Oh denial...

They have been using the same bloody picture of this monkey for 15 years now. The reason may be that, when I met him at least, his face looked like he had been covered in Vaseline.. he was so shiny (not good for pictures im sure). Moreover, what he seems to forget is that his people are no longer the rough and tumble desert nomads of the past but a bunch of overweight slovenliness desert rats that no longer have the ability to go through a metal detector due to their circumference.

Israeli notion of Justice

Its hardly any wonder that the state of Israel has little notion of what justice is. For one, they don't have a constitution, meaning that there is no covenant between the people of Israel/Palestine and it's government. Whats more important however is that, since there is no constitution, the basis of any legal decision is founded upon"the interpretation of the jurisdictional system." In other words, the whimsical dictates of whichever judge happens to be interpreting whichever law is in front of him/her on that particular day. Not that other nations function much differently; in the US, Russia or Eygpt the judge is more or less the supreme decider of what any law really means and expends punishment accordingly. Nonetheless, the lack of a constitution provides no avenue for recourse or grievance since there are no inherent rights granted to persons living under "Israeli Law". The reason being that, in essence, the people of the land (Jew and Arab) never agreed to formalize their relationship with their government and hence there is no legal pretext under which the "state" can legitimately hold people to "the law."

Israel however is not alone when it comes to being without a constitution. The most notable of which is the UK (dubiously the country that previously controlled what is now known as Israel and Palestine). The absence of this pretext also removes the possibility of holding the state of Israel to it's own standard- a written constitution. Thus allowing the Israelis (and the English in times past) to interpret the laws that they themselves drew up and impose that interpretation on the people they conquered and expelled. An historical occurrence that goes unquestioned inside of the worlds power circles, and more or less passed over with regards to mainstream academic discourse and narrative.

What is more disturbing however is the extent to which the "international community" will go to preserve the immunity of the Jewish state despite their own notions of the rule of law. Case in point. Spain's own Foreign Minister has the chutzpa to promise another country to amend his own laws to suit the purposes of another country!! It pains me to think that all the anti-Semites of this world are pointing fingers at all of us saying "I told you so!"; and It pains me even more that, in this case, I will not to have any argument to make against them.

Selective reasoning at its worst

Look at this idiot pontificate

Despite the fact that the conflict in Sri Lanka was not created by dumping a bunch of people from eastern Europe on the island and then claiming ancestral rights to it, he then goes on to compare the majority Sinhalese to the Jews living in Israel. Someone give this man a calculator (or has this type of mathematics become too painful for Israelis to do). It is just not the case that the Jewish population of Palestine outnumbers that of the Palestinians; not today and not in 1948. If you count all the displaced Palestinians who DO have a right to be counted (2/3 of Jordan included) then the Jews become a minority.

In essence these arguments are frivilous. Today and throughout history numbers only matter to the simple minded and those who were there "first". In some cases it is more obvious than others; the case of the Native Americans for instance. In others it is not so; case in point.

Either way, Freund comes off like a ranting idiot who had an idea while masturbating and trying to make sure his 4th grader glasses dont fall off his face.

Whats more, to add insult to injury and as my friend MG points out "When there are so many Israeli lobbyists in Washington which so heavily influence the country's politics, then as a result, anything the Jewish state should be scrutinized much more severely." Hear, hear!

Im sure all that just slipped Michael's and the editor's at Jpost minds when they decided to fire this one off. Soon we will see Freundbquoted the NYT as a "Middle East Expert" I bet my life on it.

A conversation with LDB

Below is a conversation I had with my good friend LDB in response to this

6:19 PM LDB:
I must say

The coverage of this conflict in America

is far better than the Lebanon war coverage

at least nuances seem to be slowly permeating the american mainstream

6:20 PM its still lightyears from balanced coverage, or any type of understanding

but the vocabulary is starting to change

6:21 PM "Mainstream American politicians are famously reluctant to utter the words "suffering" and "Palestinian" in the same sentence. By breaking from that tradition, Clinton appeared to send a signal to Israel that that it would not have a free hand to operate in the Middle East."

