[NYTIMES] This is also a period of rising criticism of Israel, much of it directed at the rightward drift of its own government and some of it even questioning Israel’s very foundation as a Jewish state. We have been and remain stalwart supporters of Israel, and believe that good-faith criticism should work to strengthen it over the long term by helping it stay true to its democratic values. But anti-Zionism can clearly serve as a cover for anti-Semitism — and some criticism of Israel, as the cartoon demonstrated, is couched openly in anti-Semitic terms.
The responsibility for acts of hatred rests on the shoulders of the proponents and perpetrators. But history teaches that the rise of extremism requires the acquiescence of broader society.
As anti-Semitism has surged from the internet into the streets, President Trump has done too little to rouse the national conscience against it. Though he condemned the cartoon in The Times, he has failed to speak out against anti-Semitic groups like the white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 chanting, “Jews will not replace us.” He has practiced a politics of intolerance for diversity, and attacks on some minority groups threaten the safety of every minority group. The gunman who attacked the synagogue in San Diego claimed responsibility for setting a fire at a nearby mosque, and wrote that he was inspired by the deadly attack on mosques in New Zealand last month.
A particularly frightening, and also historically resonant, aspect of the rise of anti-Semitism in recent years is that it has come from both the right and left sides of the political spectrum. Both right-wing and left-wing politicians have traded in incendiary tropes, like the ideas that Jews secretly control the financial system or politicians.
The recent attacks on Jews in the United States have been carried out by men who identify as white supremacists, including the killing of 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue last year. But the A.D.L. reports that most anti-Semitic assaults, and incidents of harassment and the vandalism of Jewish community buildings and cemeteries, are not carried out by the members of extremist groups. Instead, the perpetrators are hate-filled individuals.
In the 1930s and the 1940s, The Times was largely silent as anti-Semitism rose up and bathed the world in blood. That failure still haunts this newspaper. Now, rightly, The Times has declared itself “deeply sorry” for the cartoon and called it “unacceptable.” Apologies are important, but the deeper obligation of The Times is to focus on leading through unblinking journalism and the clear editorial expression of its values. Society in recent years has shown healthy signs of increased sensitivity to other forms of bigotry, yet somehow anti-Semitism can often still be dismissed as a disease gnawing only at the fringes of society. That is a dangerous mistake. As recent events have shown, it is a very mainstream problem.
As the world once again contends with this age-old enemy, it is not enough to refrain from empowering it. It is necessary to stand in opposition.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
The NYT publishes an openly antisemitic cartoon and it's Trump's fault for not doing enough. The man who is the greatest friend Israel ever had. His fault. Yup.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/02/2019 3:27 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Apparently the New York Times has come to understand their mea culpa - but whaddabout Trump! is not enough:
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Following the eruption of protests in Sudan and the military offensive in Libya, apprehensions of insecurity on Egypt’s western and southern borders have started growing. It was no coincidence that both ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. and commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... visited Cairo as tensions reached their peak back home, in a demonstration of where Egypt’s bets were placed at the time.
It is difficult to predict at this point how susceptible Egypt is to a spillover of unrest. It is equally difficult to measure the sustainability of Egypt’s current alliances with both Sudan and Libya.
Egypt’s support for Haftar is not a surprise as, since launching Operation Dignity in 2014 in Benghazi, he has posed as the archenemy of Islamist militias and the only one capable of curtailing the growing influence of ISIS and similar groups. In fact, the kidnapping and beheading by ISIS of 21 Coptic Egyptian workers in Libya in 2015 was seen by many as retaliation for Egypt’s support for Haftar. Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, the congregants were being herded into the paddy wagon... the executive authority in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , which sees Haftar’s offensive as a "coup," as Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj put it, is recognized by the UN.
As a military strongman and commander of an army that has received the financial and logistical support of several allies, Haftar is the only hope Egypt has to secure its western border, which has been quite porous lately.
Egypt’s stance on Haftar can be compared to that of La Belle France, which reportedly backs him in the hope that his victory will achieve the kind of stability that would curb the influx of immigrants colonists toward the Northern Mediterranean. Egypt fears a threat to its national security if Haftar fails to eradicate Islamist militias, as operatives would continue entering through the western desert.
With Sudan, the situation is a little different. Bashir and Egypt have not exactly been on the best terms for several reasons, including the dispute over the Halayeb Triangle, Sudan’s support for Æthiopia’s construction of the Renaissance Dam, and Sudan’s close ties with Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor.... . Bashir’s government also sympathized with Islamists and provided refuge to several Moslem Brüderbund members who fled from Egypt following the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi.
But the protests seem to have brought the two countries closer. Egypt has openly declared that it prioritizes Sudan’s stability and supports the will of the Sudanese people.
For Egypt, it makes no difference who is in charge, whether Defense Minister and former Vice President Awad Ibn Auf, who toppled Bashir, or Bashir’s de facto successor Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Bourhan. Either way, having the military in power is in Egypt’s best interests. Not only will the southern border be secured, and the threat of immigrants colonists flocking northwards in case of civil strife eliminated, but bilateral relations will also take a different turn.
Earlier reports of the expulsion of Moslem Brüderbund members from Sudan under Bashir had already signaled a possible rapprochement with Egypt, which can now make its backing of the post-Bashir government contingent upon an official anti-Islamist stance and a dissociation from countries that support the Moslem Brüderbund.
Haftar is expected to be a much closer ally to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. If he emerges victorious, both would work together to clamp down on weapons smuggling and Death Eatergunnies crossing to either side. Every chance Haftar stands to stabilize Libya is also a chance for Egypt to protect itself against terrorist threats.
