What is the basis for the modern day establishment of the state of Israel? The British were occupiers. The U.N. had only one Arab member and no one even considered how the inhabitants of the land would react - and they reacted violently. They have never accepted this.
My research indicates that there was only an 11% Jewish population in the territory at the time of the U.N. mandate. The Jews did not buy the land. Moreover, their attempts at immigration were stymied by the British - "not least out of a desire to defend British interests in Arab oil."
The Bible is an ancient religious book, an ancient deed to property. The Jews were the "chosen people" and God, himself, instructed them to kill numerous indigenous tribes, in the entirety, to take the land - the "Promised Land."
Thousands of years later, the Romans came and tore down the Jewish tabernacle in Jerusalem and they called this place Palestine. That was in the 1st century. A couple of thousand years later Western civilization takes back the land and establishes the state of Israel as according to the Bible.
I am not really talking about ancient history except to point out what I know to be true - that the Bible is the basis for Western civilization's establishment and support of Israel. That is something that occurred in my parent's lifetime, not thousands of years ago. Also, I believe that the Holy War in the Koran is a reaction to the Holy War in the Bible.
The Israeli - Palestinian conflict is clearly at the heart of much of the trouble in the Middle East. But, there has also been a shameful period in America's history, driven by ambition for superiority and the fear of a "communist threat"…
"…Instead of fulfilling its intended and proper mission, the CIA spent its time organizing and maintaining full-scale armies fighting wars in various parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America; promoting economic havoc here and there in all three regions; attempting to bring down the foreign governments (those of Guatemala, Nicaragua, Chile, Zaire, Zambia, South and North Vietnam, Iran, Afghanistan, Albania, Cambodia, Laos, Brazil, Guyana, the Dominican Republic, Angola, Cuba, Lebanon, Indonesia, and China, to name a few publicly documented cases) and often succeeding…"i
Additionally, "…both for assuring access to Middle East oil and for other geostrategic reasons, the United States must support Arab strongman regimes (including Sadaam Hussein) and that to do otherwise 'including to encourage democratization' could lead either to chaos or the rise to power of hostile forces and, in either case, a severe compromising of American interests."ii
The U.S. went so far as to stage a coup in Iran in 1953, "...British Petroleum returned to the Iranian oil fields. Some newcomers tagged along. They included five American companies, the ancestors of today's ExxonMobil and Chevron-Texaco. Meanwhile, the U.S. government opened the foreign-aid spigot. Over the next 25 years, more than $20 billion in U.S. taxpayers' money would pour into a decidedly undemocratic Iran, most of it military aid and subsidized weapons sales for the Shah's armed forces and SAVAK, his secret police. As for American oil companies, they would extract 2 billion bbl. of oil from their Iranian fields. But the access came with a stiff price tag in U.S. government dollars and Iranian lives.which resulted in "the establishment of the first American-hating Islamic republic, when the Shiite Muslim clerics duped by the CIA overthrow of Mossadegh master-minded their own takeover in 1979, installing the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeni."iii
Once again, the CIA, the oil, the terrorism, the meddling in Iraq and Iran, and the establishment of the state of Israel all happened in my parent's lifetimes. This is not ancient history and Americans should be saddened and ashamed for their country - to deny the truth means this country is a fraud.
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i From the Crimes of Patriots, by Jonathan Kwitny.
ii The Oslo Syndrome Delusions Of A People Under Siege, Kenneth Levin, 2005 Smith and Kraus, Inc.
iii By Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, TIME, May 19, 2003.
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The U.S. is an extremely, immensely wealthy nation. If interference was necessary, don't you think we could have done a better job of it than supporting terrorism, starting civil wars and wreaking economic havoc on the people the least able to afford it? I think so.
If America has committed crimes in the past, wouldn't it be the right thing to do to acknowledge that and condemn it - as we expect others to do - and seek forgiveness? Maybe Christians should ask themselves, "What would Jesus do?"
