Chris Roubis

Posts Tagged ‘stories’

Islam and liberty: Contradictory or Complementary?

December 22nd, 2011 | Author: Chris Roubis

by Kevin Barrett

In his classic On Liberty, John Stuart Mill observes: “Wherever the (religious) sentiment of the majority is still genuine and intense, it is found to have abated little of its claim to be obeyed.”*

More than 150 years later, Mill’s dictum holds true. In irreligious Europe, as in the great coastal metropolitan centers of the USA, there is little legal or social pressure to obey religious dictates; whereas in the Islamic world, and parts of the American heartland, where deeply religious majorities exist, religious opinion demands obeisance on important matters.

Is religion, then, an impediment to liberty? Can liberty flower in societies of fervent religiosity? Is the so-called Arab Spring, whose twin banners are Liberty and Islam, doomed to collapse under the burden of a contradiction?

To begin to address this question, we must revisit Mill’s argument. The basic problem that On Liberty addresses is not despotism, but the rise of democracy. Mill correctly points out that under traditional despotisms, the population views the government as a powerful Other if not an outright enemy. The despot is tolerated because his power allows him to occasionally suppress pettier despots, thereby maintaining a modicum of social order and a degree of justice for the many. Under such conditions, custom and practice if not law limit the range of situations into which the government may stick its nose. The result is a fair amount of de facto liberty.

Democracy, according to Mill, threatens to actually reduce liberty. Why? Because once the people feel the government is an expression of their own will, rather than the will of some distant despot, they are tempted to use it to enforce their own preferences and opinions on other people, whose liberty is thereby violated. One cannot imagine a traditional despot of yore, for example, ordering an ordinary citizen to mow his or her lawn to a certain length. Yet in today’s USA, stories of the judicial enforcement of “law’n order” abound. Indeed, American zoning codes probably restrict people’s freedom to do what they like with their property far more than any king, nobleman, emperor, caliph, or other potentate ever did in the pre-Enlightenment era.

Keeping this in mind, we see that the central contradiction of the Arab Spring is not “Islam vs. liberty” or “Islam vs. democracy,” but rather the same dilemma Mill addressed: democracy versus liberty. This dilemma, however, is not widely recognized. The people of the Middle East, like people everywhere, have been conditioned by the propaganda apparatus of modernity to imagine that liberty and democracy are the same thing, or at least that they go together.

Muhammad Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor whose self-immolation set off the chain of Arab revolutionary dominoes, was not frustrated simply by the fact that he lived under a dictatorship. He was frustrated that the government bureaucracy made it difficult for him, through permit requirements, red tape, and harassment, to sell his wares freely on the street. But if Arab street vendors imagine that American-style democracy will solve that problem – well, I invite them to come try and make a living selling things on the streets of Madison, Wisconsin. The traditional Islamic concept of the “free and open market” – nobody “owns” retail real estate, and anybody is free to show up and sell anything anywhere, first-come first-served – represents a kind of extreme liberty that contrasts sharply with the tyranny of the propertied classes, and their brainwashed “majority,” that reigns under so-called American democracy. Indeed, traditional Islamic markets are paradises of freedom compared to the muzak-infested air-conditioned inferno of most of the American retail sector.

Sartre’s line “l’enfer, c’est les autres” (hell is other people) sums up the root of the problem: It is other people who encroach on our liberty, other people who are the bars of our cage. Empowering “the people” through democracy just puts more bars on the cage, and makes those bars that much more unbreakable, absent a socially-agreed-upon insistence on some modicum of liberty. Mill’s polemic for liberty is a necessary response to the tyranny of democracy.

It might also be a necessary response to the kinds of tyrannies that have governed the Middle East since the fall of the Ottomans. These tyrannies are basically European colonial bureaucracies on steroids, made even more monstrous by unchecked despotism. The government’s intrusion into every nook and corner of life, which developed in relatively democratic Euro-America and frightened John Stuart Mill, became as monstrous under neo-colonialism as it did under communism and fascism. Take Ben Ali’s Tunisia – please!

So how does Islam fit into this picture? Traditionally, Islam restricted and guided the behavior of both rulers and ruled. The ruler was expected to uphold God’s law, behave justly and generously, and seek counsel from the people (or at least the wisest among them). The ruled were also supposed to follow God’s law as best they could: Pray five times a day, fast during Ramadan, give alms and pay the annual tax on wealth AND income, attend Friday services, conduct business with complete honesty and integrity…and (preferably) free slaves, donate surplus wealth to charity, pious endowments and interest-free loans, and so on.

When both rulers and ruled followed Islamic precepts, harmony reigned. People who ritually face and submit to God five times a day are less likely to behave badly than people who don’t; and this tenet, and others like it, holds for rulers as well as ruled.

But what about liberty? Under the traditional Islamic system, liberty was both limited and enabled by Islam. It was limited in that serious violations of Islamic law were viewed as threats to the social order, and therefore largely suppressed from the public sphere. (What happened in private, of course, was between the individual and God.)

While restricted by shariah, liberty was in other ways enabled, in that the tyranny of both the ruler AND the people was limited by Islamic precept. Tyrants could not act arbitrarily, because Islamic law set boundaries on the scope of their actions. And ordinary people, those lesser tyrants, were likewise restricted in their encroachments on the liberty of their fellows. Property owners, for example, could not eliminate the free and open Islamic market; slave-owners could not abuse their slaves in certain ways, such as forcing them into prostitution; businessmen could not establish monopolies; would-be usurers could not charge interest; and so on. (Ones “freedom of contract” to be victimized by usury is more than negated by the debt slavery that results.)

The overall result, in many cases at least, was an impressive flowering of relative liberty and equality. With no corporations to limit individual risk, no lending at interest to guarantee bankers’ tyranny over the market, and indeed no “wealth insurance” of any kind – alongside a sort of “Islamic potlatch ethic” against piling up wealth – social mobility in the Early and Middle Periods of Islam may have been the highest ever experienced anywhere.** Any slave could realistically hope to be freed, and any poor person could come sell in the free and open market, or set off on trading voyages, and realistically hope to grow rich (and then be obliged to give away most of his wealth or be reviled as a hoarder); while those who did strike it rich had moderately poor prospects for retaining their wealth for very long, given the vagaries of the free market as well as the aforementioned potlatch ethic and absence of wealth insurance. Slaves regularly became wealthy potentates, while wealthy potentates regularly were reduced to impoverishment or even enslavement. (If you don’t believe me, check out the history of the Mameluke slave dynasty.)

Whether you see Islamic societies, whether of the past or future, as “high-liberty” or “low liberty” societies depends on which kind of liberties you emphasize. Any Islamic society, excluding imaginary utopian ones, must necessarily lack the absolute religious liberty that has been the hallmark of the post-Enlightenment West. Those who truly believe that all religions are equal obviously care little or nothing for religion; they also may be deficient in their ability to discriminate (in the word’s positive sense). Anyone who equates the Catholicism of Mother Theresa, the Protestantism of David Ray Griffin, or the Islam of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi with, say, the Satanism of Anton Szandor LaVey, giving all of these “religions” the same rights and the same value, is obviously suffering from an inability to make crucial distinctions.

Granted that religious minorities would lose legal equality***, it seems to me that whatever liberties would be lost under Islam would be more than made up for by other, more important liberties gained. Our rights to be sexually profligate, sire children out of wedlock, abort millions of unborn children, vaunt our proclivities for unnatural acts, spread venereal diseases, dress provocatively in public, profess Satanism, hoard extreme wealth, monopolize market space, form corporations to absolve ourselves of responsibility, subject ourselves to alcohol poisoning in public places, charge interest on loans, blaspheme established religions, advertise our wares deceptively, and so on might be restricted. But in return we would have much more freedom to buy and sell as responsible individuals in the open market, live in a public sphere unpolluted by excesses of crime and vice, and still do pretty much what we want in private.

After many decades of reflection, I have concluded that the most important freedom is the freedom to flourish spiritually, not just economically or expressively. And to flourish spiritually, our souls need a peaceful and harmonious environment. The post-Enlightenment West, and those societies that imitate it, are incapable of providing such an environment. Today’s West is saturated by images of lust, violence, greed, inebriation, and other provocations – images that ought to be arrested for disturbing the spiritual peace, and removed from the public sphere. (John Stuart Mill, who argued that the only valid reason to restrict an individual’s liberty was to defend others against harm, might approve, or at least defer judgment of, Muslims’ attempts to protect themselves, their religion, their societies and their values from the harms inflicted by Western neo-colonialism, by restricting certain “liberties” in their lands.)

In the end, the real question is not “will the Arab Spring bring freedom and democracy, or will it bring Islamism?” Instead, it is: Will the people of the Middle East restore Islam, and the liberty to spiritually flourish, to their societies? Or will they follow the West into the abyss of materialist pseudo-liberty – whose final destination is a hellhole of Orwellian absolute slavery?

