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

To Bomb, or not to Bomb

2006-04-21T02:38:00.000-07:00

This is the title of an extraordinary piece on Iran by the consistently excellent Reuel Marc Gerecht.

His key point:

We can't guarantee the results. But what we can do is demonstrate, to the mullahs and to others elsewhere, that even with these uncertainties, in a post-9/11 world the United States has red lines that will compel it to act. And one nonnegotiable red line is that we will not sit idly and watch a virulently anti-American terrorist-supporting rogue state obtain nukes. We will not be intimidated by threats of terrorism, oil-price spikes, or hostile world opinion. If the ruling clerical elite wants a head-on collision with a determined superpower, then that's their choice.

There is a price to pay, of course, but the urgency is nicely conveyed in his closing paragraph:

So we will all have to wait for President Bush to decide whether nuclear weapons in the hands of Khamenei, Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad, and the Revolutionary Guards Corps are something we can live with. Given the Islamic Republic's dark history, the burden of proof ought to be on those who favor accommodating a nuclear Iran. Those who are unwilling to accommodate it, however, need to be honest and admit that diplomacy and sanctions and covert operations probably won't succeed, and that we may have to fight a war--perhaps sooner rather than later--to stop such evil men from obtaining the worst weapons we know.

An absolute Must-Read.

Show me the way to Tehran

2006-04-21T02:21:00.000-07:00

You cannot spell "unbearable" without UN

2006-04-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

Anne Bayefsky, one of the most tireless and righteous fighters in the crusade against the corrupt and immoral abyss that shames the entire New York skyline, has a brilliant piece in the Weekly Standard, Another U.N. "Reform".

A nice little fact to get started:

The council was created by the U.N. General Assembly on March 15 in a vote of 170 to 4

Now, why does that sound familiar? Or, more to the point, did Australia, which had joined the coalition of the free not too long ago, and brought the count in the hall of fame at Turtle Bay to 5, forget its mind? Or was it one of the two Pacific nations of blessed memory? Or possibly one of the Original Satans?

(United States, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau)

Palau, by the grace of Queen Elizabeth the Second. Marvelous. But what about the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Pacific Pillar of the Anglosphere?
Did they have the decency to abstain? Or did someone else?

...with 3 abstentions (Belarus, Iran, Venezuela).

Is anyone else noticing the foul smell? Or, while we're at it - what were Zimbabwe, Cuba and Sudan doing?

Now that we know who was responsible, let's look at what exactly they have wrought.

How about a look at the members of this august, high-flying council?

Which brings us to the candidates that have put themselves forward. First out of the gate for the African group is ...

I'm taking a wild guess here.... Libya? Or maybe the Congo?

Algeria.

Oh. Competing on a high level, are we?

And throwing their hats into the ring for the Asian group are China, Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, among others.

That is just priceless. One has to wonder, though: was the North Korean delegate busy at the UN restaurant? Was Syria's representative busy at a biochemistry lecture downtown?

The Latins? Cuba to start.

Any questions? No, thanks.

Oh, wait... the whole thing is actually fool-proof!

In another twist, countries standing for election can choose to make a public pledge that they will eventually protect human rights.

Eventually. As in, whenever hell freezes over.

In the words of the secretary general, "states wishing to be elected to the new Council will put forward their pledges and commitments to protect and promote human rights. It will be up to their fellow member states to evaluate these promises."

A pledge. By a communist or Islamofascist stooge. Makes me feel so much better already...

On the Road, III

2006-03-26T14:26:00.000-08:00

Pass dal Fuorn / Ofen Pass, March 26th, 2006

On the Road, II

2006-03-26T14:14:00.000-08:00

Pass dal Fuorn / Ofen Pass, Engadin-Val Muestair, March 26th, 2006

An Embarrassment of Riches

2006-03-26T13:53:00.000-08:00

Zernez, Engadin, March 25th, 2006

On the Road, I

2006-03-26T13:46:00.000-08:00

Julier Pass, March 26th, 2006

Why We Love Richard Perle

2006-03-24T02:40:00.000-08:00

Richard Perle truly is one of a kind, as can be seen by this TV appearance on Abu Dhabi TV.

