The term "conspiracy theory" has become a most effective pejorative, useful in dismissing both actual conspiracy theories and the way the world actually works, which is through networks.
For example, why did the low budget film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" make $200 million at the U.S. box office? Was it a conspiracy? Well, sure, there were well-paid professionals meeting together regularly to try to make it a hit, but there are for all movies, few of which succeed on the same scale. No, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was a hit because of network effects -- good word of mouth.
Something similar is true for political issues, but fewer people have strong opinions, especially on foreign policy. Take the Russia-Georgia war, for example. I consider myself reasonably well informed, but the only Georgia I know anything about is the one you can take the midnight train to.
So, people get their opinions from other people who they trust who get their opinions from other people they trust etc. etc. It doesn't take many people to start these ripples.
And they have an important effect. The American press was slow to acknowledge last week that Georgia actually started the current war with Russia, partly due, perhaps, to the absurdity of the idea of a tiny country escalating a dispute with a huge one, partly due to pro-Georgian bias.
Network effects are inevitable. It's not a conspiracy, although, as always, there are paid promoters involved (for example, John McCain's top foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann was a lobbyist for the country of Georgia).
Fortunately, we're allowed to mention those kind of network ties in polite society. What we aren't supposed to draw attention to is something that has increasingly popped up in American foreign policy over the years: the American-Israeli-ex-Soviet Union triangle.
The Israeli media has been full of stories on the close ties between at least one faction in Israel and the government of Georgia. Here's an article by the Jewish pro-Israel writer David Bedein on the subject from today's Philadelphia Evening Bulletin:
Israel Linked To Georgia Security By: David Bedein , The Bulletin
Jerusalem - The two largest suppliers to Georgia are the United States and France. Israel may not be Georgia's main arms supplier, but the scope of defense deals between the two countries stands at $200 million.
The Soldiers Are Georgian, The Arms Israeli
The Georgian army may be incapable of bearing up against an army the size of Russia's, but it certainly presents a challenge. Over the years, the security companies run by senior IDF officers, including Maj. Gen. Israel Ziv and Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch, have been training the Georgian army's infantry battalions. These battalions use Israeli night vision equipment, arms, communications and intelligence equipment and over their heads constantly hover Israeli drones and aircraft upgraded by Israel.
Ronnie Milo, the former mayor of Tel Aviv, is also behind the deals with Georgia.
"The phenomenon of a small country standing up to Russian might is not their invention," Mr. Milo said, refusing to comment on the performance of the arms he sold. "We faced that situation for many years, and no one wanted to help us because they were afraid of the Russians and of the Arabs."
At the end of 2003, a group of young idealists, led by Mikhail Saakashvili, who was elected to the government and has a pro-Western policy, rose to power in Georgia. Mr. Saakashvili is interested in having his country join the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which also led to the conflict with Russia. As part of his efforts to join NATO, Mr. Saakashvili expanded his army to approximately 26,000 soldiers and worked to turn it into a Western-style, sophisticated army. This led to an increase in security exports from Israel amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Approximately two years ago, Georgia drew up an "urgent shopping list" that included dozens of millions of bullets, pilotless aircraft, night-vision equipment, mortar shells, rockets and more. Fears of a Russian response closed many doors throughout the world, but as stated, the Israeli Defense Ministry decided to allow the security companies to sell to them.
With the mediation of Ronnie Milo and his brother Shlomo (a former director-general of Israel Military Industries), who represented Elbit Systems, Su-25 ground-attack fighters were upgraded and 18 Skylark mini-drones and five Hermes 450 unmanned aerial vehicles were sold.
However, Israel Military Industries' main and most sensitive deal was the sale of Lynx mobile rocket systems. The rockets can strike within a range of dozens of miles.
At the end of 2007, Brig. Gen. Hirsch, one of the owners of the Defensive Shield company, arrived in Georgia in order to train infantry troops. Dozens of instructors arrived there in order to train infantry troops as part of the cooperation deal that was signed with the company that Brig. Gen. Hirsch owns.
After the scope of Israel's involvement became clear to the Russians, they sent a letter to Israel Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni asking that arms supplies to Georgia be discontinued.
Georgian Defense Minister Went To High School In Israel
The Georgian defense minister, Davit Kezerashvili, 30 [Huh? A 30 year old defense minister?], is a Jew who once lived in Israel. Mr. Kezerashvili was born in Georgia. As a boy, he immigrated to Israel, lived with his grandmother in Holon and even went to Kugel High School in the city.
His parents followed him to Israel. Two years later, he returned on his own to Tbilisi. His parents remained in Israel and returned to Georgia just four years ago.
Mr. Kezerashvili studied international relations at Tbilisi University. He served as the aid to Mikhail Saakashvili when the latter was appointed the head of Parliament. Mr. Kezerashvili managed to get himself appointed defense minister when Mr. Saakashvili became president.
Mr. Kezerashvili devoted a great deal of effort in preparing Georgia for a possible future conflict with Russia, and he was helped by Israeli security experts.
In an interview that was given by Defense Minister Kezerashvili's father a year ago to the Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot, he said that his son had a warm spot in his heart for Israel. "He has a lot of friends to this day in Israel, and he's maintained good relations with them," said the father.
