Shana Tova !
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Archive for September, 2011
Shana Tova !
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011Dear Jerusalem, Never heard anything like this…..it’s like denying Damascus and later Washington, London, Stockholmo, Paris, and Berlin.
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011The Hebrew word “ger”( stranger) occurs significantly in the Torah.
One thing I know is this verse of scripture which says “ Do not oppress the stranger as you were also once strangers in Egypt”
And every Christian quotes the words of the Torah which occur in Leviticus 19:18 and is a mitzvah/commandment:
“V’ahavta l’rayacha kamocha, ani Hashem” – “You shall love your neighbour as yourself, I am Hashem” – The Lord !
No Stranger Than You – Timeless Torah – Timeless Lessons for the …
At this point, what is perhaps not clear is whether or not those called Palestinians are neighbours or not. Whether they are brothers, cousins or enemies. I told Ahmed my Palestinian Arab Brother from Gaza, that he should try to cultivate some love in his heart, for his cousins and he told me that he loved his cousins but if by “his cousins”, I meant the Jewz , then I should know that the Jews were not “his” cousins and that they are his enemies.
Yes, the Palestinians are a thorn in the flesh of Israel.
Not an information overload I hope, just the latest newZ about what may be in your heart or under the microscope and thankfully, not in the micro-oven as in the era of the gas-chamber.
CAMERA: Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in
And
Yesterday was the last day of debating at the UN’s 66th Session
- It’s a sine qua non : Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict
-
It’s worthwhile considering the Arab positions…
This was published in 1989: Yehoshafat Harkabi : Israel’s Fateful Hour
¤
To get a slight feeling of what I mean, just listen to Fred Åkerström singing
Oslo
When it comes to Jerusalem, some a them think that all they have to do is to go
to the United Nations – no consultations with the Almighty and then to take
a vote about our fate, there
What is more than likely when a single square centimetre of Jerusalem the centrepiece of everybody’s focus seems to be in jeopardy, is what’s recorded on page 143 ff of Yehoshafat Harkabi’s book Israel’s Fateful Hour ( published in 1989) – please read : 4. The Awakening of Nationalsitic Religious Extremism
We’re almost there. When Jerusalem becomes a contention – in the kind of way that Mecca is not , we go back to what Chaim Weizmann famously quipped when Jerusalem was a contention in the office of Lord Balfour:
“Mr. Balfour, supposing I were to offer you Paris instead of London, would you take it?” “But Dr. Weizmann,” Balfour retorted, “we have London,” to which Weizmann rejoined, “That is true, but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh.”
After the long history of promises about Jerusalem made by the last US administrations, including moving the the US Embassy to Jerusalem, it is indeed a brazen about-face-turn to read that
“Secretary of State Clinton, in a sharp departure from her stance when she was a senator, is warning that any American action, even symbolically, toward recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel must be avoided for the reason that it would jeopardize the peace process.”.
“But we had Jerusalem when Washington was a marsh and the skyscrapers of New York had not yet come into existence” (CH)
Time will have to be on somebody’s side if Jerusalem is the issue on which the warring parties will have to negotiate forever. As I once heard Prime Minister Yitzak Shamir say on TV, “We are prepared to negotiate forever!”
The rest of the horrible story of what Mrs. Clinton is say-ing:
Clinton testyifies against including Israel in Jerusalem birth certificates
Thoroughly disgusting, even if it’s only a delaying tactic. Postpone ratifying the only possible denouement…
One more more thoroughly disgusting headline for the day: and please tell me, if this doesn’t sound like anti-Semitism, then what is? :
“Arabs Lie. It’s Part of Their Culture. “
The negotiations will break down with that kind of attitude as a starting point. Will break down perhaps never to be resumed . Never to become the eternal or everlasting negotiation, even if one side is prepared to negotiate forever…..even if after war, there is usually peace, but not in the Middle East.
Now my dear countryman/ countrywoman, can you imagine Jimmie Åkesson writing a headline like “ Arabs lie. It’s part of their culture.” in the SD Website?
Should he do so not only would every tom, dick, harry and Svensson be jumping on him, I think that he would be worse off than that scoundrel of the accursed ilk, the dog-faced Lars Vilks wagging his decrepit tail and trying to paint with faded ink.
Á bas ! Easier said than done : Mahmoud Abbas’ spiel @ the UN (1)
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011Rabbi Dov Lior: Collective punishment against rioters
un general assembly 66th session
Very personally speaking, far be it from yours truly to ever wish to oppress anyone on God’s earth or to enslave anyone or to want to deny anyone his or her freedom, mental, physical, or spiritual.
So, the first time listening to Mahmoud Abbas’ address to the United Nations is emotionally heart-rending – the long litany of grievances, suffering, humiliation at road blocks, in a word Palestinians caged in a veritable crucible of oppression. He’s not lying and much that has been described and reported reminds me of what the sorry situation was in once upon a time Apartheid South Africa, the difference being that in Israel the conflict, the restrictions – in a word the oppression is not colour-based and there are other differences, it’s another country, another history. This too has to be clearly understood.
The crux of the matter as Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion said,
“If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti – Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault ? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that? “
In South Africa , the Boers also saw South Africa as the “Promised Land” – a promise based on the theology of the Dutch Reformed Church.
But is that all it is, an extended argumentum ad misericordiam? Should be taking a closer look into the Palestinians situation as presented by Mahmoud Abbas at the UN.
Mahmoud Abbas at the UN: Jews have occupied …
More importantly, the aftermath of Abbas’ spiel – some of the results and repercussions:
Mahmoud Abbas‘ speech at the UN
For instance he says, “Thus, we agreed to establish the State of Palestine on only 22% of the territory of historical Palestine – on all the Palestinian Territory occupied by Israel in 1967.” – this is a misleading statement, as explained in the last paragraph here
Jonathan Cook who sympathises with the Pals in their plight, writes this from Nazareth,
“So the Palestinian leadership is stuck. Abbas has run out of institutional addresses for helping him to establish a state alongside Israel. And that means there is a third casualty of the statehood bid – the Palestinian Authority. The PA was the fruit of the Oslo process, and will wither without its sustenance.
