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Note: Backtalk will resume on Tuesday, May 7.
If you're attending the FEE national convention and/or the Money Show, stop by Ken Kam's Stock Pick Panel Discussion, featuring Backtalk editor Sam Koritz – Bally's Resort, Las Vegas, Monday, 3 PM.
Posted May 2, 2002
US Aid
Although I think Justin Raimondo made many excellent points about the true state of Israel's society and economy, I think his conclusions are wrong. As long as he's going to recommend a wildly unlikely stance for the U.S., he should go all the way and recommend the ending of US aid no matter what Sharon does and that we should do so because it will ultimately benefit the Israelis.
First, ending the foreign aid "welfare" will have a positive effect on Israel just as restricting the Federal dole domestically has helped the poor by ending the culture of dependency. In Israel's case, it should give them an incentive to move closer to a free market society.
Second, by removing the potential for our foreign aid to be perceived by Israel's enemies as a welfare "leash," we heighten the effectiveness of possible retaliation by Israel, because its enemies will know that a sympathetic US will have no line to tug on if the Israelis "go too far". Thus, there should be less violence on both sides since the Palestinians will realize that there would now be a greater expectation of retaliation for their acts of violence and the Israelis will need to retaliate less to give the same level of expected punishment.
Perhaps Mr. Raimondo believes that the US has a moral obligation to use its foreign aid to restrain Israel, and that therefor we cannot end aid immediately. If so, I don't think he has made that case.
Please Wake Up
Mr. Justin's recent column ["Israel: a Socialist Sparta"] was really great. Being your regular reader it astonishes me, and I am really surprised that alot of American don't care and don't know how much power they have as citizens of this great country, yet they leave the fate of their hard-earned dollars in the hands of their politicians. They, the American people, have the right to ask their leaders in congress as to why Israel needs another pay raise. Is it because the gas prices were too high for the Israeli tanks and bulldozers, or they are paying the locals in Jenin to cover up for them? Please for God's sake use your power of democracy to tell pro-Israeli politicians to quit financing the crimes of the so-called Israeli democracy. Being free is a gift and the value of this gift can only be known by someone who does not possess that gift. For your information in my country we are having elections tomorrow and we already know who has won. Please wake up!
No Ideology
[Regarding Justin Raimondo's column of April 9, "Israel: a Socialist Sparta":]
The imbecile that occupies the White House cannot do anything because his father is a partner with the Saudis and the Kuwaitis. They all share the fortunes of oil ventures with the Texas boys. They do not give a sh*t about Israel or the Palestinians. It is all about selling arms and maintaining the barrel of oil at around $27.00 (versus $8.00 of the Clinton years).
The imbecile in charge does whatever Cheney and his accomplices tell him and they are clearly anti-Israel in the shadows. The Arab states are very interested in promoting the conflict so their inhabitants do not focus in the unfair distribution of wealth and power. The Palestinians (pawns) are despised by everybody in the region. (Read ... what Jordan did to them with Egypt and Saudi ... Arabia.)
There is no ideology here. Revisit the Afghan conflict and the special funds assigned to Colombia to protect the pipelines from the guerillas.
Liberalism/Leftism
I'm not sure on what grounds MJ, in Hollywood, can say the Clintons were not liberals. I tend to view liberalism as a something like the diametrical opposite of leftism. Genuine leftists (in the populist and libertarian sense of Alex Cockburn, for instance) have more in common with the populist right than either has with New Class elitists like Bill and Hillary.
As people like James Weinstein and Gabriel Kolko pointed out long ago, "liberalism" has been a lapdog of corporate capitalism since the beginning. Modern liberalism is descended ideologically from the Fabianism and "Progressivism" of a hundred years ago, that wanted to place society under the benevolent supervision of a caste of professionals, experts and social engineers. These were the same people who, under Wilson, threw genuine leftists into A. Mitchell Palmer's gulag.
Bill and Hillary are indeed liberals in the sense that they listen to NPR, hate guns, and believe in "a woman's right to choose." But if leftism means any genuine critique of the current system of state and corporate power, they fail miserably. What would you expect from a director of Wal-Mart?
Ranta
Question: I have yet to see a comment by ... [Justin Raimondo] or site contributors regarding the appointment by the UN of Helena Ranta to be on the investigation committee for the alleged Jenin "massacre." Why is that?
I wouldn't ask that question except that you were a leader in exposing the bogus "massacre" charges at Racek, and of course those charges were led by Ms. Ranta....
Thanks, and keep up your unique and thought-provoking work.
~ Don T.
Nobel Prize
As a Jew and a former Zionist I have to say that rarely the reading public ever enjoyed straightforwardness, honesty and well-founded arguments that Justin Raimondo presents in his work against current Israeli politics. No doubt he will be attacked by pro-Israeli lobby and their ilk. Shame on them, and a thousand cheers to him.
But for a fair-minded reader, Jewish or not, his work reminds us of the shining standards of journalism, seemed to be lost forever. The future generations of Israelis will be grateful to him and few people like him for the unsweetened truth that may, eventually, save them from the tragedy of their country sliding into the darkness of fascism.
I, hereby, nominate him for the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2002: "Justin Raimondo, USA -- for the revival of the standards of journalism."