Yakobashvilli: 'Israel Ought To Be Proud Of Itself'
"The Israelis ought to be proud of the fact that Georgian soldiers received Israeli education and training and are fighting like I don't know what," said another Georgian cabinet minister, Temur Yakobashvili, in an interview with the Israeli media.
Mr. Yakobashvili is a Hebrew-speaking Jew. "Now we have a battle with great Russia," he said, "and our hope is to receive assistance from the White House, because alone Georgia won't be able to endure. It's important that everywhere in the world people understand that what is happening in Georgia now is going to affect world order. This isn't only Georgia's business but the business of the entire region."
One Georgian MP yesterday called not only for American help but also for Israel to help Georgia stop the Russian assault. Yesterday, a short while after the Georgian parliament declared a war situation, MP Lasha Zhvania said: "We won't be able to stop the Russian aggression by military force only. We need help from the UN and from our friends as well, first and foremost the United States and Israel. Today it is a danger to Georgia; tomorrow it will be a danger to all the democratic countries in the region and in the entire world." ...
Israel Foreign Ministry: Halt Arms Sales To Georgia
According to the Israeli Haaretz newspaper, the Israel Foreign Ministry has recommended a complete halt to the sale of arms and any security-related equipment to Georgia in light of the recent fighting with Russian forces in the Caucasus. This would be a further tightening of an arms boycott on Tbilisi around a year after a decision had been made in Jerusalem to limit exports to Georgia only to defensive equipment.
Israel is concerned that Russia would choose to retaliate against Jerusalem for continued military support of Georgia by lifting restrictions on its arms transfers to Iran and Arab states.
"Israel needs to be very careful and sensitive these days," a senior foreign ministry source told Haaretz. "The Russians are selling many arms to Iran and Syria and there is no need to offer them an excuse to sell even more advanced weapons."
Israel is particularly interested in the transfer of advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia to Iran.
Profiles Of Israelis Helping The Georgia Defense Industries
* Maj. Gen. (res.) Yisrael Ziv, aged 61
Military Background: Served as the commander of the Paratroopers Brigade's elite reconnaissance unit during the first Lebanon War. He was the commander of the Paratroopers Brigade and the commander of the Gaza Division between 2000 and 2005.
Current Employment: Mr. Ziv is the CEO of a security consulting firm.
In Georgia: Mr. Ziv has been active in the past number of years exporting weaponry, mainly to South America. He served as a security consultant in Georgia, often in conjunction with others.
* Roni Milo, aged 59
Background: A former MK, cabinet minister and mayor of Tel Aviv.
Current Employment: Mr. Milo is a businessman.
In Georgia: Mr. Milo has been working in Georgia with his brother Shlomo, a former IAF pilot and CEO of the Israel Military Industries. He served as a mediator for Elbit Systems and the military industries. Mr. Milo succeeded in promoting a number of relatively small business deals. He tried this past year to promote the sale of 200 Merkava tanks to Georgia, but the deal was prohibited by Israel.
* Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, aged 44.
Military Background: This leading officer was forced to retire from the IDF in the wake of the criticism he received for his performance during the Second Lebanon War as the commander of the Galilee Division.
Current Employment: Brig. Gen. Hirsch is one of the owners of Defensive Shield, a security consulting firm.
In Georgia: According to sources in Israel, Brig. Gen. Hirsch helped the Georgians establish elite units akin to elite Israeli units.
David Bedein can be reached at bedein@thebulletin.us. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com
As I said, this isn't so much a conspiracy as a network. It's not at all clear what the Israeli government's position is on Georgia -- the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry appear to be squabbling over which side Israel should be on. Haaretz reported:
In a move which drew heavy criticism from defense officials, Israel's Foreign Ministry over the weekend recommended complete cessation of the sale of weapons and security-related equipment to Georgia in light of the fighting between its troops and the Russian Army. "The Foreign Ministry's approach demonstrates a naively simplistic view and a lack of understanding of the complex world of the security deals which Israel is conducting with foreign partners," a defense official told Haaretz on condition of anonymity.
But, it is clear, that some Israelis have strong interests in Georgia, and those Israelis have lots of connections in the U.S. So, say some American pundit knows a guy through their kids' soccer team who knows a lot about Georgia, and he heard it from his brother-in-law in Israel whose next-door neighbor is in business with the Georgian government -- you know, that kind of thing.
The American pundit doesn't even know that the info he's been hearing about Georgia is financially biased. And he has an inherited hatred for Russian nationalists, so he is inclined by childhood indoctrination to believe whatever spiel he's hearing about plucky little Georgia standing up to the new Czar in the Kremlin.
These network biases are natural. What is unnatural is that we Americans have unilaterally disarmed our national immune system against people yanking our chains. We aren't supposed to ever notice the pattern. When we hear this kind of propaganda, we aren't allowed to laugh and say, "Oh, man, this isn't another one of those Israeli weapons deals again, now is it?"
And of course we absolutely aren't allowed to mention what a large fraction of American pundits, reporters, editors, owners, and advertisers are Jewish.
Once again, this is not an example of Jewish conspiracy, but of Jewish networks and neuroses.
What American needs are a sense of humor about Jewish networks and neuroses and their impact on American foreign policy, but that's not permitted.
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
Posts
56 comments:
"he American press was slow to acknowledge last week that Georgia actually started the current war with Russia"
It seems to me that they were quite quick to blame Georgia initially before their researchers googled the topic and learned that Russian backed Ossetians had been attacking Georgia for month and that the speed of Russia's response demonstrated that it was pre planned.