George Galloway: So nobody serious, outside the lunatic asylum of Richard Perle’s circle, any longer believes that the invasion of an Arab Muslim country by hundreds of thousands of Crusading soldiers has done anything to make the world a more peaceful place.

[...]

Richard Perle: Let me just say, having listened to George Galloway, that I am not going to insult the intelligence or waste the time of an audience that has tuned to this channel in the hope that they will hear an interesting discussion, by responding to his ad hominem and scurrilous personal attacks. This is what he’s good at. It’s a talent from the gutter, and I’m not going to engage in this.

George Galloway: Show us the shekels.

Richard Perle: I’m not going to engage in it.

George Galloway: Show us the shekels, Richard.

Richard Perle: Needless to say... what he’s had to say deserves no serious comment, and so I’m not going to make any comment about his personal attacks.

But I do find ironic his comment on the absence of democracy in the Muslim world, when the only Arab country to have voted in a free election in living memory is the Iraq that was liberated by the United States, the United Kingdom, and a number of other countries acting in this coalition.

This strikes me as one of the most clear and obvious examples of the moral universes separating a vile, hesperophobic hate-monger from an optimistic, forward-looking giant.

Profiles in Depravity

2006-03-24T02:34:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of LGF, a piece that will make your blood freeze.

Pretending to treat the injured men, he killed 43 of them by secretly administering lethal injections, a police inquiry has revealed.
“He was called Dr Louay and when the terrorists had failed to kill a policeman or a soldier he would finish them off,” Colonel Yadgar Shukir Abdullah Jaff, a senior Kirkuk police chief, told The Independent. “He gave them a high dosage of a medicine which increased their bleeding so they died from loss of blood.”

I won't hold my breath waiting for the Independent to realize that our enemies are simply, utterly evil...

And Then They Came for Spain

2006-03-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

Where were you... on the morning of Thursday, March 11th, 2004?

Never Forget.

(With thanks to our friend Eisealuf)

Why the Ports Deal must go through

2006-03-06T20:04:00.000-08:00

Larry Kudlow weighs in with a very compelling piece on the Ports Deal with Dubai. I herewith endorse this deal, based on its merits, since so much is at stake:

Opposing President Bush are those with a vision of pessimism, defeatism, and fear. Supporting the president are those with a Reaganite vision that brims with opportunity, victory, and success in the spread of freedom and democratization. Can there be any serious question that the resounding conservative Republican ascendancy and success of the past 25 years launched by Ronald Reagan and advanced by George W. Bush is built on optimism — and positive results? I think not.

Furthermore, I should add that it is, in my opinion, foolish and short-sighted to bemoan the virtually nonexistent economic progress in the Arab world over the past century while, at the same time, punishing those (few) companies who do succeed in today's global marketplace, simply for being Arab.

The Parasitic Mindset

2006-03-03T02:07:00.000-08:00

One of the world's greatest bloggers, Nelson Ascher, is back in style, with a number of must-read posts. This excerpt, taken from his latest piece, The Parasitic Mindset, is especially good:

Whatever we create they exploit: from cars and planes to democracy and political correctness, from public transportation to explosives and the UN, from open borders to the internet and investment banking.

"Together, facing the new totalitarianism"

2006-03-01T01:36:00.000-08:00

Please read this extremely important appeal, signed by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Salman Rushdie, Bernard Henri-Lévy and Taslima Nasreen, among others.

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, XIV

2006-02-28T08:03:00.000-08:00

"Since then [Iwo Jima] military hordes swarming in all-out attack and
military masses falling in desperate defense have been rare. When
they do happen, evolutionary throwbacks are involved - Kim Il-Sung,
the Ayatollah Khomeini, Saddam Hussein."

-- Peace Kills, X

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, XIII

2006-02-28T08:02:00.000-08:00

"The fire chief said something about "repairs forbidden" and that the
French Quarter had fallen out of favor with Saddam Hussein. If
appearances were any indication, so had the rest of Iraq."

-- Peace Kills, IX

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, XII

2006-02-28T08:00:00.001-08:00

"If Kuwait is Houston without Enron, Baghdad is Washington, D.C., without Pierre L'Enfant."

-- Peace Kills, IX

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, XI

2006-02-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

"My own thoughts about the war:

- Was U.S. Radio reporter on roof of Nagasaki Hilton in 1945 saying,
"Civilian casualties are going to cause problems for U.S. winning the
hearts and minds of the Japanese people?"

