Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum

Bishvili nivra ha'olam

2008-05-13T03:35:00.000-07:00

Coming soon to a Mullah near you

2008-05-13T03:34:00.000-07:00

Take that, Islamo-Nuts!

2008-05-13T03:33:00.000-07:00

King of the Sinai

2008-05-13T03:30:00.000-07:00

Sailing to Singapore

2007-07-28T03:35:00.000-07:00

Holding out for a Hero

2007-04-19T05:47:00.000-07:00

Warsaw, April 19th, 1943. Destiny called, and he answered her call. May he rest in peace, and may we always choose his side.

And never surrender.

Ein Stöckchen

2007-03-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

4 Jobs, die du in deinem Leben gerne getan hättest

Fleet Admiral, US Navy
Commander, Israel Air Force
First Sea Lord/Commander of the Royal Navy (1SL/CRN)
Lead Guitarist, Red Hot Chili Peppers

4 Filme, die du immer wieder anschauen kannst

Au Revoir, les Enfants
The Living Daylights (007)
Goldfinger (007)
The Client

4 Städte in denen du gerne gelebt hättest

New York
Miami Beach
Tel Aviv
Santiago de Chile

4 Plätze, in denen du im Urlaub warst

Umm Rash Rash (Eilat)
Al-Quds (Jerusalem)
Kyoto (die Stadt kann nichts fuer das Protokoll)
Nassau/Paradise Island

4 Webseiten, die du täglich besuchst

Jerusalem Post
Statler & Waldorf
Contentions@COMMENTARY
Little Green Footballs

4 deiner Lieblingsessen

1 Flasche Penfolds Bin 23 mit 200g Grana Padano
1 Eimer Ben & Jerry's
1 T-Bone Steak
1 Blanton's Single Barrel Bourbon on the Rocks

(zählt das?)

4 Plätze wo du gerade gern wärst

In einer B-2 über Isfahan (morgen früh)
In einer B-1B über Natanz (morgen früh)
In einer Mirage III CJ über el-Arish (5. Juni 1967, 7:15am)
In einem Gallardo Spyder in den Seealpen oberhalb von Menton

4 TV-Serien, die du gerne anschaust

CSI Las Vegas
Dexter
Prison Break
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Report (Fox News)

Vier Bücher, die du immer wieder lesen kannst

Mark Helprin, A Soldier of the Great War
Vikram Seth, An Equal Music
Michael B. Oren, Six Days of War
Henryk Modest Broder, Der Ewige Antisemit

Vier CDs, die du immer wieder hören kannst

U2, The Joshua Tree
Dire Straits, Alchemy Live
Bright Eyes, Motion Sickness
Ryan Adams, Cold Roses

4 Blogger, denen du das Stöckchen weitergibst

Telegehirn
Statler & Waldorf
Der Fuchsbau
Lizas Welt

Thinking back on this year's War

2006-10-11T05:10:00.000-07:00

I make no secret of my appreciation of and downright affection for Mark Helprin, and not just because he happens to be my favorite novelist. His understanding of complex geopolitical issues is also second to none, as he makes clear in the definitive account of Israel's war on Hizb'allah of this past summer, available courtesy of the irreplaceable Claremont Institute.

First, some good news for civilized nations, in the form of bad news for the 'Palestinians':

For example, the war has been a strong argument for continued Israeli control of the Jordan crossings and the sea and air approaches to a Palestinian state, lest Qassems become Katyushas, and as such is Iran's gift to the Palestinians of yet another setback.

Will Ahmadinejad become any less of a hero to these poor, downtrodden souls? Don't count on it.

But in any case, the 'Palestinian cause" has ceased to matter a long time ago. As for the larger strategic picture, Helprin makes a point that should ease the minds of everyone concerned with the fate of Western civilization:

To the Iranian de facto declaration to Israel, the Arabs, and the West that it possesses a belligerent outpost on the Mediterranean, Israel has weathered world condemnation to reply that the rent for this outpost is high and can be made higher. When Iran spoke to Israel in the language of war, Israel spoke back with absolute clarity even if not with the mythical brilliance attributed to it by friend and foe alike. Which is not to say that it is incapable of fighting the stunning existential battles that once it fought. For it is indeed capable of them, and they are yet to come.

