DMOL, you win an award from me my friend 😉
The "democracy" is coming to Libya, it is just on a very, very, very slow almost a dead horse 😉
There is no other way to structure a point of view, if one is of a believe that Libya was/is the America's success story, so don't expect miracles my friend.
China & India have been defying US Congress all along........in fact they were not part of the possies, there were exempt from joining the sanction wrath of the US.
Hillary Clinton announced that the US is aware of that, and understand it. I seriously think US had no other option except understanding it.
China does what China wants, they have a huge trade market with Iran, and India does what India wants because they have Nuclear Capability, and they can make life much harder for US by escalating that little life long riff with Pakistan.
Good Article Prof. Cole, indeed there are much cooperation between US and Russia in other areas.
Having said that, US has this nasty habit of "throwing the baby out with the bath water". By that I mean there has been "tremendous cooperation" between US and Iran over Afghanistan, but that didn't stop Mr. Bush from calling Iran the Axis of Evil, thus I agree with Mr. Putin in that "AMERICAN GOVERNMENT have a superiority complex and act in paternalistic and slighting ways toward other countries."
I was just thinking yesterday about an ex-president Jimmy Carter, wondering if he is laughing at all these tit for tat, because lets face it, to chase after Snowden was laughable, and to cancel a summit meeting because of Russian's asylum to Snowden is even more laughable.
I also couldn't help drawing a compare and contrast between Carter's tit for tat and Obama's temper tantrum.
Jimmy Carter cancelled the 1980 Moscow Olympics over Russia INVASION of AFGHANISTAN, Obama cancelled the Summit and who knows he might even boycott the Winter Olympics over Russia messing up his plan of further INVASION of the AMERICAN'S PRIVACY 😉
While Carter's action was admirable, Obama in comparison is acting like a jilted suitor, but then again there is not much in the way of comparison between Mr. Carter & Mr. Obama.
Some PEACE TALKS huh?! It sounds more like the usual PISS TALKS to me.
Local sources have reported that several armored Israeli military vehicles, six military bulldozers, accompanied by several jeeps, carried out a limited invasion into the Al-Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza, fired several rounds of live ammunition before uprooting the farmlands.
The bulldozers and armored vehicles also invaded an area close to the Juhr Ed-Deen nearby village.
The invasions are needless to say are in direct violations to the ceasefire agreement mediated by Egypt, in November of last year, between the resistance in Gaza and Tel Aviv.
Evidently this is the 212th Israeli cease fire violations.
For the sub-link to the other 211th cease fire violations please enjoy the following article.
Besides the neocons that you mentioned sarcastically, Mr. Ahmadinejad would be missed by some of us.
I think the history will show in due time that he was an effective president albeit grave shortcomings of the leadership to whom he was expected to pay allegiance to.
Excellent point William James Martin.
Lee Bollinger's departure from professionalism and trading the dignity of the institution he presided over to embrace 5 minutes of fame backfired on him.
I have a feeling that many countries including but not limited to Ecuador will grant asylum to Mr. Snowden. This song and dance is for other reasons such as security. I have a feeling that we are going to hear that suddenly Mr. Snowden is in one of these countries with asylum paper in his back pocket.
The similar arrangement was done while he was in Hong Kong,the back and forth was taking place between HK government and State Department while preparation for Mr. Snowden departure was underway, which got US government so pissed, so now Moscow, Ecuador, Venezuela, etc., etc. are playing their card game differently.
I wonder if IRI would offer Asylum, that would be the Ace even if it is for few days of chuckles 😉
You ought to love Vladimir Putin, "asylum only if he ceases leaking US secrets and “harming our American partner, and only if Snowden join our comrades singing the US National Anthem every morning :))))
We misunderstood Barack Obama period, the more book this man wrote the less we learned about him. He has been a gift of disappointment that keeps giving, at least he has been for me.
Perhaps after the ineptitude of George W. we expected more, we made Obama to something he wasn't, we expected things that he could not deliver, he was not about the "Change" as he claimed to be, he was certainly not about "hope" either.
As the great philosopher and serial killer of English language George W. once said; "fool me once, shame on (ummmm!) shame on you. Fool me (ummm!) you can't get fooled again", well Americans were fooled twice in voting for W. and twice in voting for Mr. Obama.
I think Erdogan is in for a rude awakening, as Erdogan's Turkeys are coming home to roost.
Ironically he wasn't received favorably in Tunisia, demonstrators shouting; "Go home Erdogan, you're not welcome in Tunisia". I doubt the the rest of his four day trip was exactly a red carpet state visit with pomp & circumstances either.
However he really has it in his head that he is a benevolent Emperor of the region, going around acting like one!! 😉
Of course getting a big head is expected when US and his Western allies go around and call Turkey the "other Democracy" in the region!!! As it is said; "when you hear a lie long enough you take it to be the truth".
We have no shame. Water-boarding has turned to Food-boarding,sometimes I feel that the disaster in Guantanamo is poetic justice,a Cuban revenge, sure the land is "leased" but the aggression" is "owned" by us.
This is by all means a good news for those who are believers of the "Balance of Power" and rejected the unipolarity which has been hunting the political world since the late 80s.
A welcome change indeed.
Dear Professor Cole,great and very sober and impassioned analysis, thank you. I have a few statements to make one in form of inquiry/question and three in form of comments.
Question:
Sir we have been hearing from the administration and others (experts)- who more and less resonate and repeat the State Department attitude toward Syrian affair - in form of, reluctance of Obama to get involved, non-military aids for the fear of weaponizing the Jihadists,etc., etc., my question for you sir is in two folds;
1. What are we doing there? If the US aspiration is for democratic Syria why not encourage a fair election, why is that not an option?
2. How does the US "indirect involvement" via our regional "Democratic" allies [read sarcasm] like Saudi Arabia and Qatar since 2012 differ from "direct involvement",since at the end of the day the result would be the same?
Comment:
You've stated,"Obama learned from Iraq and Afghanistan that US military intervention in the Middle East doesn’t actually work very well".
Didn't Mr.Obama call the Iraq war a "wrong war" and suggested that we should have focused on the Afghanistan? Didn't he surged the number on boots on the ground in Afghanistan shortly after taking office?
How/what did he learn? He learned nothing sir.
As you stated it has been 11 years since we have been in Afghanistan, lets us not forget that 4 of those 11 years were under Obama's leadership or lack there of.
Comment;
Very sober analysis, I like it very much when you stated;"Everyone always forgets that if foreigners bomb a hated regime’s installations and accidentally thereby kill large numbers of innocent civilians, the dead civilians show up on the front page and everyone turns against the foreign air force".
Professor Cole by "everyone" I hope you mean "everyone in the Administration", because surely those affected don't forget. The large number of innocent civilians have been/are dying in Pakistan and Yemen sir, since 2008 thanks to Mr. Obama's Drone Program.
What is probably reasonable thing to say, is if American casualties are in front page, then American people and public opinion would turn against the administration.
Well Mr. Obama took care of that hazard with the unmanned drones, exponential cheaper warfare, no American casualties, and better yet no counts on civilian casualties to report on the "back page" let alone the "front page"!!!!
Comment;
In regards to your concerns about "prolonging war" should the US decides to "directly" or "indirectly" send heavier weapons, again very sober observation Professor Cole, but from a first hand experience sir, I very much doubt it if that has ever been a concern of any US administrations.
US provided arms to BOTH Iran & Iraq for 8 years, that ongoing gift resulted in over 1000,000 death on both sides. "prolonging wars" and "loss of human lives" might upset you and I Prof. Cole but the US Administration has never lost a night sleep over that.