- Geraldo Rivera expelled for sketching U.S. positions in sand on
live TV. Given Geraldo investigative journalism track record,
resulted in Iraqi artillery pounding Damascus."

-- Peace Kills, IX

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, X

2006-02-28T07:59:00.000-08:00

"Luxembourgers may be better at earning, but they cannot excel the
Kuwaitis at spending."

-- Peace Kills, IX

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, IX

2006-02-23T01:02:00.000-08:00

"Aid-seekers in England would queue automatically by needs, disabled war vets and nursing mothers first.

Americans would bring lawn chairs and sleeping bags, camp out the night before, and sell their places to the highest bidders.

The Japanese would text-message one another, creating virtual formations, getting in line to get in line.

Germans would await commands from a local official, such as the undersupervisor of the town clock."

-- Peace Kills, IX

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, VIII

2006-02-23T00:53:00.000-08:00

"Germans have turned into poultry with BMWs. What caused this is a mystery, but a splendid mystery given the behavior of Germany in the last century (and, for that matter, since the time of Tacitus).

And France is a treasure to mankind. A moral compass needle needs a butt end. Whatever direction France is pointing - towards collaboration with Nazis, accomodation with Communists, existentialism, Jerry Lewis, or UN resolution veto - we can go the other way with a quiet conscience."

-- Peace Kills, VIII

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, VII

2006-02-23T00:47:00.000-08:00

"The United Nations Security Council offered a weak and vacillating response to Iraqi provocations. This timidity undermined the power and prestige of the UN - to the profound relief of all thinking people."

-- Peace Kills, VIII

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, VI

2006-02-22T08:11:00.000-08:00

"Israel stubbornly insists on existing. The foolish, despotic and corrupt governments of the Arab countries stubbornly insist on various alternatives."

-- Peace Kills, Chapter VII

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, V

2006-02-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

"[The 'Palestinian' supporters in America"] want the people of the United States to ... what? Abandon one of our few allies and take up the cause of Arab regimes that hate us?"

-- Peace Kills, Chapter VII

The Face of the Enemy, II

2006-02-20T01:28:00.000-08:00

This is not a photoshop. Just a standard display of what passes for a "Religion", and one of "Peace" at that.

Why We Love Yaacov Lozowick

2006-02-17T02:32:00.000-08:00

"The Palestinians are still actively seeking the reversal of 1948, and Israel is still expected somehow to recompense the Palestinians for the crime of having won a war that was forced upon her - and fairly won."

- Right to Exist

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, IV

2006-02-16T00:31:00.000-08:00

"During a question-and-answer period Clinton said he supported the creation of a Palestinian state. It's a good idea. Islamic fundamentalists will need someplace to go.

Having them all in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would allow the War on Terror to be conducted in a compact area with well-mapped terrain and an excellent road system.

As long as the Israelis don't get involved. We wouldn't want anybody on our side who was guilty of premature antiterrorism."

--Peace Kills

Why We Love Saul Bellow

2006-02-15T01:35:00.000-08:00

From his incomparable and unsurpassable masterpiece, The Adventures of Augie March:

"Even the man who wants to believe, you sometimes note kidding his way to Jesus"
- Ch. XIII

(If you don't have it yet, be sure to get the edition with Christopher Hitchens' foreword)

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, III

2006-02-15T01:28:00.000-08:00

"The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know."

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, II

2006-02-15T01:26:00.000-08:00

"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."

Why We Love P.J. O'Rourke, I

2006-02-15T01:12:00.000-08:00

In his wonderful war travelogue, Peace Kills, P.J. O'Rourke has this to say on two of the nicest and most optimistic cities in the Free World:

"Tel Aviv is new, built on the sand dunes north of Jaffa in the 1890s, about the same time Miami was founded. The cities bear a resemblance in size, site, climate, and architecture, ranging from the bland to the fancifully bland.

In Miami the striving, somewhat troublesome immigrant population is the result of Russia's meddling with Cuba.

In Tel Aviv the striving, somewhat troublesome immigrant population is the result of Russia's meddling with itself."

Like a Hurricane

2006-02-13T00:56:00.000-08:00

Just in case we needed any more reasons to be thankful for President George W. Bush - here it is: US Prepares Military Blitz Against Iran's Nuclear Sites.