Indeed they are. But whence came this "mythical brilliance attributed to [Israel] by friend and foe alike"?

With the same kind of intellectual lethargy that led to the obligatory description of the proposed international force as robust (I hope never to hear the word again), people who do not pretend to knowledge of either the Arab-Israeli conflict or military affairs habitually declare that Israel is invincible. Insensitive to fact, variation, potential orders of battle, or the effects of nuclear weapons, they have been saying this since the Six-Day War of 1967. That war, the 100-hour 1956 Sinai Campaign, and the 1976 Entebbe operation are responsible for expectations that Israel produces miracles every time it takes to the field.

These decisive victories were a surprise to many, who were shocked that the Jews, whom the Russian Empire's Cantonist Decrees of the 19th century had subjected to 25 years or more compulsory military service, had a military tradition and could hold their own in battle. And thus the swing of the pendulum from irrational contempt to irrational awe.

Irrational because even in 1967, in a war that borders on the miraculous perhaps more than any other, the struggles for Jerusalem and the Golan were hard fought, costly, and closely run. Irrational because for Israel the 1948 War of Independence dragged on with high casualties and much destruction, and left it with borders that were a strategical nightmare. Irrational because the War of Attrition spanned several difficult years and brought Israel no gains whatsoever. Irrational because in the 1973 War Israel came perilously close to extinction. And irrational because none of the campaigns in Lebanon has been anything but slow and bloody, and collectively they have given birth not to miracles but to the Hezbollah garrison that in this war Israel was compelled to reduce.

Then again, there is a clear difference between Victory, as in 1967 or 1991, and "Victory", as claimed by the Arabs who, sadly for them, and luckily for the rest of us, have never tasted the former (unless one counts Sir John Glubb's taking of East Jerusalem for them):

And yet Hezbollah is part of a people who claimed on the eve of the 1967 War that, "If the Sixth Fleet intervenes in our struggle…we have the power to turn it into a can of sardines"; who, as their armies were being slaughtered in Sinai, danced in the streets of Cairo; and who, after fleeing Kuneitra without a shot, called it the greatest military action in history, "even greater than the Russian defense of Stalingrad." Theirs is hardly a sober or disinterested assessment, and we have no reason to take them at their word.

In the end, what matters is not how these people feel about it, but what they have learned, and how, in their opinion, Israel can still be blackmailed, threatened, and coerced. And on this account, not all is lost:

Hezbollah has proved that it can survive an Israeli campaign of small scale and limited duration, but it has also proved that this can destroy Lebanon, and that 10,000 carefully accumulated "strategic" weapons—in the main, glorified artillery rounds—were during four weeks of engagement less potent than one suicide bomber.

Which, when you think about it, is pretty pathetic for any delusional end-of-days cult, especially one that seeks to bomb the world into submission.

(Read it all.)

Why We Love Mark Helprin (IV)

2006-09-01T01:58:00.000-07:00

The problem with war, as I have seen it, is not so much that it makes misery and grief - all of which would tend to come anyway, in time. The sin is in the abruptness, in the abridgement of those stages that otherwise might be joined so brilliantly to make a life.

-- A Soldier of the Great War, X (La Rondine, p. 802)

Why We Love Mark Helprin (III)

2006-09-01T01:53:00.000-07:00

When I got back to Rome I discovered that the Italian Army considered me dead - in Gruensee, in the observation post, and on the Cima Bianca. That I was reported killed three times seemed not to affect their trust in the reports except to strengthen it. Being the army, they must have thought that anyone who was killed three times was most certainly deader than if he had been killed only once.

-- A Soldier of the Great War, X (La Rondine, p. 799)

Why We Love Mark Helprin (II)

2006-09-01T01:39:00.000-07:00

Alessandro was excited beyond measure at the prospect of seeing sunlight on a tea cup, a family in the park, a beautiful girl walking down a staircase - those things for which all the great battles had been fought, and against which they paled.

-- A Soldier of the Great War, VIII (The Winter Palace, p. 680)

Forever at Israel's side

2006-07-28T04:26:00.000-07:00

Yoni Netanyahu, Hero

2006-07-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

“I, and the Israeli youth, have the duty to defend this country. It is a great responsibility that has made us come of age prematurely: people from the Moshav, the city and the Kibbutz who are united by something stronger than political affiliation. They are united by a feeling of brotherhood, mutual responsibility, recognition of the value of human life, a strong and sincere yearning for peace but at the same time a willingness to stand up to any challenge”.