*Mill, On Liberty, Norton Critical Edition, p. 9

** See Hodgson’s The Venture of Islam, v.1 and 2

*** The real test of Islamic rule is: Will sensible, just people from the religious minorities welcome it? If not, then it probably isn’t being applied properly.

The Epilogue of “We Were Soldiers Once”

December 22nd, 2011 | Author: Chris Roubis

by Ed Mattson

In my previous article I wrote about the movie, We Were Soldiers Once, and details that went unnoticed, were overlooked, or are still sitting on the cutting room floor in the film editor’s laboratory at the studio. This was not to criticize the movie or belittle the facts that were presented, but to bring to life more of the heroism than was displayed in the three-day battle 46 years ago. After all there is only so much that can be crammed into a 90 minute movie.

The main theme that played out highlighted the leadership of Col. Hal Moore who went into the battle with well-trained yet untested warriors using an experimental strategy utilizing helicopters for deployment, re-supply, and evacuation of wounded personnel against a veteran group of soldiers of North Vietnam.

Unlike previous wars where the foot soldiers generally carried everything needed for survival in backpacks, in Ia Drang, the new strategy focused on rapid deployment by soldiers who carried only water, weaponry, and ammunition, so they could move quickly unhindered by the weight of other survival gear. Like the Pony Soldiers in the Indian Wars, who rode into battle, striking fast and furiously, the battle was an experiment to see if the same theory would work only using helicopters instead of horses.

Secondary to Col. Moore’s leadership was the horror that faces every soldier in battle and the realism and finality of death. In today’s world of video games, youth becomes immune to the slaughter of war, where, with a quick click of the mouse, “the game” can start all over again…same warriors, same enemy, and the same heroes. Not so in real life, where there is real pain, blood and guts, where bodies are blown apart or charred beyond recognition by napalm, and where the dead do not come back to life.

While We Were Soldier Once achieved its goal of showing war and all its horror in frightening clarity, it would have been impossible, as was stated by Col Moore himself, to show all the valor and bravery displayed, during the three day battle over nineteen square miles of terrain. So, the third focus of the film was on the acts of the helicopter pilots who, in spite of grave danger, tempted the hand of fate for over fourteen hours and countless sorties in and out of the battle, delivering replacement troops, ammunition, medical supplies, and water, while ferrying the wounded to the base camp hospital.

Bruce Crandall hero-overlooked until 1995

In part one I covered both Lt. Col Harm, who was then a 1^st Lieutenant, and Captain Ed “To Tall” Freeman, one of the key helicopter pilots. Harm was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, and Freeman was initially awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross along with his wingman, flight commander, and fellow helicopter pilot, Maj. Bruce Crandall. Just how decisions are made on who gets recognized and for what medal, I guess is simply the luck of the draw. By the time history finally caught up with all that transpired in the battle, those in power thought maybe Captain Freeman was also worthy of the Medal of Honor, but the statute of limitations (two years) had passed so they could only award the DFC. In 1995 the two-year time period was lifted, and Congress finally made the Medal of Honor award.

Initially forgotten was Bruce Crandall, known to his fellow warriors as “Snakeshit”, who was awarded the DFC as well as the Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for duplicating Freeman’s heroic efforts in flying those missions in and out of the battle. Though movie star handsome himself, he was too old to play his own role so his character was played by Greg Kinnear in the movie. Freeman and others petitioned the military hierarchy to award the Medal of Honor to Crandall, but Crandall resisted their efforts. Eventually the Medal of Honor was awarded by President George Bush, and reads as follows…

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty: Major Bruce P. Crandall distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism as a Flight Commander in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). On 14 November 1965, his flight of sixteen helicopters was lifting troops for a search and destroy mission from Plei Me, Vietnam, to Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley. On the fourth troop lift, the airlift began to take enemy fire, and by the time the aircraft had refueled and returned for the next troop lift, the enemy had Landing Zone X-Ray targeted.

As Major Crandall and the first eight helicopters landed to discharge troops on his fifth troop lift, his unarmed helicopter came under such intense enemy fire that the ground commander ordered the second flight of eight aircraft to abort their mission. As Major Crandall flew back to Plei Me, his base of operations, he determined that the ground commander of the besieged infantry battalion desperately needed more ammunition. Major Crandall then decided to adjust his base of operations to Artillery Firebase Falcon in order to shorten the flight distance to deliver ammunition and evacuate wounded soldiers. While medical evacuation was not his mission, he immediately sought volunteers and with complete disregard for his own personal safety, led the two aircraft to Landing Zone X-Ray. Despite the fact that the landing zone was still under relentless enemy fire, Major Crandall landed and proceeded to supervise the loading of seriously wounded soldiers aboard his aircraft.

Major Crandall’s voluntary decision to land under the most extreme fire instilled in the other pilots the will and spirit to continue to land their own aircraft, and in the ground forces the realization that they would be resupplied and that friendly wounded would be promptly evacuated. This greatly enhanced morale and the will to fight at a critical time. After his first medical evacuation, Major Crandall continued to fly into and out of the landing zone throughout the day and into the evening. That day he completed a total of 22 flights, most under intense enemy fire, retiring from the battlefield only after all possible service had been rendered to the Infantry battalion. His actions provided critical resupply of ammunition and evacuation of the wounded. Major Crandall’s daring acts of bravery and courage in the face of an overwhelming and determined enemy are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army”

But here’s the rest of the story…Major Bruce Crandall distinguished himself, not just at Ia Drange, but throughout his military career, having flown some 900 combat missions. To those who do not know the hazards of being a chopper pilot, the average life expectancy was rumored to have been just three missions without being downed by enemy fire. During his 24 years in service he receieved the Distinguished Service Cross (upgraded to Medal of Honor); Distinguished Flying Cross with one oak leaf cluster; Bronze Star Medal; Meritorious Service Medal; Air Medal (24 awards); Army Commendation Medal; Purple Heart; National Defense Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster; Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal; Vietnam Service Medal (four campaigns); Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with 60 device; Presidential Unit Citation; Meritorious Unit Citation; Master Army Aviator Badge; Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Gold Star (three awards) and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal.

He also was inducted into the United States Air Force’s “Gathering of Eagles” in 1994, one of only seven Army aviators so honored, and the Army Aviation Hall of Fame in 2004, and for his bravery during Operation Masher Crandall received the Aviation Space Writers Helicopter Heroism Award for 1966. At the 20th annual award ceremony, his rescue flights were ranked highest over the first 20 years of the award. And, not the least of those awards that will market Lt. Col. Crandall in the history books is his home Olympia High School Baseball Field was named after him in a ceremony prior to the 2007 season. Crandall was a High School All-American baseball player for Olympia High School.

That brings us down to Jack Geoghegan, played by actor Chris Klein, who was killed in action while his platoon was defending a section of the LZ X-Ray perimeter from a North Vietnamese attack. The movie was not accurate in just how Lt. Geoghegan died, and there was no mention of his heroic actions being worthy of recognition by being awarded a medal. The portrayal of him in the movie was a composite character that some say included the actions of Medal of Honor recipient Walter Marm and many soldiers who were killed in action. The real story is that one of his men, PFC Willie Godboldt, had been badly wounded and was calling for help, and rather than allowing another platoon member to risk his life, Geoghegan left his foxhole and went to Godboldt’s aid himself. He was fatally shot doing so. Godboldt died of his wounds shortly afterward. In the movies Geoghegan was shot in the back loading Godboldt onto a helicopter for evacuation. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and the Air Medal.

Another key character portrayed in the movie was war correspondent Joseph Lee “Joe” Galloway who was an American newspaper correspondent. He is the former Military Affairs consultant for the Knight-Ridder Newspaper syndicate and is presently a columnist with McClatchy Newspapers. He was the co-author of We Were Soldiers Once and portrayed in the movie by Barry Pepper. During the Vietnam War, he could be found “in the thick of it” alongside the troops. In the battle of Ia Drang Valley he was actually forced into action to save his own life when the position at LZ X-Ray was overrun by the enemy. He was awarded a Bronze Star with a “V” for valor for his actions which included carrying wounded men to safety. He was the only civilian to receive such an award by the United States Army during the Vietnam War.

Among his life’s achievements, Galloway received a National Magazine Award for a U.S. News cover article on the Ia Drang battles in Vietnam in 1991, and the New Media Award of the National VFW for his coverage of the Persian Gulf War for U.S. News in 1992. Galloway also received the Robert Denig Award for Exceptional Service of the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association and the Tex McCrary Award of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

General Ulysses Grant, when addressing the graduating class of the Michigan Military Academy on 19 June 1879, uttered this most prolific and vivid observation about war… “I’ve been where you are now and I know just how you feel. It’s entirely natural that there should beat in the breast of every one of you a hope and desire that someday you can use the skill you have acquired here. Suppress it! You don’t know the horrible aspects of war. I’ve been through two wars and I know. I’ve seen cities and homes in ashes. I’ve seen thousands of men lying on the ground, their dead faces looking up at the skies. I tell you, war is Hell!”