Through Libya, Egypt can seal off a vital passageway for gangs. Through Sudan, which saw Bashir’s now disbanded National Congress Party as the last standing Islamist stronghold in the region, it can deal a blow to Bashir’s allies Qatar and Turkey.
If its southern and western neighbors embrace the same view of stability and adopt the same approach to national security, the Egyptian government can rest assured that neither protests nor armed struggles will be exported to its turf.
Egypt’s formula of eliminating Islamists and putting the military in charge, however, is not easily applicable in Sudan and Libya. The political complexity and number of warring factions in both countries make the situation there entirely different.
The parties that have stakes in the Sudanese political scene are too ferocious to promise a smooth transition. There is no guarantee that some parties will reach a peaceful understanding as far as the division of power is concerned. The situation is similarly intricate in Libya, as the fall of Tripoli to Haftar’s troops will neither give him legitimacy nor secure a final victory against Islamist militias.
It is hard to predict, therefore, if either country will achieve full stability in the near future, keeping Egypt’s borders fully secured.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2019 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] As unrest sweeps away long-tenured rulers in Algeria and Sudan, there are lessons the new political generations there can draw from other transitions in the region since 2011.
The first lesson is that, despite regional ramifications of upheaval in any Arab country, the politics of unrest are essentially local. It might be tempting to see a domino effect in the pattern leading to the fall of the long-time leaders in Algiers and Khartoum. But Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. and Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2019 00:00 ||
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[Aljazeera] During World War II, Britain mobilised a huge, now-forgotten, army of African soldiers from its colonies on the continent to fight against the Axis powers (Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan) in battlefields across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. King's African Rifles War Memorial, Zomba, Malawi
But when peace came in 1945, the rapidly diminishing British Empire cynically betrayed these men, subjecting them to systematic discrimination and denying them the same post-war benefits as white soldiers.
This truly shameful episode of colonial-era disregard reverberates to this day.
Though their numbers have been whittled down by the passing years, the survivors continue to endure great poverty, hardship and alienation, in spite of having risked their lives for the Allied war effort and despite some of the best efforts of a few members of the UK military establishment who have been trying to address past wrongs.
With a cast of compelling characters, including some extraordinary veterans from Kenya and Zambia, this investigation by filmmakers Jack Losh and Alessandro Pavone finally brings this dreadful injustice to light and raises disturbing questions about the UK's attitude towards its forgotten African heroes.
After Japan surrendered in August 1945, the United States granted the Republic of the Philippines full independence on July 4, 1946. At that point the ethnically Filipino Philippine Scouts held a unique status in U.S. military history: they were soldiers in the regular U.S. Army, but now they were citizens of a foreign country. To solve this dilemma, the United States offered the Filipinos in the Philippine Scouts full U.S. citizenship. Many of the surviving Scouts, perhaps around 1,000, accepted, and the Army transferred them to other units to finish their military careers.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] After US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... ’s decision to end waivers on Iranian oil sales on May 2, the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s regime finds itself in more dire straits than ever before.
The Islamic Theocratic Republic’s plan to hunker down and wait for hurricane Trump to pass is falling apart. While the regime has been suffering from the resumption of sanctions increasing pressure on Iran’s currency and financial system over the past several months, this latest blow to oil exports will cripple the economy.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
Reminds me of Carter, he was so week the Soviets overextended and Reagan was able to bash them.
Replace Carter with Obama, Soviets with Iranians, and Reagan with Trump and its similar on a smaller scale.
[Institute for the Study of War] Key Takeaway: ISIS has orchestrated an annual campaign of intensified attacks around the Islamic holy month of Ramadan since 2012, first in Iraq and then globally. It has sustained this recurring surge in its global operations every year despite its concurrent territorial losses in Iraq and Syria. ISIS’s latest Ramadan campaign began in late April 2019, two weeks before the start of Ramadan on May 5. ISIS has thus far declared a new province in Central Africa, conducted a devastating attack in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, and launched rare attacks in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh. ISIS Emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi also released his first video statement since his declaration of the Caliphate in 2014, emphasizing his survival, foreshadowing upcoming campaigns, and shaping the future trajectory of ISIS. ISIS is likely to continue demonstrating its global reach by conducting additional major attacks during this upcoming Ramadan in order to offset its loss of core terrain and maintain its image as the world’s deadliest terror organization.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
05/02/2019 07:17 ||
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#1
Key Takeaway: ISIS has orchestrated an annual campaign of intensified attacks around the Islamic holy month of Ramadan since 2012, first in Iraq and then globally.
An important point, as I’m not good at noticing patterns over time.
#3
Heck of a way to celebrate a holy month in which followers are asked to meditate and renew their relationship with "allah"...oh wait maybe this is how they are SUPPOSED to celebrate Ramadan by killing as many people they disagree with as possible...but mostly fellow moslems.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
Bouteflika
[Institute for the Study of War] Key Takeaway: ISIS has orchestrated an annual campaign of intensified attacks around the Islamic holy month of Ramadan since 2012, first in Iraq and then globally. It has sustained this recurring surge in its global operations every year despite its concurrent territorial losses in Iraq and Syria. ISIS’s latest Ramadan campaign began in late April 2019, two weeks before the start of Ramadan on May 5. ISIS has thus far declared a new province in Central Africa, conducted a devastating attack in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, and launched rare attacks in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh. ISIS Emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi also released his first video statement since his declaration of the Caliphate in 2014, emphasizing his survival, foreshadowing upcoming campaigns, and shaping the future trajectory of ISIS. ISIS is likely to continue demonstrating its global reach by conducting additional major attacks during this upcoming Ramadan in order to offset its loss of core terrain and maintain its image as the world’s deadliest terror organization.