And since the wait might be long and agonizing, why not get to know some of the key actors a bit more closely?

A. The incomparable B2

B. One of many Los Angeles-Class nuclear submarines, the delightfully named USS Annapolis

C. Since any Naval operation calls for great surface ships, how about a nice Arleigh Burke-Class Guided Destroyer? And since we're at it, why not the USS Roosevelt?

D. The ultimate force for good in this world

How to Be a GREAT Mideast Correspondent

2006-02-11T07:48:00.000-08:00

For all our readers who can speak (or read) German, this is one of the best parodies on the Mainstream Media's slanted Mideast coverage that I have ever come across. All the usual substitutes for thought, from the "cycle of violence" to the "extremists on both sides" canard, are covered.

A MUST-READ!

Your Civilization Needs You

2006-02-05T15:44:00.000-08:00

Support Denmark. The West will either win as one, or not at all.

The Face of the Enemy

2006-02-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

"This is not a time to get wobbly"

2006-02-05T08:43:00.000-08:00

Thus spoke the great Baroness Thatcher to George H.W. Bush in 1990. Her words are still as true as ever.

Hence my decision not to wobble, but rather to charge ahead at full speed:

Can You Tell Me Where My Country Lies?

2006-02-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

It lies with me.

A bit more on this country, courtesy of Eric Cohen:

We are a nation of inventors, believing that the imagined possibility will become real in only a matter of time. We are a nation of idealists, believing that good will triumph over evil, and that the oppressed of other nations deserve the same liberties as we do. And our idea of the free society is the progress-seeking society--the society of math and science education and nanotechnology and sufficient wealth for all families to live private lives of dignity.

This is more than just beautiful, it is downright memorable. And there's more:

Virtue, not technology, is the real key to American victory and American greatness. And the problem of living virtuously in the high-tech age--as warriors against terror, as caregivers for the old, as inventors of new medicines--is the problem that looms largest in the days ahead.

May God Bless America.

Yerushalayim shel zahav

2006-01-27T01:45:00.000-08:00

Today, 61 years after the liberation of the deepest abyss mankind has ever fallen into, let us celebrate the existence, the security and the beauty of the one and only institution fully and unequivocally dedicated to avoiding its repeat - the State of Israel, with its capital Jerusalem - the eternal capital of the Jewish people.

Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire

2006-01-27T01:37:00.000-08:00

A l'éternité

2006-01-27T01:25:00.000-08:00

A Day that will live in Infamy

2006-01-20T00:39:00.000-08:00

Never Forget. Never.

On January 20th, 1942 fifteen high-ranking civil servants and SS-officers met in this house to discuss plans of "The Final Solution" of the Jewish question in Europe, the decision to deport the Jews of Europe to the East and murder them.

"The Feeling of Betrayal"

2006-01-11T06:41:00.000-08:00

No, Mrs. Merkel, we are not impressed. Hizb'allah probably is, though.

Arik's Legacy

2006-01-09T08:55:00.000-08:00

The Weekly Standard, one of Israel's best friends in the world, has a wonderful piece by Peter Berkowitz on Ariel Sharon's Legacy.

And a beautiful piece it is, as showcased in its closing paragraph:

Sharon is the last of the 48ers--think of Yitzhak Rabin, Ezer Weizman, Moshe Dayan--to occupy the commanding heights of Israeli politics. He belonged to the generation that was born and bred in Israel, that came of age loving the land and fighting in the War of Independence, that was proud of the Zionist dream, that fought hard and lived large, and that, after heroic military careers, governed the nation well into its sixth decade. The 48ers were not always the best of democrats, especially Sharon. And yet time after time, they, and Sharon in particular, rose up to defend their small, surrounded, war-torn, beautiful country, making it possible for Jews to build a free and democratic state in their ancestral homeland.

Letter to Madame Chancellor

2006-01-09T02:35:00.000-08:00

To all of our readers who can speak and read the beautiful language of Goethe, this is a must-see letter to Madame Chancellor Merkel.

General Ariel Sharon, the Epitome of Israel

2006-01-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

While it may be disrespectful to write obituaries for a living person, I believe that given the certainty that Ariel Sharon will never return to the Israeli political scene, a look back on his career and his public life might be apposite.