Thirty years ago today, on America's Two-hundredth birthday, Israel did what few even dared dream of, and liberated over 100 hostages in Entebbe, Uganda - 3,000 miles from home, in enemy territory. The man behind this most daring and most impressive of raids, Lt. Col. Yoni Netanyahu, was not to come home alive.

He rests on Mt. Herzl, in Israel's eternal capital, and within our hearts, he lives on.

Happy Independence Day

2006-07-04T08:51:00.000-07:00

And we come on the ship they call the Mayflower.
We come on the ship that sailed to the moon.
We come in the age’s most uncertain hours,
and sing an American tune.

— Paul Simon

Today marks the 230th birthday of the country my children will call home, and we celebrate more than a country (even though it is without any possible doubt the greatest the world has ever seen) - we celebrate an idea: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

There are some, on this blog and elsewhere, who have been somewhat critical of America, and I share some of their concerns - a country that produces Jimmy Carter, Michael Moore, Hillary Clinton and St. Rachel Corrie could hardly be perfect.

Yet, for all its imperfections, we can consider ourselves happy that we will not have to know what living in a world without the United States means. With the possible exception of Taiwan, there is no country more in need of a strong and friendly United States than Israel.

Again, I share some of the views of Caroline B. Glick and others, who rightly point out how America could do better. But nothing will change the fact that the United States is Israel's one true friend, a friend who contributes billions, fights some of our common enemies, shares our values and ideals, and will stand up for Israel when no one else will.

And frankly, Israel's part has not always been perfect either, what with Jonathan Pollard and the sale of advanced weapons technology to the Free World's most dangerous opponent in the XXI. Century.

The next time you have any doubts on the true love for Israel that runs so deep in American society as a whole, take a look at any UN General Assembly vote dealing with the Middle East. Roughly 90% of all countries will be in bed with the Arabs, another small minority may abstain, but the number of votes against this sad joke is always the same:

US Marshall Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Australia (a welcome new member)
Israel
United States.

May God Bless America.

Why there must be a God

2006-06-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

All photographs by Franklin D. Rosenfeld, RNLAF Base Leeuwarden, June 17th, 2006

Why We Love Mark Helprin

2006-06-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

One refrained from mentioning parents unless it was to lie about their youthful characteristics that one presumed would soon be handed down, or to drop offhandedly a hint about their wealth, or whom they knew.

-- A Soldier of the Great War, II (Race to the Sea, p. 147)

Am Yisrael Chai

2006-06-07T06:16:00.000-07:00

It was 25 years ago this very day
Now freedom moves in closer every day

-- Simple Minds, Mandela Day

Twenty-five years ago, on Sunday, June 7th, 1981, Israel set out to do what many deemed impossible, what some thought to be unnecessary at best, foolish at worst, and what we know was essential and elementary for the survival of the Jewish People. The Israel Air Force (Heyl Ha'Avir), using the unparalleled and unsurpassable symbiosis of Israel ingenuity and American weaponry, destroyed the Iraqi Al-Tuwaitha nuclear reactor at Osirak. Saddam, one of the Twentieth Century's worst dictators, had planned to use this site to manufacture the weapons to complete Hitler's work in a Final Solution of his own.

It would not have been possible without amoral, anti-semitic and delusional Western politicians, with the vile and contemptible Jacques Chirac paramount among them. Chirac was no ordinary French politician, though his delusions of grandeur, his corruption and his atavistic hesperophobia, articulated into a profound hatred of America and Israel, were more developed examples of a general strain of French thought (or, more appropriately, French non-thought).
There was simply nothing Chirac would not do for money, power, or French "glory" - and he was one of the main architects of a French role in the Middle East that wrecked every party involved, and that was only a close second to the Soviet Union in the harm and destruction it entailed. Grandeur indeed.

Israel knew what to expect from France, and Prime Minister Menachem Begin, the sole member of his entire family to survive the Holocaust, knew what to expect from the world in general. There were actions Israel could take, such as sabotaging the French shipments to Iraq, proceeding with targeted killings of Iraqi scientists, or trying to influence at least some of its allies. But that only did so much, and more radical steps were called for.

