Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Moderate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tsigprofit who wrote (11026)	5/23/2004 2:13:31 PM
From: Thomas M.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 20773

Actually, people frequently speak out in Israel. This does not represent any progress, and it will not help much at all. This minority cannot accomplish anything. The problem is entirely in America. Tom

To: tsigprofit who wrote (11026)	5/24/2004 5:21:28 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 20773

UNITED STATES: Architects of empire By URI AVNERY After the end of hostilities in Iraq, the world will be faced with two decisive facts. First, the immense superiority of US arms can beat any people in the world, valiant as it may be. Second, the small group that initiated this war - an alliance of Christian fundamentalists and [Judeo-]conservatives - has won big, and from now on it will control Washington almost without limits. The combination of these two facts constitutes a danger to the world, and especially to the Middle East, the Arab peoples and the future of Israel. Because this alliance is the enemy of peaceful solutions, the enemy of Arab governments, the enemy of the Palestinian people and especially the enemy of the Israeli peace camp. It does not dream only about a US empire, in the style of the Roman one, but also of an Israeli mini-empire, under the control of the extreme right and the settlers. It wants to change the regimes in all Arab countries. It will cause permanent chaos in the region, the consequences of which are impossible to foresee. Its mental world consists of a mixture of ideological fervour and crass material interests, an exaggerated US patriotism and right-wing Zionism. That is a dangerous mixture. There is in it something of the spirit of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a man who has always had grandiose plans for changing the region with a mix of creative imagination, unbridled chauvinism and a primitive faith in brute force. The winners are the so-called Washington [Judeo-]conservatives. A compact group who hold key positions in the administration of US President George Bush, as well as in the web of right-wing and establishment think tanks that play an important role in formulating US policy and the views of the ed-op pages of influential US newspapers. For many years, this was a marginal group that fostered a right-wing agenda in all fields. They fought against abortion, homosexuality, pornography and drugs. When Binyamin Netanyahu assumed power in Israel, they offered him advice on how to fight the Arabs. [...] A new Balfour declaration The ideology of this group, that calls for a US world empire as well as for a Greater Israel, reminds one of bygone days. The Balfour Declaration of 1917, which promised Jews a homeland in Palestine on another people's land, had two parents. One was Christian Zionism (among whose adherents were illustrious statesmen like Lord Palmerston and Lord Shaftesbury, long before the foundation of the Zionist movement), the other was British imperialism. The Zionist idea allowed the British to crowd out their French competitors and take possession of Palestine, which was needed to safeguard the Suez Canal and the shorter sea route to India. Now the same thing is happening again. Last year, Perle organised a briefing in which a speaker proposed war not only on Iraq, but on Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well, in order to secure the world's oil heartland. Iraq, he asserted, was only the pivot. One of the justifications for this design is the need to defend Israel. The [Judeo-]cons will cause a long period of chaos in the Arab and Muslim world. The Iraqi war has already shown that their understanding of Arab realities is shaky. Their political assumptions did not stand the test, only brute force saved their undertaking. Some day the Americans will go home, but Israelis have to live with the Arab peoples. Chaos in the Arab world endangers our future. Wolfowitz and Co may dream about a democratic, liberal, Zionist- and US-loving Middle East, but the result of their adventures may well turn out to be a fanatical and fundamentalist region that will threaten our very existence. [Long-time peace activist Uri Avnery is a founding member of Gush Shalom and the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. Avnery has authored numerous books and articles on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Abridged from <http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/>.] From Green Left Weekly, April 23, 2003. greenleft.org.au