Needless to say, only the greatest writers will do. Let us begin with Michael B. Oren, Author of the definitive account of Israel's Greatest War, distinguished fellow of the Shalem Center, Colonel in the Reserve Forces of the World's Best Army, and regular contributor to the World's Greatest Magazine.

Oren has a beautiful piece in today's Wall Street Journal that will not, I think, leave anybody untouched. The closing sentence is a quote for the ages:

Now, with his withdrawal from the political scene, Israel stands to enter a new phase in its national existence. Less divided, perhaps, and more certain of the borders it wants and the type of society it aspires to create; separated from the Palestinians but open to compromise with them; preserving productive relations with the international community and an unshakeable alliance with the United States. That is the Israel that Ariel Sharon has left us, a formidable legacy for facing the future.

Another very good comment, by the equally excellent Charles Krauthammer puts the scale of Sharon's achievement in perspective:

The success of this fence-plus-unilateral-withdrawal strategy is easily seen in the collapse of the intifada. Palestinian terror attacks are down 90 percent. Israel's economy has revived. In 2005 it grew at the fastest rate in the entire West. Tourists are back and the country has regained its confidence. The Sharon idea of a smaller but secure and demographically Jewish Israel garnered broad public support, marginalized the old parties of the left and right, and was on the verge of electoral success that would establish a new political center to carry on this strategy.

Next up, at the World's most influential Journal of Opinion, ever, Saul Singer writes, on the subject Ehud Olmert - who may still surprise us, but who, at this point in time, looks like Harry Truman on the morning of April 12th, 1945:

Olmert is a talented politician, and may be able to convey the right combination of strength and humility that the situation demands. It is hard to imagine, however, his attaining the gravitas Sharon achieved in his six decades of service, spanning the life of the state, and culminating in decisions that changed history.

As for my comment of yesterday, in which I called Ariel Sharon the world's greatest living general - with all due respect, that subject matter is non-negotiable, and I will not consider any e-mails making the case that Colin Powell, Pervez Musharraf or, G-d forbid, Wesley Clark should be considered.

In any case, the great Nelson Ascher makes a better case than I ever could.

Furthermore, I do not believe that anybody else could claim to be the greatest living Israeli, either. Not even Benyamin Netanyahu. Yet.

Praying for Ariel Sharon

2006-01-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

We have all had our disagreements with Ariel Sharon, especially over the past few years and months, but at this dire hour, we pray for him, and we hope that the world's greatest living general, the greatest living Israeli, and one of the most courageous and daring human beings ever to grace the face of the planet will survive, and recover.

Don't leave us, Arik.

Conspiracies galore

2005-12-28T03:11:00.000-08:00

The New York Sun has a marvelous compilation of this year's best Arab conspiracy theories, proving once again, in the great Bernard Lewis' words, that

The kind of imagination that can turn [Abraham Lincoln's assassin] John Wilkes Booth into a Jew and make him a Zionist agent twenty years before the first beginnings of the Zionist movement obviously has no limits.

My favorite conspiracy theory only barely makes the Top Ten:

An Iraqi Shiite imam,Jalal Al-Din Al-Saghir, gave a sermon on December 16 that was broadcast on Al-Furat TV. He called Al-Jazeera “a TV channel known to be guided by the Mossad and … whose purpose is to damage … Islamic interests.”

Read it all. And weep.

(Hat Tip: GBT)

Man of the Year: John Bolton

2005-12-08T08:40:00.000-08:00

There is only one United States. And there is only one John Bolton, shining a light in the dark, troublesome world of the so-called United so-called Nations.

In response to the savage "Palestinian" murderer's attack in Netanya, Bolton said:

"You have to speak up in response to these terrorist attacks. It's a great shame that the Security Council couldn't speak to this terrorist attack in Netanya, but if the Council won't speak, the United States will."

In a world where stating the obvious can demand a significant amount of guts, John Bolton stands out.

For his tireless support of Israel, for his fight against the depths of the "UN", for epitomizing the best in America, the world's greatest Nation - John Bolton is our Man of the Year.

Addendum: This is one of the best pieces on Ambassador John Bolton, courtesy of Bret Stephens.

Oh, what a beautiful world...