Enter the Heyl Ha'Avir . Widely considered to be the best non-strategic Air Force in the world, it had never undertaken a long-range bombing mission. Ever since the early morning of June 4th, 1967, and Operation Focus , the destruction of 97% of the Egyptian Air Force on the ground, its audacity, courage, focus and determination made it the envy of its Allies, and the greatest fear of its enemies (as well it should).

Ezer Weizman, the architect of the IAF, had built a remarkable organization that routinely broke new records, and that never, ever tired in its relentless pursuit of perfection. Few doubted that the IAF could achieve anything that Israel's political leadership would demand of it.

The IAF had always been included in the various scenarios for a targeted strike of Saddam's equivalent to Zyklon B, yet it lacked a suitable plane, until the F-16, one of the best fighter jets of all time, was delivered in 1980 (ironically, as part of a batch of airplanes that was originally intended for the Shah's Iran). This changed the game, and it was to change the course of world history.

The eight F-16 pilots managed to destroy the Osirak plant beyond repair, and they did so without losing a single plane or pilot. The fighter escort, composed of eight F-15 - widely considered to be the best fighter airplane in the world, and in service with only four Air Forces - was not even needed, and the sixteen planes raced home to Israel undisturbed, secure in the knowledge that they had achieved something great, something lasting, and something noble.

The youngest of the F-16 pilots, Ilan Ramon, the son of a Holocaust survivor from Romania, would go on to become Israel's first astronaut, forever reminding us that for Israel, the Jewish people, and the world, no dream is too big, no goal too high, and no burden too heavy.

May God Bless Israel.

D-Day, 62 years on

2006-06-06T04:40:00.000-07:00

Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne
bercent mon cœur d'une langueur monotone

These lines, from Verlaine's Chanson d'automne, were the signal that marked the beginning of the most ambitious military operation in the History of mankind, launched in the early morning of June 6th, 1944, led by the United States, Great Britain and Canada.

This was to be the most consequential day of the Twentieth Century, a day that would decide on History's further course, and it was, in many ways, the decisive battle for Freedom, and the survival of mankind in a meaningful way.

Freedom survived. And America made the world a much, much better place, something for which America deserves our eternal gratitude.

God Bless America.

A worthy Friend, a true Ally, and an Inspiration - Why Turkey belongs in the EU

2006-06-02T02:39:00.000-07:00

The case for Turkey's entry into the EU, and for its continued role in the Western world, could be made just by ripping apart its enemies' arguments. For example, a large part of the anti-Turkish animosity is influenced and put forward by Greece and its allies, whose grievance against all things Turkish are as central to their existence as the general hatred against all things Western. I will address these concerns in due time, but I would like to begin with a synecdochical overview of Turkey and the world, with Turkey's friends and enemies, and its enviable role as the "healthy man" of the Muslim Ummah.

I happen to believe that, if one were to set up a shortlist of Muslim-majority countries in which a Western lifestyle would be possible, Turkey would be at or near the top in all cases.

Few will doubt, and fewer still will criticize, Turkey's importance in the twenty-first century. Its direction will in all likelihood make a significant contribution to the civilized world's survival - or downfall - there seems to be, in my opinion, a lack of genuine discussion of how this development can be influenced. The same goes for the eventual result of said development - where will Turkey stand, whose side will it stand by, and how will it fit into the twenty-first century's global security and economy? What, furthermore, is at stake, and what do Turkey's allies and neighbors stand to gain by pushing it in the right direction?

The premise of this article is that Turkey is a worthy member of the European Union, one of the West's best hopes in our war against Radical Islam, Israel's only reliable and strategic regional ally, and an inspiration to the entire Muslim Ummah. No other country holds the potential of being a beacon of modernity and moderation for Muslim countries from Morocco to Malaysia.

As an aside, I do not like, and shall refrain from using, the epithet "Islamic" when dealing with states such as Morocco, Jordan or Malaysia, since this definition is far more suitable for the twin pillars of Radical Islam, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I also prefer the term Radical Islam to the alternatives of Islamo-Fascism, Political Islam or even Islamism.

On the surface, the strongholds of Radical Islam, and their offshoots, tend to be concentrated around the Arab center of the Muslim World, in the direct sphere of influence of a powerful, aggressive Islamic state, which is generally looking for a way to export its fantasies. This is true for the centers of Sunni extremism of Saudi Arabia and Egypt vis-à-vis Algeria, and for Pakistan vis-à-vis the Afghanistan of the Taliban.