Given Russia's behaviour over the last couple of years the idea that the 'bias' against them is the result of jewish networks or whatever else seems preposterous.
[P]eople get their opinions from other people who they trust who get their opinions from other people they trust etc. etc. It doesn't take many people to start these ripples.
BINGO! This is something I try to explain all the time. This has a huge effect on people. When people deliberate as a group, strongly held minority positions are what typically, not exceptionally, make the call. The problem is our people can't recognize the difference between themselves and the other any more.
Given that both Russians and Georgians have similar fighting spirit and that Georgia launched the war, the apparent ease of the Russian victory seems significant. We've been led to believe that the kind of modern Western weapons systems Georgia had access to are vastly superior to the Russian versions. But this seems to be less and less the case. Too much fighting against Arabs and the Russian economic collapse coinciding with the '90s conflicts in Chechnya and Yugoslavia may have led the West to seiously overestimate Western military power. We need some hard facts on how the fighting in Ossetia actually developed.
Implications: Does Iran actually pose a serious conventional-war threat to US forces in Iraq, should the US bomb Iran? Is still Israel vulnerable to Arab conventional forces, contrary to popular belief?
"Don't annoy the bear".
Georgians say Stalin was an Ossetian.
On Networks:
There sure as hell isn't a network that supports this veiwpoint;
no doubt that's why perception of it is avoided like a virus.
True nonetheless.
"It seems to me that they were quite quick to blame Georgia initially before their researchers googled the topic and learned that Russian backed Ossetians had been attacking Georgia for month and that the speed of Russia's response demonstrated that it was pre planned."
This is an absurd statement. The large military base that is the center for operations in Chechnya is in Ossetia just a few hours outside of Georgia. Georgia borders Russia. If Mexico attacked El Paso, and the US army divisions based in Texas responded in hours, would that prove America had planned to attack Mexico?
There is no evidence that South Ossetia attacked first or anything of the kind. You just made that up. This was a planned operation by Georgia to recover lost territory that went horribly wrong. Everyone knew that Georgia has been planning this for years.
Arms deals aren't the cause, they're symptoms. The you-know-whos are mad at Putin because unlike every important US politician in the last 100 years, he's revolted against them. He's been putting the interests of his own people above the you-know-whos' interests. Therefore, in the you-know-whos' language he's become "undemocratic". Because of this they've been creating (funding, arming, promoting) enemies for Russia on its borders. In other words, the motivation for those arms deals is political, not financial.
The reason why Ossetians and Abkhazis have sided with Russia in this conflict is simple. During the Soviet period the entire Caucasus range was governed from Moscow. Since all Caucasus natives look and sound the same to Russians, the Moscow authorities did not play favorites with the dozens of peoples who live in those mountain valleys. Russians were seen as a neutral, disinterested force in the many inter-ethnic rivalries that have always existed there. When the Soviet Union broke up, the rivalries were bound to intensify. A people like the south Ossetians suddenly found themselves being governned not by the disinterested Russians who did not know or care about the age-old scores that divide one Caucasus valley from another. They were now governed by the Georgians, who know all those scores and who are an interested party in many of them. That's bad if you're a south Ossetian.
Notice that the Muslim-Hindu conflict in south Asia was more-or-less dormant during the British Raj, but violently flared up the minute the British left. For all that talk about divide-and-rule, the British were seen as a neutral, disinterested force in local rivalries. Once that force is gone, being a Muslim in a largely Hindu area (or vice-versa) becomes BAD. So bad that people take to arms in a hurry.
The entire history of 20th century decolonization is full of parallels to this.
The success of that Greek movie is a good analogy, but here's an even better one.
My impression is that nearly 100% of the key decision-makers in Hollywood either hate Christianity, despise it, or just don't case enough about it one way or the other to raise a fuss. Possibly for that reason, Hollywood has produced virtually no strongly positive movies about Jesus or Christianity during the last 40 years, a bit "odd" for a nation which is 95% Christian by background.
Then Mel Gibson came along, and produced a somewhat eccentric but high-quality movie about Jesus. Without benefit of advertising or promotion, it became one of the most highly profitable movies in all of Hollywood history. Given Hollywood's overarching focus on profits, the natural result was that Hollywood followed this up by...STILL producing no positive movies on Jesus or Christianity, with their closest match being a very profitable movie about a talking lion.
During this same 40 year period, Normal Finkelstein totalled up that Hollywood produced something like 257 movies about the Jewish Holocaust, whose natural base of appeal is restricted to 2% of America's population and 0.1% of the world's population.
As anyone in the software industry can attest, "networks" have strange and interesting properties.
30 year old defence minister?
Rash bravado!
John J. Mearsheimer is good on this kind of thing. Powerful states -- especialy regional hegemons -- are not going to sit still while their power is incrementaly eroded.
A lot of Israelis and American Jews are from the former Soviet Union. The network there was tied to the Oligarchs who ran Russia during the Yeltsin years. Putin kicked them all out of the country and they ahve been trying to get back at Russia ever since. The Oligarchs have ben lobbying and networking in the west and Israel against Russia and that explains at least some if the anti-Russian bias and our anti-Russian foriegn policy.