2005-12-06T09:42:00.000-08:00

The so-called United so-called Nations

2005-12-03T12:45:00.000-08:00

Bret Stephens is one of the brightest stars in the pro-Western journalistic sky. His piece - in today's Wall Street Journal - yes, times change, and there is a Saturday issue - is as well-written and as clear an indictment of this disgusting and terrifying organization as any.

Of course there's always room for hope, and as reform proposals go, Mr. Volcker's are certainly sensible. But as Mr. Annan himself noted, his real service lies in having shone a lantern into what had hitherto been the U.N.'s most unsightly corners. Critics may charge that the light did not illuminate everything. For most of us, it illuminated enough. "Tall Paul" Volcker has been a lighthouse in a storm.

Could someone please remind me why we have to tolerate this freedom-hating circus in New York? Couldn't it be moved to Paris, Brussels, or Tehran?

The Reality-based wing of the Democratic Party (Population: 1)

2005-11-29T04:44:00.000-08:00

Joe Lieberman reminds us, once more, why he is at least as far removed from his party's base, leadership and current center as Zell Miller ever was, with a must-read in today's WSJ.

It is a war between 27 million and 10,000; 27 million Iraqis who want to live lives of freedom, opportunity and prosperity and roughly 10,000 terrorists who are either Saddam revanchists, Iraqi Islamic extremists or al Qaeda foreign fighters who know their wretched causes will be set back if Iraq becomes free and modern. The terrorists are intent on stopping this by instigating a civil war to produce the chaos that will allow Iraq to replace Afghanistan as the base for their fanatical war-making. We are fighting on the side of the 27 million because the outcome of this war is critically important to the security and freedom of America. If the terrorists win, they will be emboldened to strike us directly again and to further undermine the growing stability and progress in the Middle East, which has long been a major American national and economic security priority.

Profile in Courage

2005-11-22T12:31:00.000-08:00

A Democratic President, optimistic about America's Role in the world, confident that any struggle is worth fighting in the interest of Liberty, and conscious of America's Destiny as Man's Last, Best Hope.

It sounds like a throwback to an earlier era - and it is.

But it was an era that proved decisive, and Freedom might not have prevailed if it hadn't been for courageous, patriotic Democrats like Harry S. Truman or John F. Kennedy.

Truman courageously took on the Soviet Union, at a time when many, even in America, did not see the need to be so "confrontational".

Kennedy made it clear to every Free European that the United States would not surrender them. And he initiated the Alliance between the United States and Israel, which still shines a light for freedom among one of the darkest and least hospitable regions. For that alone, we salute the first Catholic President of the United States.

His Inaugural Address remains one of the greatest speeches in American History:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge—and more.

It is hard to imagine any Democrat making a comparable pledge today.

It is not hard to imagine that JFK would feel very much at home in today's Republican Party.

His spirit lives on, tirelessly committed to the survival and success of Liberty, on the Seven Seas, as part of the greatest Navy ever. A fitting tribute.

One of the year's most important books

2005-11-21T01:16:00.000-08:00

... by the incomparable and unsurpassable Thomas Sowell, covering a wide range of subjects, all covered in impeccable and mind-broadening fashion. Seldom have I learned so much in any volume.

Just one quote, from the second part:

When people are presented with the alternatives of hating themselves for their failure or hating others for their success, they seldon choose to hate themselves.

It should also make a marvelous Christmas present, for it is hard to imagine how anyone would not learn something new and intriguing.

"Dead Jews Aren't News"

2005-10-21T00:41:00.000-07:00

Tom Gross has a must-read piece in today's Spectator, on the remarkable focus of much of the world's media on the poor, depressed terrorists and their fellow enablers, as opposed to their victims. The empathy extended to Rachel Corrie is especially sickening:

But ultimately the play, and many of the articles about Corrie that have appeared, are not really about the young American activist who died in such tragic circumstances. They are about promoting a hate-filled and glaringly one-sided view of Israel.

The Nobel Disgrace

2005-10-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

My friend Jay Nordlinger has probably the best line yet on this year's Nobel laureates:

Harold Pinter won the literature prize, and here the Nobel committee performed almost a parody of itself: They picked the most anti-American, most unhinged writer they could find, and one whose literary gifts are less than Dantesque. Or rather, they picked the most anti-American, most unhinged writer they could find whom they had not already honored.