Turkey, however, situated at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, sitting astride the strategically invaluable Canakkale (the Dardanelles), has generally resisted to the temptations of these and other ills that have plagued the Muslim world in the past few decades. Admittedly, these ills - nationalism, Soviet-bankrolled communism, French-financed Pan-Arab hesperophobia, and Shia extremism - did not, generally, affect the non-Arab Muslim world as much as they did the core Arab countries, Iran being as tragic and glaring an exception as any (one which I shall dwell on in much more detail at a later point in time).

At the risk of defining the civilizational standard downwards, here is a list of what Turkey has done without since its founding:

- Violent military coups
- Wars of aggression against sovereign countries
- Killing of minorities or opposition groups
- Radical Socialism
- Fascist-inspired dictatorship
- Civil War
- War against a Western country
- Radical Islamic repression
- War against, low-intensity conflict with, or even boycott of Israel.

This may not be much. But it is not nothing, either. And, to dwell a bit further into History, it is worth noting that the Turks and the Jews never fought against each other, but both have fought against Arabs. While the precursors to today's Arab regimes - professed moderates and others - were tacitly or explicitly allied with Nazi Germany, supporting and encouraging crimes against humanity that defined the term, Turkey accepted more refugees than any other continental European nation. Quite unlike all (yes, all) of the EU nations of Continental Europe, Turkey did not undergo a change of the system of government in the past seventy-five years. Turkey also recognized Israel before a number of European states did so. In fact, it did so no less than sixteen years before the Federal Republic of Germany did so.

Think about that, for a minute: a country with a majority of Muslims recognizes Israel in 1949, right after the end of the latter's War of Independence. Germany, on the other hand, recognizes the right of the survivors of the Holocaust, the worst crime in mankind's long, dark history - a crime enabled by Austrians, Poles, Dutchmen, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Romanians, Slovakians and others, but imagined, created and implemented by Germans - a full sixteen years after the end of said war, and no less than twenty years after these survivors had been liberated from the Death Camps.

This, to me, should be enough to exclude Germany from any discussions about Turkey's accession to the European Union for reasons of "civilization" or "modernity".

I can accept the opinion of France on Turkey. And that of the United Kingdom. Obviously. Holland, certainly. Italy, definitely. Even Spain, possibly. Maybe, in a stretch, even Greece (with the aforementioned caveats).

But Germany? Never.

Not being in thrall to Arab and Radical Islamic impulses, Turkey's part, geostrategically speaking, has been that of securing NATO's southeastern flank - a task it has fulfilled to an admirable extent, well worthy of a founding member of this august organization. Turkey has also consistently scored as one of the most free of all Muslim states - faint praise, maybe, but praise nonetheless. And beyond Turkey's instrumental role in the Cold War, the war for Kuwait, and the ensuing patrolling of the No-Fly Zones from 1991 to 2003, would simply not have been possible without Turkey, and the ideally positioned Incirlik Air Base.

Among the opponents of Turkey's entry to the European Union, much has been said about the "backward" character of Turkey. Yet when confronted with the fact that, apart from Mustafa Kemal's Atatuerk's oeuvre, George Washington was the only other General who founded a democracy, a worrying number of critics question Turkey's democratic bona fides. Some of these critics point to the Islamic Party's election victory in 2002. Yet I fail to see why this victory, in the framework of a republic that respects Human Rights, the rule of Law and Property Rights, needs to be a bad thing. In fact, the Islamists' victory - occurring, as it did, against the explicit wishes of the Turkish Army, the guardian of Republican values and secularism - proved that Turkish democracy is working, and I remain confident that the Islamists will not have the answers to the problems of a complex and modern government, leading me to anticipate their loss in the next elections.

Of course, some will say that power still rests not with the government, but with the army. Hilmel Özkok, the Chief of Staff of the Turkish Army, Navy and Air Force, might be surprised to learn that he is supposed the be the most powerful man in the country, but it is without a doubt true that the Armed Forces will have to compromise with the Islamists' government, just as the government will have to strive for compromise with the Armed Forces. Why this should be a bad thing is beyond me.

