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Special Issue: the Collapse of America Paul Craig Roberts gives CounterPunchers the definitive data on what is happening to jobs in America. Not just blue collar jobs. Middle-class, white collar jobs. Roberts' stunning probe is the first true picture of what the U.S. economy is fast becoming and of the savage class wars that lie ahead. Plus Mike Ferner on what it really means to investigate war crimes in Iraq. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! |
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Today's Stories July 29 / 30, 2006 Michael
Neuman July 28, 2006 Jonathan
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July 27, 2006 Tanya
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Toensing Christopher Reed Werther Yusuf Mansur Richard
Harth Website of the Day
Norman
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Olshanksy David
Nally Jonathan
Cook Patrick
Cockburn William
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Frank Gabriel
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Avnery Website
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July 25, 2006 Harry
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July 24, 2006 Mark
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Craig Roberts Patrick
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July 22-23, 2006 Jonathan
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Nader Fred
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Jensen John
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Craig Roberts July 19, 2006 Patrick
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Cook Vicente
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Whitney Kathleen Christison Atrocities in the Promised Land
July 14 / 15,
2006 Alexander Cockburn Tanya Reinhart Robert Fisk Daniel Cassidy Winslow Wheeler Hugh O'Shaughnessy M. Shahid Alam William S. Lind Ramzy Baroud Gilad Atzmon Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Samar Assad Ron Jacobs Lee Ballinger Walter Brasch Dave Lindorff Clifton Ross Tom Crumpacker Ricardo Alarcon William Hughes Susie Day Farrah Hassen Poets' Basement
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Roberts Uri Avnery Roger Burbach Ron Jacobs Joshua Frank Missy Comley Beattie Alexander Cockburn
Stephen Green Paul Craig
Roberts Greg Moses Ralph Nader Laura Carlsen Conn Hallinan John Chuckman Fred Gardner Dr. Tod Mikuriya Pierre Tristam Lucinda Marshall David Swanson Heather Gray Dave Zirin
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Weekend
Edition "A Real Friend of Israel Wishes Its Army a Sound Defeat in South Lebanon"Friends, True and FalseBy ISRAEL SHAMIR This essay ends with a warning to Jews--"Fear The Wrath of God." This warning applies also in my opinion to the American people. After two weeks, the war settled down comfortably in the Middle East, like an old aunt on a regular visit to her nephews. It came to stay for a while, and as the first shock of the battle for Lebanon is over, the picture clears up. First, the news. Despite awesome, crushing might of the Israeli onslaught, despite its unprecedented viciousness and brutality, the steadfast warriors of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah kept their ground. The blitzkrieg planned by Tel Aviv strategists grinded to a halt in the low hills of Maroun Ras, came to naught in the streets of Bint Jbail. If in 1982, during previous Israeli invasion, the Jewish tanks crossed Litani River within 48 hours, now their advance is counted in single yards. An old but fearsome weapon forged by the Russians in the days of their fateful struggle with Germans, and named after a girl's name, Katyusha, keeps fretting the always-so-safe Israeli hinterland all the way to Haifa. Israeli Apache gunships and navy's Saar warships, best Merkaba tanks were met with precise missiles. The frustrated invader covered the roads and villages of Lebanon with hundreds of charred bodies of Lebanese children; but remarkably few fighters of Hezbollah were killed or taken prisoner. They wield a secret weapon: it's the first ever Arab body the Jews failed to infiltrate. Israeli intelligence did not know what weapons they have and what plans they prepare. Hezbollah warriors did not oblige the Jews and did not commit suicide a-calling "Allah is Great": they fight, defeating the enemy and destroying the twin myth of Israeli invulnerability and Arab impotence. Importance of their stand can't be over estimated: if Lebanon were overrun with little resistance, Israeli tanks would keep rolling to Damascus, and Israeli jets soar to Teheran. This is the wish of the American neocons (or should it be spelled neo-Cohns?). William Kristol speaks plainly: "For while Syria and Iran are enemies of Israel, they are also enemies of the United States. We might consider countering this act of Iranian aggression with a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Why wait? Does anyone think a nuclear Iran can be contained?" Michael Ledeen supports him: "You cannot escape the mullahs. You must either defeat them or submit to their terrible vision." Larry Kudlow is sure of victory: "It will take the U.S. andIsrael about 35 minutes to knock out the entire Iranian navy and airforce... Now is the time to really put the squeeze on Syria's dictator, Baby Assad." The neocons have a good reason to push for war now: their positions in the US administration weakened recently, and first signs of goy rebellion materialised in the paper on Jewish Lobby. A good war will return them into full power in Washington. The Israeli attack on Damascus and Teheran still can take place, but every day the Lebanese hold out diminishes the chances of a regional war. A troublesome word "defeat" is