As for the Peace Prize, awarded to the Mad Mullahs' best friend:

This is not only a parody, but a cruel joke, and an insult, and a disgrace. The IAEA may not be damnable, although that is debatable. But it is virtually impotent, and to accord it this great honor is appalling.

What else can one do or say? How about quoting Margaret Thatcher::

We speak of peace, yes, but whose peace? Poland's? Bulgaria's? The peace of the grave?

Good Fences...

2005-10-19T03:47:00.000-07:00

... can lead to staggering hypocrisy. No, it's not just Spain, trying to keep out
poor souls looking for a better life - now Egypt is at it too.

OK, so this sort of behavior is hardly surprising for Israel's oldest enemy, which also happens to be, according to the great Victor Davis Hanson, an Afghanistan of the mind.

For our fellow German-speakers - my friend Martin S. Hagen has a good summary here.

It's Easy If You Try...

2005-10-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

In what will probably go down in History as the first sensible and humane decision by a Syrian official, its Interior Minister pulled the plug. On himself.

Imagine all the people...
... living life in peace...

(Via friend and fellow warrior Statler).

Si Vis Pacem...

2005-10-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

To all those who thought and feared that the IDF's spirit, courage, audacity, cunning, and boundaryless confidence had vanished and gone - Fear Not.

They seem to be back, epitomized by its current Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz. His interview in today's Jerusalem Post is a must-read:

If they escalate terrorism, we'll escalate our actions to counter terrorism. And in the end, we can reduce terrorism to almost zero. I'll never say absolute zero, but close. And the fact is that in 2004, terrorism dropped to the lowest levels in four years. And the same in 2005.

Furthermore, this is exactly the right message to send to those EUroweenies who would imprison every Israeli who ever defended his country against Hitler's grandchildren:

IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz almost dares someone to invite him to London.
He's even prepared to sit in jail to prove Israel is legitimate in its war on terrorism.

Next Year in Teheran?

Mark Helprin (II)

2005-10-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most important pieces on the War On Terror, and it excels even by Mark Helprin's out-of-this-world standards:

Let Us Count the Ways.

Mark Helprin

2005-10-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

Speaking of the greatest (were we?), Mark Helprin now has a web presence. It is an honor to have someone of his ilk in my link collection.

His Biography speaks for itself:

Born in 1947, Mark Helprin was raised on the Hudson and in the British West Indies. After receiving degrees from Harvard College and Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, he did postgraduate work at the University of Oxford, Princeton, and Columbia. He has served in the British Merchant Navy, the Israeli infantry, and the Israeli Air Force. He was published in The New Yorker for almost a quarter of a century, and his stories and essays on politics and aesthetics appear in The Atlantic Monthly, The New Criterion, The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, The New York Times, The National Review, American Heritage, Forbes ASAP, and many other publications here and abroad. Aaron & Helen L. DeRoy Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, Senior Fellow of the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, contributing Editor of The Wall Street Journal, former Guggenheim Fellow and Senior Fellow of the Hudson Institute, and Adviser on Defense and Foreign Relations to presidential candidate Robert Dole, he has been awarded the National Jewish Book Award, the Prix de Rome, among other prizes. Translated into more than a dozen languages, his books include A Dove of the East & Other Stories, Refiner's Fire, Ellis Island & Other Stories, Winter's Tale, Swan Lake (With illustrations by Chris Van Allsburg), A Soldier of the Great War, Memoir from Antproof Case, A City in Winter and The Veil of Snows (both with illustrations by Chris Van Allsburg), The Pacific & Other Stories, and Freddy and Fredericka.

The "Anti-War" crowd is the enemy

2005-09-29T00:40:00.000-07:00

Amir Taheri has an excellent piece in the Jerusalem Post, making it clear - as if there had been any doubt - that the self-proclaimed "peace camp" is as cynical as it is inhumane:

The organizers want Iraq destroyed so they can claim they were right to oppose the toppling of Saddam Hussein

An Early Christmas Wish

2005-09-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

The West has a chance for survival. It just so happens to be the last.