Someday may there be peace on earth so we no longer have to write about war heroes.

Are You a Veteran or Concerned About One?

December 22nd, 2011 | Author: Chris Roubis

You’ve served your country. Maybe you’ve been happy in the past, but now you experience anxiety attacks, or find everyday life to be too stressful. Maybe you can’t sleep because you worry about so many things. Perhaps lately, people just annoy you and you want to pick a fight or punch a wall. Or maybe you’re lonely, don’t seem to fit in anywhere, and believe that your future is hopeless. If you feel this way, you are not alone. And good news is, there’s help right now.

The Veterans Crisis Line connects Veterans in crisis and their families and friends with qualified, caring VA responders through a confidential toll-free hotline, online chat, or text. Veterans and their loved ones may call 800-273-8255 and Press 1, chat online, or send a text message to 838255 to receive confidential support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Responders at the Veterans Crisis Line are specially trained to help Veterans, and the families and friends of Veterans, through any crisis. Many of the responders are Veterans themselves.

Crisis feels different for each person and can stem from a wide range of situations. Some Veterans are coping with aging, stress, or lingering effects from their military service, which were never addressed. Many recent Veterans have difficulty with their relationships or the transition back to civilian life.

Since its launch in 2007, the Veterans Crisis Line has answered more than 40,000 calls and made over 19,000 life-saving rescues. In 2009 the Veterans Crisis line added an anonymous online chat service which has helped more than 4,000 Veterans. To visit the Veterans Crisis Line website, click here.

“Certainly the holidays are stressful for a lot of people,” said SFVAMC Suicide Prevention Coordinator Mark Stalnaker, PhD. “It’s a time when our Veterans can use the extra support, and we are here 24/7 to provide the support and services they need.” If a local Veteran is in crisis or needs immediate support, another option besides calling the Veterans Crisis Line is to come directly to the San Francisco VA Medical Center’s Emergency Department (ED), which is always open. “At the ED we assess for any medical or psychiatric acute issues that might need addressing,” said Stalnaker. Veterans are then treated and referred for follow-up VA programs and services.

Click here to find more information, such as how to recognize the warning signs of a crisis, suicide and crisis resources, take a self-check quiz, or connect up now with a confidential chat.

So whatever’s got you down – the Veterans Crisis Line 800-273-8255, and your San Francisco VA Medical Center (for psychiatric emergencies call 415-750-6674) will provide the support you need. Right now!

A Holiday Message From The Secretary

December 22nd, 2011 | Author: Chris Roubis

On Christmas night, 1776, General George Washington led a poorly-clothed, poorly-equipped, and poorly-fed American Army across the icy Delaware River to attack well-equipped Hessian troops at the garrison in Trenton, New Jersey. The determination of the beleaguered Americans carried the day; they achieved total surprise, capturing 900 prisoners and their cannon.

On a brutally cold Christmas day, 1944, American troops of the 101st Airborne Division, outnumbered, cutoff, surrounded by two panzer divisions at Bastogne, and lacking cold weather gear, ammunition, food and medical supplies fought with undaunted courage until relieved by General George Patton’s Third Army on December 26 and 27.

In December 1950, Marines and Soldiers of X Corps surmounted overwhelming odds by breaking out of the Chinese encirclement at Chosin Reservoir. On Christmas Eve, their evacuation from the port of Hungnam completed a masterful retrograde operation that would help turn the tide against North Korean and Chinese advances early in 1951.

For more than two centuries, since Trenton, New Jersey, American men and women have stood watch, safeguarding some of our most cherished traditions, while they and their families sacrificed theirs.

On Christmas 2011, thousands of Americans will be home for the holidays because of the President’s commitment to begin bringing our combat troops home. Yet, tens of thousands of others will continue their difficult and lonely missions of protecting us.

VA honors, remembers, and thanks the men and women of our Armed Forces and their families, who are serving us this Holiday Season around the world.

I thank each VA employee for your commitment and compassion for these servants of the Nation when they come to us as Veterans. You make VA the great organization that it is by advocating for them.

To our men and women in uniform, to our 22 million Veterans, and to our 315,000 VA employees and all your families, best wishes for a joyous Holiday Season, and heartfelt thanks for the great gifts you provide to this country – the freedom to choose how we live our lives in this great Nation. God Bless America.

Eric K. Shinseki

VA Launches Facebook Pages for All 152 Medical Centers

December 22nd, 2011 | Author: Chris Roubis

Strategy Enables Returning Vets to Engage with VA at the Local Level

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today that all of its 152 medical centers are now actively represented on Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site.

“This event marks an important milestone in the overall effort to transform how VA communicates with Veterans and provide them the health care and benefits they have earned,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “Veterans and their families told us from the beginning that they want to engage and they want relevant information delivered at the local level. By leveraging Facebook, the Department continues to expand access to VA, and embrace transparency and two-way conversation.”

The process that began with a single Veterans Health Administration Facebook page in 2008 has now produced over 150 Facebook pages, 64 Twitter feeds, a YouTube channel, a Flickr page, and the VAntage Point blog. Additionally, in June 2011, VA produced a Department-wide social media policy that provides guidelines for communicating with Veterans online. The overarching strategy is designed to help break down long-perceived barriers between the Department and its stakeholders.

“Veterans of all eras are depending on us to get the right information to the right person at the right time,” said Brandon Friedman, VA’s director of online communications, and a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. “With more troops returning home, we also have a responsibility to connect with the thousands of Servicemembers who have been—and will be—entering our system. They’re using social media, so that’s where we need to be. Facebook helps us do that.”

“We are very pleased to have pioneered social media in VA, and now our VA medical centers across the nation are all engaged,” said Dr. Robert Petzel, under secretary for health. “We are committed to helping Veterans understand their benefits and receive the health care their service has earned them.”

VA clinicians can’t discuss the specific health concerns of individual Veterans on Facebook, but that doesn’t prevent staff from monitoring VA’s sites closely each day—and providing helpful information to Veterans when they can. In the last year, for instance, VA’s Crisis Line counselors have successfully intervened on Facebook in cases where Veterans have suggested suicidal thoughts or presented with other emotional crises.

“Facebook’s mission is to make the world more open and connected and we are excited to see government agencies using our service to better to connect with citizens, provide information, and deliver services,” said Don Faul, Facebook’s vice president of online operations, a former U.S. Marine and a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. “We want to do all we can to support Veterans, so we’re pleased to see the Department of Veterans Affairs using Facebook connect with Veterans in an authentic and engaging way.”

VA currently has over 345,000 combined Facebook subscribers (or, “fans”). The Department’s main Facebook page has over 154,000 fans and its medical centers have a combined subscribership of over 69,000. The Department plans to continue expanding its Facebook presence while also focusing on bringing Twitter to every VA medical center as well.

For more information, please visit the sites below:

Directory of All VA Social Media Sites: www.va.gov/opa/SocialMedia.asp
VA Facebook Page Directory: www.facebook.com/VeteransAffairs?sk=app_7146470109

U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec. 21, 2011

December 22nd, 2011 | Author: Chris Roubis

Here’s Today’s Department of Defense Contract Awards

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

Refinery Associates of Texas, Inc., New Braunfels, Texas*, was awarded a fixed-price with economic price adjustment contract with a maximum $1,095,855,536 for aviation turbine and naval distillate fuel. Other locations of performance are Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy. There were 16 responses to the Web solicitation. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2012 Defense Working Capital Funds. The date of performance completion is Dec. 31, 2012. The Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., is the contracting activity (SP0600-12-D-0452).

ExxonMobil Fuels Marketing Co., Fairfax, Va., was awarded a fixed-price with economic price adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum $107,226,896 for JP8 aviation turbine fuel. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is Defense Logistics Agency Energy. There were 24 responses to the Web solicitation. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2012 Defense Working Capital Funds. The date of performance completion is April 30, 2012. The Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va., is the contracting activity (SP0600-12-D-0539).

Allied J.V.*, Hialeah, Fla., was awarded bridge contract SPM2DE-12-D-7602. The award is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, sole-source contract with a maximum $68,469,717 for delivery of medical/surgical items. There are no other locations of performance. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2012 Defense Working Capital Funds. The date of performance completion is Nov. 28, 2012. The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.