The role of the Armed Forces, it has been said, is too important for Turkey ever to be a true member of Europe. There may be a modicum of truth in this assertion, and yet, this power, constitutionally protected as it is, has also ensured Turkey's secularity - one of the most remarkable success stories of the past several decades. The only other country in Europe with as strict a separation of church/mosque and state is Turkey. The remainder of the EU need not complain - not, that is, until mandatory tax withholdings on citizens' income is outlawed in Germany, Austria, and several other states.

One key element that no anti-Turkey crusader has addressed - certainly not to my intellectual satisfaction - is the issue of the alternatives that would remain for Turkey. Turkey might look eastwards, or southwards (how do you say Muslim Brotherhood or "Itbach al-yahud" in Turkish?). And that might be it.

But more is at stake here than one country, however important. How, after all, is the West to claim, with a straight face, that efforts to move towards the Western civilizational ideal will be encouraged and rewarded, if the most Western and most civilized country in the Muslim world, a country that has been part of the West pre-eminent security alliance for almost sixty years, and a trustworthy ally of Israel and America, were to be rejected and shown to be an outcast?

How could one possibly convince Iraq, or Malaysia, or Morocco, not to mention Iran or Sudan, to embrace the West?

How, indeed?

Now, these critics will argue, Turkey may not be an Islamic country, but it would be the first EU member with a majority of Muslims. And the same critics will argue that Islam and democracy are mutually exclusive, that no Muslim country has a "right" to be a part of the European Union.

So be it.

But what, I wonder, do these critics make of the following points:

1. The EU's growing, if not total, atheist outlook and essence
2. The growing Muslim majorities in most, if not all, EU member countries.

Let us presume, just for the sake of the argument, that these critics are right.

Why, then, is a non-Christian entity - or, more to the point, what I would call a post-Christian, or post-religious - entity like the EU worried about Turkish Muslims in a prospective member - but not, apparently, about its own disenfranchised, radicalized, and oftentimes anti-Western Muslim immigrant communities?

Does anyone believe that the Turks of Istanbul, Ankara or Izmir are, for some reason, less inclined to adapt to the Twenty-First Century than the Arabs of Lyon, Madrid or Copenhagen are?

If so, why exactly?

And, on the same level - what to make of said conclusion?

There are a number of other arguments that would seem to point in favor of Turkish membership, from a higher level of economic competition to the obvious military benefits (apart from the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, no European Armed Forces are a match for Turkey - decades of joint training with the world's best Armies, Navies and Air Force do not go without results), but these will be the subject of a later piece.

In closing, I should add that, in the past few years, Turkey has also come to play a more decisive diplomatic role, and its willingness and ability to support Western interests and to enhance Israel's standing in the world.

The EU's standing in the world could hardly be worse - a sclerotic union of dying first-world has-beens and ragtag geographical accidents, it has far outlived its raison d'être, and the "shared values" are none that Turkey, or any other forward-looking country, would do well to emulate.

One could make the case that Turkey's membership could break up the EU and force it to become leaner, looser and more focused - on the single market, on economic reforms, and the like. The competition of Turkey's far lower labor costs, combined with a young and growing population, would certainly make for an interesting amount of internal tension. Turkey is, in this view, the anti-EUrocracy - a justification in itself.

Thus, the road to a twenty-first century Brussels runs through Ankara.

Also, NATO membership is, if not more important, certainly more select - and arguably more costly and more risky - than EU membership. Turkey has stood its ground, on the frontlines of the Cold War, the first Gulf War, and the War on Terror, for more than half a century. It would appear to be time for a payback.

Finally, the European Union, if it is to be a civilizational and forward-looking institution, will simply not be complete without Turkey, the bridge to Asia, the Muslim Ummah, and the Black Sea.

But let us also look at the other side. Turkey can continue its development towards the west, and turn towards Europe and the West, or it can reject the West, and turn eastwards, towards Radical Islam, Turkic Nationalism, or worse.

As geopolitical platforms go, this is one that all Democrats, Hesperophiles, Philosemites, and Moderate Muslims can endorse.

And so we should.

With thanks to Spirit of Entebbe, Statler & Waldorf, Lizas Welt, No Blood for Sauerkraut, the Turkish Air Force, the reactionary Turkophobes of Europe, and all the sailors, airmen and soldiers behind Operation Reliant Mermaid.