7:22 PM me:
garbage... making the Palestinian issue a humanitarian one as opposed to a political one allows the US government to adopt humanitarian initiatives that further prolong the process as opposed to the much needed political solutions that would require Israel to make significant concessions

7:26 PM LDB:
i don't know that the two don't go hand in hand

7:27 PM I think those two are far from mutually exclusive, even if some people would like them to be.

7:29 PM Ive seen much more American coverage that deals with the daily oppression of Palestinians during "peacetimes" than I ever have; understanding that the gazans don't even posses a quasi-state at this point is crucial to devising political solutions for the region

7:30 PM look at the coverage

7:31 PM the Americans only recently were reminded that their own army can do wrong things, now, by extension, their being reminded that foreign countries supported by the same country are fallible as well

7:32 PM Like it or not, Condi and Gates, have since 2006 had a much more sober approach to foreign policy

the bush snr. realists took over in the bush administration

and this represents a different approach to Israel as well

7:34 PM i think their is a general disenchantment with US middle eastern policy, especially among democratic voters, and that's bleeding into media and politics

23 minutes

7:57 PM me: hear hear...just wait till there is another attack in the US then they'll be all worried about it again...

idiots

7:59 PM i never understand Americans... why they just don't get it

Denial without an inkling of recovery

The strangest thing about the state of the global economy today may seem to be the squiggly lines diving to the bottom of line charts across the world, but to any person who holds government accountable for the actions of their markets (especially when they are the ones who supposedly regulate them) it is evident that the main concern of governments is to avoid dealing with the repercussions of their actions (or more accurately lack thereof) through the use of whatever monetary and fiscal power tools they have at their disposal .

For people who have a memory that spans longer than the last economic expansion they will remember the length and breath of the last recession as well as the previous economic crises subsequent to the great depression. What was a fear then has become a striking reality now. Wether we like it or not our global economy has become so interdependent that it resembles a jenga tower where there are no blocks left to remove.

So rather than attempt to restructure the world economy so that the next 'genius' investment banker's instrument doesn't break the back of the world financial camel, the heads of central banks the world over (with only a few exceptions) are pushing for increased integration of financial markets and less impediments related to the cost of credit (lower base interest rates). Moreover, when a $700 billion bail-out is proposed all the politicos begin to scream socialism. Yet when the same central bank pumps in $800 billion that came from thin air or taxpayer's pockets, no one really voices any criticism.


Like a child who is not willing to take his hand out of the cookie jar, the central banks of the world are not willing let go of the unsustainable financial system that they have come up with. The initial calls for increased global regulation have fallen on deaf ears. The world is now flush with opportunity for anyone to acquire credit at extremely low cost and there is no consideration for the inflationary effects of injecting cash left-right-and-center.

So why isn't this all working out? Because the highest priority of govenments the world over is is that money is made by those that have it continues to be made by them. Considerations regarding redistribution of wealth, monopolization, and punishment for organizations that brought down the world economy don't even register on the radar of the worlds central banks or in the halls of government.

Whatever doubt remained that we live in a fully integrated and interdependent global economy has now been completely discredited. But inherent to the nature of the economic beast that we have created is the calamity that occurs in every national economy when everything goes belly-up. We see that now as poor and developing countries suffer even more from the crisis and emerging markets are not longer seen as the invincible economic behemoths that they once were (GCC is the best example).

What we should be learning at this point is that no company is worth saving if they are not efficient or willing to embrace the social responsiblity that goes hand-in-hand with being one of the Jenga blocks that is holding up the global economy. Until this is realized first by the people of this world and subsequently by governments we can only expect that the next financial crisis will have even worse consequences than the one we are currently in. In the end, unknowingly it is the people of the world who will suffer (not the investment houses) because they didnt take action against their governments unwillingness to rein in the corporate criminals of the world.

