South Jerusalem — A Progressive, Skeptical Blog on Israel, Judaism, Culture, Politics, and Literature The Folly of World War IV: Wars Are Never Quick, Cheap or Easy This post first appeared at TomDispatch. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, left, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey speak to the press about the ongoing bombing campaign against militants in Iraq and Syria during a news conference at the Pentagon on September 26, 2014 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by T.J. Assume that the hawks get their way — that the United States does whatever it takes militarily to confront and destroy ISIS. Answering that question requires taking seriously the outcomes of other recent US interventions in the Greater Middle East. In the wake of the recent attacks in Paris, the American mood is strongly trending in favor of this sort of escalation. In fact, subsequent events in each case mocked early claims of success or outright victory. Indeed, the very existence of the Islamic State (ISIS) today renders a definitive verdict on the Iraq wars over which the Presidents Bush presided, each abetted by a Democratic successor. Not so with Cohen.
About Mondoweiss Mondoweiss is a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective. It has four principal aims: To publish important developments touching on Israel/Palestine, the American Jewish community and the shifting debate over US foreign policy in a timely fashion.To publish a diversity of voices to promote dialogue on these important issues.To foster the movement for greater fairness and justice for Palestinians in American foreign policy.To offer alternatives to pro-Zionist ideology as a basis for American Jewish identity. This blog is co-edited by Philip Weiss and Adam Horowitz. We maintain this blog because of 9/11, Iraq, Gaza, the Nakba, the struggling people of Israel and Palestine, and our Jewish background. This site aims to build a diverse community, with posts from many authors. Contact Allison Deger, Assistant Editor Email: allison@mondoweiss.net Twitter: @allissoncd Donate
The Echoes of 1939 IN AUGUST 1939, two weeks before the start of World War II in Europe, I was admitted to England as an infant refugee. My parents and I got out of Germany, where I was born, at the last moment. Three months earlier, my older sister, then age 10, had been admitted to England along with about 10,000 other unaccompanied Jewish children in what became known as the Kindertransport. When the British admitted us, all other doors were closed. America, for its part, had a restrictive quota system for immigrants that my father saw as lengthy and, thus, hopeless. Some refugees who had fled Germany to other countries in Europe continued to arrive in England even after war broke out. The British dealt with this by sending late arriving adult males to the Isle of Man, in the sea between England and Ireland. Senator Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush say that only Christian Syrians should be admitted. One of those who proposes to exclude all Syrians is Senator Marco Rubio.
Israel Policy Forum | Principled. Pragmatic. Pro-Israel. After Living in Norway, America Feels Backward. Here's Why. - BillMoyers.com This post originally appeared at TomDispatch and in print in slightly shortened form at The Nation. Some years ago, I faced up to the futility of reporting true things about America’s disastrous wars and so I left Afghanistan for another remote mountainous country far away. It was the polar opposite of Afghanistan: a peaceful, prosperous land where nearly everybody seemed to enjoy a good life, on the job and in the family. It’s true that they didn’t work much, not by American standards anyway. Often I was invited to go along. Four years on, thinking I should settle down, I returned to the United States. Ducking the Subject One night I tuned in to the Democrats’ presidential debate to see if they had any plans to restore the America I used to know. He believes, he added, in “a society where all people do well. But Hillary Clinton quickly countered, “We are not Denmark.” In that debate, no more was heard of Denmark, Sweden or Norway. I was dumbfounded. Why We’re Not Denmark Family Matters
Talking Points - M J Rosenberg's blog From UK: The phony in American politics Then I’ll get on my knees and prayWe don’t get fooled again.The Who, Won’t Get Fooled Again For most of history we had an excuse. Emperors, pharaohs, czars, kings, queens, sultans, sheiks, they descended on us via peremptory power structures and the vagaries of genetics. If the king was a warmongering dolt or half-mad egomaniac, it wasn’t our, the people’s, fault. American democracy was supposed to change all that. As Trump, Cruz, Clinton, Sanders, and the rest of the 2016 crew tackle the snows and insults of February in pursuit of votes, all the theatrics of authenticity are on display. Let the record reflect: the American people are a bunch of suckers. Flour sales boomed, and Pappy himself was a star, the biggest mass-media celebrity in the south-west and a man with his eye on the next big thing. The effect was electric. The O’Daniel rallies appealed to the same deep human instinct and provided the same emotional outlets which the camp meeting formerly offered.