirror's leader column yesterday berated Tony Blair for his support for the US's "cruelty" and vengeance. Newspapers are largely united in their condemnation of the US's treatment of the prisoners. Even the Daily Mail yesterday described the treatment of prisoners as a "humiliation", carrying an interview with the mother of a British citizen believed to be being kept at Camp X-Ray. The Sun's stance follows a visit to the News Corporation headquarters by the paper's proprietor, Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch, a staunch supporter of George Bush, is keen for the Sun to return to the strong editorial campaigns championed under Kelvin MacKenzie, who edited the paper in the 1980s.