Instead we are entering a new phase of the conflict in which the US, Europe, and the UN will have only a marginal part to play. The Palestinian old guard are about to be challenged by a new generation that is tired of the formal structures of diplomacy that pander to Israel’s interests only.
The young new Palestinian leaders are familiar with social media, are better equipped to organise a popular mass movement, and refuse to be bound by the borders that encaged their parents and grandparents. Their assessment is that the PA – and even the Palestinians’ unrepresentative supra-body, the PLO – are part of the problem, not the solution.”
I do not say “ to be continued” I’ll have to start this all over again, from the beginning, give it some structure, look into the substance of what Mahmoud Abbas says and then have a discussion with him, based on what he says . In very sorrowful terms he says that “settlements” is the root of the impasse – but Israel for example did impose a ten month freeze on Settlement construction (building houses to accommodate Israelis who need to live in houses) and the question is what happened with the peace process during that time? What was Hamas doing during those ten months?
Somehow, I cannot hear the phrase “The peace Process” mentioned without thinking of Faisal al- Husseini’s last interview…
( Still a little – just a little – disconcerted by some of what Mahmoud Abbas says.
To be continued, from the start of Mahmoud Abbas’s address to the end. Trust me…. and then it’s BIBI ’s turn….
If pigs could fly…
Monday, September 26th, 2011IF DOGS RUN FREE
As things are today even His Holiness Pope Benedictus XVI wants a Palestinian State.
Are we to suppose that if the Pope’s main man Jesus of Nazareth, Galilee, Northern Israel were around or were to suddenly return to earth, as some anticipate – even before the rebuilding of the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem, where he himself preached, he would also be winging for the establishment of a Palestinian State – not a Roman Occupation but one with Mahmoud Abbas or the leader of Hamas as president?
What do the Arabs of Sweden want? Good question.
What Do the Arabs of East Jerusalem Really Want?
I read in today’s The Local that there will soon be more men than there are women in Sweden. Bad news. This new scarcity in available women could soon lead to a period of mass conversions to Islam in the hope of the 72 virgins which some men can not get here on earth, but hope to get in the Islamic Heaven. And verily, this mass conversion because of lust – from an entirely Roman Catholic point of view is one of the seven deadly sins which could bring Eurabia dramatically closer to fruition/reality.That’s one way of looking at it. There are other ways of looking at the whole mess.
No need to be scared just now. I was only kidding…
In the meantime unlike the other descendants of Homo erectus, Pope Benedictus does not have to worry about that, since he still has his celibate Cardinals and his Vatican which is yet surprisingly, nearer to Tripoli than to the Holy Land.
So, what more could Pope Benedictus ever want?
Next the Archbishop of Canterbury, Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, the Bishop of Stockholmo, Desmond Tutu too and all a them, the Patriarch of Moscow, Damascus and Cons-tan-tin-ople, will all soon be issuing statements and fatwas that could or would not be approved by Jesus or pontificating about Middle East politics and the non-existence of someone’s “Palestinian State.”
The pontifications probably theologically and politically reconcilable with Jesus reportedly having said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” – and nor should theirs?
I have serious doubts that anyone who wants to please al-Qaeda, or anyone who advocates the urgency of handing over control of any part of Jerusalem to those who face Mecca when they pray, are in reality friends of Lazarus or following 100% in the footsteps of the Jesus who said “Take up your cross and follow me” – not follow Mahmoud Abbas or anyone else.
This is not expected. He never said that he was going to come back, but needless to say if Hamas’ main man the Prophet of Islam were also to unexpectedly return today – in one form or another – he no doubt would be shaking hands with His Holiness and probably holding a press conference in Ramallah or Mecca or even having a Halal Banquet with Barack Hussein Obama in the White House or asking for a permanent seat in the Security Council to rescind or veto the existence of any State that he and some of his followers do not recognise under the terms/ principles of of Dar al-Islam versus Dar al-Harb..
If pigs could fly, then they would also be making speeches at the United Nations
But these are theological presuppositions about al-Islam’s political positions in the world after 911.
Just as the theological suppositions could change drastically after Armageddon – if there ever is an Armageddon battle there between Islam and what Islam knows as “the Infidels” / Kuffar…the non-Muslims.
I suppose that some ( peaceful Sweden perhaps) would like to stay neutral whilst such a battle rages on. Even if as the bard says
“ Now there’s spiritual warfare and flesh and blood breaking down
Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain’t no neutral ground “
Whilst George Bush says, “You’re either with us or you are with the terrorists”
In reality the adherents of al-Islam await the Mahdi and the works that he is expected to accomplish
and these eschatological expectations do impact strongly on people’s long term hopes and dreams.
He will most probably not be in need of a few nuclear bombs, to win his battles, but in the meantime, it’s still “put your trust in God; but mind to keep your powder dry “
A. J. Quinnell’s “The Mahdi” is a real thriller – a possibility there that many readers say should have been sold to the C.I.A……and just in case you haven’t read it, I won’t be the one to let the cat out of the bag……
I shall now once more listen to what Mahmoud Abbas had to say at the UN, and topmost in my mind is worries about what ’s known in Islam as HUDNA – because it’s worrying when Abbas talks about “ peaceful resistance” whilst Israel would like a lasting peace and guarantees of permanent security, not just a temporary cessation of hostilities/ jihad / “ resistance” until they (the Pals& their allies) have enough weapons to drop the bomb and to drop the word “peaceful” from the phrase “peaceful resistance”. After all Article 11 of the Hamas Covenant has still not been abrogated.
