tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19184418.post115445630736128682..comments2024-03-09T22:15:04.984-08:00Comments on Global Paradigms: Hysteria among neocons: Israel isn't tough enoughLeon Hadarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07074306142674999554noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19184418.post-74836592521479226322012-04-16T18:44:14.629-07:002012-04-16T18:44:14.629-07:00I don't get this. "He also had a green li...I don't get this. "He also had a green light from the Bush administration, which has reasons of its own to want Hezbollah defanged and which assumed the Israelis were up to the job. " Could you please enlighten me on this? I keep following all your posts hope you can regularly post more. I get very useful information here. Thanks for having this.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.zoomroomonline.com/microchips-for-dogs.html" rel="nofollow">microchips for dogs cost</a>microchips for dogs costhttp://www.zoomroomonline.com/microchips-for-dogs.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19184418.post-1154609871054700662006-08-03T05:57:00.000-07:002006-08-03T05:57:00.000-07:00The Soviet thing was a true mystery. It was unders...The Soviet thing was a true mystery. It was understandable that people might delude themselves for a few years, but by the 30s, the terror was already apparent. But then their minds could adjust because there was a competing terror. It was just madness. <BR/><BR/>I don't think it's the same with modern countries - Except that it comes down to choice. <BR/><BR/>One day peace will break out and Israel will get along with Iran and others. Some might miss the old days then.<BR/><BR/>What's gonna happen when Israel is at peace and their economy is booming and the bedouin have casinos? Will they be like the French?<BR/><BR/>Speaking of Clinton. I think he pushed those deals at the wrong time and in the wrong way. He is a smart enough man to know that they would not stick. He just wanted to be seen as trying to make peace.<BR/><BR/>They were not mid-east peace agreements. They were Clinton Lgeacy Image ProjectsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19184418.post-1154578562607628112006-08-02T21:16:00.000-07:002006-08-02T21:16:00.000-07:00Interesting comments. I suppose that people projec...Interesting comments. I suppose that people project their hopes and desires on friends, lovers, spouses, political leaders,etc. and tend to idealize/romanticize them and in many cases reject information that runs contrary to their preconceptions or try to adjust it ("If only Stalin knew..." Or as Jackie Mason puts it: This guy loves Bill Clinton. They tell him that Clinton murdered someone. He responds: "Well, eveyrone has to go one day..."). Recall how the fellow travelers in America fantasized about the Soviet Union in the 1930's. I suppose that there is some element of that in the way many American-Jews treat Israel today. Most of them don't plan to move there and many have not visited the country. It's like someone who "meets" someone online and builds all these expectations. On a certain level, he or she prefers not to meet with the online match in real life. Why ruin the fantasy?Leon Hadarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07074306142674999554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19184418.post-1154548077745342492006-08-02T12:47:00.000-07:002006-08-02T12:47:00.000-07:00The point about insecurity and identity is an inte...The point about insecurity and identity is an interesting one.<BR/><BR/>What strikes me about neocons is their warped sense of history (a characteristic they share with the Islamists). They seem to be self-styled Churchills desperately searching for their Hitlers and obsessed with whether they will be “on the right side of history” and “how history will judge them.”<BR/><BR/>Perhaps if one is insecure there is a desire to escape one’s insecurity by “rising above” others and aspiring to greatness. In this case, Churchill is their benchmark of greatness. Every Churchill needs a Hitler and an epic struggle.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19184418.post-1154534932884845982006-08-02T09:08:00.000-07:002006-08-02T09:08:00.000-07:00Btw, it's not uncommon for those who are insecure ...Btw, it's not uncommon for those who are insecure in their identities, and especially those who reside in an in-between cultural spehres of indetity to be more Catholic than the Pope, so to speak. The examples you mentioned are "classic" in that respect. Herzl, the founder of Zionism was an assimilated Austrian Jews and many light-skin blacks have been the most ardent black nationalist, etc. etc. The other side of the coin: Members of diaspora groups tend to be more nationalist than those whom they left behin. And JIM I totally agree with you on that. It's that and also