The nerve of some people

The fact that GWB, AKA "that idiot", can convene a meeting of the 20 most powerful nations on the back of a global financial crisis and blurt out statements regarding the need for MORE liberalization as opposed to protectionism, is a sure sign that the world has not learned a thing from the global financial crisis.

Transitional Indications

Since Nov 4th the world has started the ball rolling towards the end of the administrative transitional period that has embodied the political question marks dominating world politics. The election of Barak Obama leaves many blanks in the US foreign policy's line of rhetoric that the world has grown accustomed to during the Bush era. However as the eyes of the world are focused on Barak Obama's every move the time for photo ops and sweeping statements never been more opportune

A stunning move by Ismail Haniyeh was made on Saturday when he eluded to a Palestinian state that "will not be created at this time except in the territories of 1967." The move is one of desperation from Hamas and a sign that things are moving in circles inaccessible to the news junkie like myself. However, this semi-capitulation by Hamas needs to be taken with a grain of salt, there has been a refusal to recognize the state of Israel and issues of illegal settlements, Jerusalem, and the right of return have yet to be addressed. Without these key elements in place there can be no viable solution to the Palestinian problem. Nevertheless, this is a greatly significant move by Hamas that indicates that if (and that's a big if) the Israeli government-to-be is ready for peace they may just have the window of opportunity to pursue it.

This decision is also a bold move by Hamas to place the ball in Fatah's court- at least for the time being. In the eyes of many Palestinians yearning for a sense of normalcy and concrete results from their leaders, a concession of this magnitude allows Fatah less of the privilages associated with being the "moderates" in the Palestinian power struggle .

Also, the long lost Secretary General of the UN has finally surfaced with more unless language we have grown to expect from the UN posing the increasingly redundant statement,"The Quartet called for the continuing of the peace process in the framework of Annapolis." The language reaffirms the notion that we wont see anything changing anytime soon. Even the more interesting statements coming out of the meeting emmenate from the most viable Israeli candidate for PM are along the lines of, "We recognize the need to establish a Palestinian state, provided that it will not be a terror state." So to give credit where credit is due the opposing forces have now managed to recognize each other... after 60 years its about time for some kind of change in the status-quo.

Speaking of change. The new president-elect has a new debacle on his hands as he now has to deliver on many of the promises he made during his election campaign including dismantling Guantanamo Bay. This issue is proving to be a cumbersome one as the pundits are already sifting through the options and assessing the wiggle room Obama has in this regard. Indeed the Gitmo issue may well be Obama's truest test of legitimacy in the eyes of Americans who have recently shown an inkling of rationale by electing him in the first place. The real 'change' that America needs to see is not one where the mistakes of the past are repositioned and rephrased in order to save face with war-mongers and fanatics; it is the reimplementation of the constitution and the application of its principles to US citizens and non-citizens alike. The consideration of "national security courts" is about the most inadequate manner in which to address the most blatant human rights violation by the Bush administration and would cement the notion that change only textual.

What the US needs is not another form of legislative subversion but a revisiting of old principles. If Khalid (Sheikh-although i would not grace him with such a title) Mohamed truly is responsible for 9/11 then there should be ample intelligence to support his detention along with all the other Gitmo detainees. To even consider that different rules apply is a barefaced acknowledgement that the new administration cannot afford to start out with in terms of international legitemacy. It will mean nothing less than acquiescence to the principles of the Bush administration typified by the perpetual muddling of legislative and constitutional rights. The only way to restore confidence in the US legislature is to make sure that the same rules apply to everyone.

Unfortunately the signs are not so promising. Without getting into details one needs only read the heading of Obama's new transition office's website: "Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today." It seems that after 8 years of the most disastrous US presidency the world has ever known Americans will have to settle with "just a little better."