AIR FORCE

Dependable American Hospital Services, L.L.C., San Antonio, Texas (FA8053-12-D-0014); InGenesis, Inc., San Antonio, Texas (FA8053-12-D-0015); HealthCare Resources Network, L.L.C., Gaithersburg, Md. (FA8053-12-D-0016); Platinum Business Corp., Laurel, Md. (FA8053-12-D-0017); Federal Staffing Resources, L.L.C., Annapolis, Md. (FA8053-12-D-0018); Cherokee Medical Services, L.L.C., Stillwell, Okla. (FA8053-12-D-0019); Aloha Health, J.V., 8a, L.L.C., Honolulu, Hawaii (FA8053-12-D-0020); CentralCare, Inc., Annandale, Va. (FA8053-12-D-0021); Washington-Harris Group, Inc., Greenbelt, Md. (FA8053-12-D-0022); QuaterLine Consulting Services, McLean, Va. (FA8053-12-D-0023); Matrix Providers, Inc., Monument, Colo. (FA8053-12-D-0024); Donald L Mooney Enterprises, L.L.C., Universal City, Texas (FA8053-12-D-0025); Coastal Clinical and Management Services, Inc., Vienna, Va. (FA8053-12-D-0026); Chesapeake Educational Services, L.L.C., Universal City, Texas (FA8053-12-D-0027); Chenega Global Services, L.L.C., Anchorage, Alaska (FA8053-12-D-0028); RBG Group, Inc., Miami, Fla. (FA8053-12-D-0029); Global Consulting International, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah (FA8053-12-D-0030); Saratoga Medical Center, Inc., Fairfax, Va. (FA8053-12-D-0031); Absolute Staffers, L.L.C., Laurel, Md. (FA8053-12-D-0032); Professional Performance Development Group, Inc., San Antonio, Texas (FA8053-12-D-0033); Medical North America, J.V., Petal, Miss. (FA8053-12-D-0034); Loyal Source Government Services, L.L.C., Orlando, Fla. (FA8053-12-D-0035); and Angel Staffing, Inc., San Antonio, Texas (FA8053-12-D-0036) have been awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity multiple award, fixed-firm-price contract with a maximum amount of $992,000,000 and the minimum award amount of $5,000 per contract. The Air Force Medical Service has a requirement for qualified health care workers to provide direct patient care services in the treatment of military health system beneficiaries inside military treatment facilities, as well as logical extensions of the military treatment facilities within the United States and Guam. Twenty-six proposals were received. 773 ESG/PKJ, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., Defense Space and Security, St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded $29,121,176 firm-fixed-price for exercising options for C-17 weapons systems trainers with Loadmaster Stations 25 and 26, including all hardware, initial spares and support equipment, site activation, and transition support. The location of the performance is St. Louis, Mo. The expected completion date for for Loadmaster Station 25 is Oct. 13, 2013; for Loadmaster Station 26, the expected completion date is Apr. 30, 2014. ASC/WNSK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8621-11-C-6290-P00005).

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Simulator, Training and Support, Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $25,378,696 firm-fixed-price contract to exercise Option Year 2 of the C-130 Air Crew Training Systems contract. The location of the performance will be at various Air Force installations within the United States, to include: Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark.; Dobbins Air Force Base, Ga.; Dyess Air Force Base, Texas; McChord Air Force Base, Wash.; and Minneapolis Air National Guard, Minn. Work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2012. ASC/WNSK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8223-11-C-0001 P00018).

The Bering Straits Logistics Services, L.L.C., Anchorage, Alaska, was awarded a $10,031,765 firm-fixed-price contract for material support integrator’s maintenance of a comprehensive program for the 76 Maintenance Wing inventory management systems, to include common use items and point-of-use cabinets. The contractor shall maintain day-to-day operations to include all labor, supervision, materials, tools, equipment, personnel protective equipment, interim storage, transportation, and incidentals. The contractor shall be responsible for obtaining material and supply agreements with individual vendors to provide all the personnel protective equipment and materials required for the program. The contractor shall provide program management, strategic analysis for future needs, recommendations to increase efficiencies, improve cost savings and ensure compliance with applicable law, directives, and regulatory requirements. The location of the activity is Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. Work is expected to be completed Dec. 15, 2014. Department of the Air Force, OC-ALC/PKEA, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., is the contracting activity (FA8100-12-C-0002).

NAVY

General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Conn., is being awarded a $191,312,737 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-09-C-2100) for continued engineering, technical services, concept studies, and design of a common missile compartment for the United Kingdom Successor SSBN and the Ohio replacement SSBN. This contract action will be incrementally funded with $23,068,087 to be obligated at the time of award. Work will be performed in Groton, Conn. (93 percent); Quonset, R.I. (3 percent); Newport News, Va. (2 percent); and Newport, R.I. (2 percent), and is expected to be completed by December 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Huntington Ingalls, Inc., Newport News, Va., is being awarded an $113,230,682 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-09-C-2116) to exercise options for the continuation of construction preparation efforts for John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). Efforts include engineering, detail design, and lead yard services. Work will be performed in Newport News, Va., and is expected to be completed by October 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors, Manassas, Va., is being awarded a $107,992,068 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-11-C-6294) to exercise options for Acoustic Rapid Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Insertion (A-RCI) engineering services. A-RCI is a sonar system that integrates and improves towed array, hull array, sphere array, and other ship sensor processing. This contract will be incrementally funded with $1,986,580 obligated at the time of award. Work will be performed in Clearwater, Fla. (60 percent), and Manassas, Va. (40 percent), and is expected to be completed by December 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

J5 Systems*, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $24,125,979 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) support for systems integration engineering, planning and implementation of components and networks for Navy, joint, national and foreign military C4I systems. This is one of eight multiple award contracts: all awardees will compete for task orders during the ordering period. This three-year contract includes one, two-year option which, if exercised, would bring the potential value of this contract to $40,952,905. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif. (85 percent), and at government locations worldwide (15 percent), and is expected to be completed Dec. 20, 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-11-R-0077 published on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center e-Commerce Central website, with eight offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N66001-12-D-0011).

Sikorsky Aerospace Maintenance, Stratford, Conn., is being awarded a $23,169,547 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-09-C-0024) to exercise an option for organizational, selected intermediate, and limited depot-level maintenance for 44 F-5 aircraft operated by adversary squadrons. Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, Fla. (40 percent); NAS Fallon, Nev. (30 percent); and the Marine Corp Air Station, Yuma, Ariz. (30 percent). Work is expected to be completed in December 2012. Contract funds in the amount of $23,169,547 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

Science Applications International Corp., Mc Lean, Va., is being awarded a $22,514,956 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) support for systems integration engineering, planning and implementation of components and networks for Navy, joint, national and foreign military C4I systems. This is one of eight multiple award contracts: all awardees will compete for task orders during the ordering period. This three-year contract includes one, two-year option which, if exercised, would bring the potential value of this contract to $38,268,950. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif. (75 percent), McLean Va. (10 percent), and at government locations worldwide (15 percent), and is expected to be completed Dec. 20, 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-11-R-0077 published on the Federal Business Opportunities website, and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center e-Commerce Central website, with eight offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N66001-12-D-0013).

Syzygy Technologies, Inc., San Diego, is being awarded a $22,047,537 indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) support for systems integration engineering, planning and implementation of components and networks for Navy, joint, national and foreign military C4I systems. This is one of eight multiple award contracts: all awardees will compete for task orders during the ordering period. This three-year contract includes one, two-year option which, if exercised, would bring the potential value of this contract to $38,063,946. Work will be performed San Diego, Calif. (85 percent), and at government locations worldwide (15 percent), and is expected to be completed Dec. 20, 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-11-R-0077 published on the Federal Business Opportunities website, and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center e-Commerce Central website, with eight offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N66001-12-D-0015).

DCS Corp., Alexandria, Va., is being awarded a $21,084,755 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) support for systems integration engineering, planning and implementation of components and networks for Navy, joint, national and foreign military C4I systems. This is one of eight multiple award contracts: all awardees will compete for task orders during the ordering period. This three-year contract includes one, two-year option which, if exercised, would bring the potential value of this contract to $35,749,569. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif. (75 percent), Alexandria, Va. (10 percent), and at government locations worldwide (15 percent), and is expected to be completed Dec. 20, 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-11-R-0077 published on the Federal Business Opportunities website, and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center e-Commerce Central website, with eight offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N66001-12-D-0010).

L-3 Services, Inc., Mount Laurel N.J., is being awarded a $20,094,932 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) support for systems integration engineering, planning and implementation of components and networks for Navy, joint, national and foreign military C4I systems. This is one of eight multiple award contracts: all awardees will compete for task orders during the ordering period. This three-year contract includes one, two-year option which, if exercised, would bring the potential value of this contract to $34,009,339. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif. (75 percent), Mount Laurel N.J. (10 percent), and at government locations worldwide (15 percent), and is expected to be completed Dec. 20, 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-11-R-0077 published on the Federal Business Opportunities website, and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center e-Commerce Central website, with eight offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N66001-12-D-0012).