The entire PA leadership should resign, with friends like Palestinian Authority, Palestinians don't need an enemy. Ironically Palestinian in a free and fair election in which they elected Hamas showed that they don't have any fate in Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah Party, in fact as we have seen PA are more concerned in pleasing and having "legitimacy/credibility" with the "west" than among Palestinians.
Excellent point William James Martin, indeed Jimmy Carter's departure also coincided with with departure of the notion of "diplomacy/negotiation" in US foreign policy. There is a proverb, "if you can't beat them, join them", and that is what we have been doing for the past 3.5 decades, we have joined the crazies and the terrorists. Our mantra has become "we go to war to maintain peace"!!!!
Anyhow the following is an amazing piece of news that in my opinion should also go viral in China, if not in the United States. The depth of hypocrisy is unimaginable.
Incidentally USA has dropped couple of Atomic Bombs on the Japanese, we hold the number of ranking as an only nation who ever abused her nuclear capability.
Dear Professor Cole, a rather short narration and partial analysis of the "Structural Problem" in our two party system. But surely you must agree that our problem likability or lack there of goes beyond Republicans.
The story of American politics is a story of “dispossessed Majority”. A story of power, greed, lies and deceits, and finding ways for the masses to be complaisant in this process. The US is ruled by a private oligarchy, who are not necessarily limited to White Religious Right.
The government is merely a front for this private oligarcy. The country’s resources are diverted to the pockets of Wall Street, the military complex, and to the service of greater Israel.
The oil, mining, timber, and agribusiness companies control the Environmental Protection Agency and the Forestry Service, while fracking, mountaintop removal mining, and pollution of air, water, and soil runs wild.
The oligarchs have succeeded in making Americans a "dispossessed majority" in their own country. Unfortunately a governmental system with a scaffolding of greed and fear is always destined to fail and collapse at worst and/or not sustainable at best under pseudo leadership of Oligarch who happen to be of color, not so religious and somewhat to the left of the center.
The story of American politics, is a story of a strange alliance of the "dirt poor" with "mega rich', the wonderment of both parties managing to convince the poor to vote against their best interests at every election.
The use of “social issues” such as gay marriage, and women’s reproductive system, etc., are used by Republicans to work up indignation over the threat to moral values posed by liberal Democrats.
Through media propaganda, and philosophical oration the working poor are convinced that their tax dollars are used to provide medical care and schooling for illegal aliens, they are convinced that standing up for America means standing up for bankster bailouts and the military complex’s multi-trillion dollar wars.
Nonsense stories are fed to and embraced by masses, bypassing the faculty of mind/reasoning to put two & two together. Americans heard about Obama being a Muslim, about Obama being a Marxist, about Obama being a Manchurian Candidate turning America over to the New World Order, but never is Obama accused of turning the US over to Wall Street, the Military Industrial Complex, or Israel.
No one asks the obvious questions, why Obama would be killing Muslims in 7 countries if he was a Muslim, or why Wall Street and the military/security complex would put a Marxist in the White House, when all it took for military complex to squander $6 trillion on the Iraq & Afghan wars was yellow ribbon decals and a slogan, “support the troops.”
Past November the Americans gave their approval to one of the oligarchy’s two candidates and had to argue among themselves which freak is better?
Patriotic Republicans whose candidate Mr. Romney, went to Israel to slither on his belly pandering to the crazed, blood-thirsty Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, who called his own Israeli top generals “pussies” for warning against attacking Iran. The same Romney who told Netanyahu, just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it; I am loyal to Israel.
Apparently, flag-waving Republican patriots were not bothered when their presidential candidate announces that as soon as he is in office he will turn over US foreign policy to Netanyahu and send more Americans to death and bankruptcy for Netanyahu.
Disillusioned Democrats who elected President Obama 4 years ago expected that he would restore the rule of law, just to find that he codified the Bush regime’s transgressions and added some of his own.
No one could have imagined the president of the US sitting in the Oval Office signing off on lists of American citizens to be murdered without evidence or due process of law.
The question then and question now was/is a choice between the Republican panderer to the rich and Israel whose foreign policy was going to be war, or the Democrat panderer to the rich and Israel whose foreign policy "IS" war.
So my dear Professor Cole ask not about "likability" factor of Republicans, ask about the broken system, ask about fundamental "Structural Problem" of our National Politics, I can assure you that the "Dispossessed Majority" dislikes both.
Excellent point, he is indeed a politician though and through.
His speech although eloquent carries a certain hollowness that has become his trade mark. President Obama has no initiatives to put forward in the last four years and nothing he has said in his Jeruselam speech points to a clear cut plan or agenda.
During his tenure in office the settlement constructions went smoothly, new plans to build more than 1500 housing units were announced shortly after Hillary Clinton visited in late November, with thousands more in December, and Israel struck Biden with a declaration for 1600 more housing units just as he steps out of the plane in his last visit!!!!
Israel eventually withheld the PA's money from taxes and manipulated the US to hold any aid money as well, with no reactions from Washington, there was no pressure- help to release the P.A's tax money held hostage by Israel. The atrocities and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has been taking place without any objections from Obama administration following the "no objection policy" of Clinton & Bush era.
Talking about 2 State solution, that myth, that delusion sold to the gullible and uninformed American public despite the fact that this President has not lifted a finger in that regard.
Announcing that the East Jerusalem is capital of Israel at the DNC in November 2012, was a kiss of death to the idea of 2 State solution in the eyes of anyone who has ever bothered to learn about terms and conditions of the peace process.
US vetoing the recognition of the Palestinian Statehood at the UN last year, goes against the the whole notion of the peace talk and idea of the 2 STATE Solution!!!!
For crying out loud if US is not prepared to even recognize the statehood of Palestine as a UN member how could Obama could go around selling that myth of the 2 States Delusion!!!!!
How gullible and out of touch we Americans must be to believe in that.
Talk is cheap, actions are none existence and he is no different than his predecessors.
Obama on this trip for the first time attached US approval or acquiescence to the idea of Israel as a Jewish state, which to my way of thinking is an incredibly irresponsible, wrong-headed thing for him to have done.
Now, the official policy of his administration and presumably that of future US governments is that Israel's right to exist as an Ethnocracy trumps any and all other considerations. So, if you had a situation down the road where an Israeli government cited a 'demographic threat' and began to round up and/or deport Palestinians, Eritreans, or anyone else the State deems as 'un-persons', then technically there would be little reason for the US to raise a stink about it because it has already given it's official stamp of approval for Israel to do so.
So, for this president to tell people in the region to their face that he supports equal rights for all, when he's actively colluding with the same government that is trampling those rights, and their dignity, under a hobnailed boot is so off the scale in terms of hypocrisy and contempt for the sensitivities of others that I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around it.
I knew this was more or less how Obama's trip was going to go, but after the past three days I'm still mystified at how anyone could say such outrageous stuff and then beam that charismatic smile.
Nobody can do the things Barack Obama has done this week and not have it come back to bite him at some point. I don't know what's going to happen in the next four years but I have not only lost respect for this president and his endless self-serving prevarications I also have little confidence in his ability to make the right decisions in the event of a crisis in the Middle East and elsewhere.
He has been an unending disappointment, in many ways his policies have been much damaging than others who came before him.
Great write-up Professor Cole. Can't agree with you more in regards to your "comic book" remark, the only thing I will add in defense of "Comic books" is that they have a three dimensional characters that are seldom nuances 🙂
Argo's mission was nothing but "self-glorification" of Americans, it was taken seriously, and it was purporting to be a historical event as it even got the First Lady involved, what a joke, and how sad for our country.