Steve, I agree one needs to look at this on the lighter side. A dark reading may be that Jews are intent on screwing nationalistic Russia via their connections in Georgia as payback for Stalin's purge of the Soviet leadership which was largely Jewish in the early years. These historic issues are alive for sure, but the immediate concern is probably making money through weapons transactions.
Weapons deals rank up at the top amongst drug deals and secret service murders. But they just keep coming, in spite of all the commissions, regulations, court cases, organisations intent on stopping weapons trades etc. The reason is that weapons deals are insanely profitable. Usually the stuff being sold is not cutting edge anymore so it’s easy to get hold of. And then the margins are 40%+. That's why so many countries liberal countries ostensibly concerned with Human Rights and democracy are into this business (US, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, even those uber-liberals the Scandinavians). The bucks are big and there is no end in sight.
So what if Georgia gets routed? Israel just re-supplies and makes more money. Same for Russia’s involvement in Iran. If Iran gets nuked by Israel or the US, Russia just rebuilds the reactors, re-supplies their army and makes even more money. War is the best thing for the construction industry and weapons trade.
Steve should do an article on name prefixes and suffixes around the world. For example, "shvili" is a common Georgian suffix which means "son of".
Oh, by the way, the result of this war will cause most of the remaining 12,000 or so Georgians Jews to emigrate to Israel. Irony should be noted.
The amount of military equipment sold to Georgia by Israel is tiny compared to the massive amounts of military hardware that Russia has sold to Israel's enemies
This looks a lot less like a conspiracy or even a network than ordinary, everyday business in that industry. The Israelis were selling weapons and training to the Georgians... so? When I buy a TV at Wallmart does that make my home a Wallmart "base"?
The Israelis sell weapons to a lot of countries. So do we. Sometimes, in theory, we're helping allies, but mostly we're just trying to amortize development costs, and I assume the Israelis are doing the same thing. A country that size can't afford a high-tech arms industry without external customers.
France paid for development of the Exocet by selling it to pretty much everybody.
Maybe I spent too many years in that industry. This all seems rather normal. And I got a laugh out of some guy in Georgia "calling on" the Israelis to intercede militarily. Lotsa luck, pal.
Steve, you're so often right on the money. But this case is not one of them.
Georgians are great people. Many immigrant Jews in the US and in Israel who were born and grew up in Georgia have warm feelings toward Georgia and its people. Georgians have all my sympathy. Multi-talented, smart, beautiful, proud people.
At this time, I am unsure who actually started this latest war. Yet, it is clear that Russia's response is out of proportions and that is has no intention of treating an independent nation as independent. It will wolf Georgia down the same way it did Eastern Belarus and Poland in 1939.
I really don't know what all the fuss is about. I live in Atlanta, the very capital of Georgia, and I can assure you everything is fine. The Starbucks on the corner was full of people ordering their morning joe, the dry cleaner was open for business, and I didn't see a single armed soldier anywhere. I don't know where the television networks are getting that footage of what appears to be an actual war going on.
-Senor "Puzzled In Georgia" Doug
I second what Ross said. The Russians have been arming the Ossetians for years now, hoping to provoke Georgia, and the Georgians finally took the bait, more fool they. It seems as if a country being pro-Western is now a reason for Paleo-Cons to automatically oppose it, even if it means de-facto support for an ex-commie thug like Medvedev. The whole thing is probably none of our business, and I hope we stay out, but this whole "Jewish Network" thing is laughable. I'll bet most powerful Jews in this country could care less about Ossetia.
Tschafer
"Given Russia's behaviour over the last couple of years the idea that the 'bias' against them is the result of jewish networks or whatever else seems preposterous."
Wow, Steve, you spend all that time writing an article packed with insight and quotes from primary sources, and one "ross" comes along and instantly deflates it with the old favorite "preposterous". This is a disparate amount of energy saved in expenditure of thought in relation to your own. I wonder what the sociobiologists have to say about such things. To possess an easy, one-word reply used to negate fact-based assertions against organisms detrimental to your own ultimate survival is downright (r)evolutionary.
"What is unnatural is that we Americans have unilaterally disarmed our national immune system against people yanking our chains. We aren't supposed to ever notice the pattern."
Well, I guess what you call unnatural is what I call systematic downbreeding for the last century. These comments have been made about Americans for a long, long time.
Huh? A 30 year old defense minister?
Try 29. He turns 30 on September 22.
"And of course we absolutely aren't allowed to mention what a large fraction of American pundits, reporters, editors, owners, and advertisers are Jewish."
The leftist Jewish influenced media, particularly the New York Times, has been fairly balanced in their reporting of the conflict. Most have noted that neither side has clean hands in this conflict.
Only the much less influential rightwing outlets such as Human Events and FOX News have been calling for Russian blood.
Since the war has taken place entirely on territory recognized internationally as part of Georgia, and the only crossing of international borders was by Russian forces, it is very misleading to say Georgia "started" the war. Georgia may have started an internal military action against rebels (though that is debatable since the rebels had been attacking also), but they did not start a war WITH RUSSIA. Your remark only makes sense if you regard South Ossetia as a sovereign nation; but since it is not internationally recognized, why should you expect the governemnt in Tblisi to recognize it?
The American press was slow to acknowledge last week that Georgia actually started the current war with Russia.
