Newt is insane

I linked to it the other day, but this little essay by Newt Gingrich really deserves a bit more attention, because it is the most insane thing I’ve read in a criminally insane week. On the whole the piece is a dishonest attempt to pretend that
Israel is helping the Lebanese by slaughtering them, and helping us by helping them. Cataloguing the absurdities and lies would take all day, and they should be obvious to anyone who’s been paying attention. Instead I wanted to draw your attention to this paragraph: 

Just place these events on a map and a clear picture emerges.

An Iran-Syrian-Hizbullah-Hamas terrorist alliance is waging war against Israel; seven bombings in Mumbai, India, killed more than 200 people; North Korea, launched seven missiles, including an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the West coast of the continental United States; seven Americans pledging allegiance to al-Qaida on video tape; a plot to bomb New York City subways and tunnels; 18 Canadians arrested with twice the explosive force used in the Oklahoma City bombing. Now add all the cities where previous events have occurred and a global campaign of terror is no longer deniable.

What we have here is geo-politics for  paranoid schizophrenics.  The Canadian “terrorists” were not connected to al Qaeda.  Neither, if you need to be told, is
North Korea.  No one knows for sure what happened in Mumbai.  The Deputy Chief Minister, RR Patil, claims that it was done by a Pakistan based terrorist outfit, but who knows? 

Seeing the world like this is dangerous, because it encourages you to ignore local causes in favor of some overarching conspiracy theory.  Newt doesn’t think like this, but he wants you to, because if you do you become politically immobile and terrified.  A good Republican, in other words.

Update:  What he said.  

Lawsuit against AT&T can proceed

It’s pathetic that this is what passes for good news.

In a landmark ruling Thursday, a federal judge forcefully refused to dismiss a civil liberties group’s lawsuit against AT&T for its alleged complicity in widespread warrantless government surveillance, despite the government’s argument that the suit could reveal state secrets — a rarely used claim that nearly always terminates a lawsuit.

In a 72-page written ruling (.pdf), U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker rejected the government’s argument that merely allowing the case to proceed would cause critical harm to U.S. national security.

Words fail me at times like this, so, borrowing the format from Billmon, here’s a quick montage.

Newt Gingrich

 

The civilized world stands balanced between victory and defeat.

The long road to victory begins with the free world helping the Lebanese democracy defeat Hizbullah, expelling the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and removing all of the 10,000 plus missiles aimed at
Israel from
Lebanon. Then we must create the circumstance where the Lebanese can control their own territory and thus end the mortal threat to
Israel.

 

Jerusalem Post:

Both chambers of the
US congress were working on drafts of resolutions expressing support for
Israel in its war against the Hizbullah. The House of Representatives was expected to vote Wednesday on their version of the resolution, which is sponsored by majority leader John Boehner (R-OH) and minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). The proposed resolution backs
Israel’s actions in
Lebanon and places the blame for the deterioration in the situation in the region on the Hizbullah and the Hamas. “Be it resolved that the House of Representatives reaffirms its steadfast support for the State of Israel; further condemns Hamas and Hizbullah for cynically exploiting civilian populations as shields,” the resolution reads. According to congressional sources, the resolution was expected to be approved with an overwhelming majority. — The Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution expressing support for
Israel on Tuesday. The resolution was sponsored by Senate majority leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and minority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and was approved by unanimous consent. The resolution calls for the release of Israeli soldiers held by the Hamas and the Hizbullah and calls on the President to use any available means in order to stop
Iran and
Syria’s sponsorship of terror groups acting against
Israel.

Daily Star:

BEIRUT: Israeli air strikes killed at least 57 civilians and a Hizbullah fighter on Wednesday, the single deadliest day of the war so far, as thousands of villagers continued to flee. The scale of civilian casualties was described by the UN human rights chief Wednesday as having the potential to result in charges of “war crimes” In the morning,
Israel struck at the heart of
Beirut’s largest Christian neighborhood for the first time since the conflict started. A helicopter strike in Achrafieh destroyed two trucks stationed in an abandoned lot, but caused no casualties. “It’s simply terrifying. Nowhere is safe anymore,” said Arlette, shaking at the memory of the blast that went off a few meters from her home.