President Jimmy Carter remembered the event very well, and I trust his memory more than the former Central Intelligence Agency operative who was evidently involved in the rescue. Jimmy Carter in his interview with Piers Morgan could not stop laughing at the twisted, conceited and the fanciful script.
Unfortunately George Clooney the co-director of the movie is obsessed with Iran alas you would think he would at least educate himself on the topic, but historian he is not, he is just a pretty face and a blank slate.
American history is indeed jaundiced, even in its abridged version that is taught in schools across the country it is filled with deception, aggression, racism, bigotry, perfidy and deception, that is why Oliver Stone uses the word "untold", with or without Oliver Stone (s) of the world our history is not something to be proud of, it is something we need to contend with and come to terms with.
"A Film based on Historical Event" does purport to be partly history, just the same way that "A film based on true story" purport to be based on reality.
"Using Artistic License" is a nice term that I should remember to describe a "B rated" movies.
Let us say that the Academy recognized three fanciful movies this year, "Zero Dark Thirty", "Argo" and "Lincoln" and they awarded the Best Director to Ang Lee for a movie which was Fanciful and didn't need "artistic License" and wasn't based on made-up historical events.
Prof. Cole as always you have excellent points on all matters including your opinion and forecasting the Syrian demise. The only thing that I don't agree with you, but I was pleasantly surprises to hear you going about it a tad bit softer this time around is the possibility of US involvement in Syria. It seems to me that previously you used to strongly assert that US is not involved or minimally involved, but this time you seem to have reevaluated your stance on that, and at least you give the possibility that US might be "covertly" involved. I assume the evidence is so very obvious that could no longer be ignored or denied.
I also think that you could have done a little bit more in the way of forecasting, as I am sure your knowledge on this subject allows you to recognize Syria as being the gatekeeper and a last bastion of modern Arab nationalism, and a microcosm of Arab frustrations not only with each other but with the West.
For whatever reason you have refrained to point out the imminent & possible clash between Sunni Wahhabi elements who are the main fuel of the "rebels" (with or without US blessing and support), and the Shiites, Alawites, Brotherhood and host of other sectarian elements.
If the Sunni opposition to the Assad regime should get the upper hand in the civil war, the indiscriminate retaliation against Alawites would be extreme. With this incredible amount of “bad blood” between the at least these two sectarian communities, Syria might be looking at undergoing a Balkanization similar to the one of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Not mentioning or at times even down playing the role/involvement of the US and outside players, your fair analysis is missing a big chunk. Stating that in a year or 18 months after fall of Assad, Syria is going to have a parliamentary election and all would be alright, not only is a wishful thinking, but reminded me of what Ilan Peppe' the great historian said in regards to the Israeli/Palestinian dilemma, when he said, how can we talk of the peace process based on demarcation of 1967 and completely disregard what happened between 1948 and 1967?!!!
This very important question by Ilan Pappe's made his argument/analysis very sound and complete. I just wished that you would have explained it a little more.
I think when a country like Afghanistan is debated, and the quality of life and well being of a country is discussed, there is often a confusion. Here Prof. Cole's main thesis is literacy rates. He could also be talking about life expectancy and infant mortality. He also talks about gender segregation which again has more to do with cultural values and should not be automatically attached to fundamentalist religious indoctrination.
I was viewing a documentary by Tahir Quadiry couple of weeks ago, 3 Afghani families from different socio stratosphere were part of this study which was an expose to the notion of "Bachah Posh" practiced in today's Afghanistan. What is "bacha posh" you might ask? In Afghanistan’s largely conservative, male-dominated society, a son is often viewed as a family’s most valuable resource, so families who are not blessed with male offspring dress their girls as boys, not just dress them but the child is literally turn to a boy.
It was a very unsettling documentary in my view, but never the less it shows Afghanistan culture of patriarchy, the showcase of this documentary is a prominent and highly educated family, an attorney and member of Parliament if I remember correctly. I have enclosed the documentary for those who are interested.
Anyhow what I am trying to iterate here is that modernization is an evolution, and road to modernity not only must bridge the gap of religious dogma/doctrine, which is fabric of some of these societies, but it must also come to term and consent with the cultural value systems in most often patriarchal society.
Hence it is naivete to think that Taliban is root of the problems, or Islam is the root of all evil, there are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, and gender separation, status of women, right to education, are very different from country to country. As Franz Kafka once said; "
"Believing in progress does not mean believing that any progress has yet been made."
Here is the documentary I promised; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY9od2yuNVk
I agree with you in regards to Susan Rice story and it being pure politics. When something is "pure politics" with a clearly set mission aimed at one side/GOP discrediting the other side (Obama Administration), then anything goes, and the "relationship to reality" is a none issue. The fact that the reality can be turned on its head by the McCain(s) and Graham (s) of the GOP world is a given.
Having said that,I take your 10 point analysis at its face value, with exception of point #8, debating whether or not there was a demonstration.
The fact that in the age of internet "revolutions," and Twitter "Uprisings" of today, where there would surely be the preponderances of videos, your argument creates many questions, instead of clearing some stuff.
You state; "The GOP figures keep saying that there was no demonstration at the Benghazi consulate against the so-called film” and "But in fact Libyan security officials repeatedly told wire services that there was such a demonstration," and then the debate comes down to "An American resident in Benghazi at that time confirms that there were such demonstrations that day" is such a pedestrian way to either confirm or reject the existence of demonstration.
And then concluding that the "demonstration" was kept far away and out of range of security camera by the secular-minded revolutionary militia who guarded the US consulate,hence no video to confirm/deny is the mother of all the ad hocs and red herrings and begs for a huge exclamation mark.
As if there was only one video camera in the whole of Benghazi that could be trusted, to justify the existence of demonstration, and that one camera was located at the security gate of US Consulate and alas out of range of demonstration!!
I am not sure if that is what you were trying to argue in #8, that is my take of what you wrote, as it does not fit with your trademark (strong argument), but I suppose 1/10 is still an A 🙂
Fantastic write up professor Cole, I can't help it but to think we can all take this as the 4th and the final "presidential debate" hosted and moderated by "Mother Nature", and both party just announced that the are not going to be part of this debate :-)))
Great observations Mr. Cole, I know you concentrated on the "flip-flop", but flip-flop is least of Romney's problems.
Here is a good one for you;
"SYRIA IS IRAN'S ONLY ALLY IN THE ARAB WORLD, IT'S THEIR ROUTE TO THE SEA", said the genius Mitten :-))))))
I am still laughing, and ironically not many in the media mentioning it, which only means nobody got it !!!!
I never thought I would miss Sarah Palin's gaffs but in retrospect seeing Russia from her backyard is an infinitely smarter statement in comparison.
Ambrose Bierce once said; "War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." I have a bad news for Ambrose Bierce, nope either the God failed or the Americans :-)))
As if that wasn't comic enough the Democratic Party decided they should take advantage of this opportunity to expose Romney's lack of geography, so they immediately posted a map of the region and with two fat red arrow point to the Caspian Sea in the North!!! :)))) and Persian Gulf in the South!!! Ayyyay yaaay yaayyy, this much comedy shouldn't be for free if you ask me.
Excellent point Professor Cole. People like Mr. Maher are more dangerous than straight forward bigots, as they are amazingly talented to in putting out a different facade and wrap their biases and bigotry in a nice humorous package.
Having said that it is not very difficult to see the true bigoted person.