VIDEO: Pamela Geller on the Sean Hannity Show on FOX News
War without end ? The future may be closer than we think….
Mahmoud Abbas has the flag ready, but he talks not of peace but of “Peaceful Resistance”(1)
Sunday, September 25th, 2011un general assembly 66th session
What I really want to get to is Benjamin Netanyahu’s UN Address. But since he spoke after Yasser Arafat’s successor, Mahmoud Abbas, I must first do justice to Abbas before I get to Bibi
Before I get to dissecting Mahmoud Abbas’ maiden speech at the UN, which I intend to do later this evening, I should just right now like to clear off some of the debris, some preliminary matters in this instalment:
So Abbas Wants the Temple Mount: ?
No doubt, that’s Why Palestinians Want This Video Removed
All the more reason to listen carefully to what Dore Gold is saying here :
Dore Gold Argues Against Unilateral Palestinian Statehood on BBC
Sweden is not America – Iran’s “Great Satan” and America is not Sweden ,but we do have a lot in common and I thought about this last night as I listened carefully to a good part of Islam: What the West Needs to Know ; except that none of it was new to me – after all I studied Islam, Sunni Islam – and especially Shia Islam and Irfan – which I call “advanced philosophy” beyond where no word has entered – most seriously, in two periods 1987 – 1989 and 1989 – 1995 as I have studied Judaism assiduously from 1995 to now……and these are things about which a man should not boast. What’s there to boast about? The external, the zahir or the innermost, the al-batin? You want to tell me something you read in a book? Well I was familiar with some other Eastern traditions long before that, but even before Rabbi Yaakov Hillel’s “Faith and Folly “ all that was long over after a few journeys to the US and India…
Moses himself was a very humble man
That was Moses.
Somehow, I cannot say the name Mahmoud Abbas without thinking of his namesake Bar-Abbas who was nailed on the cross side by side with Jesus – and that all this happened in the Holy Land at a time when it was under Roman Occupation. The Bar-Abbas in question was supposedly a Zealot, aflame with unbridled nationalist zeal against the occupying Roman idolaters.
Now you may continue to consider these words : “God don’t make promises that He don’t keep.”
Consider.
To want to steal the land that the Almighty gave to His people Israel, what kind of thief / theft would you call that? As far as I understand, the Jewish people only lay claim to the land that Hashem gives to the Jewish people as an everlasting heritage Genesis 17: 8
And this must be a universally ethical principle too: that you can only claim what is rightfully yours – and not by theft – and that to claim what is not yours is theft .(Of course some of the Marxists say that “all property is theft” – thieves – including those who will soon want to annex the planet Mars and the moon….)
That’s how it has come to pass that in some cases, today’s terrorist was yesterday’s freedom fighter, fighting for what’s his, what still belongs to him.
In the Passover Haggadah, we encounter the four sons, and so too we learn from Pirkei Avot that among us, there are these four types men:Pirkei Avot 5:13
Just the other day Mr. Netanyahu told the world, “You know why we’re called “Jews”? Because we come from Judea.”
Judea and Samaria, what is now called “The West bank”
Now Mahmoud Abass – I don’t call him a thief and I do sympathise with his peace intentions, if they are indeed peaceful because he talks about “peaceful resistance” which is indeed a strong moral force if its about inalienable rights or an appeal to someone’s conscience that could be ill at ease, but “peaceful resistance” is a fundamentally foreign concept in al- Islam’s ideological lexicon – seems to me that Jihad is more in their tradition.
Mahmoud Abbas should not forget that Socrates took hemlock as the back-door way out to the Hereafter, without even a thought of 72 virgins, for preaching “ a foreign philosophy”. It’s obvious that the Jihadists don’t like any pussyfooting old man talk / foreign Christian philosophy or Hindu vows that “the people will continue their popular peaceful resistance” or that he might eventually be requiring of them that they turn the other cheek or even start learning the lessons of how to “love thine enemies” .In the meantime and long before they should ever arrive at that advanced stage what does he mean by resistance and how can it be peaceful with all the frustrated jihadist ideology and so many angry jihadists foaming at the mouth and swearing that the Holy Land – all of it- is theirs, “until the Day of Judgement” according to article 11 of the Hamas Charter ?
It’s Ok Abu Mazen may well sympathise or agree with or even prefer the less bloody method of Satyagraha espoused by Mahatma Gandhi or the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King ’s non-violence method that served the Civil Rights movements such spectacular results – results which would not have been more easily achieved by bloodshed. I must observe that in that his maiden speech to the UN, at no point did Mahmoud Abbas sound like Mahatma Gandhi or remind me of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, although he did remind me from time time of Malcolm X who is a lot closer to Islamic tradition at least when Malcolm spoke like this:
”There’s nothing in our book, the Quran —— you call it “Ko—ran” —— that teaches us to suffer peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be intelligent. Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery. That’s a good religion.”
Mahmoud Abbas now vows, “The people will continue their popular peaceful resistance“.But how can it be peaceful and for how long, with his political rivals Hamas already denouncing his UN bid?
Of course I wish him well – at least a peaceful transit to Jordan all in one piece, but in praxis how will Abu Mazen be able to hold / contain the multifarious hotheads within his temporal dominion – keep them under control – when the “peaceful resistance” that he advocates on all his followers will demand that they become world champions in saber/ patience – a patience and restraint constantly being ridiculed, inflamed and instigated by militant Jihadist ideology which incites non-peaceful resistance and sooner than later – predictably ( because we are dealing with Islamic tradition and human nature) can – so easily boil over into uncontrolled violence by any event which could come to be known in history as “ the straw that broke the camel’s back”
Suddenly the name Marwan Bharghouti just popped up He’s got a lot of blood on his hands. Where is he? Does he have a future role to play?