I think Steve is tiptoeing around what he really meant: A great deal of HIS OWN READERS still refuse to acknowledge that Georgia is the aggressor and is deservedly being punished.
Sadly, Cheney doesn't care about the damage being done to his allies in Georgia. He knew this would happen when he goaded them into picking a fight with Russia. Cheney is just trying to get Europe to bring Geogia into NATO, to pave the way for Georgia becoming yet another nuclear missile launching pad.
When ex-President Yeltsin died, I watch ABC, CBS, NBC nightly news program along with PBS’s news hour and the Charlie Rose program. On these programs there was a totally of 8 “experts” who commented about Yeltsin and his legacy. All 8 were Jewish Americans; yet somehow in this age of satellites four major networks in the USA could not find one actual Russian to comment about the death of a Russian ex-President.
Unsurprisingly not one of these “experts” on Russia considered the massive looting of Russia by the Oligarchs during Yeltsin’s Presidency to be of particular importance. This is even though that looting was a major reason why the Russian people have moved away from the West and supported Putin, since even the mild reigning in of the looters under Putin looks better then the West’s support of the looters.
Ross:
Certainly not exclusively the result of Jewish networks . . . although that doubtless plays a strong role.
Russia's behavior over the last couple of years has seemed provocative and aggressive to us in the US, mostly because we don't understand even recent history and persist in believing that we are anointed by history as a righteous people.
Almost no one in America remembers the promises made to Gorbachev in exchange for lowering the Iron Curtain. I'll give you a hint, though: "We won't expand NATO to your borders" pretty much sums it up.
Rather than collaborate with Russia, we used temporary Russian weakness as an excuse to push into Russia's sphere of influence. I suppose expecting anything else would be wishful thinking.
The thing is, Russia is now using temporary (hopefully!) American weakness as an excuse to push back. Once more, expecting anything else would probably be wishful thinking.
From the very beginning, I thought that Saakashvili (provoked or not) started this dance, and that it was going to turn out badly for him. For some reason, he expected the United States to back his play.
Putin has played a careful hand. When Russia was weak and demoralized, he had to walk small on the international stage. Now that the facts on the ground have changed, the bear is growling again.
Perfect paladins and paragons of purity very rarely end up running states. As Iran will always be right next door to Iraq, so Russia will always be right next door to Georgia, and those are, as the Marxists might say, ineluctable facts.
The disproportionate representation of Jewish reporters, commentators and political pundits results in a disproportionate influence of their tribal prejudices, whether favorable (Israel) or negative (Russia, most Slavs).
There is nothing wrong with tribal (or other) prejudices, of course, as long as they are freely acknowledge and taken into account. (I preface my remarks on US-Russian foreign policy issues by admitting up front that I am a russophile and that I think the US and Russia really should find a modus vivendi.)
What American needs are a sense of humor about Jewish networks and neuroses and their impact on American foreign policy, but that's not permitted.
No, what is needed is not so much a sense of humor but a sense that people who belong to a group X will advocate certain policies because they are beneficial or somehow congenial to said group X, but those policies may not be beneficial for Americans who do not belong to group X.
Israelis are in the neighbourhood so it's too be expected that they have relations with another small pro-Western state in the vicinity of the Middle East. I just don't see anything beyond this. It's only natural, given general ignorance, for the American media to take Georgia's side because (a) the Cold War and (b) the Georgians are clearly the underdog whether they started this debacle or not.
Let me predict exactly what testing99 and co are going to say.
1) Flat out Denial
"There is no network. None. You are hallucinating, Steve. You're better than this."
This involves no concession that there is some element of truth...or even mention of the Haaretz piece, which was obviously written by a "self-hating Jew".
2) Angry Attack
"Pointing out the pattern must mean you hate us!"
Any notice of any collective action by the Ashkenazim anywhere for any purpose is "hatred". Tony Martin (the guy who got the Washington Post to acknowledge that Jews played a disproportionate role in the slave trade) put it well:
President Walsh, like many of the Jewish spokespersons, has a problem with my "recurrent" and allegedly "gratuitous" utilization of "racial or religious identification of individuals...." This is her way of saying that Black people are not allowed to respond to Jews as Jews. Even after being attacked primarily by the Hillel Foundation, American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Congress, Jewish Community Relations Council and every Jewish newspaper and spokesperson for miles around, I am supposed to maintain the fiction that the onslaught against me is ethnically and religiously indeterminate.
3) Changing the subject
"Why not mention the American and French arms supplies?"
Of course, a claim that AmeriKKKa was stirring up trouble by selling arms to the Georgians would be uncontroversial. And just imagine if the defense minister of Georgia were American or (say) Chinese born. There would be profile after profile of him on TV. It would be different from the expected and thus legitimately noticeable.
4) Obfuscation
"Two Jews, three opinions. Look, the Foreign and Defense ministry disagree!"
This angle is particularly effective, because it ignores the issue of *predominance* in opinion. Whatever the Foreign Ministry's position now, it certainly wasn't enough of a priority for them to block sales when it mattered.
5) Contest the small points to stop recognition of the big picture
The tactical goal here is to fight every small point tooth and nail, to "gaslight you" as per that old film...to convince you that the pattern doesn't exist by alternating casuistry ("two jews, three opinions"), wheedling ("you're better than this") and threatening ("that's anti-Semitic!!").