being sounded on Israeli TV: "bogged down in Lebanon" is the old nightmare of Israelis who had this experience and do not cherish to repeat. A "defeat in Lebanon" is quite a limited defeat: it will not lead the victor to Haifa, but will teach the Israelis some modesty. That is why in this war, a real friend of Israel wishes his army a sound defeat in South Lebanon, a defeat that will return the boys home and will keep the generals outof seeking adventures for a good while. A false friend of Israel would wish an Israeli victory, a victory that will lead to Teheran, to nuclear war, to mass destruction and death. While the false friends, the US Jews, marched supporting the Lebanese adventure, the true friends, Israelis, marched the streets of Tel Aviv denouncing their leaders' war crimes. As an Israeli I can't rejoice when Haifa is shelled and Tel Aviv is threatened. There are too many innocents who cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle. However, I can't condemn it either, for this bitter medicine can help where soft-spoken sermons failed. The missiles of Hezbollah may yet sober up the Israeli minds and break their addiction to might. Likewise, a good German could pray for his compatriots' defeat in Holland in 1940 for this rout would save them from the tragedy of 1945. The Germans were too strong for their own good. This excessive might led them to disaster. Now the same fate is prepared for Israel. Excessive might is no better than lack of it: might intoxicates and destroys. This war is a good illustration: a minor skirmish was turned into a great battle and massive destruction of nature and cities because of excessive strength of Israel. Small border incidents happen all over the world, but they do not cause such excesses. If Israel were wiser, it would understand the response caused by their brutality towards Gaza. If Israel were weaker, it would reply with a similarattack. But it is too stupid and too strong for its own good. The Jews incessantly repeat their old errors. In AD 66, almost two thousand years ago, the Jews made a mighty deed: they defeated the XII Legion of Cestius Gallus. It was as incredible as the Six Days War, for Roman legions were not an easy prey. The Jews were carried away by this feat, and rather vaingloriously thought that God will fight for them. But God had other plans, and by AD 70, Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed. Now, again, the Jews are intoxicated by their military prowess, by obedience of the US and EU, by their control over media.Their arrogance and brutality lead them to disaster, for after this Rape of Gaza and Rape of Lebanon, even the most tolerant man of the Middle East will come to the conclusion the Romans came to 2000 years ago: there can be no peace in the area as long as the Jewish state exists. After experiencing the neocon rule, this conclusion will beshared by the Americans. Another error the Jews repeat is an error of mistreating the native people. After the Hasmonean victory over Seleukids, the victory described in the biblical Books of Maccabees, they took over Palestine. Their first deed was expulsion of the native population of Caesarea and its repopulation by Jews. There was a Nakba even then. In those days, the natives of Palestine had no power plants, so the Jews had to be satisfied with destruction of their temples. In order to become Light Unto Nations, the Jews had to put the Nations into complete Darkness, and so they did. Hundred years of Jewish absolute rule (168-68 BC) were the most horrible times for the country, and the Roman general Pompey the Great was met as a liberator when he subdued the Jews and limited their power to Jerusalem and a few other areas. "The strong are never absolutely strong, nor are the weak absolutely weak. Those who have Might on loan from fate count on it too much and are destroyed. Might is as pitiless to the man who possesses it (or thinks he does) as it is to its victims. The second it crushes, the first it intoxicates", wrote Simone Weil, the French philosopher and divine who witnessed the great intoxication of Might called World War Two. She referred to the Trojan War when she extracted this sublime lesson from the Iliad: "The human race is not divided up, in the Iliad, into conquered and conquerors. There is no refuge from fate; learn not to admire Might, not to hate the enemy, not to scorn the vanquished". "This is not a war, but anti-terrorist campaign; Israel fights the terrorists of Hezbollah", says the Jewish media. But hundreds of burned-out buildings, destroyed bridges and power stations, killed women and children, strafed refugees refute this oldest PR trick. Napoleon claimed he fights Mamluks, not the Porte, but the Empire sent its troops down to Palestine and he had to escape deserting his soldiers. Adolf Hitler claimed he fights "communists", not Russia, but Russians united around Stalin and foiled the trick. George Bush claimed he fights Saddam Hussein, not Iraq, and thousands of dead American soldiers disproved the lie. Now the Lebanese rejected the line, saying: this is a Jewish war against Lebanon. A total war against its citizens; its motto expressed by Israeli Generalissimo Halutz: "For every rocket we shall destroy ten high rise buildings in Beirut". And the Lebanese understood it; they did not take the Jewish bait of condemning Hezbollah. They felt that Hezbollah represents them, is an integral part of Lebanon. The Lebanese army should take its place next to Hezbollah - this would completely derail the plans of the invader. The Jews bombed even Ashrafieh, the well-off Maronite suburb of Beirut, which led the movement for removal of the Syrian army from Lebanon. "Haram, ya Ashrafieh", sorry for you. Your folly was visited on you too soon. Weak and rude