This is the same Bill Maher who on many occasions professed that he is not a "democrat" but he donates a million dollar to Obama campaign!!!! So why is it any surprise that a self professed non-believer Bill Maher has now joined an Islamophobic network?!!!
Professor Cole I admire you for your restraint, besides #4 every one of your points started with "It is distasteful", with exception of #1 which has the word "distasteful" in it 🙂
In order for me to enjoy your piece I replaced "distasteful" with "despicable"!
Excellent article Mr. Cole. I have a question, you mentioned that you disliked the Nazi reference, as in your opinion there was "no other way to characterize invoking the Anglo-Saxon race as a basis for a foreign policy relationship,......" then you called it "a Nazi sentiment." Is there any particular reason you called it "NAZI SENTIMENT" instead of "FASCIST SENTIMENT?"
Furthermore you talked about Romney's ATTITUDE toward "African-Americans as a young man in the 1970s before the Mormon church stopped discriminating against them on the grounds that they bore the mark of Cain." Adding to that Romney's more recent "attitude" at NAACP, plus his remark about "The White House doesn't fully appreciate the shared history we have”, clearing pointed to Obama's African ancestry. Is there any particular reason we call it "ATTITUDE" and don't use the word "RACIST"?
I think it is a high time we call a spade a spade, and distant our dialogue from "political correctness".
Thank you Professor Cole brilliant. I also love Mr. Lindgren and Kat comments.
I wish Professor Cole you could add one more entry to your glossary and that would we the word "POLITICS". What is it? How can one define it?
Being majored in it, giving it some thought I have come to realization that it certainly is not a "SIENCE".
Most often we base science upon the search for causes and the study of form and matter, with every object having four causes: material cause (what is it made up of?), efficient cause (what created it?), formal cause (what is it right now?), and final cause (what is it supposed to do?)
Now if we look at politics/political science as two areas of study: ethics and political philosophy, then we must put a hefty premium on observation and politics will never be subject to the observation that is necessary for a science. Politics is a completely subjective study, and so must involve a certain amount of reason. In addition, politics is caused and created by the masses, which cannot be properly observed by anyone, for they are too large and complicated. Although a mass action is simple to understand, its development is usually too complex to be fully grasped. Because a science requires full understanding of causes, so political science cannot be a science in this regard.
So how does one defines politics?
"New Democracies"? Saudi and Egypt?!!! Really?! That is the loosest way yet to use the word "Democracy", I mean I have heard "Democracy" been thrown about so indiscriminately but calling Saudi's and Egyptian's "New Democracies" is beyond wishful thinking and naiveté. Here is a new definition which is really an old definition of democracy;
Democracy: The bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.
PS: These "people" need not to be all from the same country 🙂
“The legislators have sought to place a sweeping prohibition on this emerging self-awareness.”
“The legislators seek to alter and reshape the country’s majority – minority relations.”
“The legislators seek to reinforce and even to perpetuate the Jewish majority’s current rule over the Arab minority in the country.”
“The legislators prohibit Israel’s Palestinian public who constitute some 20 % of the state’s citizens, from marking Independence Day – the State of Israel’s official holiday – as a day of mourning.”
“The legislators put an effort and move to curb Palestinian Israelis’ civil rights.”
“The legislators have sought to place a sweeping prohibition on this emerging self-awareness, stemming from the Palestinians’ (the same Palestinians who by the way constitute some 20% of the state’s citizens), growing national consciousness.”
Below is what is still fresh in my mind from Political Science 101, Topic: Types of Political Regimes;
DEMOCRACY:
“What are foundations/Ideals of Democracy?”
Answer:
• Individual dignity and unalienable rights
• Respect for differences within their population
• Freedom of conscience (religious liberty, religious diversity, respect for religious minorities)
• Equal protection under the law
• Participation in decision-making
“What are components of Democracy?”
Answer:
• Protects minority populations
• Helps all citizens fulfill their aspirations, these aspirations include;
a) Desire to have basic human rights
b) Practice one’s religion
c) Speak freely on public issues
d) An impartial court system
Boy oh boy, if I didn’t get an A in knowing about political regimes and what they stand for, what its their ideals, I could/would have NOT question why for crying out loud we call Israel “A Vibrant Democracy In the whole of Region”, if I didn’t know better I would have believed I was suffering from some kind of cognitive dissonance disorder.
But thank you Mr. Cole and Mr. Weiss, after reading this article I don’t think it is me, in fact it seems it is Israel who is suffering from debilitating “Amnesia”, we Americans have been battling with “Amnesia” for a while now, even though we have only +/-200 years of history to remember!!!!
“Amnesia” is not contagious is it?!!! We here in US have a significant Jewish populations, is it possible that they brought it over, and we contracted it, or it is just because we don't dislike and are oblivious to "history" just as much as we dislike and clueless about "geography" ?!! ☺
Humor aside it is a sad state of affairs.
And thank you for Mr. Weiss’s article and as always thank you Professor Cole for sharing it with us.
What makes one think that the two state solution would ever going to be feasible is beyond me.
After forty years of occupations, and human rights violations, over four decades of showing their middle finger to any resolutions that was introduced in the UN.
Making mockery of half dozen US presidents.
The blue print was drawn and limits were set from the time of Ben-Gurion.
One only needs to refer to the history to see the quotes the speeches of David Ben-Gurian and Zionist ideologues like him.
From the beginning, Zionists advocated a "Jewish State" not just in Palestine, but also in Jordan, southern Lebanon, and the Golan Heights as well. In 1918 Ben-Gurion described the future "Jewish state's" frontiers in details as follows:
"....to the north, the Litani river [in southern Lebanon], to the northeast, the Wadi 'Owja, twenty miles south of Damascus; the southern border will be mobile and pushed into Sinai at least up to Wadi al-'Arish; and to the east, the Syrian Desert, including the furthest edge of Transjordan".
David Ben-Gurian went further and argued;
"The Palestinian people were incapable by themselves of developing Palestine, and they had no right to stand in the way of the Jews. He argued in 1918, that Jews' rights sprang not only from the past, but also from the future. In 1924 he declared:
"We do not recognize the right of the [Palestinian] Arabs to rule the country, since Palestine is still undeveloped and awaits its builders." In 1928 he pronounced that "the [Palestinian] Arabs have no right to close the country to us [Jews]. What right do they have to the Negev desert, which is uninhabited?"; and in 1930, "The [Palestinian] Arabs have no right to the Jordan river, and no right to prevent the construction of a power plant [by a Jewish concern].
In other words, the Palestinian people are entitled to no political rights whatsoever, and if they have any rights at all, these rights are confined to their places of residence. Ironically, this statement was written when the Palestinian people constituted 85% of Palestine's population, and owned and operated over 97% of its lands!
So you see the Israelis under the leadership of another hawk Mr. Netanyahu are in "Implementation Phase" of of what they have stated over 40 years ago.
Only those who were either over the board optimists or painfully naive would have bought into this so called peace talk initiatives and the Two State Solution bull craps, and now are collectively holding their breath while yet another president embraces the idea of the two state solution dream.
Political cleavages CAN become quiet combustible, USA has been sitting nicely in middle of this wide crack for few decades now without regards to the consequences of what will happen when you situate yourself right on top of the fault line when the big one hits!
Excellent narration, just imagine what you would write if you had coffee? 😉
Of course I am going to use your wonderful quote.
DMOL, you win an award from me my friend 😉
The "democracy" is coming to Libya, it is just on a very, very, very slow almost a dead horse 😉
There is no other way to structure a point of view, if one is of a believe that Libya was/is the America's success story, so don't expect miracles my friend.