CACI, Inc., Federal, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $19,656,741 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) support for systems integration engineering, planning and implementation of components and networks for Navy, joint, national and foreign military C4I systems. This is one of eight multiple award contracts: all awardees will compete for task orders during the ordering period. This three-year contract includes one, two-year option which, if exercised, would bring the potential value of this contract to $33,652,891. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif. (85 percent), and at government locations worldwide (15 percent), and is expected to be completed Dec. 20, 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-11-R-0077 published on the Federal Business Opportunities website, and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center e-Commerce Central website, with eight offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N66001-12-D-0008).

Stanley Associates, Inc., Fairfax, Va., is being awarded a $19,378,946 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) support for systems integration engineering, planning and implementation of components and networks for Navy, joint, national and foreign military C4I systems. This is one of eight multiple award contracts: all awardees will compete for task orders during the ordering period. This three-year contract includes one, two-year option which, if exercised, would bring the potential value of this contract to $33,173,111. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif. (75 percent), Fairfax, Va. (10 percent), and at government locations worldwide (15 percent), and is expected to be completed Dec. 20, 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-11-R-0077 published on the Federal Business Opportunities website, and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center e-Commerce Central website, with eight offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N66001-12-D-0009).

General Atomics, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $17,405,515 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-11-C-0057) to provide engineering support for the development of Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and advanced arresting gear configurations for the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carrier Program. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed in June 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

Scientific Research Corp., Atlanta, Ga., is being awarded a $16,071,490 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) support for systems integration engineering, planning and implementation of components and networks for Navy, joint, national and foreign military C4I systems. This is one of eight multiple award contracts: all awardees will compete for task orders during the ordering period. This three-year contract includes one, two-year option which, if exercised, would bring the potential value of this contract to $26,937,596. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif. (75 percent), Atlanta, Ga. (10 percent), and at government locations worldwide (15 percent), and is expected to be completed Dec. 20, 2014. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal N66001-11-R-0077 published on the Federal Business Opportunities website, and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center e-Commerce Central website, with eight offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N66001-12-D-0014).

Raytheon Co., El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded a $12,090,130 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for contractor engineering technical services contractor field services for the F/A-18 and EA-18 series aircraft systems, subsystems, associated systems and equipment, in support of the Naval Air Technical Data and Engineering Service Command, San Diego, Calif. Engineering technical services to be provided include on and off-site proficiency training, technical guidance, and advice to resolve unusually complex technical problems. Work will be performed at Whidbey Island, Wash. (40 percent); Lemoore, Calif. (20 percent); Oceana, Va. (20 percent); and Atsugi, Japan (20 percent). Work is expected to be completed in December 2015. Contract funds in the amount of $550,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif., is the contracting activity (N68936-12-D-0007).

Austal Hull 130 Chartering, L.L.C., Mobile, Ala., is being awarded an $8,225,850 fixed-price contract for the worldwide charter of one U.S.-flagged passenger/cargo ferry. The ferry will support the Marine Corps Third Marine Expeditionary Force. This contract includes three six-month option periods, which, if exercised, would bring the potential value of this contract to $30,321,200. Work will be performed at sea in the Far East, and is expected to be completed by August 2012; with options exercised, by January 2014. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via Navy Electronic Commerce Online and Federal Business Opportunities websites, with three offers received. Commander, Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00033-12-C-5504).

*Small business

Fanatic Rabbi Who Teaches “Goyim Slavery” Comes to US

December 21st, 2011 | Author: Chris Roubis

The Forward, Nathan Guttman

Shas Rising Rabbi Ovadia Yossef, right, wants to raise the profile of Sephardic Jews worldwide.

Washington — In its 30 years of existence, Shas has evolved from a marginal ethnic political group to Israel’s fourth largest party in the Knesset and is today the unchallenged kingmaker of Israeli politics.

Its leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yossef, as quoted in Israel’s Jerusalem Post, teaches:

The sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews, according to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the head of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages and a senior Sephardi adjudicator.

“Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world – only to serve the People of Israel,” he said in his weekly Saturday night sermon on the laws regarding the actions non-Jews are permitted to perform on Shabbat.

Now, Shas — or in its full name, the Sephardic Torah Guardians Movement — is attempting to establish a beachhead among American Sephardic Jews and, it hopes, replicate its success in Israel. On December 4, the group launched its United States affiliate, American Friends of Shas, based in Brooklyn.

The new organization’s goals are still in flux and, while activists agree its main mission should be raising the profile of Shas in America, some are also calling for active fundraising to support the party’s operations in Israel.

Beyond these goals, the affiliate’s founders also hope to unite Sephardic American Jews under the leadership of Rabbi Ovadia Yossef, Shas’s founder and spiritual leader, who is revered as the most important rabbinic authority in the Sephardic world.

American Friends of Shas activists believe that such a consolidation of leadership could help elevate the standing of Orthodox Sephardic Jews, who often feel left out of the Ashkenazi-dominated American Jewish organizational world.

Jewish Supremacist – Rabbi David Algaze – “Jerusalem is Not a City of Three Religions”

“Associating with a very powerful leader and a very powerful organization can give us a sense of pride,” said Rabbi David Algaze, who chaired the founding meeting of American Friends of Shas.

Rabbi Algaze added that while he did not believe there is prejudice against Sephardic Jews in the U.S., there is a “subconscious bias” that has made members of the community almost entirely absent from the Jewish communal leadership.

Calls to join the new organization were posted in recent weeks on billboards in Orthodox neighborhoods in Brooklyn and New Jersey.

The official launch took place, as first reported by the Jewish Star, a Long Island-based newspaper, with Rabbi Ovadia Yossef’s personal aide, Zvi Hakak, greeting participants on behalf of the 91-year-old sage.

“The dream,” Hakak said in the meeting, “is to raise the image of Sephardic Jews.”

[Editors Note: Before the end of WWII, other Jewish Supremacists, the Irgun, were actually running coast to coast fundraising tours to fund their killing of British soldiers in Palestine.

The British Embassy complained bitterly at the time that while Tommies were dying to free Europe and save those left in the camps, that we allowed this terrorist organization to raise money here. But U. S. Politicians gave the poor Brits the bad news, "We are sorry, but as a political reality there is nothing we can do."

Hear some Hebrew Klan gospel straight from the horses mouth, a horse with a suit... Jim W. Dean]

YouTube – Veterans Today -

– Rabbi Algaze

The group plans to incorporate as a tax-exempt charitable organization.

Shas Knessett Member – Nissam Zev

The driving force behind the initiative, Israeli Knesset member Nissim Zeev, was among the original founders of the Shas party in Israel.

“Our main goal was to have a channel in which Shas’s political views could be expressed in America,” Zeev told the Forward in a December 13 phone interview. “It is also very important for us to unite Sephardic communities in the U.S. around the party and around our rabbi, Ovadia Yossef.”

Shas started off in Israel as a social-issue party, focused on the needs of its key constituency — Sephardic Orthodox Israelis, many of whom were from the struggling classes in Israeli society.

Shas established its own government-funded school network, which gained marked popularity in poor Sephardic towns. This, in turn, increased the party’s popular support.

[Editors Note: So what these hustlers are going to do, of course, is launder tax deductible funding from here into the Israeli political process. Don't hold your breath for a Justice Dept. investigation. They won't do it. But we will at least get them on the record by officially asking them to...Jim W. Dean]

The party initially held centrist views on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and supported the Oslo Accords. But Shas has since moved to the right. As a member of the ruling government coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, the party has opposed any freeze in Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.

Jane Harman and the Woodrow Wilson Center – A Cruel Betrayal

December 21st, 2011 | Author: Chris Roubis

The Marriage From Hell

by David Boyajian

editing Jim W. Dean

Woodrow Wilson, the 28th American president, is looking down in horror at what the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWC) is doing in his name.

I wrote that last year in two exposés: “The Selling of the WWC” and “The WWC Desecrates its Namesake’s Legacy”.

They revealed that the Washington, DC-based Wilson Center is violating its Congressional mandate and is up to its neck in tainted corporate cash.

A leading Congressman, a Wilson family descendant, citizens’ groups, and many others agreed. One prominent journalist called the WWC “a global joke.”

Several months ago, this Congressionally-created, multi-million dollar think tank, funded partly by taxpayers, made another colossal blunder. It hired former eight-term Congresswoman Jane Harman (D–CA) to be its president, replacing Lee Hamilton, also a former Congressman.

Harman, like Hamilton, is not only part of the good-old-boy (and girl) network of which the WWC is so fond. Among her other baggage, charges of illegal conduct in a spy scandal involving AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) have shadowed Harman for years.

Let’s take a closer look at Harman and the Wilson Center to see why they’re the marriage from hell.

Harman’s spy scandal

Former AIPAC ‘operatives’ – Rosen and Weissman

Two top AIPAC officials, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, were indicted on spy charges in 2005 for passing classified documents to Israel.