as they were, the Syrians would protect your heavens from the black vultures from South. You are like a lamb that rejected your nasty old shepherd and was swiftly fleeced by a wolf. The dream of independent Lebanon was just an illusion produced by Masters of Dreams. The concept of independence does not work: Lebanon would be better off as an integral and autonomous part of Syria; Syria would be better off in union with Iraq, Jordan, Palestine. The Ottoman Empire had to be transformed into a Commonwealth of the East, not destroyed, for united we stand, divided we fall. France bears heavy responsibility for the destruction of Lebanon. It was France that forced the Syrians out of Lebanon. The US, this obvious enemy of Arabs, won't be able to do it without support of Paris. By removing the Syrian protector, France came under moral obligation to defend Beirut. "You are forever responsible for those you tamed", said the Fox to the Little Prince in Saint-Exupéry's story, and France tamed Lebanon. The sad and racist sight of evacuation of foreign nationals should be replaced by another one: by landing of French battle troops, not as UN or NATO peacekeepers, but as outright defenders of Lebanon. They know the way: in 1860, when the Druze ran amok, the French soldiers landed and restored peace by repulsing the aggressor. They can repeat this deed; if the French would fight, shoulder-to-shoulder with the Lebanese against the Jewish invader, it will bring peace to the Middle East and to France. Some Arab countries betrayed their brotherly duty. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan condemned - not the Jewish aggressor, but the resister, Hezbollah. The Gulf countries did nothing to save Lebanon.They should be ashamed for their treachery. Indeed, they could repeat the successful oil embargo of 1974 and force Europe to pull back the crazed Zionist pit bull. Hezbollah's brave and staunch resistance is a sign of honour for the fighters and a sign of shame for other Arab leaders. They should remember that those who betrayed Palestine were punished: King Faruk was overthrown, while King Abdullah was assassinated. The longer the war lasts, the bigger is the chance for these leaders to be removed by their peoples. This is a strong reason against seeking cease-fire. Hezbollah are the true heroes of the Middle East. Not because of their might, but because of their compassion. They are the only ones who felt compassion with the plight of Palestinians. They did not remain indifferent observers at the Rape of Gaza - they tried to stop the violator with their modest means, like England protested the German conquest of Poland. Compassion and solidarity are more important than sovereignty. For this reason we can't condemn the Hezbollah fighters or even"both sides". A Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin (1883-1954) made a clear distinction (in his Resistance to Evil By Force) between the violator and the resister. The Violator says to his victim: «you are given unto my power»,while the Resister replies to the violator: «you destroy and will be destroyed, desist! Here I put the end to your tyranny". Indeed, the Jews tried to dominate Palestinians so completely, they tortured them so freely and without remorse, that a Resister had to appear. In face of shameful obedience of the rest of Arabs, fighters of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah deserve praise. They were the first opponents who dared Israeli rules of the game and took the war to the Jewish territory, as until now, the enemies of Israel obeyed its sanctity. Even in 1948 the armies of Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq did not cross the borders of the Jewish state, and were satisfied with securing the territories given by the UN to the Palestinian Arab State. In 1967-1971 Nasser's Egypt did not dare to send even one bomber jet to Tel Aviv, though Israeli air force bombed and strafed the Egyptian cities. Thanks to Sheikh Nasrallah cities of Israel experienced - though in homeopathic doses - the feelings of Gaza and Beirut. Let us hope this experience will destroy the Jewish superiority complex, so that the people of Israel will come out of it - more modest, more willing to compromise, more considerate to their neighbours. The present Luck of Jews dangerously reminds a Friedrich Schiller's poem (based on a story by Herodotus) that of extremely lucky Polycrates. His guest was worried for such run of luck is likely to end in disaster. He begged Polycrates to take his most valuable ring and throw it in the sea, and so he did. But next morning, a fisherman came to his court to present him with a huge fish he had caught. When the fish was cut open, the precious ring was in its stomach. "The guest with terror turned away. "I cannot here, then, longer stay, The gods have willed that thou shouldst die Lest I, too, perish, I must fly" And indeed, Polycrates suffered a terrible reversal of fate and was crucified by the Persians. Israel is too lucky by far. Her generals are guilty of the worst war crime, that of aggression. They kill with impunity and get hailed by their American vassals. Now they targeted the UN and killed some of peacekeepers, but no worry, nobody will begrudge them. Israeli Ambassador in the UN already demanded an apology from spineless Annan and I sure he will get it. The Jews have nothing to fear - but the leading Orthodox churchmen, the Greek Archbishop Christodoulos o f Athens and the Palestinian Archbishop Theodosios Atallah Hanna of Sebaste reminded them: "Do not provoke our consciences. Do not feed the world condemnation against you. Fear God's wrath."
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair          Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.                    |