Daily Star

BEIRUT:
Israel switched gears in its military campaign against
Lebanon Monday and Tuesday, launching a series of debilitating air strikes against privately owned factories throughout the country and dealing a devastating blow to an economy already paralyzed by a week of hits on residential areas and crucial infrastructure. The production facilities of at least five companies in key industrial sectors – including the country’s largest dairy farm, Liban Lait; a paper mill; a packaging firm and a pharmaceutical plant – have been disabled or completely destroyed. Industry insiders say the losses will cripple the economy for decades to come.  “I think the picture will be much worse than we can possible imagine when the whole thing ends, but the direct damage from yesterday’s attacks to the industrial sector alone will take years to recover from,” said Wajid al-Bisri, the vice-president of the Lebanese Association of Industrialists (LAI). 

Turkish Press:

On a charred mattress rest the remains of a burned baby girl, her arm to one side. Her upper body is at one end of the bed and her lower body at the other. Police said the 10-month-old and six other family members were killed when an Israeli missile hit their home in the usually quiet

village of
Baflay, near the coastal city of
Tyre. The baby, whose name has not yet been released, was taken to a hospital morgue in
Tyre. Her body has not yet been claimed by relatives.

 

 

AP:

 BEIRUT, Lebanon – Israeli troops met fierce resistance from Hezbollah guerrillas Thursday as they crossed into
Lebanon to seek tunnels and weapons for a second straight day, and Israel hinted at a full-scale invasion. Israeli warplanes also launched new airstrikes on
Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, shortly after daybreak. – Bombings on Wednesday killed as many as 70 people, according to Lebanese television, making it the deadliest day since the fighting began July 12.

–
Israel has mainly limited itself to attacks from the air and sea, reluctant to send in ground troops on terrain dominated by Hezbollah.But an Israeli army spokesman refused to rule out the possibility of a full-scale invasion.
Israel also broadcast warnings into south Lebanon on Wednesday telling civilians to leave the region, a possible prelude to a larger Israeli ground operation.

Pepe Escobar:

Civilian Lebanese are thus being killed, in proportion to Israelis, at a rate of more than 10:1. This implies that Israel is not targeting Hezbollah, but above all Lebanon’s infrastructure.Israel’s war has nothing to do with Hezbollah’s ideology, as the Israeli public relations machine spins non-stop; it’s already configured as collective punishment unleashed over the Lebanese civilian population.
Israel officially ordered the entire population of southern
Lebanon in essence to become IDPs (internally displaced persons).
Southern Lebanon’s population, overwhelmingly poor Arab Shi’ites, overwhelmingly supports Hezbollah.— The world has seen this movie before. The seed for understanding the New Middle East war was sown 10 years ago, in 1996. Everything keeps pointing back to the infamous paper “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm”, prepared by neo-cons such as Richard Perle, David and Meyrav Wurmser and Douglas Feith for Likud hardliner Benyamin Netanyahu. [1]The “getting rid of Saddam” part has already been accomplished. The total degradation of the Palestinians is ongoing. The “destabilizing of Syria in
Lebanon” took place last year. The next step would be hitting at both Syria and Iran via Lebanon.Five months ago, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, warned in a public speech that if
Israel did not release the Lebanese prisoners it was holding, “we will try to get an Israeli soldier”. That’s exactly what happened.
Israel knew it and had five months to prepare for an invasion and/or the current “pinpoint” bombing of
Lebanon ’s infrastructure – something that any military strategist knows cannot be prepared in a day or two.The fact that the Bush administration and the Olmert government in tandem blame both
Syria and
Iran follows the Clean Break plan to the letter. And the plan could have been fine-tuned very recently. Former Likudnik Olmert went to the
US in May and Likud chairman Netanyahu followed him in June – and landed in neo-con heaven, participating in a meeting with US Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at a conference organized by the American Enterprise Institute in
Colorado.As far as Bush’s “get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit” is concerned, it makes absolutely no sense: it was Bush himself who forced Syria out of Lebanon last year, to clear the way for Israel to attack Lebanon facing no resistance. As for the Israel-Iran confrontation, it has nothing to do with ideology, as the Bush administration puts it. It’s pure power play.  Israel and
Iran are two regional military powers entangled in a battle for regional supremacy. And even the guessing game on Syria and/or Iransupporting Hezbollah is also irrelevant.The US/Israel axis has historically supported plenty of Islamist groups all over the Arab world – in tune with the supreme objective of fighting what it always considered the real enemy, pan-Arab and secular nationalism. Hamas has been supported by Israel in the past. The US supported the Muslim Brotherhood in
Egypt. And the US (blowback, anyone?) also supported the Afghan mujahideen in the anti-Soviet 1980s jihad.