Citing confidential sources, Time magazine, in 2006, and Congressional Quarterly, two years ago, reported that the Feds had wiretapped Cong. Jane Harman and a “suspected Israeli agent” agreeing to this deal:

Harman would persuade the Justice Department to reduce the charges against Rosen and Weissman; in exchange, AIPAC and its influential supporters would persuade then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to reappoint the unpopular Harman as top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Harman apparently promised the “Israeli agent” to “waddle into” the AIPAC scandal “if you think it’ll make a difference.” Harman ended the exchange with “this conversation doesn’t exist.”

The Justice Department and CIA wanted to prosecute Harman. But Alberto Gonzales, President Bush’s Attorney General, reportedly refused because – ironically – he “needed Jane” to support the government’s ongoing warrantless wiretapping program.

Shockingly, charges against Rosen and Weissman were dropped in 2009 because a judge put constraints on Federal prosecutors. Larry Franklin, the Defense Department official who passed the classified documents to the two AIPAC officials, wasn’t so lucky. He pled guilty three years earlier and went to prison.

Harman has long denied any wrongdoing. She has never, however, given a full account of her conversations regarding Rosen and Weissman. Full accounts, as we shall see, are not one of Harman’s virtues.

Harman’s genocide flip-flop

Multiple VT Sources Tell Us That Lantos Was a Long Time Israeli Spy That the Justice Dept. Would Never Prosecute – As With Others, for ‘Political Reasons’.

While co-sponsoring Congressional resolution HR 106 on the Armenian genocide committed by Turkey, Cong. Harman went behind the backs of her constituents in October of 2007 by asking then-Foreign Relations Chair Tom Lantos (D-CA) to bury the resolution.

Only after her constituents discovered this through other sources did she admit to it.

But the explanations for her flip-flop made little sense. “This is the wrong time” for the resolution, wrote Harman.

But she couldn’t cite anything relevant in 2007 that had changed regarding Turkey, Armenia, or the Middle East since she signed onto the resolution a few years earlier.

Harman claimed that a genocide resolution would “embarrass or isolate the Turkish leadership.”

This claim came suspiciously soon after she met with Turkey’s threatening Prime Minister, Recep Erdogan. Apparently, recognizing a genocide requires an OK from the perpetrating country’s leader.

[Editors Note: Our long time sources tell us the Congressmen, due to their access to classified immunity, and virtual immunity from prosecution, are major targets for Israeli espionage, and further...that many are not very hard to recruit.

This has long been a morale problem for patriot counter intelligence employees who are absolutely certain that the country is being betrayed not only by these people, but out top law enforcement officials who are aware of the problem, but will do nothing...Jim W. Dean]

But Harman reached truly ridiculous heights by claiming– again, this was in 2007 – that it was “obvious” that Turkey’s “leadership” was needed for “resolving the Israel-Palestine issue.” Turkey had never, of course, played a significant role in mediating between Israelis and Palestinians.What really caused Harman’s genocide flip-flop?

Jewish groups and Turkey

AIPAC – Our Sources in Counter Intelligence Tell US They are Long Time Supporters of Israeli Espionage in America

AIPAC was (and is) one of several major Jewish American organizations that have colluded with Turkey to, among other things, defeat Armenian genocide resolutions. Israel, Turkey, and Jewish groups formed their ménage-à-trois in the 1990’s.

Yola Johnston, Community Outreach Director for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, has admitted that AIPAC, theAmerican Jewish Committee, B’nai B’rith, her own organization, and “the Jewish lobby” have “quite actively supported Turkey in their efforts to prevent the so-called Armenian genocide resolution from passing.”

AIPAC, reported the Washington Times last year, had “lit up the phones” against the genocide resolution when “the Turks” asked a “senior researcher” at AIPAC to do so.

That “senior researcher” and “architect of the Jewish community’s support for Turkey” was none other than AIPAC’s notorious Keith Weissman. So the Harman-AIPAC-Weissman threesome was at the center of not only a spy scandal but also a genocide cover-up.

And there’s more. Yet another scandal may have induced Harman’s genocide duplicity.

Anti-Defamation League scandal

Taking Heads Was ‘In Style’ Back Then – As it Was During the Balkan Wars

Harman wrote her genocide flip-flop letter to Chairman Lantos just as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was taking a beating in the U.S. and internationally for denying the Armenian genocide and helping Turkey lobby against Armenian genocide recognition.

Human rights activists, principled Jews, and Armenian Americans had just months earlier launched a campaign (see NoPlaceForDenial.com) that was to result in more than a dozen Massachusetts cities’ evicting the ADL’s so-called “No Place for Hate” anti-bias program.

The Turkish government was furious that the embarrassing arrangement among it, Jewish groups, and Israel was being splashed across the headlines.
Prime Minister Erdogan made a frantic call to Israeli President Peres, while Turkey’s foreign minister reportedly warned the Israeli ambassador that “our bilateral relations will suffer.”

Did Harman, who was certainly aware of this uproar, panic at the prospect of a further deterioration in the already strained relations between Israel and Turkey?

Did she ask Lantos to kill the genocide resolution because Turkey would blame Israel, AIPAC, the ADL, and even Harman herself if the resolution succeeded?

Considering the timing, Harman’s relationship to Israel and the genocide-denying AIPAC, and the illogical explanations for her flip-flop, it seems probable.

[Editors Note: Israel's help with blocking official genocide is based on two primary motivations. First is not wanting any exposure to the Turkish Jews in the key Turkish security slots at the time that played a key role in the genocide.

As with the Ukrainian genocide, the inordinate numbers of Jews in the Cheka at the time are miraculously turned into communist when committing such crimes against humanity, and then later persecuted Jews when wanting to emigrate to Israel.

And second, during this time Israel had close relations with Turkey and it's military and was training in Turkish airspace for bombing attack on Iran, in preparation of basing in Turkey for such an attack. Hence, a little help for Turkey on this genocide issue was just an item on a 'to do' list.

I have found a balance BBC documentary on the Armenian genocide below...Jim W. Dean]

The Betrayed: BBC Armenian Genocide documentary.

Google – Veterans Today -

“In a special Correspondent to coincide with Holocaust memorial week, Fergal Keane investigates how a terrible slaughter, three quarters of a century ago, has returned to haunt the relationship between Turkey and its western allies.”

Though the House Committee narrowing passed the resolution, Harman had to be pleased that it did not make it any further. Her appeasement of Turkey, however, proved to be in vain:

Erdogan was soon calling Shimon Peres a mass murderer (January 2009) for Israel’s offensive against Gaza.

Israel scolded and humiliated Turkey’s ambassador (January 2010) in response to Turkish criticism and an anti-Israeli TV show.

Israeli commandos shot nine Turks to death on a ship that had tried to break the Gaza blockade (May 2010).

Erdogan has expelled the Israeli ambassador, cut defense ties with Tel Aviv, and threatened military retaliation unless Israeli apologizes and pays compensation for the flotilla killings.

But when, like Harman, one has few firm principles and has fooled herself into believing that a country such as Turkey is a friend, she inevitably winds up with yogurt on her face.

No self-respecting institution would have considered hiring anyone with Harman’s background. That may explain why the Wilson Center hired her. It has little respect for its mission or the American people.

The Wilson Center flouts Congress

Woodrow Wilson Center – Washington, D.C.

The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Act of 1968 was crystal clear: The WWC must commemorate Wilson’s “ideals and concerns” and memorialize “his accomplishments.”

Yet it has ignored large swaths of the Wilson administration’s record on the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia), Turkey, and the Middle East.

The WWC isn’t just thumbing its nose at Congress and taxpayers. It has closed its eyes to a wealth of political knowledge about a region in which the U.S. has enormous interests.

The Caucasus, for example, is a major locus for producing and transporting oil and gas. It’s also ground-zero in the new Cold War between the U.S. and Russia, particularly since the Russian-Georgian war of 2008.

Donald Wilson Bush, President of the Woodrow Wilson Legacy Foundation and a Wilson family descendant, has rightly accused the WWC of “violating [its] very own mission and purpose.”

Ah…We Love Archival Evidence Here at Veterans Today – We Call It…Intelligence!

Wilson and the State Department’s record on the region from the WW 1 era is extensive.

Though the U.S. did not formally declare war against Turkey in WW1, Turkey was the main ally of Germany, America’s enemy.

Wilson condemned, in the strongest terms, Turkey’s genocide of Armenians and was a fervent advocate of Armenian independence.

By the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres – a product of the Paris Peace Conference in 1920 – the U.S. formally delineated the borders of that part of Armenia and Kurdistan that now lies within Turkey’s eastern regions. Turkey later reneged on the Treaty.

Yet, despite the clear stipulation of Congress, Wilson’s record has been almost totally ignored by the WWC.