Netanyahu : “You know why we’re called “Jews”? Because we come from Judea.”
Judea and Samaria, what is now called “The West bank” ….. now let me listen to Abu Mazen one more time……
P.S.
Have still not listened
In the meantime will listen to
Two Songs:
Wenge Musica aile paris in Nouveau Testament (Ricoco Bulambemba)
Once upon a time I thought that this is a pefect song for Nannie Porres :
Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s speech at the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly
Saturday, September 24th, 2011A good place to start:
un general assembly 66th session
I heard this not so long ago quoted by the BBC’s editor on economic affairs :
Falls the Shadow ” …
Against the backdrop of what’s happening to the world’s economy, much of the hoopla currently taking place at the 66th Session of the World Assembly which has other matters at the top of the UN’s agenda – all that – pales in significance when measured against our even more common and most urgent global concerns such as the economy.
Give the Palestinians a state tomorrow – with or without borders and with Jericho as its capital and plenty of foreign aid to keep them going and it will most probably break down into, first of all a civil war between Fatah and Hamas even as simultaneously Hamas and allied Jihadists declare a war on the other state – the state that they do not recognise – and there you have it.: certainly Syria & probably Egypt & Jordan & Hezbollah’s Lebanon & far away Iran if not deterred would like to join the free-for-all and come muscling in.
May the Almighty save us all from all such …
And after such a war, the same people will be talking about more “Occupied Territory” and be much worse off than where they are now. As someone observed before , it’s not as if it’s a game of chess and after each war, you put the pieces back, where they were once before.
Now, if you thought that Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas had completely hijacked the 66th Session you were mistaken.
There were no bursts of applause nor did he get a standing ovation, although in my opinion, within the fifteen minutes he allotted to himself our Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt made the most comprehensive address that I’ve heard so far, this session. He touched on a range of global issues and focused on support for freedom and on the importance of Gender Equality for the 3.5 billion women and girls in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. He also brought our attention to other important issues such as the famine in the Horn of Africa….
Sweden highlights benefits of gender equality to General Assembly
You may listen to him here:
Fredrik Reinfeldt’s entire Speech at the UN
Reinfeldt discussed equality in the UN
This is the Sabbath – Nitzavim and so I’ll have to wait until a little later – (till after 1930 pm to be precise) to get back to covering some of the people who made speeches at the UN’s 66th Session before our more peaceful Fred took his turn at the podium, directly after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had spoken.
Sometime after 1930 pm I’ll start with Mahmoud Abbas’ Maiden spiel or putsch, which came sometime after Iran’s Ahmadinejad ’s speech – but I’m putting that off till later because I don’t want to talk about Palestinian political violence or the Palestinian Terrorists Wanted by Israel on this blessed day and there are a number of other unpleasant things that I want to say, but not today, about Abbas and his best friends among the Pals, who also have to make peace with Israel – such as his Fatah, Hamas (who have vehemently denounced Mahmoud Abbas’ latest overtures at the UN since they don’t believe in a “two-state“ solution or believe in living “side by side” with those they don’t recognise – Israel – “in peace and tranquillity” and you can guess or bet your bottom dollar about the rest of what they believe in as a solution to the existence of Israel. In addition to Hamas, there’s Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah who say their guns and other weapons are going to pray and must be heard and also those of their strongest supporters, al-Qaeda & some of their other Allies :
1. HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement)
7. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
10.Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades#
11. Others
In psychology it’s called avoidance (therapy) :All of a sudden everyone’s talking about PEACE and this talk of peace in the Middle East is really our Foreign Minister Carl Bildt’s department. In Mr. Reinfeldt’s case it does appear that he is wisely (political survival comrade) avoiding a stressful situation at the United Nations, so he avoids saying too much – one reason being that there are 450, 000 potentially unhappy Muslims back home in the Sweden constituency, 450,000 Muslims and a handful of Jews (a maximum of about 18,000 in Sweden) who might not be too happy with what he says or how he says it, and you have the Social Democrats’ Urban Ahlin with his gun already drawn and his ears cocked and listening carefully, to take note and with the Muslim vote in mind (the anti-Semites are also listening very carefully of course) to come out with devastating criticism of Mr. Reinfeldt sounding like either Benjamin Netanyahu or the arch terrorist Yasser Arafat or for Mr. Reinfeldt saying si and not so. But no matter what he says, not everybody is going to be satisfied – so the best thing in such circumstances is don’t say anything.
The same kind of lesson learnt by “the wicked messenger” : “If ye cannot bring good news, then don’t bring any”.
Well, he did say something, but the Middle East was not his centre of gravity and what he said was so crisp that it could not possibly invite to controversy. He said
“Mr. President, The European Union is firmly committed to Israel and the Palestinian State living side by side with each other, in peace and security. We all want to see “the peace process” resume and violations of international law must cease; only then can a true and lasting peace be achieved.” (Sweden’s Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt) and that The Peace Process, yes….
So that’s probably why he did not want to get more deeply involved in this Middle East fray about “the missing piece“ of Eretz Israel – and therefore the elusive peace – “ the missing peace” which the partisan “United Nations” (which are not so united after all) have been moaning about the past couple of days, because this time, at the behest of the still hopeful and ambitious but no longer patient Mahmoud Abbas, they have put it – formally – at the top of their agenda : The missing peace & love between Israel and the Palestinians who want a state of their own not just Jordan who were in charge of the so called “West bank” before 1967 and Gaza which was under Egyptian control prior to 1967. Not only that, Mahmoud Abbas wants a state of his own with the Spiritual Heart of Israel (and Israel only has one heart) – Jerusalem – check the news – as it’s capital.