China & India have been defying US Congress all along........in fact they were not part of the possies, there were exempt from joining the sanction wrath of the US.
Hillary Clinton announced that the US is aware of that, and understand it. I seriously think US had no other option except understanding it.
China does what China wants, they have a huge trade market with Iran, and India does what India wants because they have Nuclear Capability, and they can make life much harder for US by escalating that little life long riff with Pakistan.
Hat tip to P. Jamiol.
Good Article Prof. Cole, indeed there are much cooperation between US and Russia in other areas.
Having said that, US has this nasty habit of "throwing the baby out with the bath water". By that I mean there has been "tremendous cooperation" between US and Iran over Afghanistan, but that didn't stop Mr. Bush from calling Iran the Axis of Evil, thus I agree with Mr. Putin in that "AMERICAN GOVERNMENT have a superiority complex and act in paternalistic and slighting ways toward other countries."
I was just thinking yesterday about an ex-president Jimmy Carter, wondering if he is laughing at all these tit for tat, because lets face it, to chase after Snowden was laughable, and to cancel a summit meeting because of Russian's asylum to Snowden is even more laughable.
I also couldn't help drawing a compare and contrast between Carter's tit for tat and Obama's temper tantrum.
Jimmy Carter cancelled the 1980 Moscow Olympics over Russia INVASION of AFGHANISTAN, Obama cancelled the Summit and who knows he might even boycott the Winter Olympics over Russia messing up his plan of further INVASION of the AMERICAN'S PRIVACY 😉
While Carter's action was admirable, Obama in comparison is acting like a jilted suitor, but then again there is not much in the way of comparison between Mr. Carter & Mr. Obama.
Some PEACE TALKS huh?! It sounds more like the usual PISS TALKS to me.
Local sources have reported that several armored Israeli military vehicles, six military bulldozers, accompanied by several jeeps, carried out a limited invasion into the Al-Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza, fired several rounds of live ammunition before uprooting the farmlands.
The bulldozers and armored vehicles also invaded an area close to the Juhr Ed-Deen nearby village.
The invasions are needless to say are in direct violations to the ceasefire agreement mediated by Egypt, in November of last year, between the resistance in Gaza and Tel Aviv.
Evidently this is the 212th Israeli cease fire violations.
For the sub-link to the other 211th cease fire violations please enjoy the following article.
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/212th-israeli-cease-fire-violation-during-alleged-peace-talks-army-invades-central-gaza/
So, Mazel tov & Yishar koach (I never give sarcasm a day off).
Besides the neocons that you mentioned sarcastically, Mr. Ahmadinejad would be missed by some of us.
I think the history will show in due time that he was an effective president albeit grave shortcomings of the leadership to whom he was expected to pay allegiance to.
Excellent point William James Martin.
Lee Bollinger's departure from professionalism and trading the dignity of the institution he presided over to embrace 5 minutes of fame backfired on him.
I have a feeling that many countries including but not limited to Ecuador will grant asylum to Mr. Snowden. This song and dance is for other reasons such as security. I have a feeling that we are going to hear that suddenly Mr. Snowden is in one of these countries with asylum paper in his back pocket.
The similar arrangement was done while he was in Hong Kong,the back and forth was taking place between HK government and State Department while preparation for Mr. Snowden departure was underway, which got US government so pissed, so now Moscow, Ecuador, Venezuela, etc., etc. are playing their card game differently.
I wonder if IRI would offer Asylum, that would be the Ace even if it is for few days of chuckles 😉
You ought to love Vladimir Putin, "asylum only if he ceases leaking US secrets and “harming our American partner, and only if Snowden join our comrades singing the US National Anthem every morning :))))
We misunderstood Barack Obama period, the more book this man wrote the less we learned about him. He has been a gift of disappointment that keeps giving, at least he has been for me.
Perhaps after the ineptitude of George W. we expected more, we made Obama to something he wasn't, we expected things that he could not deliver, he was not about the "Change" as he claimed to be, he was certainly not about "hope" either.
As the great philosopher and serial killer of English language George W. once said; "fool me once, shame on (ummmm!) shame on you. Fool me (ummm!) you can't get fooled again", well Americans were fooled twice in voting for W. and twice in voting for Mr. Obama.
I think Erdogan is in for a rude awakening, as Erdogan's Turkeys are coming home to roost.
Ironically he wasn't received favorably in Tunisia, demonstrators shouting; "Go home Erdogan, you're not welcome in Tunisia". I doubt the the rest of his four day trip was exactly a red carpet state visit with pomp & circumstances either.
However he really has it in his head that he is a benevolent Emperor of the region, going around acting like one!! 😉
Of course getting a big head is expected when US and his Western allies go around and call Turkey the "other Democracy" in the region!!! As it is said; "when you hear a lie long enough you take it to be the truth".
We have no shame. Water-boarding has turned to Food-boarding,sometimes I feel that the disaster in Guantanamo is poetic justice,a Cuban revenge, sure the land is "leased" but the aggression" is "owned" by us.
This is by all means a good news for those who are believers of the "Balance of Power" and rejected the unipolarity which has been hunting the political world since the late 80s.
A welcome change indeed.
Dear Professor Cole,great and very sober and impassioned analysis, thank you. I have a few statements to make one in form of inquiry/question and three in form of comments.
Question:
Sir we have been hearing from the administration and others (experts)- who more and less resonate and repeat the State Department attitude toward Syrian affair - in form of, reluctance of Obama to get involved, non-military aids for the fear of weaponizing the Jihadists,etc., etc., my question for you sir is in two folds;
1. What are we doing there? If the US aspiration is for democratic Syria why not encourage a fair election, why is that not an option?
2. How does the US "indirect involvement" via our regional "Democratic" allies [read sarcasm] like Saudi Arabia and Qatar since 2012 differ from "direct involvement",since at the end of the day the result would be the same?
Comment:
You've stated,"Obama learned from Iraq and Afghanistan that US military intervention in the Middle East doesn’t actually work very well".
Didn't Mr.Obama call the Iraq war a "wrong war" and suggested that we should have focused on the Afghanistan? Didn't he surged the number on boots on the ground in Afghanistan shortly after taking office?
How/what did he learn? He learned nothing sir.
As you stated it has been 11 years since we have been in Afghanistan, lets us not forget that 4 of those 11 years were under Obama's leadership or lack there of.
Comment;
Very sober analysis, I like it very much when you stated;"Everyone always forgets that if foreigners bomb a hated regime’s installations and accidentally thereby kill large numbers of innocent civilians, the dead civilians show up on the front page and everyone turns against the foreign air force".
Professor Cole by "everyone" I hope you mean "everyone in the Administration", because surely those affected don't forget. The large number of innocent civilians have been/are dying in Pakistan and Yemen sir, since 2008 thanks to Mr. Obama's Drone Program.
What is probably reasonable thing to say, is if American casualties are in front page, then American people and public opinion would turn against the administration.
Well Mr. Obama took care of that hazard with the unmanned drones, exponential cheaper warfare, no American casualties, and better yet no counts on civilian casualties to report on the "back page" let alone the "front page"!!!!
Comment;
In regards to your concerns about "prolonging war" should the US decides to "directly" or "indirectly" send heavier weapons, again very sober observation Professor Cole, but from a first hand experience sir, I very much doubt it if that has ever been a concern of any US administrations.
US provided arms to BOTH Iran & Iraq for 8 years, that ongoing gift resulted in over 1000,000 death on both sides. "prolonging wars" and "loss of human lives" might upset you and I Prof. Cole but the US Administration has never lost a night sleep over that.
