A Personal Thought on Netanyahu's Address To Congress
I listened to Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to congress today. I caught it on a TV installed in the lobby of a dialysis clinic, and on the radio, and where I could. It could be said that I caught most of it.
At first, I was simply interested in whether or not he would reveal secret elements of sensitive intelligence - the idea that a Presiding officer of another country is brought to our country to give a talk on such a sensitive topic as Iranian disarmament - without first being invited by the White House - is a strange thing for us , as Americans. It seemed as if those that invited him were interested in playing politics with intelligence data.
For me, that brought back bad memories. There was a theological-conservative group within a group that helped bring my country to war without justification - who addressed the United Nations with falsified data... that came to mind. Then there was the moment at which our sitting president said that the country we are to fight, has nuclear weaponry.
As an American, I do not like the fact that there is a military industrial complex whose existence depends upon destroying old hardware. Old Sherman tanks become obsolete. A war corporatist state simply chases after conflict so that the Shermans are delivered into war, and destroyed.
Israel receives massive amounts of money from the United States; nearly a third of its Miltary budget
comes from American donations. In return, 75% of that money given to Israel, is used to purchase American Military weaponry.
We live in a world where the Messiah came, and walked the earth. He brought peace to all. And yet, even as we speak - the very ground upon which he walked is war-torn. It seems clear that the goal of Netanyahu's speech was to continue business as usual. Iran , apparently, is on the verge of having harmful sanctions expire. They are also, apparently, on the verge of cheap nuclear power. But in this Middle East, the posturing and attack/counter attack strategies that continue to burn the ground are precisely where Israel, from a foreign policy standpoint, wants to keep things.
This in turn will continue to burn up military hardware.
The pursuit of peace is a noble thing. But what is the character of War Corporatism? Is it peace?
In some ways, yes. Because a war corporatist state seeks a level of conflict that continues the rapid rotation of military hardware, without the scale of devastation that would hurt the credit and buying power of its customers. It seeks, in essence, a state of eternal war - not unlike that of Orwell's Novel 1984.
And so, as a country, over the past few years, have been led toward diplomacy. This in turn, no doubt, hurt the economies of scale that exist around eternal, fabricated war.
North Korea , when addressing its citizens, reminds them of the evil that exists in the world. Their goal is to inspire fear - to in many ways, convince their citizens to continue to expend a disproportionate sum of their resources on a war machine that is still largely unused. And it is funded by a mechanism largely unchanged. This is similiar to the investment portfolio that Mr. Netanyahu holds, directed not to sell any stock before his speech.
With increasing sophistication, war is being across the public internet - with America continuing to be the target of very real,very focussed attacks. Israel’s National Cyber Bureau announced plans to include China in a Cyber Emergency Response Team to be created next year; North Korea's arm strength in their latest attack against our country has the markings of a Chinese sponsored attack.
In 2011, China gained a controlling interest in a major firm in Israel’s agrochemical sector on the back of $2.4 billion in investments by China National Chemical Corporation. Beijing has also gained access to Israeli nanotechnology via a joint venture between Tel Aviv and Tsinghua universities to operate a shared research center.
Israeli defense sales to China have lagged substantially ever since Washington’s strong objections forced Israel to cancel a $1.1 billion sale of a Phalcon early-warning aircraft to China back in 2000.
Mr. Netanyahu has said that if it must stand alone, it will stand alone. Having served as Finance Minister of Israel, he no doubt understood the financial impact of America choosing not to recognize the " the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements" in certain areas along the Gaza, and the successful inroads that American diplomacy , abstracted from war - have made. He has stood alone, in marriage - having had an affair with a woman, and divorced his first wife. Then a second. And a third.
And apparently, now, with America. This speech seemed to dictate to America, her course of foreign policy. And it did so with all the underpinning and hearsay of previous arguments the American people have heard, which were used as the justification for attack on Iraq.
Because of visible rifts between Netanyahu and members of the Obama administration, observers have characterized the relationship as having reached a crisis level by October 2014. The relationship between Netanyahu and the Obama administration had become problematic enough that Jeffrey Goldberg reported in November 2014 that his conversations with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials indicated Israel would wait until a new U.S. president is elected before attempting to repair the relationship with the White House.
The recent move by the speaker of the house, to invite Mr. Netanyahu - seemed apparently to lay the framework for a vituperative break. Mr. Netanyahu repeatedly broke peace accords during his tenure -
and on commitments made by previous Israeli governments as part of the Oslo peace process,,
American envoy Dennis Ross has stated taht "neither the President Clinton nor Secretary of State believed that Netanyahu had any real interest in pursuing peace".
And so, with his speech, I see now - that he does not. Conventional war is expensive, and the acquisition of nuclear technology is inevitable. There is a time and place for those who believe that the constant response to a world of escalating tension is to simply break out a weapon... and a very , very difficult case to make that over the course of time the most advanced weapons will not be acquired through evolution.
But there comes a point at which the smoking gun does not become a mushroom cloud. It becomes, instead, a profitable investment. We have heard a speech by a man who dissolved his own government, who expressed his contempt for our country in no uncertain terms. As much as he would quote our American Poet - perhaps he should hear the words of a great Jewish poet.
"Your faith was strong but you needed proof" - Leonard Cohen.
Netanyahu has placed his faith in a conventional, eternal, ground war. Cohen, however, was inspired by another Jewish leader - who was brought down to earth, and risked surrender of his authority - all due to a forbidden love.
Perhaps Mr. Netanyahu would do well to consider the risk of love. It may ultimately be the greater path to peace.