From a common history, on to a shared destiny

Not again!

2006-05-29T02:21:00.000-07:00

For some reason that totally, absolutely defies belief, Israel wants to surrender yet again to a bunch of Jew-murdering, gay-stoning and West-hating Arabs. All in the name of "peace", of course.

Will we be able to stop this? There is hope, as this time, as opposed to the battle over Gaza - the loss of which hurts nowhere near as much as the realization that all one's worst assumptions and expectations have materialized - the Wall Street Journal, that beacon of the enlightenment, is on our side.

Consider today's must-read piece by the great R. James Woolsey, a neoconservative's neoconservative and a thinker's thinker:

The approach Israel is preparing to take in the West Bank was tried in Gaza and has failed utterly. The Israeli withdrawal of last year has produced the worst set of results imaginable: a heavy presence by al Qaeda, Hezbollah and even some Iranian Revolutionary Guard units; street fighting between Hamas and Fatah, and now Hamas assassination attempts against Fatah's intelligence chief and Jordan's ambassador; rocket and mortar attacks against nearby towns inside Israel; and a perceived vindication for Hamas, which took credit for the withdrawal. This latter almost certainly contributed substantially to Hamas's victory in the Palestinian elections.

But even if Israel were hell-bent on national suicide, there would still be reasons to be object, for this is about more than "just" Israel - the future of the "least worst Arab state", Jordan, is at play as well:

Israel is not the only pro-Western country that would be threatened. How does moderate Jordan, with its Palestinian majority, survive if bordered by a West Bank terrorist state? Israeli concessions will also make the U.S. look weak, because it will be inferred that we have urged them, and will suggest that we are reverting to earlier behavior patterns--fleeing Lebanon in 1983, acquiescing in Saddam's destruction of the Kurdish and Shiite rebels in 1991, fleeing Somalia in 1993, etc.

And we are, lest we forget, not dealing with rational, tit-for-tat Western minds, but rather with a medieval death cult that interprets every bit of compromise as weakness, not to be rewarded:

Israeli concessions indeed enhance Palestinian hope, but not of a reasonable two-state solution--rather a hope that they will actually be able to destroy Israel.

A hope that, sadly, they can still get away with. As for the true road to true peace:

A two-state solution can become a reality when the Palestinians are held to the same standards as Israelis--to the requirement that Jewish settlers in a West Bank-Gaza Palestinian state would be treated with the same decency that Israel treats its Arab citizens. Until then, three failures in 13 years should permit us to evaluate the wisdom of further concessions.

Indeed. And then, as ever, let us remember the words of the great Golda Meir:

There will be peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.

Don't hold your breath...

Jean-François Revel, RIP

2006-05-12T02:38:00.000-07:00

For a very good obituary of a leading freedom fighter in the true, noble sense of the word, please turn here.

Revel was a lifelong enemy of this new spiritual ice age. Another thaw will come, and the majority of men and women will again believe with all their hearts in freedom; but when, we cannot tell. I hope then that the courage and greatness of Jean-François Revel will not have been forgotten.

Indeed.

Yom Ha'Shoah

2006-04-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

While remembrance calls for silence, I would still like to use this special day to point out that there is one country, just one, that will side with Israel and stand by her side regardless of economic and commercial costs, world opinion, oil, and other considerations.

Given the twentieth century's history, the natural candidate for this post should be Germany, or possibly Poland, on whose territory the most despicable and incomprehensible crimes ever planned by man were perpetrated. In fact, just about any European nation that collaborated in the Holocaust might have decided to stand by Israel - and that means all of Continental Europe with the exception of Switzerland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, and Bulgaria.

But, for that whatever reason, all these countries have chosen not to do so.

And thus that one, irreplaceable country is America, still the shining city upon a hill, and as ever, mankind's last, best hope.

George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln would be proud.

And Israel shall live on, an eternal friend of America, and an eternal reminder that Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich and Hoess did not succeed, did not manage to exterminate the Jewish people, and did not break the Jewish people's will for survival, or for a return home to Jerusalem, at long last.

Coming Soon to a Mullah Near You

2006-04-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

Show me the way to Natanz

2006-04-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

Show me the way to Isfahan

2006-04-21T09:50:00.000-07:00