Do not look away

A short videoclip by Ruth Ben-Ghiat  with an important warning about right-wing Extremism in the USA .

Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat of the NYU has written an essay on Fascism for my coming book on political language.

Who are Friedman & Greenblatt Working for?

Last week, David Friedman, US ambassador to Israel and Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, attended a tunnel-opening ceremony in Arab Jerusalem. The tunnel has been dug over the last six years under Palestinian houses and against their wishes. The instigator of this atrocity is a right-wing Israeli group that is taking over Arab East Jerusalem, stone-by-stone, house-after-house. They are backed by the Israeli government and funded by rich American Jewish donors. US casino-mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam were also among those present at the event. The mascot in the picture is Mrs. Netanyahu.

The US civil servants did more than just attend the ceremony, they actively participated by wielding sledgehammers to break through a wall and open up a tunnel.

Friedman, Greenblatt and Trump’s son-in-law, Kushner, head Trump’s team dealing with the Israel-Palestine issue. Greenblatt recently said in an interview "there is no such thing as an honest mediator." No more veneer of impartiality. The US Ambassador and the Special Envoy, long-time supporters of the settlers, are now evidently working for this most right-wing part of Israeli society, one which many Israelis disassociate from.

So, are Jews likely to be more loyal to Israel than to their countries? Do Jews have too much control over global affairs? Do they have too much control over the United States government?

CAREFUL!!!! Think before you answer these questions. These are three out of eleven statements, that pollsters regularly use as indicators of Antisemitism. Hence, if you answer these truthfully, these will be considered indications that you are an anti-Semite. Take your pick: lie, or be falsely labelled an Antisemite. What a choice.

Muslim Congresswoman forced to apologise

Ms. Ilhan Omar, the newly elected Democrat Congresswoman from Minnesota, made the gravest error a politician in the US can make: she pointed out to the fact that pro-Israel lobby money is behind US politicians’ unquestioning support of Israel.

She soon enough got her first lesson in how American democracy functions.  She was hit by a shitstorm, in which even her own party deserted her and forced her to apologise.

Omar apologised, yet cleverly added “At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry.” 

AIPAC probably did not even have to work hard to enforce Ms. Omar’s apology. Her “colleagues”, who are all drip funded – some more, some very much more – by a variety of lobbies, do not want this funding shindig to be scrutinised, or god-forbid, to ever end.  

Is it permitted to say that the NRA gun-lobby buys influence with money, but prohibited to say the same thing about AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby – just because of the anti-Semitic trope about Jews and money? So, what can one say about AIPAC? Preferably nothing, must be the answer.

I have no idea whether Ms. Omar is an anti-Semite or not but calling out AIPAC and pointing to their influence is not anti-Semitic. Forcing Omar to apologise is dishonest and shameful.

Green Card Lottery

Last week I was in Chicago for a few days. It was wonderful to visit an old friend of my parents, I also met one of her sons, as well as the son of another of my parents’ friends, went to a delightful jam session in a jazz club and ate an amazing steak. When distances were too long to walk, I used Uber in order to get from place to place in that beautiful city.

Conversations with drivers are a well-known means of informing one-self about a country/city/political situation etc. And thus, I had some interesting conversations with my drivers. Invariably they were immigrants and when it came to the question how they had managed to come to the US, the response was often that they had applied for a visa in the Green Card Lottery and won. I recall having had the same experience on previous visits to the USA.

The Green Card Lottery, the real name of which is “Diversity Immigrant Visa Program”, makes available 50,000 visas annually. Do they all become Uber drivers? Or is that a now established “get off my back and don’t ask me whether I am legal” response?

Is it a coup?

From the first day, ever since Trump was elected, people have been asking themselves how he will be gotten rid of. Impeachment? Declaration of unfitness for office and removal as stipulated by the 25^th Amendment or perhaps Trump getting tired of it all and resigning.

Collusion with Russia, serious mental instability, paying off women, he has had sex with, to buy their silence – there has been no lack of grounds. And nothing happened.

Special mention in the US hall of shame is due to the top echelon of senior Republican members of the US Senate: They should have acted and discreetly explained the situation to him and got him to resign. Instead, they acted – as Republicans always do – only for what they perceive to be the good of their party, forgetting that they are there to serve their country.

But, we may perhaps be seeing the beginning of the end. The evidence in Bob Woodward’s new book about the goings on in the White House, where civil servants seem to have taken over the Presidency, may be reassuring on one hand, but they are extremely worrying on the other. This is a coup by the administration. And the op-ed in Thursday’s NY Times, was described by former CIA Director, John Brennan as “active insubordination born out of loyalty to the country, not to Donald Trump.”  So perhaps?

McCarthy - No Dream

Nazi Germany introduced laws faster, but they had the advantage of full control. Trump still, occasionally, has problems with Congress. Where we would be without the hardly checking and definitely not balancing is demonstrated by the latest report on banned words, allegedly issued by the US Government’s Center for Disease Control.