William Dalrymple, author, says that the ideas propelling the intervention in the Middle East, as most throughout history, are a "bigoted oversimplification of a complex reality." Does this apply to you?
"Do not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you." - Deuteronomy 3:22. This is what you would call Holy War. The Hebrews were "sojourners in an ancient culture." They were just one tribe among many "primitive, semi nomadic herdsmen," traders, and "great warring hordes" of marauders migrating through the world's first great civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Civilizations that arose in more than 5,000 years before Abraham's birth.
It is believed that the Hebrews came from Mesopotamia. The tribes of Abraham were traveling throughout the region, they were enslaved, they were set free, they wandered the desert for forty years and then they slaughtered numerous other tribes to take their land, as instructed by God. That is the beginning of Holy War.
I am not making excuses for anybody. I would like to leave all of this ancient history behind. When I said that the Koran was a reaction to the Bible I meant just as the war in Iraq was a reaction to 9/11. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and the people here would like to nuke the Middle East off the map. That is a reaction. Dropping the bomb on Japan was a reaction.
I personally do not know what things were like when the Koran was written nor do I know how long the Bible had been discussed amongst the other peoples in the region so I do not really know what their perspective was. Assuming at some point they became aware of the Bible, it would be very threatening to them to know that at any minute the Hebrew's God could come down in a cloud, or speak from a bush and say, "Wipe those people out, they are heathens."
Some people cannot comprehend how it is that I conclude that certain aspects of the Bible are the same as the Holy War that the Muslims have. Go back to your Bible and list the times that God instructed the Hebrews to attack and slay tribes or where God, himself, intervened to bring about the desired result. Although this is not construed today to be an ongoing thing, the Promised Land was meant for Abraham and his descendants, alone, forever.
And, apparently, many people still believe that or they would not have stepped in to establish the modern day state of Israel. The Bible is an ancient deed to property. It would not hold up in a court of law. You have the right to believe what you want, but you do not have the right to use the government of the U.S. to enforce those beliefs.
Taken from the opposite perspective, this would be very threatening. And what I mean is that the Koran is modeled after the Bible and although it is perceived to go much further than the Bible and, in fact, it has, it has many similarities to our own "preemptive strategy."
To me, the Christ vs. Mohammed argument is significant. But, the Hebrews did commit many atrocious acts as well. My personal feelings are that Christ changed everything, the Jews rejected him, and I do not really see why the Old Testament and New Testament should belong together. Christians get into the most trouble, usually, trying to reconcile their beliefs with the OT. That's my opinion.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Mandate for Palestine and the League of Nations
What of the League of Nations and the idea that there is no such thing as Palestine throughout history? Many here in America make no secret of their contempt for the United Nations, the successor to the League of Nations, as weak, ineffective and corrupt. But, that doesn’t deter them from proclaiming that the League’s recognition and endorsement of a “national home for the Jewish people” is validation of Israel’s right to exist. While apparently discounting the fact that the Versailles Peace Conference established the League of Nations and granted the U.K. control of Palestine, which is how the British occupiers, themselves, had referred to this land for many, many years before Israel was recognized as a state.
The only Middle Eastern state represented at the League of Nations inception was Persia. And, unlike an example of a newly created nation state, Montenegro, the actual inhabitants of the territories had no say in the process because they were occupied territories. Yes, they did revolt, violently, and they have never stopped.
Research on the subject reveals that a strong motivation for this entire scheme was the “rise in importance of the British Empire’s South Asian enterprises in the early 19th century.” They believed that the influx of Jewish wealth would be beneficial and would counter “any future evil designs of Egypt or its neighbors.”
The British occupiers took their sweet time relinquishing control of the territories and refused entry to hundreds of thousands of Jewish Holocaust refugees. Much of the immigration during this period was illegal and many Jews died in rickety boats, trying to sneak in. Fighting was intense throughout this period with terrorists groups on both sides.
During WWII, Palestinian Arabs saw a probable axis victory as a way of “wresting Palestine back from the Zionists and the British,” and Avraham Stern, leader of the Jewish Lehi terrorist gang, hated the British so much he was willing to fight on the side of the Nazis.