The entire PA leadership should resign, with friends like Palestinian Authority, Palestinians don't need an enemy. Ironically Palestinian in a free and fair election in which they elected Hamas showed that they don't have any fate in Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah Party, in fact as we have seen PA are more concerned in pleasing and having "legitimacy/credibility" with the "west" than among Palestinians.
Excellent point William James Martin, indeed Jimmy Carter's departure also coincided with with departure of the notion of "diplomacy/negotiation" in US foreign policy. There is a proverb, "if you can't beat them, join them", and that is what we have been doing for the past 3.5 decades, we have joined the crazies and the terrorists. Our mantra has become "we go to war to maintain peace"!!!!
Anyhow the following is an amazing piece of news that in my opinion should also go viral in China, if not in the United States. The depth of hypocrisy is unimaginable.
http://www.dcbureau.org/201204097128/national-security-news-service/united-states-circumvented-laws-to-help-japan-accumulate-tons-of-plutonium.html
Incidentally USA has dropped couple of Atomic Bombs on the Japanese, we hold the number of ranking as an only nation who ever abused her nuclear capability.
Dear Professor Cole, a rather short narration and partial analysis of the "Structural Problem" in our two party system. But surely you must agree that our problem likability or lack there of goes beyond Republicans.
The story of American politics is a story of “dispossessed Majority”. A story of power, greed, lies and deceits, and finding ways for the masses to be complaisant in this process. The US is ruled by a private oligarchy, who are not necessarily limited to White Religious Right.
The government is merely a front for this private oligarcy. The country’s resources are diverted to the pockets of Wall Street, the military complex, and to the service of greater Israel.
The oil, mining, timber, and agribusiness companies control the Environmental Protection Agency and the Forestry Service, while fracking, mountaintop removal mining, and pollution of air, water, and soil runs wild.
The oligarchs have succeeded in making Americans a "dispossessed majority" in their own country. Unfortunately a governmental system with a scaffolding of greed and fear is always destined to fail and collapse at worst and/or not sustainable at best under pseudo leadership of Oligarch who happen to be of color, not so religious and somewhat to the left of the center.
The story of American politics, is a story of a strange alliance of the "dirt poor" with "mega rich', the wonderment of both parties managing to convince the poor to vote against their best interests at every election.
The use of “social issues” such as gay marriage, and women’s reproductive system, etc., are used by Republicans to work up indignation over the threat to moral values posed by liberal Democrats.
Through media propaganda, and philosophical oration the working poor are convinced that their tax dollars are used to provide medical care and schooling for illegal aliens, they are convinced that standing up for America means standing up for bankster bailouts and the military complex’s multi-trillion dollar wars.
Nonsense stories are fed to and embraced by masses, bypassing the faculty of mind/reasoning to put two & two together. Americans heard about Obama being a Muslim, about Obama being a Marxist, about Obama being a Manchurian Candidate turning America over to the New World Order, but never is Obama accused of turning the US over to Wall Street, the Military Industrial Complex, or Israel.
No one asks the obvious questions, why Obama would be killing Muslims in 7 countries if he was a Muslim, or why Wall Street and the military/security complex would put a Marxist in the White House, when all it took for military complex to squander $6 trillion on the Iraq & Afghan wars was yellow ribbon decals and a slogan, “support the troops.”
Past November the Americans gave their approval to one of the oligarchy’s two candidates and had to argue among themselves which freak is better?
Patriotic Republicans whose candidate Mr. Romney, went to Israel to slither on his belly pandering to the crazed, blood-thirsty Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, who called his own Israeli top generals “pussies” for warning against attacking Iran. The same Romney who told Netanyahu, just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it; I am loyal to Israel.
Apparently, flag-waving Republican patriots were not bothered when their presidential candidate announces that as soon as he is in office he will turn over US foreign policy to Netanyahu and send more Americans to death and bankruptcy for Netanyahu.
Disillusioned Democrats who elected President Obama 4 years ago expected that he would restore the rule of law, just to find that he codified the Bush regime’s transgressions and added some of his own.
No one could have imagined the president of the US sitting in the Oval Office signing off on lists of American citizens to be murdered without evidence or due process of law.
The question then and question now was/is a choice between the Republican panderer to the rich and Israel whose foreign policy was going to be war, or the Democrat panderer to the rich and Israel whose foreign policy "IS" war.
So my dear Professor Cole ask not about "likability" factor of Republicans, ask about the broken system, ask about fundamental "Structural Problem" of our National Politics, I can assure you that the "Dispossessed Majority" dislikes both.
Excellent point, he is indeed a politician though and through.
His speech although eloquent carries a certain hollowness that has become his trade mark. President Obama has no initiatives to put forward in the last four years and nothing he has said in his Jeruselam speech points to a clear cut plan or agenda.
During his tenure in office the settlement constructions went smoothly, new plans to build more than 1500 housing units were announced shortly after Hillary Clinton visited in late November, with thousands more in December, and Israel struck Biden with a declaration for 1600 more housing units just as he steps out of the plane in his last visit!!!!
Israel eventually withheld the PA's money from taxes and manipulated the US to hold any aid money as well, with no reactions from Washington, there was no pressure- help to release the P.A's tax money held hostage by Israel. The atrocities and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has been taking place without any objections from Obama administration following the "no objection policy" of Clinton & Bush era.
Talking about 2 State solution, that myth, that delusion sold to the gullible and uninformed American public despite the fact that this President has not lifted a finger in that regard.
Announcing that the East Jerusalem is capital of Israel at the DNC in November 2012, was a kiss of death to the idea of 2 State solution in the eyes of anyone who has ever bothered to learn about terms and conditions of the peace process.
US vetoing the recognition of the Palestinian Statehood at the UN last year, goes against the the whole notion of the peace talk and idea of the 2 STATE Solution!!!!
For crying out loud if US is not prepared to even recognize the statehood of Palestine as a UN member how could Obama could go around selling that myth of the 2 States Delusion!!!!!
How gullible and out of touch we Americans must be to believe in that.
Talk is cheap, actions are none existence and he is no different than his predecessors.
Obama on this trip for the first time attached US approval or acquiescence to the idea of Israel as a Jewish state, which to my way of thinking is an incredibly irresponsible, wrong-headed thing for him to have done.
Now, the official policy of his administration and presumably that of future US governments is that Israel's right to exist as an Ethnocracy trumps any and all other considerations. So, if you had a situation down the road where an Israeli government cited a 'demographic threat' and began to round up and/or deport Palestinians, Eritreans, or anyone else the State deems as 'un-persons', then technically there would be little reason for the US to raise a stink about it because it has already given it's official stamp of approval for Israel to do so.
So, for this president to tell people in the region to their face that he supports equal rights for all, when he's actively colluding with the same government that is trampling those rights, and their dignity, under a hobnailed boot is so off the scale in terms of hypocrisy and contempt for the sensitivities of others that I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around it.
I knew this was more or less how Obama's trip was going to go, but after the past three days I'm still mystified at how anyone could say such outrageous stuff and then beam that charismatic smile.
Nobody can do the things Barack Obama has done this week and not have it come back to bite him at some point. I don't know what's going to happen in the next four years but I have not only lost respect for this president and his endless self-serving prevarications I also have little confidence in his ability to make the right decisions in the event of a crisis in the Middle East and elsewhere.
He has been an unending disappointment, in many ways his policies have been much damaging than others who came before him.