Staff at this federal agency were given a list of words or phrases, which should not be used in any official documents prepared for next year’s budget. The list includes: fetus, transgender, vulnerable, diversity, entitlement, evidence-based and science-based.  The new speak, approved by the Trump  Politruks,** is  “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes.”

Next step will be the punishment of those still caught using decadent language.

WAKE UP AMERICA.

**  In the Soviet system, the Politruk, the political commissar, was the supervisory political officer responsible for the political education and organization, and committed to the civilian control of the military.

America - No Hope

Americans are not a race and forming an opinion about “the Americans” would therefore not count as racism. It would undeniably be a generalisation. Yet what is one to think, when one learns that a year into the election of this despicable man, his approval rating has hardly dipped amongst Republicans in the United States.

After a year of Trumpism, four out of five Republicans, still support this vile man. He represents their values, views and wishes. They trust him to navigate their country best and feel comfortable in being represented by him.

An approval rating that has not gone lower than 79% and according to the latest Gallop poll, a few days ago, stood at 81% is sick and is worrying. Not only is there no hope of impeachment (Republican politicians who criticise Trump, get punished by voters!), but with such ratings, there is no hope for America.

At a party in Los Angeles, last May, friends of friends said to me “do not think badly of us, here we did not vote for him.” This is difficult. It is difficult not to think badly of a society that allows such deterioration.

 “God Bless America”, like so many slogans, is also empty and meaningless.

Trump - Nixon, Reagan, Bush – altogether

Occasionally, Americans seem to have a knack for chosing unfitting and unfortunate specimen as president. Sometimes as with Ronald Reagan, he was more of a joke, in Nixon’s case he was morally corrupt and Bush son was simply stupid. But, all three came to the job with experience in public service. 

In Trump, the US voters upped the ante, and voted someone who combines the absurdity of Reagan, the moral corruption of Nixon and the stupidity of Bush. To this cocktail he adds political inexperience combined with monstrous narcissism.

That Country Needs New Slogans

The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave

God Bless America

Let America be Great Again

Overheard in London

Parent: Harvard is offering you a place; you should take it.

Son: No, I am not going to university in a fascist country.

God Bless America(n “democracy”)

Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has announced that he will support the other – albeit bankrupted - casino mogul Donald Trump’s candidacy for President of the United States of America, because he would…”be good for Israel”.

Note for teachers: This must be the definition of democracy – one mega rich funding another mega rich to run their country in a way that will further the interests of a foreign country. 

Americans – look at yourselves in the mirror

Every four years the US goes through an election campaign to whittle down the list of presidential candidates and then to elect a president. Such election years, in which the various candidates offer their worldview and make their promises, could serve as a powerful mirror, or more than that, as an X-ray of American society.

Are they looking in their own mirror? Are Americans seeing what we see?   

Take just this week’s crop: Ted Cruze – who won the Republican Iowa caucus – explains that waterboarding is not torture. Question to Mr. Cruz: why – if not to torture and elicit cooperation from the prisoners -  did the CIA use waterboarding? Not to be outdone, Trump – who lost Iowa to Cruze – informed the voters that he would bring waterboarding and even go further than that.

He who promises to be nastiest gets to be president?

USA funding settlements

The Israeli government has once again announced the building of housing units for Jewish settlers in the Occupied territories. And, the US government has once again responded with a statement, that “the move was deeply concerning”.  

The White House added, “We have deep concerns about these highly contentious settlement construction announcements… They will enflame already heightened tension with the Palestinians…”

Perhaps the White House should put a stop to some of the funding, if it wants to bring about an end to this illegal settlement of the Occupied Territories:

In straight military aid alone, the US funds Israel to the tune of 3.15 billion US dollars, per year. Other forms of aid come on top.

But if the USA continues to fund Israel, it should stop protesting.

Are they crazy... or is there a Conspiracy?

These days when we learn that the United States Secret Service seems to almost offer President Obama up for target practice – I cannot be the only one thinking of the many times we have all been put through absurd as well as unfriendly “security” when entering the USA. They are spending billions for the security of the President alone and yet it seems very easy to get to him. 

Combining arrogance with inefficiency is always bad and can be deadly.

Time after time one is surprised by the enormity of American inefficiency. We tend to think of Silicon Valley – who may not be that efficient either – and make assumptions about the rest of America. Let us not forget what a disastrous, badly prepared, carried out and mismanaged war the US has led in Iraq. And not for lack of funds…

The A- Word

A few days ago, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, said that unless Israel reached a peace agreement with the Palestinians, it “risked becoming an Apartheid state”.

The Israel lobby in the US in their not so holy alliance with right-wing Republicans, who will attack Democratic administrations regardless of merit, managed to force Kerry to apologise.

He shouldn’t have.  

Apartheid is a system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race and Israel is justifiably nervous about the use of the term apartheid in connection with its policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians. After all, South Africa became a pariah in the world until it rid itself of its apartheid system. Yet, even many Israelis agree that Israeli rule or control of a substantial Arab population (beyond the 1967-line), which may not be racially motivated, produces an apartheid-like outcome.