Daily Star Editorial:

Nothing can describe the feeling of having worked tirelessly for 15 years rebuilding a country from the ruins of war, only to see it once again laid waste within a period of days. Just over a week ago, the Lebanese were only beginning to reap the benefits of all their toils, with the summer tourist season making a major comeback. But now the bridges, buildings, factories and roads that they have spent the decade-and-a-half working to rebuild have been destroyed, along with any immediate hope of an economic rebound. Even the airport, which was named after late former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was a driving force behind much of Lebanon’s reconstruction, has been put out of action in a relentless series of air raids. Yet the ambiance of horrendous destruction has not ruined the country’s spirit of humanity. The resilience of this spirit can be seen in each and every act of compassion that Lebanese citizens are now showing toward their compatriots, 500,000 of whom have been made homeless as a result ofIsrael’s assaults across the country. As a wide range of Israeli weapons rains down from above, many Lebanese on the ground are arming themselves with determination, and channelling all of their energies into providing relief and refuge to their fellow citizens. Political parties, including the Free Patriotic Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party, have been turning their offices into temporary shelters and providing food, water and words of comfort to terrified refugees. Christian churches and schools have opened their doors to the floods of mostly Shiite refugees, proving that compassion and mercy know no religious or sectarian boundaries. Artists, including the SHAMS Arts Collective and Sanayeh’s Zicco House, are now using their talents to prepare food and distribute supplies such as water and medicine to those made homeless as a result ofIsrael’s offensive. These simple acts of kindness and generosity in these times of crisis are a testament to the spirit of the Lebanese people. Their response to this tragedy has been to pool all of their resources in order to provide assistance to those in need. They are demonstrating that their capacity for compassion is abundant, even now, in the midst of massive destruction. These gestures also prove yet again that the will of the Lebanese to survive and rebuild is far stronger than the will of others to kill and destroy. They know thatIsrael has launched a deadly mission to set their country “back 20 years” – an assault that has claimed the lives of about 300 civilians in just eight days. But in spite of that, the Lebanese are holding on to the belief that no matter how hard this country is trampled upon, it will once again rise up from the ashes, all the more determined to thrive.

 

 

 

Ah that’s Nice.

Via the Martini Republic, there’s a Times article about “large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists” infiltrating the military. 

Because that’s what these assoles need, military training. 

Good.

Berlusconi to be tried for fraud.

Kinda seemed likely to happen once he was out of power.  It would be nice to see someone held accountable for something, dammit.  

Quote of the day.

“If serious reading dwindles to near nothingness, it will probably mean that the thing we’re talking about when we use the word ‘identity’ has reached an end.”

                                                                                      -Don DeLillo

Ok….

I think I’ve been going about this wrong.  I have been keeping myself from posting stuff because I’m worried that this weblog is going to take a shape I don’t want it to.  In the meantime, it takes no shape at all.  Any creative project needs to develop according to its own rules, not by the standards set out by the creator.  Otherwise it is shit. Enough navel gazing. Regular posting to begin in 3….2….1….

Good Ted Rall column

on our buddy Karimov:

After 9/11, however, the U.S. ignored numerous reports of Uzbek atrocities–some authored by its own State Department–and began paying Karimov millions of dollars in exchange for hosting a permanent American military base on Uzbek soil. “The expanded relationship,” writes The New York Times, “was both praised as realpolitik strategy and criticized as a shortsighted gesture of support for a dictator with a chilling human rights record.”

Bush’s pact with the devil came due on May 13, 2005, when thousands of protesters gathered in Bobur Square in the southern city of Andijon to complain about corruption, the shattered Uzbek economy and to demand the release of political prisoners. “We hoped the local government would come to hear our grievances,” a man named Dolim told The Guardian. “People said even Karimov himself would come. We went because of unemployment, low salaries not paid, pensions not received.”

Indeed, Karimov did go to Andijon–to personally supervise the massacre of the demonstrators.

Uzbek security forces firing automatic weapons killed an estimated one thousand people over the course of 90 minutes. “The dead were lying in front of me piled three-thick,” said a survivor. “At one point, I passed out. When I regained consciousness, it was raining–on the ground, I could see water running with blood.” He survived by hiding under corpses. “Dead people everywhere, and some alive, just moving. I felt sick, because of all the things splattered on my clothes. I went into the college and saw the armored personnel carriers moving over the bodies. They wanted to kill anyone who was wounded. Soldiers walked down the sidewalk, firing single shots at anyone moving.”

More on the Andijan massacre here.

(photos via)