Archivo

“Overstating Jewish Power”

Hitchens’ commentary on the London Review of Books piece on the Israel Lobby in the US by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. In this piece we discover that Hitchens doesn’t like the authors much, doesn’t like Turkey or Pakistan, doesn’t like name dropping and clearly doesn’t like Israel. He seems to be arguing that Israel is a rogue state.

This says it all, “I would have gone further…and pointed up the role of Israel in supporting apartheid in South Africa, in providing arms and training for dictators in Congo and Guatemala, and helping reactionary circles in America do their dirty work— most notably during the Iran-Contra assault on the Constitution and in the emergence of the alliance between Likud and the Christian right. Counterarguments concerning Israel’s help in the Cold War and in the region do not really outweigh these points."

Goes to far near the end of the piece, “Perhaps the Greek Cypriots and Indians are in error in refusing to fly civilian aircraft into skyscrapers. That might get the attention of the ‘realists.’ ”

Hmmmm…really?

New learning: “Pakistan attempted a genocide in Bangladesh, with the support of Nixon and Kissinger, in 1971.”...I'll have to look into that.

New word: caliphate = country led by and Islamic leader, a caliph. I think I heard mention of this in Lawrence of Arabia...not to be confused with Khaleesi, a Dothraki Queen.

Never miss an opportunity to put up a photo of the Khaleesi: