April 3, 2014

Dark suggestion, darker tropes

Front page of NYTimes.com right now,
illustrating my current Takimag.com column
Unlike Brendan Eich, fired today for having donated $1,000 to a 2008 initiative campaign, the great and the good are deeply concerned about the welfare of traitor Jonathan Pollard. Even more so, they are worried about whether or not their desire to help Pollard will encourage the Darkest Elements in American life. From the New York Times:
American Jews Divided Over Possibility of Spy’s Release 
By MARK LANDLER APRIL 3, 2014

WASHINGTON — Each year, just before Passover, Malcolm Hoenlein writes a letter to President Obama, requesting that he grant clemency to Jonathan J. Pollard, the American sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for passing suitcases stuffed with classified documents to Israel. 
This week, with his goal suddenly within reach, Mr. Hoenlein, the leader of an umbrella group of American Jewish organizations, has held off on sending the letter. He is waiting to see whether Mr. Obama will release Mr. Pollard as part of a prisoner exchange with Israel that would extend peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. 
Even now, nearly three decades later, Mr. Pollard’s case bedevils American Jews. While more and more of them believe the time to release him is long past — he spied for an ally, not an enemy, they say, and has expressed remorse — they are deeply divided over whether he should be used as a chit in a diplomatic transaction with Israel.
The talk of freeing him roused another ghost from the past: the dark suggestion that American Jews, like Mr. Pollard, inevitably hold divided loyalties and cannot be trusted in sensitive posts. 
If Mr. Pollard is given a hero’s welcome in Israel — a likely situation, given the Israeli government’s long campaign on his behalf — American Jews worry that it will cause a backlash in the United States, where Mr. Pollard is still viewed by many, especially in the national security establishment, as a traitor who sold his country’s secrets for cash. 
“Pollard represents the ultimate betrayal,” said Aaron David Miller, one of a circle of American Jewish diplomats who came of age at the time of Mr. Pollard’s arrest. “He is also a poster child for one of the darker tropes in American society: that Jews simply cannot have a single loyalty.”

Dark, dark, dark. To be precise, what's "dark" is not what Pollard and Israel did with American nuclear sub deterrent secrets (likely barter them to the Soviets); no what's "dark" is gentiles noticing.
Nowhere was the anxiety more acute than among Jews working in sensitive jobs involving the Middle East, jobs that were just opening up to Jews during the Reagan administration. 
Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former ambassador to Egypt and Israel, said he knew of Jews who were removed from projects involving Israel after Mr. Pollard’s arrest. Even now, he said, Americans with relatives living in Israel are sometimes denied high-level security clearances.
Dennis B. Ross, a senior adviser on the Middle East to both President Bill Clinton and President Obama, recalled fearing that his loyalty as a Pentagon policy analyst would be questioned after Mr. Pollard’s arrest. “Initially, there was a kind of abhorrence,” he said. “But the longer he’s been in, the more people ask questions.”

Note, please, that with the phrase "people ask questions," Ross is not referring to non-Jews asking questions about himself and the absurdity of the U.S. claiming to be a neutral honest broker on Israel-Palestine negotiations when Ross swings so much weight inside both Democratic and Republican administrations. He's referring to Jews questioning why Pollard hasn't gotten his hero's welcome in Jerusalem yet. They're the people who count.

Still, what could be darker than the possibility that someday Dennis Ross, who doesn't have an ethnically-biased bone in his body, might not be employed by the President of the United States as an honest broker to work out a fair peace deal between Israel and Palestine? The only thing darker, more hellish would be if somebody asked out loud whether or not it's wholly a good idea for Stanley Fischer to go from running the Bank of Israel to being eminence grise at the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Are Gentile-Americans allowed to expressed their views on Mr. Pollard and the question of dual loyalties in the news columns of the New York Times, or is that privilege restricted solely to Jewish individuals? Will the NYT run an article on what leading Gentile-Americans feel about leading Jewish-Americans' demands for the traitor's release, or is that question simply not on the table? Would the NYT even be able to find any prominent Gentile-Americans brave enough to criticize Jewish-Americans' loyalty on the record? We hear a lot from Jews speculating about the dark thoughts that must be surging through non-Jews brains, but we don't hear much in the official discourse of the media from anybody brave enough to express those dark thoughts themselves.
          

42 comments:

  1. Read Tablet. A good portion of the commenters actually do want him to rot in jail for selling secrets.

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  2. "He is also a poster child for one of the darker tropes in American society: that Jews simply cannot have a single loyalty."

    That seems unfair; for the most part, the Jews I've met have just a single loyalty.

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  3. "Mr. Pollard is still viewed by many, especially in the national security establishment, as a traitor who sold his country’s secrets for cash. "

    That's outrageous, just because someone has been convicted in a court of law of betraying his country for cash that doesn't mean it's OK to accuse him of selling his country's secrets for cash.

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  4. This post is probably the reason why Steve doesn't get syndicated.

    A shame, since he deserves a wider readership.

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  5. Wow. Just wow. This post has a very Nuremberg-esque tone.

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  6. Steve, I have found that noticing the relentless attacks on your children's future inevitably leads to hating them. And that is an emotion too choice for the careless indulgence of Gentiles.

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  7. This won't end well..4/3/14, 2:58 PM

    "He is also a poster child for one of the darker tropes in American society: that Jews simply cannot have a single loyalty."

    What was it that Sobran said?
    “Dual loyalty would be an improvement.”

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  8. While more and more of them believe the time to release him is long past — he spied for an ally, not an enemy, they say, and has expressed remorse

    Expressed remorse. Yes that would be the operating standard. History has bore no people as lenient and forgiving as jews. They require only a single expression of contrition, and all slights are forgiven. A live and let live bunch like no other.

    He is also a poster child for one of the darker tropes in American society: that Jews simply cannot have a single loyalty.

    I agree that trope should be given a proper show trial and execution. There are few truths on Earth more obvious than that jews most certainly can have a single loyalty.

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  9. Thank God that America never spies on its allies. If Germany ever catches whoever listened in on Merkel's phone calls, they should show him as much mercy as America showed Pollard.

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  10. Great post Steve. It's also mighty white of you to publish the postings of the hasbarat scum who will no doubt start speaking up here for their boy pollard. Glad it's you moderating their comments and not me - I wouldn't have the stomach for it.

    fredyetagain

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  11. Thank God that America never spies on its allies. If Germany ever catches whoever listened in on Merkel's phone calls, they should show him as much mercy as America showed Pollard.

    Whoever listened in on Merkel's phone calls was an American national. I propose you try to put two seconds of thought into the difference between an officer in an intelligence gathering agency and a traitor.

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  12. I know someone (Jewish) who did time in a given Federal prison while Pollard was at that prison. He told me that before he went in, he was on the fence about the Pollard issue, after he was in and had interactions with Pollard, he changed his mind and wants him to stay in prison forever.

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  13. Pollard is an all-around terrible, terrible person. He tried to spy for Pakistan for cash for his cocaine habit. At his summer camp in Israel as a child, he was remembered as the worst camper they ever had.

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  14. I've used Firefox - in fact, I'm using it right now - but no longer.

    No matter whether I agree or disagree with Eich's political positions, his personal beliefs ought not to be relevant to his employment. Mozilla has made them so by firing him.

    Therefore, I will never again use a program or service made by their company.

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    Replies
    1. Unfortunately, since this is probably the first time most people have heard of Eich & his viewd, a boycott of Firefox will probably interpreted as support of gay marriage.

      Delete
  15. I know someone (Jewish) who did time in a given Federal prison while Pollard was at that prison.

    Sounds made up.

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  16. He is also a poster child for one of the darker tropes in American society: that Jews simply cannot have a single loyalty.


    Given the way many American Jews talk and behave, dual loyalty on their part would consist of roughly double the loyalty towards America they have at present. If they actually displayed the same loyalty towards America as they do towards Israel, I'd be delighted.

    The problem with American Jews is not their "dual loyalty", it's they they can't even manage that.

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  17. That picture that they always use of Pollard makes him look like Jesus.

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  18. From slahdot, a well known geek news aggregator:

    by TheGratefulNet (143330) on Thursday April 03, 2014 @04:41PM (#46653299)

    ...
    the younger crowd already 'gets' it and they will replace the older crowd, over time.

    history is being made. over the last 20 or so years, individual rights are slowly increasing. ...
    folks who are on the wrong side of history will deny it to the end. ...just feel sorry for them. and try to minimize how much power they have, so their intolerant views don't spillover to decent society too much. if you 'contain' the bigots, their effect on the rest of us is minimized
    ========
    Maybe I wasn't watching closely but I've never seen the cultural marxist so sure of themselves.
    I notice that they're much, much more aggressive about gay/trans then about race, even.

    What does the Right have to offer ? Creationism ? Abortion fixation ?
    Are the 50% of people in North-America who lean right going to start fighting back at some point ?

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  19. It's tough for race-loyal Jews. They have a religious duty to "free the captives" -- i.e. any Jew held captive by the Gentiles. This is one of the great commandments/blessings/mitzvot of the Jewish people.

    Particularly in a case like this where Pollard gave his secrets to the Jewish nation. He was race-loyal.

    I say God bless 'em. They are loyal to their people, to their tribe, much as we are loyal to our people when Americans are held captive overseas ... or at least we USED to be.

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  20. """Would the NYT even be able to find any prominent Gentile-Americans brave enough to criticize Jewish-Americans' loyalty on the record? """

    Pat Buchanan.

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  21. Wouldn't you count as a such a prominent Gentile-American?

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  22. That seems unfair; for the most part, the Jews I've met have just a single loyalty.

    Lol - that's pretty ambiguous.

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  23. I doubt the accusation of dual loyalty carries much sting. Damn right, dual loyalty! Daniel Pipes was featured in NRO last week celebrating his Polish citizenship. No word on whether he'll cheer a Russian invasion.

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  24. The U.S. government mandates racial preferences in employment, school admissions, business contracts, etc. Why should anyone who is legally disadvantaged by U.S. policies of racial preferences be loyal to the U.S.? I look forward to my impending retirement to Israel. Am Yisroel Chai!

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  25. The given Jewish person I know did two years at the Federal prison in Butner, North Carolina in the early 2000s. Where Pollard has been since 1993.

    Not made up.

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  26. Most of the Jews I know are 3rd generation, Reform, and have never given a thought to planting a tree for Israel.

    On the other hand, Steve Grossman, Bubba's and Pants Suit's bagman when he was DNC head and former chairman of AIPAC, found it necessary to have his kid's bar mitzvah in Israel. He's currently the Massachusetts State Treasurer and a candidate for governor. His AIPAC days have never been mentioned in either campaign.

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  27. It's enlightening to contrast Pollard with Fischer. Any honest look at Pollard reveals him to be a worthless piece of shit. Whereas I can't remember amidst Steve's scrutiny him finding a specific objectionable action on Fischer's part.

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  28. I know someone (Jewish) who did time in a given Federal prison while Pollard was at that prison.

    I've read that he and Bernie Madoff are known to manipulate and bully the weaker prisoners. Seriously.

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  29. See the recent gcochran/harpend Amish thread. Young may be pro-gay-marriage but the future belongs to the breeders.

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  30. See the recent gcochran/harpend Amish thread. Young may be pro-gay-marriage but the future belongs to the breeders.

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  31. "It's tough for race-loyal Jews. They have a religious duty to "free the captives" -- i.e. any Jew held captive by the Gentiles. This is one of the great commandments/blessings/mitzvot of the Jewish people."

    Speak for yourself. Guy's a f***ing traitor, and I hold no brief for him. Captive by the Gentiles? So if a Jew gets drunk and shoots a guy, we're supposed to spring him too? BS.

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  32. Gore Vidal got into a verbal battle with the neo-cons (mainly Norm Podoretz and Midge Dexter) in which he outright questioned their loyalties. He liked to refer to them casually in print like this: "...Norman Podoretz (Israeli Division, Fifth Column)." There's a lot to dislike about Vidal's politics but he wasn't afraid to call out right-wing Israeli Firsters.

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  33. @ogunsiron -

    Maybe I wasn't watching closely but I've never seen the cultural marxist so sure of themselves.

    I notice that they're much, much more aggressive about gay/trans then about race, even.

    What does the Right have to offer ? Creationism ? Abortion fixation ?
    Are the 50% of people in North-America who lean right going to start fighting back at some point ?


    I have a hypothesis: conservatives are born, liberals are recruited. Cultural Marxism is a broad and easy path for young people. But it's the Anabaptists, the Hasidim, the Wahabbists and others who are having the kids. The future is going to be interesting.

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  34. >I've read that he and Bernie Madoff are known to manipulate and bully the weaker prisoners. Seriously.<

    Didn't Bernie have to have an operation on his face after a prison argument about 3 years ago?

    >"free the captives"<

    Vanunu converted to Christianity. So I say to Israel: let my people go!

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  35. Thank God that America never spies on its allies. If Germany ever catches whoever listened in on Merkel's phone calls, they should show him as much mercy as America showed Pollard.

    Just because the USG government was caught doing this crap doesn't make it right. Spying on allies isn't on any more than snooping on your own friends. I'm glad that Snowden brought this filthy activity to light and I would be pleased if those responsible were punished severely with lengthy prison terms. Anyway two wrongs don't make a right. Pollard should never leave prison. I'm against the death penalty, but if I were for it, I'd want it for Pollard.

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  36. "TGGP said...

    Whereas I can't remember amidst Steve's scrutiny him finding a specific objectionable action on Fischer's part."

    How about: being a citizen of a foreign nation while holding a position of trust in this one? A lot of people object to that. So it's objectionable.

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  37. “He is also a poster child for one of the darker tropes in American society: that Jews simply cannot have a single loyalty.”

    How about the dark trope/suggestion/idea, hinted at by (seemingly) many Jews, that gentiles are all incipient nazis and are never to be trusted - that we are all just one torch-light parade away from breaking out into the Horst Wessel Lied and reenacting the Nuremburg Laws? How about that one? Can we talk about that, perhaps?

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  38. Pollard has a remarkable physical resemblance to Igor Kolomoiskii, oligarch from the Ukraine.

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  39. Mr. Anon said...

    "TGGP said...

    Whereas I can't remember amidst Steve's scrutiny him finding a specific objectionable action on Fischer's part."

    How about: being a citizen of a foreign nation while holding a position of trust in this one? A lot of people object to that. So it's objectionable.


    Having a self professed Israeli patriot may or may not be "objectionable", but it is certainly a key strategic post for an Israeli patriot. Israel may or may not need him, but if they do, he is there.

    The fed and the treasury have been the enforcers of US economic warfare (sanctions) against Iran, and now Russia. They (and congress) will be key to fighting against the BDS movement against Israel.

    In case of another "financial crisis" it's the fed who will decide which banks and countries will be saved.

    So having their guy installed as the imminence grise of the fed is quite a feather in the cap for the tribe. He's there if needed, and a positive agent of influence in the meantime.

    Not necessarily harmful or costly to the US though. Depends on how things play out.

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  40. I've used Firefox - in fact, I'm using it right now - but no longer.

    No matter whether I agree or disagree with Eich's political positions, his personal beliefs ought not to be relevant to his employment. Mozilla has made them so by firing him.

    Therefore, I will never again use a program or service made by their company.
    ______________________________

    Ditto.

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  41. Who would be a "weaker" prisoner than Madoff? A polio or AIDS victim?

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