As Prime Minister Netanyahu observed,
“ So here in the U.N., automatic majorities can decide anything. They can decide that the sun sets in the west or rises in the west. I think the first has already been pre-ordained. But they can also decide — they have decided that the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism’s holiest place, is occupied Palestinian territory.”
We must all admit that it would be a difficult follow up act for any speaker to come up to the UN podium after Benjamin Netanyahu to talk about “ Peace in the Middle East”.That would be an anti-climax.
It’s reasonable therefore that as a follow up, the emphasis on more global concerns such as Gender Equality and Climate Change are at the top of Mr. Reinfeldt’s agenda. Of course he has a right to shout about gender equality not only to win more popularity and more votes from the womenfolk – to begin with he is a perfectly good example – if you count the number of women in his cabinet and give thanks and praises where thanks and praises should be given (to the Almighty) that there’s even a Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality in Sweden.
(Sadly to say, at the same time, more than half of the Swedish voters are of the “weaker” or “fairer” sex – the one which every henpecked husband and even male chauvinist porkers know as “Regeringen” which means “ the government” – because usually, every Swedish man knows that what she says, goes… and sometimes he even has to sing for his supper….
and there’s certainly not anything surreptitious about her taking over to the extent that if he’s not careful, the Swedish man might one day wake up to the sad new reality as one of the oppressed species, long after Women’s Lib and “feminine-ism” is a fait accompli – and many an oppressed man has died emasculated and crying and then been buried….
The two contrasting Zoroastrian themes of darkness and light dominate the 66th Session of the General Assembly, but more about that later. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concludes : “Let us realize the vision of Isaiah — (speaks in Hebrew) — “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.” Let that light be the light of peace.” (Applause.)
Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt took the podium immediately after Israel’s Prime Minister had concluded the best oration in the Assembly.
The Apostle John could have been addressing Hannah Ashrawi directly when he said “the truth will set you free” whereas Prime Minister Netanyahu made clear to all of the Assembled Nations: “I didn’t come here to win applause. I came here to speak the truth. ..( applause) – The truth is — the truth is that Israel wants peace. The truth is that I want peace.”
Mr. Reinfeldt’s mission to the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly was to speak other truths too:
Perhaps, still delirious with the mud-lucious spring and the glorious Swedish summer he did therfore express the wish “ to see the Arab Spring turn into a blossoming summer”
Almost with the Siddhi of precognition ( even as he read from a prepared script) Prime Minister Reinfeldt himself not an ardent public believer, concluded his address in almost the same words as Benjamin Netanyahu who ends his address by quoting and hoping along with the words of the Prophet Isaiah -
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded : ”Let us realize the vision of Isaiah (in Hebrew) – “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.” Let that light be the light of peace. ” (Applause.)
Mr. Reinfeldt also brought his address to a conclusion on a peaceful note but did not quote or repose his hope in any theological or prophetic authority – though he got quite close to doing so – if you, like me , believes that the sometimes ecclesiastical Dag Hammarskjold is as near as you can get to attaining a manly Swedish Sainthood in the Lutheran Church of Sweden – the same way that we talk about “Den Heliga Birgitta” (“the Holy Birgitta”).
Mr. Reinfeldt summed up his hope with these words of Dag Hammarskjold : ”The quest for peace and progress – with its trials and errors, its attempts and setbacks – must never be dropped and never abandoned.”
Fredrik Reinfeldt’s Speech at the 66th Session of the General Assmebly of UN
Ahmadinjad’s speech and the fallout from Ahmadinejad’s speech at the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly.
Friday, September 23rd, 2011To be read care-fully:
un general assembly 66th session
Now from my point of view, it’s not only distasteful – and ignorance is no excuse – nor is the raging fire of hatred & rabid anti-Semitism stoking the hot coals in his soul, nor is stupidity. Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial is a serious crime. No denying that , nor is there any need to advertise it. But his genocidal nuclear intentions towards Israel, should be fully advertised , put on high alert and action promptly taken, whether by Democrat or Republican or the UNited Nations or any other nation – before it’s too late….
“No reason to get excited,” the thief, he kindly spoke
“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late”
All this, coming in the wake of Troy Davis and his execution – despite all the agonising protests and heart-rending appeals for a stay of this kind of just-ice because of the very serious doubts raised about Troy Davis’ guilt – prior to his execution by lethal injection.
“When something’s not right it’s wrong – Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go”
All the appeals about his probable innocence fell on deaf ears. Just as Richard Pryor jokes in Black Ben the Blacksmith – “ In Hollywood the Nigger gets killed” – in reality it turns out to be true for the umpteenth time, both inside and outside of “Hollywood”, Pryor’s metaphor for racial America where Black People for the slightest legal or illegal reason continue to be treated to Lethal Injections and Capital Lynchings at the hands of the hangman’s noose.
And when you say it as it is, some people who don’t know any better get angry at you
even as Bobby my buddy says, “even Jesus would never forgive what you do.”
There are varying degrees of the hardness of heart and as we all know,
when it’s an execution in Iran,
all the Americans start weeping about the lack of kindness and compassion…
This is what the much maligned Quran has to say about the hardness we’re talking about
Suratul al-Baqarah (the Cow) Ayat/ verse 74:
“Then, even after that, your hearts were hardened and became as rocks, or worse than rocks, for hardness. For indeed there are rocks from out of which rivers gush, and indeed there are rocks which split asunder so that water floweth from them. And indeed there are rocks which fall down for the fear of Allah. Allah is not unaware of what ye do.”
In some vicarious way perhaps this time (Troy Davis’ time) there was no stay of execution even at the last moment because it’s a Black Man sitting there in the White House – to show that as powerful as he is…. well it’s still the same old hilly-billy song, “ We’re gonna show them where real power is…”
Seems to me that one of the paradoxes of the times is that whilst Ahmadinejad and his country granted a reprieve to the two Americans convicted of spying for the US, on Iranian soil and they are now both safely back home to the loving arms of their parents, in the case of the many long years of appealing for the release of Jonathan Pollard a friend of the US strategic ally, all such appeals have fallen on deaf ears
Against this background, Ahmadinejad’s speech at the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly.