Great write-up Professor Cole. Can't agree with you more in regards to your "comic book" remark, the only thing I will add in defense of "Comic books" is that they have a three dimensional characters that are seldom nuances 🙂
Argo's mission was nothing but "self-glorification" of Americans, it was taken seriously, and it was purporting to be a historical event as it even got the First Lady involved, what a joke, and how sad for our country.
President Jimmy Carter remembered the event very well, and I trust his memory more than the former Central Intelligence Agency operative who was evidently involved in the rescue. Jimmy Carter in his interview with Piers Morgan could not stop laughing at the twisted, conceited and the fanciful script.
Unfortunately George Clooney the co-director of the movie is obsessed with Iran alas you would think he would at least educate himself on the topic, but historian he is not, he is just a pretty face and a blank slate.
American history is indeed jaundiced, even in its abridged version that is taught in schools across the country it is filled with deception, aggression, racism, bigotry, perfidy and deception, that is why Oliver Stone uses the word "untold", with or without Oliver Stone (s) of the world our history is not something to be proud of, it is something we need to contend with and come to terms with.
"A Film based on Historical Event" does purport to be partly history, just the same way that "A film based on true story" purport to be based on reality.
"Using Artistic License" is a nice term that I should remember to describe a "B rated" movies.
Let us say that the Academy recognized three fanciful movies this year, "Zero Dark Thirty", "Argo" and "Lincoln" and they awarded the Best Director to Ang Lee for a movie which was Fanciful and didn't need "artistic License" and wasn't based on made-up historical events.
Prof. Cole as always you have excellent points on all matters including your opinion and forecasting the Syrian demise. The only thing that I don't agree with you, but I was pleasantly surprises to hear you going about it a tad bit softer this time around is the possibility of US involvement in Syria. It seems to me that previously you used to strongly assert that US is not involved or minimally involved, but this time you seem to have reevaluated your stance on that, and at least you give the possibility that US might be "covertly" involved. I assume the evidence is so very obvious that could no longer be ignored or denied.
I also think that you could have done a little bit more in the way of forecasting, as I am sure your knowledge on this subject allows you to recognize Syria as being the gatekeeper and a last bastion of modern Arab nationalism, and a microcosm of Arab frustrations not only with each other but with the West.
For whatever reason you have refrained to point out the imminent & possible clash between Sunni Wahhabi elements who are the main fuel of the "rebels" (with or without US blessing and support), and the Shiites, Alawites, Brotherhood and host of other sectarian elements.
If the Sunni opposition to the Assad regime should get the upper hand in the civil war, the indiscriminate retaliation against Alawites would be extreme. With this incredible amount of “bad blood” between the at least these two sectarian communities, Syria might be looking at undergoing a Balkanization similar to the one of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Not mentioning or at times even down playing the role/involvement of the US and outside players, your fair analysis is missing a big chunk. Stating that in a year or 18 months after fall of Assad, Syria is going to have a parliamentary election and all would be alright, not only is a wishful thinking, but reminded me of what Ilan Peppe' the great historian said in regards to the Israeli/Palestinian dilemma, when he said, how can we talk of the peace process based on demarcation of 1967 and completely disregard what happened between 1948 and 1967?!!!
This very important question by Ilan Pappe's made his argument/analysis very sound and complete. I just wished that you would have explained it a little more.
I think when a country like Afghanistan is debated, and the quality of life and well being of a country is discussed, there is often a confusion. Here Prof. Cole's main thesis is literacy rates. He could also be talking about life expectancy and infant mortality. He also talks about gender segregation which again has more to do with cultural values and should not be automatically attached to fundamentalist religious indoctrination.
I was viewing a documentary by Tahir Quadiry couple of weeks ago, 3 Afghani families from different socio stratosphere were part of this study which was an expose to the notion of "Bachah Posh" practiced in today's Afghanistan. What is "bacha posh" you might ask? In Afghanistan’s largely conservative, male-dominated society, a son is often viewed as a family’s most valuable resource, so families who are not blessed with male offspring dress their girls as boys, not just dress them but the child is literally turn to a boy.
It was a very unsettling documentary in my view, but never the less it shows Afghanistan culture of patriarchy, the showcase of this documentary is a prominent and highly educated family, an attorney and member of Parliament if I remember correctly. I have enclosed the documentary for those who are interested.
Anyhow what I am trying to iterate here is that modernization is an evolution, and road to modernity not only must bridge the gap of religious dogma/doctrine, which is fabric of some of these societies, but it must also come to term and consent with the cultural value systems in most often patriarchal society.
Hence it is naivete to think that Taliban is root of the problems, or Islam is the root of all evil, there are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, and gender separation, status of women, right to education, are very different from country to country. As Franz Kafka once said; "
"Believing in progress does not mean believing that any progress has yet been made."
Here is the documentary I promised;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY9od2yuNVk
I agree with you in regards to Susan Rice story and it being pure politics. When something is "pure politics" with a clearly set mission aimed at one side/GOP discrediting the other side (Obama Administration), then anything goes, and the "relationship to reality" is a none issue. The fact that the reality can be turned on its head by the McCain(s) and Graham (s) of the GOP world is a given.
Having said that,I take your 10 point analysis at its face value, with exception of point #8, debating whether or not there was a demonstration.
The fact that in the age of internet "revolutions," and Twitter "Uprisings" of today, where there would surely be the preponderances of videos, your argument creates many questions, instead of clearing some stuff.
You state; "The GOP figures keep saying that there was no demonstration at the Benghazi consulate against the so-called film” and "But in fact Libyan security officials repeatedly told wire services that there was such a demonstration," and then the debate comes down to "An American resident in Benghazi at that time confirms that there were such demonstrations that day" is such a pedestrian way to either confirm or reject the existence of demonstration.
And then concluding that the "demonstration" was kept far away and out of range of security camera by the secular-minded revolutionary militia who guarded the US consulate,hence no video to confirm/deny is the mother of all the ad hocs and red herrings and begs for a huge exclamation mark.
As if there was only one video camera in the whole of Benghazi that could be trusted, to justify the existence of demonstration, and that one camera was located at the security gate of US Consulate and alas out of range of demonstration!!
I am not sure if that is what you were trying to argue in #8, that is my take of what you wrote, as it does not fit with your trademark (strong argument), but I suppose 1/10 is still an A 🙂
Fantastic write up professor Cole, I can't help it but to think we can all take this as the 4th and the final "presidential debate" hosted and moderated by "Mother Nature", and both party just announced that the are not going to be part of this debate :-)))
Great observations Mr. Cole, I know you concentrated on the "flip-flop", but flip-flop is least of Romney's problems.
Here is a good one for you;
"SYRIA IS IRAN'S ONLY ALLY IN THE ARAB WORLD, IT'S THEIR ROUTE TO THE SEA", said the genius Mitten :-))))))
I am still laughing, and ironically not many in the media mentioning it, which only means nobody got it !!!!
I never thought I would miss Sarah Palin's gaffs but in retrospect seeing Russia from her backyard is an infinitely smarter statement in comparison.
Ambrose Bierce once said; "War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." I have a bad news for Ambrose Bierce, nope either the God failed or the Americans :-)))
As if that wasn't comic enough the Democratic Party decided they should take advantage of this opportunity to expose Romney's lack of geography, so they immediately posted a map of the region and with two fat red arrow point to the Caspian Sea in the North!!! :)))) and Persian Gulf in the South!!! Ayyyay yaaay yaayyy, this much comedy shouldn't be for free if you ask me.
Excellent point Professor Cole. People like Mr. Maher are more dangerous than straight forward bigots, as they are amazingly talented to in putting out a different facade and wrap their biases and bigotry in a nice humorous package.