Kerry was wrong: Israel does not “risk” becoming an apartheid state. Israel’s course of action leading to a one-state solution, a bi-national state under Jewish rule, will undoubtedly create apartheid. AIPAC, the Israel lobby, might find the suggestion that Israel is at risk of becoming an apartheid state  “offensive and inappropriate,” but it is not half as offensive and inappropriate as Israel’s policies AIPAC so successfully defends.  

Introducing emotive terminology such as apartheid into a debate quickly raises the level of agitation and should – if only for that reason - be done with awareness. Sometimes, however, increasing the pressure is just what is necessary.   

Inverse Racism

Was it inverse racism that led me, and probably many others, to hope for an attitude, policy and actions more sensitive to human rights from a black person in power than his white predecessors?

After the terrible eight years with George Bush whose administration gave the world morally defunct and strategically catastrophic invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan with the spin-off lowlights of Guantanamo prison, rendition programmes and a deterioration of our rights to privacy under the mantle of “homeland security”, there was a craving for change that went further than the normal Democrats – Republicans divide.  

The Republican Party offered the American people its dream ticket: a perhaps not senile but aging and self centred McCain and their very own version of a dumb blonde who was not even blond, Sarah Palin. Almost half of America voted for the Republican couple (46%). Obama came in at a disappointingly low margin.

Naively – it turns out - many expected that a black President would make a difference, especially in areas of human rights. It turns out that a black President is just that, a President who happens to be black. Obama promised to close Guantanamo and has not done so. Obama has allowed his military to torture a US soldier, awaiting trial for leaking secret documents to the wikileaks network. They held him in solitary confinement for months on end, forced him to sleep naked on sheetless beds, made to stand for parade in the nude. By not stopping this abuse, Obama condoned it. And then, there is the mass theft of our personal communications by the NSA.

This may be the one important legacy of Obama: an understanding that blacks are like everybody else.

They want to chuck Hagel

President Obama has announced that Chuck Hagel is his nominee for the job of Secretary of Defense. The Republicans whose main contribution to the democratic process in the US is to try to derail everything that comes from the Democrats, and have already successfully thwarted Obama’s first choice as Secretary of State, Ambassador Susan Rice, are now out to kill the Hagel nomination.

The main line of attack is that Obama’s choice for Defense Secretary is not sufficiently pro... Israel. I have no idea whether Hagel is a good choice for the Defense job but I do know that being “pro Israel” should not be a prerequisite for an American Defense Secretary. Hagel's detractors also maintain that he is an anti-Semite, as he once referred to the Israel lobby as the "Jewish lobby". The fact is that there is a strong Jewish lobby that forms an important part of the strong Israel lobby in the US. Mistakenly referring to it as the Jewish lobby does not make him an anti-Semite. Indeed, there are many Jews who refer to the Israel lobby as the Jewish lobby. 

Someone must tell those morons that it is their duty is to vote for a candidate who is good for America. They should perhaps be reminded that serving the interests of a foreign country is tantamount to treason. 

In the News: Dick Cheney Gets a New Heart

I cannot be the only person to have asked himself how history would have fared had Dick Cheney had his heart transplant before he became Vice President.

Who is Obama Praying to? or Why is Obama Praying?

In a bid to quell rumours about Obama’s being a Muslim (18% of All Americans believe that) the White House has issued a press release according to which Obama “prays daily, sometimes in person or over the telephone with a small circle of Christian pastors.” Moreover, we have been reminded by the White House of Obama’s Easter prayer breakfast where he “offered a very personal and candid reflection of what the Resurrection means to him. ”

This is not all: 27% of all Americans have not convinced by the repeated presentation of Obama’s birth certificate and continue to believe that he was not born in the USA. According to the American Constitution someone who was not born in the USA is not eligible to become President. Those 27% clearly believe that Mr Obama has cheated his way into the Presidency. Or, … they could just be plain racists.

Praying to Jesus (or to anyone else), Mr Obama, cannot save these people or anyone else. I sincerely hope that you – our great hope – have more effective means than prayers to govern your country.

Thank You America

It has taken the US a long time, a very very long time. Left-of-centre Israelis have been praying for US intervention for years. Instead, the USA has permitted Israel to run wild with its settlements in the Occupied Territories. Finally, the Obama administration has told Israel to fuck off.

Israel had gotten used to pissing on its dwindling number of friends with impunity. Announcing new building plans in East Jerusalem during Jo Biden’s Israel visit last week was one outrage too many. Worse even was Israel’s subsequent explanation that they were sorry about the timing of the announcement. They were not sorry about the actual building plans.

Will Netanyahu finally go for peace? Will he bring in new coalition partners instead of his present land grabbing lot? I believe that - like so many others - Israel only understands the language of power. The time has come for the US to use its power.