Staging a protest walk-out in the middle of someone’s speech or sermon, is an all too easy even if effective way of marginalising or silencing the rest of what the speaker has to say – even before you’ve heard it – and again, even if you think that you’ve heard it all before. It could be the kind of periodic sentence or speech which starts off on a wrong footing, but later on develops important moral themes or raises other ethical questions. So here in print, we give him a fair hearing, and those who are qualified to pass judgement may go ahead and do so: Ahmadinejad’s speech at the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly.
Somewhere in the Middle of his speech he gets to asking this series of rhetorical questions:
“Who abducted forcefully tens of millions of people from their homes in Africa and other regions of the world during the dark period of slavery, making them a victim of their materialistic greed?
Who imposed colonialism for over four centuries upon this world?
Who occupied lands and massively plundered resources of other nations, destroyed talents, and alienated languages, cultures and identities of nations?
Who triggered the first and second world wars, that left seventy millions killed and hundreds of millions injured or homeless. Who created the wars in Korean peninsula and in Vietnam?
Who imposed, through deceits and hypocrisy, the Zionism and over sixty years of war, homelessness, terror and mass murder on the Palestinian people and on countries of the region?
Who imposed and supported for decades military dictatorship and totalitarian regimes on Asian, African, and Latin American nations?
Who used nuclear bomb against defenseless people, and stockpiled thousands of warheads in their arsenals?
Whose economies rely on waging wars and selling arms?
Who provoked and encouraged Saddam Hussein to invade and impose an eight-year war on Iran, and who assisted and equipped him to deploy chemical weapons against our cities and our people?
Who used the mysterious September 11 incident as a pretext to attack Afghanistan and Iraq , killing, injuring, and displacing millions in two countries with the ultimate goal of bringing into its domination the Middle East and its oil resources?
Who nullified the Breton Woods system by printing trillions of dollars without the backing of gold reserves or equivalent currency? A move that triggered inflation worldwide and was intended to prey on the economic gains of other nations?”
And even more questions – but long before that the US delegation to the United Nations had already walked out, no doubt huffing and puffing under their sweaty collars and neck ties, and with pious indignation fuming under their breaths and with venom and more holy indignation, saying “WE‘re not gonna sit down and have to listen to all of his bullshit & holy baloney – hell no”!
Like Sheikh Nasrallah of Hezbollah, his best friend Ahmadinejad is a master of rhetoric / Balagha/ eloquence, in the eminent Shia Tradtion.
Still, I hope that this note about one of Ahmadinjad’s rhetorical devices is in place : his series of “who” questions is reminiscent of the structure of Amiri Baraka’s Somebody blew up America
I’m sure that whoever you are, you’ll agree with me about at least that.
And maybe, we should begin where we’re going to end : with the honour of the very last word on this painful matter given to Hon. Minister Louis Farrakhan : Farrakhan on the execution of Troy Davis
All eyes on Mahmud Abbass at the UN on Friday….
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011But that’s not all that’s happening at the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly …
un general assembly 66th session
To begin with Mahmud Abbas wants half of Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria and terrorist Gaza which he already has , and never mind the one million Arabs who are Israeli citizens, Abbas has said that in his state that he wants declared, he does not want (1) Any Jew living in “his” Jerusalem and (2) He does not want any Jew living in Judea and Samaria – never mind any discussion or negotiation with Israel about borders, security, terrorism and the weapons presently being smuggled into Israel by Palestinians and the rockets still being fired from Gaza, into Israel or about Article Eleven of the Hamas Charter which lays claim to all of Israel – the very reason why Hamas is not interested in any so called “ two States” solution.
And since Abbas is going to return to Ramallah without full membership of the United Nations and without the UN having magically bypassed negotiations with Israel and declaring a Palestinian State over everybody’s head for him to then return in triumph to Jericho to set up their state and its instruments of government, secure its borders – even get some army uniforms and more weapons for the Palestinian soldiers etc. perhaps contest an election against his rivals Hamas, he might very well turn out to be a considerably weakened Mahmud Abbas who returns with the news that he has not succeeded in doing that which his predecessor Yasser Arafat could not do – even after he was offered 91% of the West Bank, and 100% of the Gaza Strip, at Camp David…..
“Clinton blamed Arafat after the failure of the talks, stating, “I regret that in 2000 Arafat missed the opportunity to bring that nation into being and pray for the day when the dreams of the Palestinian people for a state and a better life will be realized in a just and lasting peace.” The failure to come to an agreement was widely attributed to Yasser Arafat, as he walked away from the table without making a concrete counter-offer and because Arafat did little to quell the series of Palestinian riots that began shortly after the summit.[14][17][18] Arafat was also accused of scuttling the talks by Nabil Amr, a former minister in the Palestinian Authority.[19] “
Therefore this is extra reassuring:
Ehud Barak: Obama “is friendly to Israel, especially in security-related issues”
In conclusion, Simple Simon would only humbly like to observe that
it would be a very Irresponsible Security Council that could ever dictate,
“O.K., let’s give them their Palestinian State “
after which, for better or for worse ( war or peace)
they can then go and sort things out with Israel
after which HAMAS the son of Haman
which like Fatah does not recognise Israel
can then go and declare a terrorist war on Israel –
the state whose existence they do not recognise or admit
or like to countenance
and in the name of Allah sunbhan t’allah and Islamic Jihad
& al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade & other TERRORISTS
& and their brothers in Hezbollah and their sponsors, I-ran
& their 72 virgins a-piece
thus complicate
matters some more
make matters a lot worse
in the quest of “liberating”
the rest of their so called “occupied territories”
in the Holy Land of Israel
Håkan Juholt & Allied Comrades are aware that there is an election approaching …..