Menachem Begin, leader of Irgun made the statement that, “The partition of the homeland is illegal. It will never be recognized. The signature by institutions and individuals of the partition is invalid. It will not bind the Jewish people. Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. The land of Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for ever.”
And Chaim Weizmann said, “(Our intention is to) finally establish such a society in Palestine that Palestine shall be as Jewish as England is English, or America is American.”
The U.S. did not want the Jewish Holocaust refugees, either, and denied them asylum. So, our support for Israel probably has more to do with hegemony than a “right to exist” and a whole lot more to do with our “interests” in the region than generosity. Why the U.S. ever decided to pick sides in this mess is the reason for the troubles we are experiencing today.
The only Middle Eastern state represented at the League of Nations inception was Persia. And, unlike an example of a newly created nation state, Montenegro, the actual inhabitants of the territories had no say in the process because they were occupied territories. Yes, they did revolt, violently, and they have never stopped.
Research on the subject reveals that a strong motivation for this entire scheme was the “rise in importance of the British Empire’s South Asian enterprises in the early 19th century.” They believed that the influx of Jewish wealth would be beneficial and would counter “any future evil designs of Egypt or its neighbors.”
The British occupiers took their sweet time relinquishing control of the territories and refused entry to hundreds of thousands of Jewish Holocaust refugees. Much of the immigration during this period was illegal and many Jews died in rickety boats, trying to sneak in. Fighting was intense throughout this period with terrorists groups on both sides.
During WWII, Palestinian Arabs saw a probable axis victory as a way of “wresting Palestine back from the Zionists and the British,” and Avraham Stern, leader of the Jewish Lehi terrorist gang, hated the British so much he was willing to fight on the side of the Nazis.
Menachem Begin, leader of Irgun made the statement that, “The partition of the homeland is illegal. It will never be recognized. The signature by institutions and individuals of the partition is invalid. It will not bind the Jewish people. Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. The land of Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for ever.”
And Chaim Weizmann said, “(Our intention is to) finally establish such a society in Palestine that Palestine shall be as Jewish as England is English, or America is American.”
The U.S. did not want the Jewish Holocaust refugees, either, and denied them asylum. So, our support for Israel probably has more to do with hegemony than a “right to exist” and a whole lot more to do with our “interests” in the region than generosity. Why the U.S. ever decided to pick sides in this mess is the reason for the troubles we are experiencing today.
Sea Change Needed In USA
Slavery was abolished not quite 150 years ago and we are still trying to get justice for some of the most horrific crimes that were committed in the decades after. The Supreme Court has turned their back on the children left behind in the inner cities.
There is the Japanese-American internment camps. I never wondered in school how the U.S. came into possession of the Hawaiian Islands - Hawaii was just another state.
The U.S. helped some capitalists overthrow the Hawaiians’ beloved queen in a bloodless coup to get their hands on the sugar plantations. To most people that would be perceived as an act of aggression and so I wonder if it had anything to do with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor?
Maybe we would be having major problems with the Native Americans, still today, if we hadn't done such a good job of almost exterminating them. But, they are off somewhere out of sight and we only occasionally are reminded of how the oil men cheated them and the politicians and money men don't even want to allow them to go "reservation shopping." That's where the tribes try to open a casino in a place where they might actually be successful.
Immense fortunes were made on the back of slavery. We pay five times the price of sugar. And the oil in Alaska and offshore is owned by all Americans, it would seem, but the oil companies drill it for obscene profits and we all pay the market rate.
That's a lot to think about. The ideals set forth by the founding fathers have never been reached. It is a work in progress. Maybe Americans should get down from their high horse and lose the holier-than-thou heavy handedness in dealing with these other cultures which most Americans KNOW NOTHING ABOUT.
I sincerely wish that women could be liberated in these places, oppression vanquished, but I think it takes much, much more than outside interference. There has to be a "sea change" in the beliefs and traditions of the people themselves.