The strategic goal is to prevent anyone from articulating the fact that the Ashkenazim have hated Russia ever since they lost control of it. First they lost it to Stalin, which eventually spawned the neocons and the refuseniks. Then they regained it under Yeltsin and lost it when Putin rejected the "reforms" of Jeffrey Sachs and Andrei Shleifer & cracked down on Khordokovsky, Gusinsky, Abramovsky, Berezovsky, et alia.
The constant attack on Russia's "lack of human rights" and "lack of press freedoms" from the WSJ Op-Ed pages (from Anne Applebaum, Cathy Young, Gary Kasparov, etc.) is intended to open up their media once again to Ashkenazi influence.
This is the same game they're playing in China. Many of them know China is the next place to jump to after they lose control of the US. See this pdf:
This project aims at enhancing the standing of the Jewish people in emerging superpowers like China, and India. The first initiative focuses on China, under the assumption that a wide door of opportunity for developing and strengthening positive relations exists. Historically these countries have been free of anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist prejudices and shared interests may become increasingly important in the 21st century. The project's objective is to help create a long-term cultural foundation for understanding and cooperation. It will identify opportunities for furthering mutual knowledge of the cultures and national heritage of the Jewish people and the peoples of the respective countries. The next initiative will focus on India, and Japan will be considered at a later date. A major strategic paper on relations between the Jewish people and China has been published, including a set of operational proposals which are in part being implemented by relevant Jewish organizations.
http://www.jpppi.org.il/JPPPI/SendFile.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&GID=456
The reason that "human rights in China" is mentioned every single day is that China needs to be softened up for the Ashkenazim to enter. As pointed out in the pdf above, that means breaking down their nationalism and "responding to stereotypes" -- which requires media organs. It'll be more challenging for them in China because their names and faces will be more noticeable. But they managed to get communism into China, so it's not impossible. They just need an angle -- a guilt trip like blacks were in America, or the pogroms were in Russia -- to attack the majority's nationalism and will to power *by proxy*. They don't directly fight for Jewish rights, but for the rights of some *other* ethnic group.
But they can't get those media organs to execute this strategy if they're state controlled by the nationalist socialist Chinese (or Russians for that matter).
Mahathir Mohammed was trying to say this back in 2004, ineloquently:
But today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.
They survived 2000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by thinking. They invented and successfully promoted Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so they may enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power.
That's exactly right. The issue is that in every country they enter, they want equal rights to the majority population. But since they don't identify with that country as much as they identify with the Jewish people and with Israel, this is not a fair trade. The country that listens to them has its nationalist sentiment attacked and is taken over by blacks (South Africa, Rhodesia), Muslims (Europe), Hispanics (US), or Asians (Canada, Australia) -- or by the Ashkenazim themselves (pre-Stalinist Russia).
That is the big picture that you're not supposed to put together. The basic problem today is that any press which is not explicitly nationalist -- which is not explicitly state controlled -- will be taken over by this group, who is just more verbal, more international, more wealthy, more zealous, and more determined.
Steve,
In focusing on the Israeli ant (arms and advisers in Georgia) you are forgetting the elephant in Georgia, and who is it? The United States of America maintains several military bases in Georgia and about 5 thousand soldiers. Shakashvili made the classic political mistake of all small countries (Hungary in 1956 comes to my mind) that believe in American promises and propaganda and put their faith in Western help. Steve you have lost all sense of proportion and see Jewish conspiracies everywhere, and now in Georgia, a place you say never heard about before.
Given Russia's behaviour over the last couple of years the idea that the 'bias' against them is the result of jewish networks or whatever else seems preposterous.
Russia seems to be behaving quite well actually.
It is Israel that continues to settle land and the US that attacks unprovoked other countries like Iraq AND then decides to stay there for years.
Georgia is of little interest to the US and we would be as well of with Russia holding the land as without. The current government of Georgia has little democratic credentials and has ruled brutally and corruptly post 'election'.
The Israel connection is informative and the US press' failure to report on it hurts the average person's ability to make an informed judgment on the likely biases of the parties involved.
PS You also forget that Israel is a client of America and wants to continue being so, and would never do anything that would irritate or anger America too much. If Israeli generals were (openly) in Georgia, you can be sure it was all done with American knowledge and co-ordination.
What makes you think Israel's support of Georgia is only financially based. There may be ideological, emotional and political reasons as well.
All that money spent on Israeli and US equipment and training? If I were Georgia, I'd ask for my money back.
Has Steve considered the possibility that Georgia might actually be on the right side in this conflict, or at least on the less wrong side? Or does he, like most paleoconservatives, just reflexively side with whomever the neocons are against?
So Ross, what explains the pass Georgia's getting? Saakashvili has been jailing political opponents, cracking down on the media, rigging elections, going all nationalist, starting wars, and generally stirring up trouble. What makes him so great and the Russians so horrible?
Steve --
Israel has announced an arms embargo on Georgia because of the fighting -- they are afraid of Russia.
And as Ross said, S. Ossetia is an internationally recognized part of Georgia. After various terrorist attacks on Georgian police and troops inside Georgia (and outside S. Ossetia), Georgian troops were sent to S. Ossetia.
What is notable is not "network theories" but how off-guard the CIA was caught (again) by Russia's invasion and before that mobilization -- hidden from the CIA and NSA and NRO. The US had NO warning this was going to happen.