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011First of all the good news : Carl Bildt speaks
More or less tallies with this
Needless to say, United with Israel
Bad news : What could the Palestinian State Look Like?
Opinion: Dangers of Palestinian statehood motion
But back to other important headlines business:
So the Social Democrats have got themselves a new party boss sporting a moustache that’s a cross between that of Josef Stalin and that of Robert Mugabe’s
Perhaps, you notice that this evening is the beginning of Erev Rosh Hashanah and on Rosh Hashanah the Almighty judges everybody and ten days later, on Yom Kippur, that Judgement is sealed - as to who shall live and who shall die etc. etc…..so right now I don’t mention the moustache of that other German fellow and stay fixated on that which gives even more character to the Juholt visage and personality as a whole – the Juholt moustache – and we are to suppose it’s very personal and therefore in principle just a little shorter on the sides than that of Josef Stalin and the hedges are well trimmed and certainly better looking than that of Robert Mugabe.
What would Lombroso say about the latter?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Change of leadership is very much in the air. Not change of the national leader whose popularity today is still at the highest point (consistently so and according to every poll conducted since he became PM, people have more confidence in him than in any other politician) – so, we’re only talking about change of all other leadership, the leadership of all other parties apart from the leadership of the Moderate Party and the Folkpartiet/ the Liberal People’s Party of Sweden- the two parties characterized by stability & interesting policy & what to me looks like unfailing right leadership – about which subject even John Brown is entitled to have an opinion.
The Moderate party, the government and the nation with the reins firmly in the hand of Reinfeldt backed by the soon to be – if not already most popular Swedish finance minister of all time or of my time (including Gunnar Sträng and Gösta Bohman and the Social Democrat minister of finance who was especially loved by even the Moderate Party because he acted like a Conservative Finance Minister : Kjell-Olof Feldt , more popular than finance minister Göran Persson was during his time (1994-1996) , more popular than Anne Wibble who was especially loved by the BBC and so it seems to me, by several British commentators on radio, TV, the Economist and the popular British press, more popular than the man who got into hot water (a hot tub of water), Erik Åsbrink , more popular than in later modern times the cream of the Social Democratic crop, Bosse Ringholm, for today the one who allays our anxieties the most is Anders Borg the man of the moment and after Prime Minister Reinfeldt, he is certainly the most important member of the cabinet – because the next election will be won, not on foreign affairs matters, or on energy concerns or even reforms in the educational system – and as unemployment is likely to remain constant during the next two years – not that there’s much that any government could do about it and that’s why the next election will be won on the basis of the confidence or optimism about the shaky future that both the worthy citizen and poor man feels in his pocket, and as the dollar proclaims, “ In God we trust”.
Think, just think of how different things would have been today, if we had voted for the EURO …
VP – the Left’s Party leadership is also in the air and people say that Jonas Sjöstedt is on his way whilst MP – the Green Party has already given birth to a new articulate young star Gustav Fridolin who is all set to harvest a lot of votes from youngsters in particular and from other conscientious Swedish voters who think that environmental matters are the most important matters – today and for the unborn, especially when we read that the thaw is on and the glacial ice cap of Sweden’s highest mountain, Kebnekaise, is melting and that that mountain is getting shorter….
Change : After Maud Olofsson it’s rumoured that any other than Annie Lööf would be an anti-climax …
This too is very serious: More than a year ago many of us were surprised to read about this sorry state of affairs in Moder Svea . Quite an alarming headline:
“Impotence among men has increased under the current Conservative government.
Over 12,000 more men have received medication for erectile dysfunction since Fredrik Reinfeldt became Prime Minister.”
That was 28th June 2010: and I did mention the seriousness of the statistics:
Gentlemen, ladies too, there’s an election coming up
The big question is, has the number of men receiving such medication increased or decreased since 28th of June 2010 – and if there is an increase, then who or what is responsible? There is surely not a causal connection between Reinfeldt being elected Prime Minister and the erectile dysfunction of more than 12,000 men…? Or is there?
When one of my friends committed suicide on 2001-11-05 – during the reign of “He Who Decides Everything”, I asked Sheldon Litt, “Why do men commit suicide?” He told me that the answer is often 1. Money – financial problems , and 2. Woman …women…
For many, here are more reason for stress – and usually it’s worries over whether or not there’s more tax slapped on tobacco, alcohol and gasoline:
Yesterday, Anders Borg presented the new budget
And Anders Borg is upbeat about the Budget, so are most of the worthy burghers of Sweden though the Social Democrats are openly weeping and sceptical about our good fortune compared to what’s happening in the US, Greece and the others known as “the pigs”.
The Social Democrats say that the budget is “too optimistic” and of course that means that today – as the opposition they are pessimistic about anything the government does (in principle) and thinking that should things go awry, they can always say, “I told you so”…before the next election when it could be a repeat of the age old Robin Hood argument that Obama is now proposing in the US : Taxation of the rich , to pay for the poor…..
And back home in Sweden, once again it’s Karl-Bertil Jonsson another angel of the Christmas story…
Important :
SWC Launches National TV Campaign on CNN
P.S.
If all of the above is a little too depressing , well at least Rune thought that this was funny:
“As the American army in Vietnam was fighting the the Viet Cong, with no prospect of a final victory, Richard Nixon turned to the Israeli Government. He asked if they could send the legendary General Moshe Dayan, who had recently defeated the Egyptian army, to advise the American generals on a successful strategy in Vietnam.
“ We’re still willing to do so”, was the Israeli answer. “We’ll lend you General Dayan, but in exchange we want two American generals!”
