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A tale of a tail

By Michael J. Smith on Tuesday August 1, 2006 08:31 AM

Recent events in the Levant have put me in mind the big flap a couple of months back about the Mearsheimer-Walt report, which argued for the tail-wags-dog reading of US-Israel relations. Most Lefties didn't buy the M-W thesis and continued to put their faith in what you might call the Monolithic Empire theory, which holds that Israel is a mere sockpuppet of imperial chessmasters back in Washington, or perhaps Wall Street.

Condi Rice's apparent success, a day or two ago, in putting the lid on Israel's Guernica-Part-Deux in Lebanon had the Monolithic Empire lefties congratulating themselves on their penetration. But of course here's the latest:

As Israel fought more aggressively on the ground, it continued to keep down its number of airstrikes in the second day of a 48-hour pause in the air campaign it promised the American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

Israel said that it would halt air operations for two days while it investigates the deaths of dozens of civilians in Qana, but said it would make exceptions to respond to "imminent threats," like rocket-launching teams, and to support ground forces.

Ms. Rice said she had accepted Israel’s explanation for resuming airstrikes barely 12 hours after the suspension was announced.

Condi "accepts" it, does she? Puts me in mind of Carlyle's comment, as narrated by William James:
"I accept the universe" is reported to have been a favorite utterance of our New England transcendentalist, Margaret Fuller; and when some one repeated this phrase to Thomas Carlyle, his sardonic comment is said to have been: "Gad! she'd better!"
Postscript: Obsessive augurs given to examining the Times' entrails might find it interesting to compare the online and print versions of the item quoted above. The print headline was "Israel Presses on Despite Agreeing to Airstrike Lull"; online it was "Israel Expands Offensive to Drive Back Hezbollah." The broken promise to poor Condi was in the lead graf in print, and buried in graf 8 online. The wording changed, too; that silly little whistling-in-the-dark spin about Israel "keeping down" its terror bombing was entirely absent in the print edition.

Comments (7)

J. Alva Scruggs:

The Scruggs Theory™ posits an organized crime type relationship. The local crew gets to call a lot of the shots, as long as it remains useful. But interests can diverge at times and if it gets too uppity, it gets reined in a little.

Both the other theories place an emphasis on an assumption of national interest that I don't think is warranted. The two countries are vehicles for crooks and their cronies, with populations that are nuisances to them.

bobw:

"Most lefties didnt buy the Meerscheimer-Walt thesis. . ."
I wasnt aware of that. I certainly didnt not buy it.

Remember, Feith, Perle and David Wurmser, among others, helped Israel write the "Clean Break" policy -- Israel's new aggressive approach to Palestine and the ME.

This doesnt mean Israel was thereafter a US proxy -- it just means Israel and the neocons (the future Bush administration) were now looking at ME policy in the same way.

It's just as logical to say that Israel brought Feith, Perle and Wurmser on board, as the opposite.

I think it's truer to say lefties look on Israel and the US as two separate crime families pursuing mutually supportive policies in the same place.

js paine:

hey their both bad outfits

but by playing that up

you create a diversion
for the wall street srtutters

ie
if the deal goes south on us

and big hunks of the ass hole innocent american multitude
start lookin to blame so body
for this gross leveraging of the nation
for the benefit of a few high rollers
welll

its obvious
the puss heads
leave the zionics holdin the bag

" hey we got greeked here
t'was a wooden neo con horse
full of zionic traitors

just like the commie traitors lost us china

blame it all on israel

J. Alva Scruggs:

I don't disagree, JSP. Today's keyboard commandos will happily go back to judeophobia once it's okayed by their respective talking points centrals. The tentacles of the capital cum M/I complex are so prevalent that they don't believe they exist. Talking about them is the worst kind of class warfare, especially because class isn't a barrier to success in America.

bobw:

Billmon comments today: it doesnt really matter to decide whether Israel or the US is calling the shots in the present conflict; "the neocons seem to be running parallel governments in both countries."

js paine:

doesn't really matter
if its uncle sam
or his adopted nephew
calling the plays ???

i guess not
at least not
today
since if you didn't know who's calling the shots you'd only have to act in duplicate
to be sure you were talking to the real thing

but over the great haul of history
it surely matters hugely

and my money is still on uncle
and his wall street backers

he either
calls the plays
or at an opportune moment
calls the game

js paine:

here's a way it would matter

the zionic lobby
gets nixonized

and the wally world scoundrels
with big hat energy
at their side
who sure as the sun sets
plan on
keeping on keeping on
pretty much
as they have since 1946

they will
re assure us
maybe not from the balcony over the new york stock exchange
but who ever the talking head
it will be them movin the lips even let alone providing the words

" the neo con nest
has been rooted out
the president himself
hip to the spell placed on him
unfortunately
was killed leading
the final assault on the offices of the vice president
he died fighting
for our country's independence

let us pray
for him
but let us not
hold in our rejoicing
we americans have regained control
of our own government
this long national nightmare
is over"


so it does matter
since this country's
gubmint
will still be controlled by the same lobbies and cliques
that have run the show for decades
the lobbies
that flow out of the board rooms of corporate america
into the offices and positions of power
even if aipac is
blown to holy hell


so
i guess my feud
with ole kkk billmon
continues

billy your providing cover for the tower trolls

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