There is the Japanese-American internment camps. I never wondered in school how the U.S. came into possession of the Hawaiian Islands - Hawaii was just another state.
The U.S. helped some capitalists overthrow the Hawaiians’ beloved queen in a bloodless coup to get their hands on the sugar plantations. To most people that would be perceived as an act of aggression and so I wonder if it had anything to do with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor?
Maybe we would be having major problems with the Native Americans, still today, if we hadn't done such a good job of almost exterminating them. But, they are off somewhere out of sight and we only occasionally are reminded of how the oil men cheated them and the politicians and money men don't even want to allow them to go "reservation shopping." That's where the tribes try to open a casino in a place where they might actually be successful.
Immense fortunes were made on the back of slavery. We pay five times the price of sugar. And the oil in Alaska and offshore is owned by all Americans, it would seem, but the oil companies drill it for obscene profits and we all pay the market rate.
That's a lot to think about. The ideals set forth by the founding fathers have never been reached. It is a work in progress. Maybe Americans should get down from their high horse and lose the holier-than-thou heavy handedness in dealing with these other cultures which most Americans KNOW NOTHING ABOUT.
I sincerely wish that women could be liberated in these places, oppression vanquished, but I think it takes much, much more than outside interference. There has to be a "sea change" in the beliefs and traditions of the people themselves.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Prejudice In The U.S.A.
Concerning the mainstream media (MSM), some people are capable of objectivity and professionalism. After much consideration and my own personal, unique and extreme experience, it has occurred to me that the MSM has taken a rap for something that really is the bias of the accusers.
For example, people here in Kansas City are quick to jump on a black journalist every time he brings up the "race card." But, they are strangely silent when racism is obviously present. Also, there is the recent criticism of the new British Prime Minister where he has spoken out against stereotyping Muslims. I believe that he is making an effort to mitigate the hateful, inflammatory, racist rhetoric that has been prevalent throughout society and pervasive on the Internet - not trying to appease the terrorists.
These attitudes were present long before 9/11 and could very well be a motivating factor for many of these extremists. And, so, I can logically conclude that many of the attacks on the MSM are in reality a reflection of these diehard mentalities, whether racism, sexism, or whatever ism applies. Some people just do not like, at all, the new "politically correct" and "sensitive" hard fought strictures that are now still fighting for their lives in our media, government, at work and on the street.
These are prejudices that have been ingrained, people need to learn to think for themselves, and even more importantly, look at situations from different perspectives. That is what I did, there was a conflict between my heritage and the religion I was raised with and I threw out everything I had been told and started over from the foundation up. Of course, this requires an actual willingness to treat others as equals.
I am not holier-than-anybody. I don't feel entirely comfortable with people and cultures that are different than me. But, it doesn't take a genius to realize that much of the violence in the world is owed to prejudice, hatred and fear of people who are different from you.
Many people in our country today still feel like they are the victims of "reverse discrimination." The hostility shown towards anyone who dares mention the "race card" is enough to make me say that I think they protest too much. Often, it is quite simple to point out the fault in their thought processes just by looking at things from the opposite perspective.
However, these beliefs are ingrained and there are certain factions who are willing to sacrifice all of our values and everything this country stands for to carry out their irrational, hateful and prejudiced crusade against all Muslims.
They want to take back "their" country and they don't care how ignorant they sound and they don't care if Bush is not just a political hack, he's a political butcher, because they are just going to run this country the way it should be run and they know they are right about all things, facts and history notwithstanding.
The scary thing is that our president appears to subscribe to this way of thinking and it is from these quarters that he draws his most strident support.
I can bear witness to the tactics, stunts and the depths that these people will stoop to. You would not be wrong to say that I am somewhat of an expert in the "angry white male" crowd that does not care how they win, dirty tricks, cheap shots, anything goes. I'm afraid that's why they elected Bush.
I can forgive those who put Bush in office, thinking that they shared the same values. I do not see any valid reasons, whatsoever, they could have had to reelect him. Not when it appears that the "religious right" has hijacked Christianity and laid claim to everything good and moral and American as apple pie.