“ No problem!”, said Nixon. “ Name the two”
“ General Motors and General Electric!”
Remembering Dag Hammarskjöld (29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961)
Sunday, September 18th, 2011In poetic terms only Tennyson in memory of his friend Arthur Hallam can approach the poetic justice that those who appreciate Dag Hammarskjöld in more personal ways, can feel. And that’s the thing about in memoriams: they are either personal or impersonal. With feelings, it’s always personal – objectively speaking, even Good Fridays without the stigmata of those who suffer the excess of that sort of empathy.
Suffice it to say that fifty years later Dag Hammarskjöld is very much an inspiration…
On this day, 18th September 1961….
Today, In Memory of Dag Hammarskjöld who died in a tragic air crash 50 years ago
Today, it’s 50 years since the tragic death of one of the world’s most out-standing, visionary statesmen ever, Swedish by birth, Dag Hammarskjöld .
Here is the epilogue as it were , the more or less official last days of Dag Hammarskjöld according to this document
Dag Hammarskjold’s last journey and the cover ups : “I saw a hole in his head”
Our Foreign Minister Carl Bildt is presently in Zambia where Mr. Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane crashed. Mr. Bildt is there to honour the life and memory of Mr. Hammarskjöld. He is expected to deliver his eulogy there in Zambia before taking off to the United Nations General Assembly 61st session which will begin tomorrow, the 19th of September, 2011.
The Nobel Peace Prize for 1961 was awarded posthumously to Dag Hammarskjöld
I keep the Atlantis paperback “To Speak For The World – Speeches and statements by Dag Hammarskjöld Secretary -General of the United Nations 1953 – 1961” close to some of my Holy Books…..
Reading through his various speeches and statements during those years, one is left with a very elevated feeling that he is the one who set the tone and that his words still serve as the guiding spirit of the United Nations. As the blurb of the book tells us:
“Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations1953 -1961, was a practical visionary. Step by step he advanced the position of the United Nations and his own standing in world politics. At the same time he defined the ideals of the UN and gave the world organisation an ethical dimension.
He defended and developed the rule of law against the rule of power. Peace can be achieved only in a world firmly founded in law, and human rights can be fully applied only within the framework of peace.
Kai Falkman, diplomat and writer, has made a selection of Hammarskjöld’s speeches and statements in thematic order. Hammarskjöld’s thinking about the world and his visions of the future emerge strongly, relevant even today.
The selection also displays Hammarskjöld’s wide intellectual curiosity and creative interest in Literature and poetry, philosophy and religion, art and music.”
Dag Hammarskjöld’s speeches and statements included inspiring, practical deliberations on
“Time”
“Faith”
“The International Public Servant”
“Neutral and neutrality”
“ The diplomat and public opinion”
“Leadership”
“The United Nations Charter”
“Military force”
“ The World and the nation”
“The World is a spiritual thing”
“Church-State”
“Human Rights”
“Solidarity”
“International law”
“World Government”
“Regional Integration”
“Community of power”
“The United Nations and the Cold War.”
“ UN Presence”
“East and West”
“The responsibility of the West – and of the individual”
“Freedom”
“ Loyalty”
“Maturity of mind”
Knowledge about man.”
“An echo of the music of the universe”
“On modern art”
“The camera taught me to see”
“A room of quiet”
“Linnaeus – the continuity of spiritual life”
“ A new look at the Himalayas”
“Last Words to the staff”
Today, of more than just a passing interest : Dag Hammarskjöld and religion
Personally, from my very early teens, I followed the career of Mr Hammarskjöld – and the Congo crisis – through the BBC – and his name became familiar to my ears along with household names of people like Sir Anthony Eden, Mr. Harold Macmillan, Charles de Gaulle, John F. Kennedy, Dean Rusk, Nikita Khrushchev (the man who hammered the UN podium with his shoe), the Great Mao Tse-tung, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Patrice Lumumba, Moise Tshombe, Joseph Kasavubu, Kwame Nkrumah, Moshe Dayan, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ahmed Ben Bella, Ahmed Sekou Touré, Fidel Castro, and Dr. Eric Williams, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago who suddenly turned up at my school quite unannounced, to address the morning assembly…….in 1961
I was in the third form of secondary school and politically conscious …he too made a permanent impression on me and Mr. Chapman (M.A. Cantab) our English master….
Whilst conspiracy theories abound about Mr. Hammarskjöld’s plane crash, I have my own, mostly fed by gossip (what else in the absence of any reliable communication from His Only Omniscience?) gossip – mostly by Ghanaians I met in the early 70’s , in Ghana, and also through Aime Cesaire’s play “A Season in the Congo” in which, if my memory serves me right, Cesaire is quite explicit – in his use of rumour as more or less fact at least befitting the expediency of his true theatrical or political purpose
At Legon, in Ghana, more than a decade later (1970, to be precise) there was still a lot of speculation about the death of Dag Hammarskjöld and my Better Half Ebba and I, sitting at the student cafeteria with Jeff Holden (African history) and philosophy professor McQueen and other men & women of African knowledge (over several bottles of Star and Gulder beer, too) there was much discussion of Conor Cruise O’Brien – on the death of Dag Hammarskjöld
About leadership Dag Hammarskjöld says in one of his speeches “ The Secretary-General has to try out and reach the minds and hearts of people.”
This is a perpetual challenge for the leadership of the UN even as the world and the United Nations of today now face ever more complex problems than what was once the cold war and the era which saw the end of colonialism and the emergence of new nations…
The guiding spirit of Mr. Hammarskjöld and the type of UN he helped create, indeed of which he was an architect, lives on. He has been successively succeeded in office by U Thant, Kurt Waldheim, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Kofi Annan, and the current Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is still soldiering on….
He left the world a legacy…
Long live the spirit and mission of Dag Hammarskjöld’s United Nations!