I'll note the PKK, the Kurdish terrorist group, blew up part of the oil/gas pipeline in GEORGIA last month, the first time it has operated outside of Eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, and Northern Iran.
Fundamentally, this war is about oil. If it will be cheap so the Western and Chinese economies can grow, or expensive so they wither away and Russia and Iran and Venezuela can pay their thug networks.
There are no "network effects" of nefarious Jews !!!!!! ala Pat Buchanon idiocy -- merely the question of oil being so sky high that the US and other modern economies fall into a deep, worldwide depression.
Don't you think it's interesting that this isolated/Second World-ish, probably non-"PC infected" nation lets a Jew become its defense minister?
Georgia seems to be one of those countries with a traditional philo-Semitic strain in its culture. This may be a regional phenomenon. Also look at Bulgaria on the other side of the Black Sea.
"What makes him so great and the Russians so horrible?"
Answering what makes the Russians so horrible is the easier part of that question. Russia in the last few years has:
- invaded Georgia
- threatened Estonia because they moved a Red Army memorial
- Smuggled nuclear material into Britain in order to murder a dissident.
- Rigged elections.
- Crushed any internal opposition.
- Openly advocated annexing Ukrainian territory.
- Tried to assassinate the then Ukrainian presidential candidate, now president, Victor Yuschenko.
- Blown the hell out of Chechyna
You don't need to have any Israeli influence to be alarmed and disgusted by Putin's behaviour.
I don't think Sachashvili is particularly wonderful although his ambition to align Georgia with the USA and Europe has produced certain positive internal reforms.
Isn't South Ossetia where Islamic terrorists took a school full of children hostage a few years ago?
Ross wrote:
"Russian backed Ossetians had been attacking Georgia for month and that the speed of Russia's response demonstrated that it was pre planned."
What planet are you on? The Georgians cut out their water a month ago. The Georgians have been planning this for the past year.
The Russians have had no behavior over the last couple of years. From the way you spell behaviour, you are probably an Israeli yourself doing hasbara.
When the Jerusalem Post and Ha'aretz write that it was indeed Israel's involvement and their training of Georgian forces behing this, and when the Georgian Defense Minister is a former Israeli who speaks Hebrew and other major Georgian officials are the same . . . Israel was involved up to its eyeballs.
Read:
http://www.debka.org/article.php?aid=1358
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3580136,00.html
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9756.shtml
http://www.labournet.net/world/0801/pipeline1.html
http://www.creative-i.info/?p=318
You dont want to call this a Jewish network? Fine. It's an Israeli network. Make you feel better?
J, Please stop already.
"PS You also forget that Israel is a client of America and wants to continue being so, and would never do anything that would irritate or anger America too much."
The Lavon Affair?
The attack on the USS Liberty?
Jonathan Pollard?
Anything here ring a bell?
So let's see in the order I've listed them what doesn't anger Uncle Sam. False flag attacks on US interests by Israel's military intellegence agency. Repeated air attacks on a US navy ship navigating international waters that resulted in the wounding and death of numerious officers and men. Massive espionage.
Kind of out of line for a client state, J, don't you think?
1/ Interesting how many people here are mentioning the Israeli angle so vigorously when neither the Georgians nor the Russians are.
2/ Is there a Transatlantic split in the paleo network? Both John O'Sullivan and Paul Belien (Brussels Journal) who write for Amcon are supporters of Georgia.
3/ Let's see now if I've got this right:
Making a comedy movie making fun of fictional neigbours of Russia-bad, bad, bad
Making war on real neigbours of Russia-good, good, good
Well at least the dead Georgians don't feel insulted which must make them feel much better.
3/ Number of military parades planned or in progress in Russia celebrating Russia's success-0
The American paleo network is happier about the Russian success than the Russians are.
4/ With all this fuss about how badly the American and Israeli help was, or how badly the Georgians fought, you'll notice the Russians, while they have done well with their enormous numerical advantages aren't (yet?) in Tiblisi, and the Georgian President is still walking around (of course time may prove me wrong), and the .
j. said
In focusing on the Israeli ant (arms and advisers in Georgia) you are forgetting the elephant in Georgia, and who is it? The United States of America
America and Israel are not mutually exclusive. Either-or fallacy. I don't have to say try again.
"From the way you spell behaviour, you are probably an Israeli yourself doing hasbara."
You are not only wrong but your reasoning is so.... special that I just have to stand back in awe and applaud.
LOL, I like the random bogus potshot that Testing99 fired at the CIA. Obviously, the Neocons feel insecure about their grip on the CIA (too many patriotic Americans in that organization). The Neocons would prefer we turn all our intelligence duties over to Pentagon departments like Doug Feith's Office of Special Plans.
Oh, by the way, the result of this war will cause most of the remaining 12,000 or so Georgians Jews to emigrate to Israel. Irony should be noted.
For Zionists/Neocons, that's not a bug in this plan, that's a feature.
Why doesn't the West just invite Russia to join NATO?
"Interesting how many people here are mentioning the Israeli angle so vigorously when neither the Georgians nor the Russians are."
Yeah, you would think if the Jewish "network" had their knives out for Russia, Putin would have said something about it in protest and/or antisemitism would be all the rage among ordinary Russians by now.
There is little antisemitic sentiment in Russia, but I'm sure our resident antisemites know far more about the threats facing Russia than the Russian people and government themselves do.