They call all Democrats or liberals "godless"- who do they think they are, deciding who will go to heaven and hell out of one side of their mouth and saying that America should indiscriminately bomb little Iraqi children out of the other. Talk about hateful.
They will gang up as thugs on somebody who dares present any original or radically different ideas and they think they can just make them go away.
I believe the Bush administration has denied sanctuary to Iraqi refugees simply because that's just another thing that would make them look bad. Americans have no right to ask people to send their children, their loved ones off to fight for a country that no longer seems to stand for anything.
I am so hurt and ashamed for my country and I am so revolted by our leaders that I don't think impeachment is good enough. I honestly wish they could be banished. Such is the state of our country.
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For example, people here in Kansas City are quick to jump on a black journalist every time he brings up the "race card." But, they are strangely silent when racism is obviously present. Also, there is the recent criticism of the new British Prime Minister where he has spoken out against stereotyping Muslims. I believe that he is making an effort to mitigate the hateful, inflammatory, racist rhetoric that has been prevalent throughout society and pervasive on the Internet - not trying to appease the terrorists.
These attitudes were present long before 9/11 and could very well be a motivating factor for many of these extremists. And, so, I can logically conclude that many of the attacks on the MSM are in reality a reflection of these diehard mentalities, whether racism, sexism, or whatever ism applies. Some people just do not like, at all, the new "politically correct" and "sensitive" hard fought strictures that are now still fighting for their lives in our media, government, at work and on the street.
These are prejudices that have been ingrained, people need to learn to think for themselves, and even more importantly, look at situations from different perspectives. That is what I did, there was a conflict between my heritage and the religion I was raised with and I threw out everything I had been told and started over from the foundation up. Of course, this requires an actual willingness to treat others as equals.
I am not holier-than-anybody. I don't feel entirely comfortable with people and cultures that are different than me. But, it doesn't take a genius to realize that much of the violence in the world is owed to prejudice, hatred and fear of people who are different from you.
Many people in our country today still feel like they are the victims of "reverse discrimination." The hostility shown towards anyone who dares mention the "race card" is enough to make me say that I think they protest too much. Often, it is quite simple to point out the fault in their thought processes just by looking at things from the opposite perspective.
However, these beliefs are ingrained and there are certain factions who are willing to sacrifice all of our values and everything this country stands for to carry out their irrational, hateful and prejudiced crusade against all Muslims.
They want to take back "their" country and they don't care how ignorant they sound and they don't care if Bush is not just a political hack, he's a political butcher, because they are just going to run this country the way it should be run and they know they are right about all things, facts and history notwithstanding.
The scary thing is that our president appears to subscribe to this way of thinking and it is from these quarters that he draws his most strident support.
I can bear witness to the tactics, stunts and the depths that these people will stoop to. You would not be wrong to say that I am somewhat of an expert in the "angry white male" crowd that does not care how they win, dirty tricks, cheap shots, anything goes. I'm afraid that's why they elected Bush.
I can forgive those who put Bush in office, thinking that they shared the same values. I do not see any valid reasons, whatsoever, they could have had to reelect him. Not when it appears that the "religious right" has hijacked Christianity and laid claim to everything good and moral and American as apple pie.
They call all Democrats or liberals "godless"- who do they think they are, deciding who will go to heaven and hell out of one side of their mouth and saying that America should indiscriminately bomb little Iraqi children out of the other. Talk about hateful.
They will gang up as thugs on somebody who dares present any original or radically different ideas and they think they can just make them go away.
I believe the Bush administration has denied sanctuary to Iraqi refugees simply because that's just another thing that would make them look bad. Americans have no right to ask people to send their children, their loved ones off to fight for a country that no longer seems to stand for anything.
I am so hurt and ashamed for my country and I am so revolted by our leaders that I don't think impeachment is good enough. I honestly wish they could be banished. Such is the state of our country.
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