Mike Caggiano
08-02-2006, 08:29 PM
Response to Karen King and Keith Kreitman July 31 ‘06
Republican spokeswoman Karen King (Weekend Journal July 29/30) has done herself proud once again. She has echoed perfectly the right wing ideologues who are hobbling any reappraisal of our out of control foreign and domestic policies. Referring to George Bush’s ‘understanding the dangers of Islamofascism’, ( a pop term coined by the Fox News crowd), she totally overlooks the dangers to us posed by the standard type ‘Corporate Fascists’ in the forms of the Delays, Abramoffs, Gingrichs, and other various and sundry Neo-Cons that populate the White House and Capitol. Indeed it is an administration of and for the unholy alliance of multinational corporations and their Military and ‘Intelligence’ counterparts that are eroding our Bill of Rights and consequently Western Civilization. This process is making the world safe for a kind of democracy with a very small ‘d’. One where they own our media and political process and use them to send our youth out in military formations to secure the minerals and markets for these Captains of Industry much as was done for the last century.
Keith Kreitman’s column which took up the rest of the page states that ‘Realpolitik trumps Idealism any day’. He puts his finger on the source of our problems nicely. It is this very ‘Realpolitik’ that got us into our predicament in the first place. By believing that our oil resides under other people’s sand, he justifies the disposal of other people’s governments. This we did in 1953 when we overthrew the elected Iranian government to be replaced by a medieval ‘Shah’ who would prove to be more ‘reliable’ for our Captains of Industry in their competition with the Soviet Union. We proved to Iran’s citizens that our idea of a good government is far more important then theirs (how to win hearts and minds).
Realpolitik reared its head again when we stoked the Taliban types with money and weapons in order to defeat the Russians who had entered Afghanistan to aid the head of state who was trying to combat of all things Islamic Fundamentalism which was threatening Russia’s border provinces.
Likewise on the statement that while balancing adultery and government Bill Clinton overlooked the possibilities of global terrorism we again differ. In fact it was the Republicans who brought the intelligent running of government to a screeching halt whilst they could fully savor the matter of the blue dress etc.
The matters of the Mid East and Israel might better be viewed through the lense of the many Israeli websites such as Yesh Gvul.org, Gush Shalom.org, Btselem.org, Taayush.org as well as the local variety, jewishvoiceforpeace.org and Tikkun.org to see that Progressives (Lefties are out now) hardly blame anything other than shortsightedness and near term expediency (that Realpolitik again) lacking any moral horizon for the present conflict. The unconditional support for the Israeli right wing in its colonial occupation of the West Bank and Jerusalem while cruelly oppressing the native population is the direct link to the creation of Hamas and Hezbollah in the first place.
Seventeen thousand Lebanese paid the ultimate price for the brutal invasion of 1982. With Israel and its ‘Christian’ allies rampaging through the country, local Shiites needed to find a way to protect themselves and so Hezbollah was born (talk about unintended consequences).
The good news is that Israel is demanding the enactment of UN resolution 1559 to ensure that the official Lebanese army patrols the border with a disarmed militia. Of course we need to see this interest in enforcing UN resolutions extended to the 63 that have to do with Israel and its relations to its native population (the Palestinians). They must be allowed to either return or be compensated. The ‘settlements’ must be evacuated and sovereignty granted to a viable Palestine with all the surrounding states recognizing the permanent borders.
The Geneva Accord of three years ago forged by moderate Israelis and Palestinians shows the viability of negotiations taken in good faith. Unfortunately Colin Powell supported them with nothing more than a literal pat on the back. I don’t think our civilization can stand much more Realpolitik without ending our real world.
The one paragraph of Ms. King’s with which I wholeheartedly agree is the phrase from Dante: “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crises.” If we want to fight the forces of darkness, we had better shine more light on the Machiavellian Neo Cons who want to continue our slide toward Fascism while we totally alienate the rest of the planet.
Mike Caggiano
Republican spokeswoman Karen King (Weekend Journal July 29/30) has done herself proud once again. She has echoed perfectly the right wing ideologues who are hobbling any reappraisal of our out of control foreign and domestic policies. Referring to George Bush’s ‘understanding the dangers of Islamofascism’, ( a pop term coined by the Fox News crowd), she totally overlooks the dangers to us posed by the standard type ‘Corporate Fascists’ in the forms of the Delays, Abramoffs, Gingrichs, and other various and sundry Neo-Cons that populate the White House and Capitol. Indeed it is an administration of and for the unholy alliance of multinational corporations and their Military and ‘Intelligence’ counterparts that are eroding our Bill of Rights and consequently Western Civilization. This process is making the world safe for a kind of democracy with a very small ‘d’. One where they own our media and political process and use them to send our youth out in military formations to secure the minerals and markets for these Captains of Industry much as was done for the last century.
Keith Kreitman’s column which took up the rest of the page states that ‘Realpolitik trumps Idealism any day’. He puts his finger on the source of our problems nicely. It is this very ‘Realpolitik’ that got us into our predicament in the first place. By believing that our oil resides under other people’s sand, he justifies the disposal of other people’s governments. This we did in 1953 when we overthrew the elected Iranian government to be replaced by a medieval ‘Shah’ who would prove to be more ‘reliable’ for our Captains of Industry in their competition with the Soviet Union. We proved to Iran’s citizens that our idea of a good government is far more important then theirs (how to win hearts and minds).
Realpolitik reared its head again when we stoked the Taliban types with money and weapons in order to defeat the Russians who had entered Afghanistan to aid the head of state who was trying to combat of all things Islamic Fundamentalism which was threatening Russia’s border provinces.
Likewise on the statement that while balancing adultery and government Bill Clinton overlooked the possibilities of global terrorism we again differ. In fact it was the Republicans who brought the intelligent running of government to a screeching halt whilst they could fully savor the matter of the blue dress etc.
The matters of the Mid East and Israel might better be viewed through the lense of the many Israeli websites such as Yesh Gvul.org, Gush Shalom.org, Btselem.org, Taayush.org as well as the local variety, jewishvoiceforpeace.org and Tikkun.org to see that Progressives (Lefties are out now) hardly blame anything other than shortsightedness and near term expediency (that Realpolitik again) lacking any moral horizon for the present conflict. The unconditional support for the Israeli right wing in its colonial occupation of the West Bank and Jerusalem while cruelly oppressing the native population is the direct link to the creation of Hamas and Hezbollah in the first place.
Seventeen thousand Lebanese paid the ultimate price for the brutal invasion of 1982. With Israel and its ‘Christian’ allies rampaging through the country, local Shiites needed to find a way to protect themselves and so Hezbollah was born (talk about unintended consequences).
The good news is that Israel is demanding the enactment of UN resolution 1559 to ensure that the official Lebanese army patrols the border with a disarmed militia. Of course we need to see this interest in enforcing UN resolutions extended to the 63 that have to do with Israel and its relations to its native population (the Palestinians). They must be allowed to either return or be compensated. The ‘settlements’ must be evacuated and sovereignty granted to a viable Palestine with all the surrounding states recognizing the permanent borders.
The Geneva Accord of three years ago forged by moderate Israelis and Palestinians shows the viability of negotiations taken in good faith. Unfortunately Colin Powell supported them with nothing more than a literal pat on the back. I don’t think our civilization can stand much more Realpolitik without ending our real world.
The one paragraph of Ms. King’s with which I wholeheartedly agree is the phrase from Dante: “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crises.” If we want to fight the forces of darkness, we had better shine more light on the Machiavellian Neo Cons who want to continue our slide toward Fascism while we totally alienate the rest of the planet.
Mike Caggiano