SS has really gone off the deep end. No one gives a shit about Georgia, including the soi disant Jewish cabal that rules the world. The number of nuts who write on this board about a global Jewish conspiracy operating out of Steven Spielberg's centre for Holocaust documentation is too damn funny. SS, where do they come from? Where are they hiding? Can we put them on Fox News or in the circus? So the prize for sanity goes to Eric: 'Maybe I spent too many years in that industry. This all seems rather normal.' No shit. Why wouldn't the Israeli arms industry sell weapons to Georgia? That's what such industries DO. 'Wait!', I hear. 'SS has quotes about the various machinations of the long-beards at the Protocols HQ and the neocons just ignore these QUOTES! Oi vey!' And: 'SS has quotes that the Jews are getting back at Russia for Stalin's purges in the 1930s.' Of course! The Jews are getting back at Russia by helping to arm a nation of 3.8 million goatherds. Thanks for the clarification: the neocons are festering over the purges and arming the mighty Georgians! How could I have overlooked it all. Quotes!!! Quotes!!! Calling all Martians: you can find quotes for anything -- except, it seems, common sense. Thanks for the laughs, SS. My advice: stick to making fun of Obama. You're weak on foreign policy.
I really don't know what all the fuss is about. I live in Atlanta, the very capital of Georgia, and I can assure you everything is fine.
It look likes the diversion worked. You're so focused on the Georgia in the Caucasus region that you actually believe Atlanta is fine.
All of Anon's predictions about seem to have materialized. LOL
Note, especially, the one calling himself "McGee": dropping that "SS" association with Steve's name. I mean it's almost transparent, right? (Next time I make a comment on Turkia, I'll call myself McDermott or O'Hannity or something.)
Ironic, isn't it? You'd think with a group so smart and adept at hiding, you'd think they'd have figured out that trying too hard to hide makes you even more visible, but no luck.
JD
simon newman sed:
"We've been led to believe that the
kind of modern Western weapons systems Georgia had access to are vastly superior to the Russian versions."
Amongst the old South African Defence Force soldiers operating in Angola there was far more realism w.r.t. Russian weaponry than in the West. A lot of the guys had to face T55 or T72 tanks from the sharp end and did not enjoy the exercise. The old German soldiers also had a tale or two, even though the Wehrmacht equipment was technologically superior on most accounts.
Russian weaponry lacks some of the bells and whistles of their western counterpart and is usually heavy and clumsy, but also very robust and destructive. It may even be dangerous to operate but is lethal to the enemy. On top they are far cheaper to produce. The Russians still carry the WWII ethos of having powerful, cheap, reliable large quantity weaponry and that if you push enough soldiers armed with it against the enemy, eventually you win. There is a lot to be said for it. In addition Russian aviation has always been good. Their rocketry and avionics are superb. Their aeroplanes not to be sneered at.
Anyway, since Stalingrad there has not been a major confrontation between equally armed and trained professional armies. Most of the battles since then have been lopsided so they tell you less about equipment and training.
Milton said...
" Why doesn't the West just invite Russia to join NATO?"
Then the world would be too boring. Nothing left to get hyperventilate on anymore.
in Angola there was far more realism w.r.t. Russian weaponry than in the West. A lot of the guys had to face T55 or T72 tanks from the sharp end and did not enjoy the exercise.
That is horse**t.
US experience against and inspection of Soviet made tanks in Iraq has revealed Russians' tank reputation to be overrated.
Kijkfaas McGee - if you bothered to read the comments you would be aware that few here postulate a conspiracy. There merely needs to be a group of like-minded, well connected people working towards a set of common, or at least overlapping goals. If you want to call that a conspiracy, well if the cap fits...
I think it must be confusing on the ground in Georgia, for all concerned.
Everybody has the same tanks, APCs, AKs, machine guns, helmets, uniforms, helicopters, trucks...
In fact Im not sure we can point to some supposed superiority of Russian arms when Georgians have much the same gear.
Katie Melua, the both hot and sweet and still twenty something UK blues singer, is a Jewess from Georgia. Her parents (dad a doc) emigrated to the UK, originally N.Ireland I believe, then environs of London, when she was a tot.
She sure gives me a whole lot more reason to feel affection for the old world Caucasus country Georgia than that Stalin was born there.
There's also the fact that the the Ottoman empire, those world history connoissoeurs of harem concubines / high end sex slaves, drawing in a rich diversity from all over the place, from the Balkans to various parts of Europe and from deepest darkest sub Saharan Africa (hyper tall east African variety mainly) for, well, exoticism and diversity, thought, to generalize, that the creame de la creame, the very pinnacle of female pulcritude and the art of creatively erotic teasing followed ultimately by (not abject) submission to male power, was found amongst the Circassians. These were Caucasus mountain girls, from a tribe/ethnic group known by that name at the time.
Were these Ossetians?
Katie Melua is eastern orthodox...not juden.
I figured there was some kind of Jewish connection when I heard Fox Radio giving such breathless updates on the skirmish.. because, really, who in the USA gives a half a shit about either Russia or Georgia unless we're propagandized about it every five minutes?
And this is America; of course our propaganda organs are largely Jewish-run or influenced. No big deal if you know this, but it IS a big deal if people assume that the news organizations are somehow "impartial."
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