"And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him" – 1 Samuel 16:23
I've told the truth. I didn't come to fool you.
At first, I was simply interested in whether or not he would reveal secret elements of sensitive intelligence - the idea that a Presiding officer of another country is brought to our country to give a talk on such a sensitive topic as Iranian disarmament - without first being invited by the White House - is a strange thing for us , as Americans. It seemed as if those that invited him were interested in playing politics with intelligence data.
For me, that brought back bad memories. There was a theological-conservative group within a group that helped bring my country to war without justification - who addressed the United Nations with falsified data... that came to mind. Then there was the moment at which our sitting president said that the country we are to fight, has nuclear weaponry.
As an American, I do not like the fact that there is a military industrial complex whose existence depends upon destroying old hardware. Old Sherman tanks become obsolete. A war corporatist state simply chases after conflict so that the Shermans are delivered into war, and destroyed.
Israel receives massive amounts of money from the United States; nearly a third of its Miltary budget
comes from American donations. In return, 75% of that money given to Israel, is used to purchase American Military weaponry.
We live in a world where the Messiah came, and walked the earth. He brought peace to all. And yet, even as we speak - the very ground upon which he walked is war-torn. It seems clear that the goal of Netanyahu's speech was to continue business as usual. Iran , apparently, is on the verge of having harmful sanctions expire. They are also, apparently, on the verge of cheap nuclear power. But in this Middle East, the posturing and attack/counter attack strategies that continue to burn the ground are precisely where Israel, from a foreign policy standpoint, wants to keep things.
This in turn will continue to burn up military hardware.
The pursuit of peace is a noble thing. But what is the character of War Corporatism? Is it peace?
In some ways, yes. Because a war corporatist state seeks a level of conflict that continues the rapid rotation of military hardware, without the scale of devastation that would hurt the credit and buying power of its customers. It seeks, in essence, a state of eternal war - not unlike that of Orwell's Novel 1984.
And so, as a country, over the past few years, have been led toward diplomacy. This in turn, no doubt, hurt the economies of scale that exist around eternal, fabricated war.
North Korea , when addressing its citizens, reminds them of the evil that exists in the world. Their goal is to inspire fear - to in many ways, convince their citizens to continue to expend a disproportionate sum of their resources on a war machine that is still largely unused. And it is funded by a mechanism largely unchanged. This is similiar to the investment portfolio that Mr. Netanyahu holds, directed not to sell any stock before his speech.
With increasing sophistication, war is being across the public internet - with America continuing to be the target of very real,very focussed attacks. Israel’s National Cyber Bureau announced plans to include China in a Cyber Emergency Response Team to be created next year; North Korea's arm strength in their latest attack against our country has the markings of a Chinese sponsored attack.
In 2011, China gained a controlling interest in a major firm in Israel’s agrochemical sector on the back of $2.4 billion in investments by China National Chemical Corporation. Beijing has also gained access to Israeli nanotechnology via a joint venture between Tel Aviv and Tsinghua universities to operate a shared research center.
Israeli defense sales to China have lagged substantially ever since Washington’s strong objections forced Israel to cancel a $1.1 billion sale of a Phalcon early-warning aircraft to China back in 2000.
Mr. Netanyahu has said that if it must stand alone, it will stand alone. Having served as Finance Minister of Israel, he no doubt understood the financial impact of America choosing not to recognize the " the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements" in certain areas along the Gaza, and the successful inroads that American diplomacy , abstracted from war - have made. He has stood alone, in marriage - having had an affair with a woman, and divorced his first wife. Then a second. And a third.
And apparently, now, with America. This speech seemed to dictate to America, her course of foreign policy. And it did so with all the underpinning and hearsay of previous arguments the American people have heard, which were used as the justification for attack on Iraq.
Because of visible rifts between Netanyahu and members of the Obama administration, observers have characterized the relationship as having reached a crisis level by October 2014. The relationship between Netanyahu and the Obama administration had become problematic enough that Jeffrey Goldberg reported in November 2014 that his conversations with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials indicated Israel would wait until a new U.S. president is elected before attempting to repair the relationship with the White House.
The recent move by the speaker of the house, to invite Mr. Netanyahu - seemed apparently to lay the framework for a vituperative break. Mr. Netanyahu repeatedly broke peace accords during his tenure -
and on commitments made by previous Israeli governments as part of the Oslo peace process,,
American envoy Dennis Ross has stated taht "neither the President Clinton nor Secretary of State believed that Netanyahu had any real interest in pursuing peace".
And so, with his speech, I see now - that he does not. Conventional war is expensive, and the acquisition of nuclear technology is inevitable. There is a time and place for those who believe that the constant response to a world of escalating tension is to simply break out a weapon... and a very , very difficult case to make that over the course of time the most advanced weapons will not be acquired through evolution.
But there comes a point at which the smoking gun does not become a mushroom cloud. It becomes, instead, a profitable investment. We have heard a speech by a man who dissolved his own government, who expressed his contempt for our country in no uncertain terms. As much as he would quote our American Poet - perhaps he should hear the words of a great Jewish poet.
"Your faith was strong but you needed proof" - Leonard Cohen.
Netanyahu has placed his faith in a conventional, eternal, ground war. Cohen, however, was inspired by another Jewish leader - who was brought down to earth, and risked surrender of his authority - all due to a forbidden love.
Perhaps Mr. Netanyahu would do well to consider the risk of love. It may ultimately be the greater path to peace.
"And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him" – 1 Samuel 16:23
I've told the truth. I didn't come to fool you.
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