Europe's continuing descent into oblivion

2005-09-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

Karl Zinsmeister has an excellent piece in the current American Enterprise Magazine, with the very apt title "Europe learns the wrong lessons". The closing paragraph is especially good:

So we must support our natural allies across Europe, and wish that one day they may again lead their societies toward the same freedoms and individual virtues that Europeans once cherished in concert with Americans. And meantime, as we work and wait, many citizens of the United States will experience a private pang of agreement with balladeer Guy Clark—who, in his song “Immigrant Eyes,” thanks his grandfather foremost because “he gave me the gift of this country” by leaving an older one behind.

Music from Heaven

2005-09-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

With the exception of Bright Eyes' (and Desaparecidos') Conor Oberst, there is not a single musician on this planet who can rival Ryan Adams' talent, versatility, artistic depth and incessant desire for new, surprising directions. His latest piece, Cold Roses, shows Ryan and his friends at the pinnacle of their creed.

How fortunate we are...

"The death of memory"

2005-09-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

Caroline B. Glick's latest piece is, as ever, a must-read:

We are a people with a mission in the world. Our mission as Jews and as the Jewish state is predicated on our preservation of our national memory and the actualization of that memory in our lives and in the lives of the generations that come after us.

Simon Wiesenthal, R.I.P.

2005-09-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

One of the most marvelous human beings of all time has left us. His legacy and his quest for justice will be remembered forever:

Wiesenthal once spent the Sabbath at the home of a former Mauthausen inmate, now a well-to-do jewelry manufacturer.

After dinner his host said, "Simon, if you had gone back to building houses, you'd be a millionaire. Why didn't you?"

"You're a religious man," replied Wiesenthal. "You believe in God and life after death. I also believe. When we come to the other world and meet the millions of Jews who died in the camps and they ask us, 'What have you done?', there will be many answers.

You will say, 'I became a jeweler',

Another will say, I have smuggled coffee and American cigarettes',

Another will say, 'I built houses',

But I will say, 'I didn't forget you'."

Never Forget

2005-09-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

"Freedom itself came under attack today"
- George W. Bush, September 11th, 2001

"We will not falter, we will not tire, and we will not fail"
- George W. Bush, September 20th, 2001

In Memory of all those who were murdered on September 11th, 2001, in New York City, at the Pentagon in Virginia, in Pennsylvania, and in the air above the greatest country on Earth.

We wil never forget.

May God Bless Them.

May God Bless America.

Let the "Palestinian" Civil War begin

2005-09-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

What a friendly way of celebrating the first part of their own "state":

Israeli security forces reported Wednesday that Manhal Arafat, the son of General Moussa Arafat who was shot to death Tuesday night, was kidnapped and killed by his abductors.

The best part? No Israelis, Americans or other Westerners are affected. Keep the gates closed, and let them celebrate!

"Two very different societies"

2005-09-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Mentioning that an article posted at VDH's website is a must-read verges on a truism, but Gaza and Victory? is a very good reminder that these are indeed "two very different societies":

Both sides fight, but not for the same reasons. Israel fights to preserve its democracy; Hamas fights to establish theocracy. Israeli politicians seek public support by promising solutions and calm; Palestinian leaders do so by pledging struggle and martyrdom. Israelis are saddened when their army causes injury to innocent Palestinians and prosecute their soldiers who violate the law. Palestinians greet atrocities carried out in their honor with cheers, rationalization, and fireworks (or, as on 9/11, they hand out sweets). If Israelis march in the streets, they brandish placards; if Palestinians pour into the streets, expect automatic weapons.

He closes his piece as follows:

For disengagement cannot bring peace; the withdrawal is from the land, not the struggle. Nothing can bring Israel peace until Palestinian terrorism is routed. Victory precedes peace, and it is on victory that Israel must now concentrate.

Indeed it must. And all friends of Israel should thank him for this moral clarity and courage. Given that Joey Tartakovsky is the Assistant Editor of the outstanding and irreplaceable Claremont Review of Books, one would expect no less.

(Cross-posted at Students Supporting a Secure Israel)

The Paper of Non-Record

2005-08-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

Martin Peretz has a Must-Read on the New York Times' difficult relationship with facts in general, and especially facts about Israel.

Paul Krugman, Master of Inanities

2005-08-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

Would anything be too low for the Left's worst demagogue?

Is the Pope Catholic?

Do the "Palestinians" deserve their own state?

What would we do without the Krugman Truth Squad ?