Having said that it is not very difficult to see the true bigoted person.
This is the same Bill Maher who on many occasions professed that he is not a "democrat" but he donates a million dollar to Obama campaign!!!! So why is it any surprise that a self professed non-believer Bill Maher has now joined an Islamophobic network?!!!
Professor Cole I admire you for your restraint, besides #4 every one of your points started with "It is distasteful", with exception of #1 which has the word "distasteful" in it 🙂
In order for me to enjoy your piece I replaced "distasteful" with "despicable"!
Excellent article Mr. Cole. I have a question, you mentioned that you disliked the Nazi reference, as in your opinion there was "no other way to characterize invoking the Anglo-Saxon race as a basis for a foreign policy relationship,......" then you called it "a Nazi sentiment." Is there any particular reason you called it "NAZI SENTIMENT" instead of "FASCIST SENTIMENT?"
Furthermore you talked about Romney's ATTITUDE toward "African-Americans as a young man in the 1970s before the Mormon church stopped discriminating against them on the grounds that they bore the mark of Cain." Adding to that Romney's more recent "attitude" at NAACP, plus his remark about "The White House doesn't fully appreciate the shared history we have”, clearing pointed to Obama's African ancestry. Is there any particular reason we call it "ATTITUDE" and don't use the word "RACIST"?
I think it is a high time we call a spade a spade, and distant our dialogue from "political correctness".
Thank you Professor Cole brilliant. I also love Mr. Lindgren and Kat comments.
I wish Professor Cole you could add one more entry to your glossary and that would we the word "POLITICS". What is it? How can one define it?
Being majored in it, giving it some thought I have come to realization that it certainly is not a "SIENCE".
Most often we base science upon the search for causes and the study of form and matter, with every object having four causes: material cause (what is it made up of?), efficient cause (what created it?), formal cause (what is it right now?), and final cause (what is it supposed to do?)
Now if we look at politics/political science as two areas of study: ethics and political philosophy, then we must put a hefty premium on observation and politics will never be subject to the observation that is necessary for a science. Politics is a completely subjective study, and so must involve a certain amount of reason. In addition, politics is caused and created by the masses, which cannot be properly observed by anyone, for they are too large and complicated. Although a mass action is simple to understand, its development is usually too complex to be fully grasped. Because a science requires full understanding of causes, so political science cannot be a science in this regard.
So how does one defines politics?
Brilliant, as the proverb says; "All the roads lead to Rome" !
and I can categorically say that Henry Kissinger is an idiot.
"New Democracies"? Saudi and Egypt?!!! Really?! That is the loosest way yet to use the word "Democracy", I mean I have heard "Democracy" been thrown about so indiscriminately but calling Saudi's and Egyptian's "New Democracies" is beyond wishful thinking and naiveté. Here is a new definition which is really an old definition of democracy;
Democracy: The bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.
PS: These "people" need not to be all from the same country 🙂
The below are selected excerpt from this article;
“The legislators have sought to place a sweeping prohibition on this emerging self-awareness.”
“The legislators seek to alter and reshape the country’s majority – minority relations.”
“The legislators seek to reinforce and even to perpetuate the Jewish majority’s current rule over the Arab minority in the country.”
“The legislators prohibit Israel’s Palestinian public who constitute some 20 % of the state’s citizens, from marking Independence Day – the State of Israel’s official holiday – as a day of mourning.”
“The legislators put an effort and move to curb Palestinian Israelis’ civil rights.”
“The legislators have sought to place a sweeping prohibition on this emerging self-awareness, stemming from the Palestinians’ (the same Palestinians who by the way constitute some 20% of the state’s citizens), growing national consciousness.”
Below is what is still fresh in my mind from Political Science 101, Topic: Types of Political Regimes;
DEMOCRACY:
“What are foundations/Ideals of Democracy?”
Answer:
• Individual dignity and unalienable rights
• Respect for differences within their population
• Freedom of conscience (religious liberty, religious diversity, respect for religious minorities)
• Equal protection under the law
• Participation in decision-making
“What are components of Democracy?”
Answer:
• Protects minority populations
• Helps all citizens fulfill their aspirations, these aspirations include;
a) Desire to have basic human rights
b) Practice one’s religion
c) Speak freely on public issues
d) An impartial court system
Boy oh boy, if I didn’t get an A in knowing about political regimes and what they stand for, what its their ideals, I could/would have NOT question why for crying out loud we call Israel “A Vibrant Democracy In the whole of Region”, if I didn’t know better I would have believed I was suffering from some kind of cognitive dissonance disorder.
But thank you Mr. Cole and Mr. Weiss, after reading this article I don’t think it is me, in fact it seems it is Israel who is suffering from debilitating “Amnesia”, we Americans have been battling with “Amnesia” for a while now, even though we have only +/-200 years of history to remember!!!!
“Amnesia” is not contagious is it?!!! We here in US have a significant Jewish populations, is it possible that they brought it over, and we contracted it, or it is just because we don't dislike and are oblivious to "history" just as much as we dislike and clueless about "geography" ?!! ☺
Humor aside it is a sad state of affairs.
And thank you for Mr. Weiss’s article and as always thank you Professor Cole for sharing it with us.
What makes one think that the two state solution would ever going to be feasible is beyond me.
After forty years of occupations, and human rights violations, over four decades of showing their middle finger to any resolutions that was introduced in the UN.
Making mockery of half dozen US presidents.
The blue print was drawn and limits were set from the time of Ben-Gurion.
One only needs to refer to the history to see the quotes the speeches of David Ben-Gurian and Zionist ideologues like him.
From the beginning, Zionists advocated a "Jewish State" not just in Palestine, but also in Jordan, southern Lebanon, and the Golan Heights as well. In 1918 Ben-Gurion described the future "Jewish state's" frontiers in details as follows:
"....to the north, the Litani river [in southern Lebanon], to the northeast, the Wadi 'Owja, twenty miles south of Damascus; the southern border will be mobile and pushed into Sinai at least up to Wadi al-'Arish; and to the east, the Syrian Desert, including the furthest edge of Transjordan".
David Ben-Gurian went further and argued;
"The Palestinian people were incapable by themselves of developing Palestine, and they had no right to stand in the way of the Jews. He argued in 1918, that Jews' rights sprang not only from the past, but also from the future. In 1924 he declared:
"We do not recognize the right of the [Palestinian] Arabs to rule the country, since Palestine is still undeveloped and awaits its builders." In 1928 he pronounced that "the [Palestinian] Arabs have no right to close the country to us [Jews]. What right do they have to the Negev desert, which is uninhabited?"; and in 1930, "The [Palestinian] Arabs have no right to the Jordan river, and no right to prevent the construction of a power plant [by a Jewish concern].
In other words, the Palestinian people are entitled to no political rights whatsoever, and if they have any rights at all, these rights are confined to their places of residence. Ironically, this statement was written when the Palestinian people constituted 85% of Palestine's population, and owned and operated over 97% of its lands!
So you see the Israelis under the leadership of another hawk Mr. Netanyahu are in "Implementation Phase" of of what they have stated over 40 years ago.
Only those who were either over the board optimists or painfully naive would have bought into this so called peace talk initiatives and the Two State Solution bull craps, and now are collectively holding their breath while yet another president embraces the idea of the two state solution dream.
Political cleavages CAN become quiet combustible, USA has been sitting nicely in middle of this wide crack for few decades now without regards to the consequences of what will happen when you situate yourself right on top of the fault line when the big one hits!