Indeed, three years ago, historian and legal scholar Ara Papian, a Canadian resident and former Armenian Ambassador to Canada, applied for a WWC Fellowship to do ground-breaking research on the U.S. archival record regarding Turkey and the Caucasus – a proposal the WWC should have jumped at.

Papian was rejected without explanation. Ironically, several months ago Lee Hamilton told the American Historical Association that U.S. foreign policy officials need the views of “historians.”

Yet as WWC president, he all but ignored the history of Wilson’s Caucasus policies.

Tainted corporate cash

Turkish Foreign Minister – Ahmet Davutoglu

The WWC has been corrupted by its gluttony for corporate cash. Case in point: it acknowledged that money was the main reason it journeyed to Turkey in 2010 to honor a Turkish billionaire whose Dogus Holding conglomerate is a WWC donor, and to give a much-criticized award to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Cong. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Chair of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, blasted Lee Hamilton for honoring Davutoglu.

Ackerman cited Turkey’s military occupation of Cyprus, closure of the border with Armenia, and denial of the Armenian genocide.

Honoring Davutoglu was “absolutely inconsistent with the mission of the WWC and the ideals that animated President Wilson’s administration and foreign policy.”

The Wilson Center, added Donald Wilson Bush, had engaged in “Turkish diplomatic appeasement.” It had “sacrificed its legitimacy as a ‘neutral forum for open, serious, and informed dialogue.’”

“Why,” asked Claudia Rosett, “should Congress keep fueling this morally blank, misleading and venal exercise [the WWC] with millions of American tax dollars?” Good question.

Part of why the WWC has all but ignored Wilson’s record on Turkey and the Caucasus is undoubtedly that many major donors (present and past members of its elite “Wilson Alliance”) have lobbied for, or been members of trade organizations that have lobbied for, Turkey and against the Armenian resolution. These include Alcoa, BAE Systems, Bechtel, Boeing, Bombardier, Chevron, Coca Cola, Exxon-Mobil and Honeywell.

James Baker and Lee Hamilton – Share a Whisper

In fact, Harman’s predecessor, Lee Hamilton, engaged in a clear conflict of interest during his tenure by sitting on the board of BAE Systems, a defense giant which does lots of business with Turkey.

Last year a Federal judge slapped BAE’s parent corporation with a $400 million criminal fine for “deception, duplicity and knowing violations of law … on an enormous scale.” Too bad the judge didn’t also look into the Wilson Center.

Hamilton also sat on the board of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a “global strategy firm” headed by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Hamilton’s WWC bio, incredibly, was dead silent about his corporate affiliations.

This same Lee Hamilton co-chaired the official National Commission on the 9/11 attacks, whose report has been widely criticized as incomplete and biased. Hamilton and Harman, you see, can be counted on not to rock the corporate establishment’s boat.

The WWC is rife with other questionable characters, including those with deep ties to Turkey, such as former board member and present Wilson Council member Ignacio Sanchez, a lobbyist employed by DLA Piper, which is a registered foreign agent for Turkey.

And former “Wilson Public Policy Scholar”Marc Grossman, ex-US ambassador to Turkey and DLA Piper bigwig. “Coincidentally,” Sanchez and Grossman were both on the WWC Search Committee that hired Harman.

Made for each other

If ever there was a marriage made in hell, therefore, Jane Harman and the Wilson Center are it:

The WWC receives millions in “donations” from the military-industrial complex, which influences the Center’s agenda and policies. Similarly, Harman – a former Defense Department lawyer – has received large campaign contributions from defense and aerospace firms’ Political Action Committees and employees, including those in El Segundo, a key military–industrial center located in her former Congressional district.

“Coincidentally,” major Wilson Center donors BAE Systems (Lee Hamilton’s comrade-in-arms), Boeing, and Chevron have offices in El Segundo. Indeed, BAE, Boeing, and Chevron were her “constituents” (and American Turkish Council members) not only when she was in Congress.

Those corporations – another “coincidence” – are her “constituents” again, at the WWC. Might the WWC have hired Harman for her expertise in raking in military-industrial “donations”?

The WWC has ingratiated itself with Turkey. It has given awards to its Foreign Minister and a major Turkish corporate donor, and virtually ignored Wilson’s policies regarding Turkey and the Caucasus. Harman, too, has ingratiated herself with Turkey. She reversed her stance on the Congress’s Armenian genocide resolution (and gave absurd reasons for doing so).

And just as the Wilson Center has gotten away (so far, anyway) with violating its Congressional mandate, Jane Harman has escaped prosecution (so far, anyway) for her dealings with a “foreign agent” in the AIPAC espionage scandal.

No, there’s no prospect that Harman will lead the WWC to adhere to the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Act of 1968, fulfill its pledge to be a “neutral forum for open, serious, and informed dialogue,” and release the grip that mega-corporations have on it.

If Congress of its own volition will not bring the Wilson Center to its senses, then Congress must be pushed by the American people to do so.

Other possibilities are investigations and legal action by third parties.

Just don’t count on Jane Harman’s cooperation.

END

David Boyajian is a freelance journalist

[Editors Note: Dear Readers, This list of more video on Jane Harmon's 'moonlighting' for Israeli 'assets' here in the U.S. just came in from VT editor Debbie Menon in Dubai. That a scandal plagued politician of questionable loyalty would end up with a soft landing at the Woodrow Wilson Center is an example of how rotten a system we have now.

If you agree you might want to let the Wilson Center people know. Remember...be professional. They use nasty contacts to neutralize criticism as 'kooks', so don't fall into the trap. Jim W. Dean]

General and Website Inquiries
wwics@wilsoncenter.org
T 202/691-4000
F 202/691-4001

Jeff Stein « Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton

21 Apr 2009 – Jane Harmon agreeing to intervene on behalf of two AIPAC … Antiwar.com Blog · Congressional Quarterly’s Jeff Stein on Antiwar Radio …
Philip Giraldi « Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton

17 Nov 2008 – Jane Harmon and the new headquarters of the Democratic War Party, … He is a regular columnist for Antiwar.com and a contributing editor for …
Scott Horton Interviews Jeff Stein 1 of 2 – YouTube

► 10:00► 10:00
Scott Horton interviews Jeff Stein 2 of 2 – YouTube

► 6:24► 6:24
Major scandal erupts involving Rep. Jane Harman, Alberto …

Antiwar Radio: Jeff Stein and Michael Hastings … Jane Harmon-AIPAC-court approved wiretap story, though, if you want one-stop shopping, I recommend this …
DEM. JANE HARMON WIRETAP – TREASON WITH ISRAELI -AIPAC …

JANE HARMON WIRETAP – TREASON WITH ISRAELI -AIPAC SPIES”, … Scott Horton Interviews Jeff Stein 1 of 2 by AntiwarRadio 806 views; 6 Thumbnail 6:24 …

It’s a Win-Win Situation!

December 21st, 2011 | Author: Chris Roubis

It was a few years ago that I grasped that Zionism was just one manifestation of Jewish political power in the West. But at the time, hardly anyone was either brave or stupid enough to tackle the topic. In spite of Israel defining itself as the ‘Jewish State’, despite the fact that the warplanes that dropped their bombs on Palestinian civilians were covered in Jewish symbols, still no one was willing to openly ask exactly what Jewishness was all about or what it stood for – and those few who did dare to raise the question were subject to total abuse until they took cover or just faded away.

It’s also been clear for quite a while that many Palestinian solidarity activists, intellectuals and academics have been begging for recognition from mainstream Western institutions. For obvious reasons, many of us have been fearful of open confrontation with exponents of Zionist power, whether mainstream Zionist media organisations or even those AZZ (Anti Zionist Zionists) who have managed to lodge themselves so comfortably within our ranks.

But recently things have changed and the popularity of my book ‘The Wandering Who’ (TWW) is just one example of that clear shift in consciousness. Somehow, we have lost our fear, somehow we have found the courage to say what we know to be the truth.

I’ve been engaged with Jewish identity politics issues for over a decade now but it was back in 2003 that I realised that total and uncompromised opposition to any form Jewish of identity politics was the only way forward. I also realised that I might be able to expose the framework of Jewish political infrastructure, not only within Israel but also within Zionist organisations, Western politics, Western media and the so-called Jewish ‘anti Zionist’ network. And it didn’t take long to realize I was in a true win-win situation. If they managed to destroy me, it would merely prove my point about their overwhelming influence but if they failed to neutralize me, that could only mean that Jewish power was disintegrating – which was exactly what I set out to achieve.

Three month ago I published TWW – a compilation of my thinking and probably one of the most damning criticisms of Jewish identity politics-left, right and centre – ever. Needless to say, all hell broke loose.