I think that many Jewish neocons enjoy their status as "mediators" between Washington and Jerusalem. In any case, they are very brave when it comes to the War of Ideas.. LeonLeon Hadarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07074306142674999554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19184418.post-1154531771497941272006-08-02T08:16:00.000-07:002006-08-02T08:16:00.000-07:00I've always maintained that the neocons could mana...I've always maintained that the neocons could manage ZERO ardor for an Israel that lived in peace and security with its neighbors. It's Spartan Israel they love, the Israel of the long twilight struggle. I may have overestimated them. Based on the current talk I get the impression they might actively despise such an Israel. Oh how bitter we get when the object of our fantasies lets us down.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19184418.post-1154525010917220382006-08-02T06:23:00.000-07:002006-08-02T06:23:00.000-07:00Being part of the Davos Set sounds like a lot of f...Being part of the Davos Set sounds like a lot of fun.<BR/><BR/>Side trips to Aspen. Hushed converstations about repos, rates, and Barneke. Speculation about "doing Iraq," and confronting Iran. Maybe a weekend in the Cotswold or Provance.<BR/><BR/>What an awesome life. Can't blame them for enjoying it.<BR/><BR/>Another thing that is pretty funny - as funny as these born abroad war hawks who depend on rallying nativism - is the huge industry of people who write books about Iran and Iraq or the other Arab states without ever visting the region or learning the language.<BR/><BR/>I do not fault these authors. I am actually jealous of them. But the fact that people do not laugh in their face when they speak is a mystery.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19184418.post-1154524410476209892006-08-02T06:13:00.000-07:002006-08-02T06:13:00.000-07:00Napolean did not grow up in France, Hitler did not...Napolean did not grow up in France, Hitler did not grow up in Germany, Stalin did not grow up in Russia, etc.<BR/><BR/>Not to compare any of the war hawks, etc to them, but so many of them grew up outside the US.<BR/><BR/>It's likely they got to knw the US military thru encyclopdeias and Jane's Defense. So they began to view it the way a Manchester United fan or a Real Madrid fan views their team.<BR/><BR/>But there is a disconnect that war opponents failed to exploit and work. <BR/><BR/>For example, a while back Max Boot (grew up in Russia) and Hitchens (grew up in England) wrote a series of ridiculously belicose columns about the what to do in Iraq and Afganistan.<BR/><BR/>Recently someone recalled his former colleagues who were stationed on ships in the Gulf and on land in Afganistan read them and passed them around. They thought they were a joke - they could not believe that these kind of ideas of assessments were taken seriuously by the people in DC.<BR/><BR/>They were all way over the top in their bloody celebrity tone. <BR/><BR/>But for people who were involved in the operations, they sounded just like fantasy football.<BR/><BR/>Again - Nothing wrong with growing up in Mexico - a great experiance. Nothing wrong with growing up in Canada either - it can lead to a job writing the State of the Union.<BR/><BR/>But it is pretty funny - It's just hard to imagine moving to a Canada or Mexico or Israel or the UK and getting away with being more nativists than the locals without everyone laughing at you.<BR/><BR/>Maybe Buchanan will move to Mother Russia and become Putin's speechwriter!!! <BR/><BR/>Wait! Don't give him any ideas!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19184418.post-1154488912130684702006-08-01T20:21:00.000-07:002006-08-01T20:21:00.000-07:00I didn't know that. I did know that he had served ...I didn't know that. I did know that he had served for several years as an editor with the Jerusalem Post and then got the job in the WSJ. Since then he has been basically doing Israeli/Mideast stuff. He also wrote a long critique of the "new" Fukuyama. What you describe could be applied to members of cosmpolitan elites in most of western capitals, including Washington. The Davos mentality. LeonLeon Hadarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07074306142674999554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19184418.post-1154484612124487852006-08-01T19:10:00.000-07:002006-08-01T19:10:00.000-07:00Stephens grew up in Mexico. It's pretty funny how ...Stephens grew up in Mexico. It's pretty funny how so many of the most hawkish grew up abroad. Nothing wrong with that - but it's just pretty funny because they are always appealing to 'the heartland' etc and you kind of get the impression they know less about the actual 'heartland' than they do about what's doing in London or Brussles. Nice work, if you can get it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com