Since late September, I’ve been chased and harassed by just about every possible exponent of Jewish power and advocate of Israel and Zionism. The ADL, The Jewish Chronicle, The Simon Wiesenthal Center, the crypto-Zionist ‘anti’ racist Hope not Hate, Alan Dershowitz the Zionist mouthpiece and veteran IDF concentration camp guard Jeffrey Goldberg. Similarly, Ynet, Islamophobic Harry’s Place, The Board of Deputies of British Jews – all have worked closely together in a desperate attempt to bring down both my book and myself. But they were not alone. As I suggest in TWW there is a clear continuum between Zionism and Jewish ‘anti’ Zionism and certain elements within the Left. The Hasbara campaign against me was joined by the so called Jewish ‘anti’ Zionists aka AZZ and even by a few of Zionism’s Sabbath Goyim such as one Richard Seymour (for some reason convinced he is the true reincarnation of Lenin).

The Book Burners

Each morning brought a new assault. First, they mounted pressure on my publisher to pull the book. But Zero is made of sterner stuff. Even when ten of their authors threatened to leave, Zero held firm. But this initial failure did not damp the Zionists’ enthusiasm – in fact they stepped up the campaign. Now they tried to stop my talks and concerts, even campaigning against music festivals around the world. Of course again they failed but again they didn’t stop. Desperately they tried to halt the distribution of the book. In vain, they begged my growing list of endorsers to retract. But again, in each and every turn, they failed.

I was rather encouraged by their relentless attempts. The more they campaigned, the more copies were sold, the more they harassed, the more people realised how accurately the book describes the Jewish political continuum and the uglier their tactics were, the more people joined me.

The fact is, neither my publisher nor myself has spent a penny on promotion. We left our entire promotional campaign in the safe hands of the Jewish Chronicle, Jeffrey Goldberg, AZZ and Alan Dershowitz – and they did not disappoint. So far, the book has sold thousands. It has been read by most English-speaking Palestinian solidarity and anti war activists and within a year, the book will be available in most European languages. But best of all, the orchestrated Jewish campaign has proved beyond any doubt the accuracy of every single point made in the book about Jewish identity politics.

But, one wonders, why did they fail? Is it possible that Dershowitz and the Board of Deputies of British Jews are totally blind to the consequences of their actions? The answer is a resounding ‘yes’. Self-blindness is inherent to supremacist identity politics. As Deir Yassin Remembered’s Paul Eisen recently wrote, “You are so busy being clever that you’ve forgotten to look into the eyes of the other”. And this blindness has so often had catastrophic results. For as much as Jewish politics is fuelled by Jewish suffering, it is, at the same time, totally blind to the circumstances that has caused Jewish history to be characterized by an endless chain of shoas.

But also they failed because, quite simply, the tide has changed. We now experience an ever-growing fatigue with Jerusalemite lies and the Zionification of both our cultural life and political discourse. We want to reinstate the spirit of Athens – those precious notions of pluralism, universalism and ethics – not the Old Testament’s interventionist ‘righteousness’ explored by different ‘ways of deception’ known to us all as ‘Hasbara’.

So, TWW spreads like a forest fire, not because it’s particularly innovative but because it discusses those matters with which each of us has been concerned for a very long time. We say now enough is enough. We do not wish to hear again and again about antisemitism, the holocaust and the primacy of Jewish suffering – It is actually Islamophobia and the Palestinian shoa about which we all care.

My many detractors are afraid that the popularity of TWW will lead to a shift in the Palestinian solidarity discourse. They obviously don’t get it. It’s actually the other way around. The popularity of TWW is but a manifestation of that very shift within our discourse. So, rather than compromising, and searching desperately for that least offensive way to put it, activists and intellectuals are now competing for who can say it most ‘like it is’. We are there to touch raw nerves. Our world is in a volatile state and if we want to save it, we’d better say what we think – we’d better call a spade a spade.

Jews are of course most welcome in our rapidly changing movement – theyare precious to us and we are responsible for them too. But let’s be clear: we need no Kosher stamp. Gatekeeping is a thing of the past. No longer will their Hasbara campaign be tolerated. So rather than try to steer us, Jews must march with us.

We are indeed in a win-win situation. And it’s all because we know that truth is on our side.

The Wandering Who-A Study of Jewish Identity Politics Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

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Groveling for Campaign Money Isolates America

December 21st, 2011 | Author: Chris Roubis

Picking Up the Last of His 30 Pieces of Silver

By Alan Hart

A longer headline would have added the words because of President Obama’s grovelling for Jewish campaign funding and votes.

On 19 December, in the Jewish Daily Forward, Josh Nathan-Kazis wrote this:

“Top-level Jewish fundraisers from President Obama’s 2008 campaign are sticking with the president in 2012.

“Despite reports that President Obama faces a loss of Jewish funders due to his Middle East policy, analysis of a list of elite bundlers from his 2008 race shows no defections among the president’s top Jewish supporters in 2012.”

That’s not good news for the would-be presidents on the Republican side who are grovelling for Jewish campaign funds and votes.

On the same day, in what the BBC’s Barbara Plett called “a highly unusual move”, all the regional and political groupings on the UN Security Council sharply criticised Israeli settlement activities. They said in their statements that “continued settlement building threatened the chances of a future Palestinian state.” They also expressed dismay at rising settler violence. (“They” were the envoys representing the European Union, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab Group and a loose coalition of emerging states known as IBSA).

It was UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant who read the statement of the EU group.

“Israel’s continuing announcements to accelerate the construction of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, (1000 new housing units tendered for last week), send a devastating message. We believe that Israel’s security and the realisation of the Palestinians’ right to statehood are not opposing goals. On the contrary they are mutually reinforcing objectives. But they will not be achieved while settlement building and settler violence continues.”

As Barbara Plett noted, “Despite the unanimity of views, the envoys did not try to draft a single Security Council statement because they knew the US would veto it.” She also noted that the Obama administration’s stance was that “anything to do with Israeli-Palestinian peace talks belongs in a US-led bilateral process, not at the UN.” (In my opinion that’s hypocrisy of the highest order).

It could be said, and I do say, that such criticism of Israel’s settlement activities is 44 years too late. So what, really, is its significance?

My answer is in three parts.

The first is that it’s a strong indication of America’s growing isolation because of the Obama administration’s unconditional support for Zionism’s monster child.

The second, related, is that it seems to confirm what I have been saying and writing for several months – that behind closed doors almost all of the governments of the world, European governments in particular, are more than fed up with Israel’s contempt for and defiance of international law.

The third is that the governments of most of the member states of the UN have come to terms with the fact that Zionism’s assertion that a Palestinian state on the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip could and would pose a threat to Israel’s existence is propaganda nonsense of the highest order. (This, of course, is only of academic interest because the two-state solution has long been dead if not yet buried).

When I am thinking about Obama’s grovelling, my memory recalls a comment made to me by Dr. Hajo Meyer, the passionate anti-Zionist Nazi holocaust survivor and author of An Ethical Tradition Betrayed, The End of Judaism.

We had shared a platform in London and over breakfast the following morning I asked him a question. I said: “Hajo, you’re well into your eighties and you are being vilified by Zionism’s verbal hit-men for your efforts to unmask the Zionist monster. Why are you continuing with your truth-telling? Why don’t you sit back in peace and quiet and enjoy what’s left of your life?”

He replied with nine little words. “The first person I see every morning is me,” meaning “I have to live with myself.”

It’s more than reasonable to assume that Obama looks in the mirror from time to time. I wonder if he can live with himself.

Footnote: My comments on Israel’s response

Israel’s response as delivered by Karean Peretz, spokeswoman for Israel’s UN Mission, included this: “The main obstacle to peace, has been, and remains, the Palestinians’ claim to the so-called right of return and its refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state,”

That, too, is Zionist propaganda nonsense of the highest order.

Israel is not a Jewish state. How could it be when about a quarter of its citizens are Arabs and mainly Muslims? Israel could only be a Jewish state after it had resorted to a final round of ethnic cleansing. Israel is a Zionist state.

Because Arafat kept them informed through a secret channel, Israel’s leaders have long known that in the event of a two-state solution, the PLO was reluctantly reconciled to the reality of the right of return being confined to the territory of the Palestinian state, which would mean that only about 100,000 refugees would be able to return, with the rest having to accept financial compensation for the loss, theft, of their land and rights.

As I explain in my book Zionism, The Real Enemy of the Jews, when they decided they had no choice but to be pragmatic, Arafat and his leadership colleagues took a degree of comfort from two hopes. One was that all Palestinian refugees everywhere could and would have a Palestinian passport. The other was that if there was a two-state solution, it could evolve over one or two generations into one state for all - i.e. because in peace and partnership enough Israeli Jews would say something like, “We don’t need two states”. In the event of a one-state solution coming about by mutual consent, it was assumed on the Palestinian side at leadership level that, over time, all Palestinians who wanted to return would be able to return. So in theory the two-state solution was not necessarily the end-game on the right of return.