Shmuel Rosner, "France’s Jews Have No Choice but Israel": The Writing Is on the Wall

In a New York Times op-ed entitled "France’s Jews Have No Choice but Israel," Shmuel Rosner begins:

"A government [Israel's] that never misses an opportunity to lecture the Western world about the pitfalls of surrendering to terrorism is proposing exactly that — surrender — to the Jews of France."

Rosner, however, concludes:

"If the only way for Jews to live in France today is behind barracks and guards with guns, perhaps it makes more sense not just for the dead to go to Israel, but also for the living to move to a place where we are the guards, we are the army and we are the government."

So which is it? French Jews must not surrender to terror, or, it makes no sense for Jews to live with armed guards in France?

For me the answer is clear: Europe is dying. As Muammar Gaddafi once declared:

"We have 50 million Muslims in Europe. There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe—without swords, without guns, without conquest—will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades."

Sadly, Gaddafi was correct, and ultimately there will be no place left for Europe's Jews.

Refuse to surrender to this demographic trend? Ignore the reemergence of anti-Semitism throughout Europe? As reported two days ago by The Telegraph in an article entitled "Survey shows anti-Semitic views are common among Britons" by Gregory Walton:

"Antisemitic views have been shown to be rampant among British people according to the results of a new polls.

One in four Britons were shown to believe that Jews 'chase money more than other people', according to a poll by YouGov.

Meanwhile the new survey showed that 17 per cent of respondent believe that Jewish people think themselves better than others.

A similar proportion felt that Jewish people have too much power in the media.

A separate poll also revealed that more than half of all British Jews feel that antisemitism has begun to echo the widespread anti-Jewish hatred of the 1930s, according to the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA).

Over half of British Jews (58%) surveyed said they feared that Jews may have no long-term future in Europe, said the CAA."

Yes, the writing is on the wall. Wait for better times, as did many German Jews in the 1930s? Good luck.

[Rosner additionally states in his op-ed:

"It is heartbreaking to witness a great Jewish community in a great country slowly losing its ability to thrive in a hostile and violent environment. And it is unfortunate that all the Jewish state has to offer them is escape."

All the Jewish state has to offer is escape? Rubbish! Notwithstanding all its sorrows and shortcomings, Israel is also a place where hi-tech dreams come true, where there is freedom of the press, where women can attain leadership positions in government and industry, and where the gay community can live proudly.

Is it really so bad for you in Israel, Shmuel? Maybe you should move to New York and write full-time for the Times - at least until it goes under and you must find your way back to Israel.]

David Brooks, "When the Circus Descends": Should Common Courtesy Be Part of the Common Core?

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "When the Circus Descends" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/opinion/brooks-when-the-circus-descends.html?ref=opinion&_r=0), David Brooks discusses opposition from both the right and the left to Common Core education standards. Brooks writes:

"On the right, the market-share-obsessed talk-radio crowd claims that the Common Core standards represent a federal takeover of the schools. This is clearly false. This was a state-led effort, and localities preserve their control over what exactly is taught and how it is taught. Glenn Beck claims that Common Core represents 'leftist indoctrination' of the young. On Fox, Elisabeth Hasselbeck cited a curriculum item that supposedly taught students that Abraham Lincoln’s religion was 'liberal.' But, as the education analyst Michael J. Petrilli quickly demonstrated, this was some locally generated curriculum that was one of hundreds on a lesson-sharing website and it was promulgated a year before the Common Core standards even existed.

As it’s being attacked by the talk-radio right, the Common Core is being attacked by the interest group left. The general critique from progressives, and increasingly from teachers’ unions, is that the standards are too difficult, that implementation is shambolic and teachers are being forced into some top-down straitjacket that they detest.

It is true that the new standards are more rigorous than the old, and that in some cases students have to perform certain math skills a year earlier than they formerly had to learn them. But that is a feature, not a bug. The point is to get students competitive with their international peers."

Right? Left? Kind of meaningless to me, today.

I am the product of the University of Chicago's required "Common Core" studies, and I recently cleaned the dust off a copy of Thucydides's "The Peloponnesian War," which has accompanied me throughout the years and served as a poignant reminder of my college days. Will I ever return to it? That's the plan, but I also want to teach myself to play the piano sometime before I die. We'll see which, if either, comes first.

Common Core? How about teaching common courtesy? It might be of more value to young people and society in the years to come.

Concern over American students losing ground to international peers? In a December 2013 Telegraph article entitled "OECD education report: Korea’s school system a pressure cooker for children" (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/10491289/OECD-education-report-Koreas-school-system-a-pressure-cooker-for-children.html), Andrew Salmon wrote from Seoul:

"It has been praised by President Barack Obama and delivered top-five results for South Korea in global literacy and numeracy tests, but among Koreans themselves, the education system is so controversial that hundreds of thousands become educational emigrants.

The regimented by-the-book teaching system leaves nothing to chance.

. . . .

But intense focus on exam scores creates an irony: knowledge is often eschewed in favor of test preparation.

. . . .

Scholastic pressures are so great that suicide is the number-one killer of South Koreans under 40 (compared to traffic accidents in other developed nations), while educational cost burdens are so colossal, they are cited as a factor in the declining national birth rate."

Emulate the South Korean education system? Thanks, but no thanks, even it means a mid-level managerial position at Samsung, LG, Hyundai or Daewoo. I still vote for common courtesy . . . and lower suicide rates.

Thomas Friedman, "Postcard From Turkey": Dead Wrong!

Does Thomas Friedman speak Turkish? No, but that does not stop him from breezing into Istanbul and mistakenly describing the nature of protests throughout Turkey. In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Postcard From Turkey" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/opinion/friedman-postcard-from-turkey.html?_r=0), Thomas Friedman writes:

"Having witnessed the Egyptian uprising in Tahrir Square in Cairo in 2011, I was eager to compare it with the protests by Turkish youths here in Taksim Square in 2013. They are very different. The Egyptians wanted to oust President Hosni Mubarak. Theirs was an act of 'revolution.' The Turks are engaged in an act of 'revulsion.' They aren’t (yet) trying to throw out their democratically elected Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. What they’re doing is calling him out. Their message is simple: 'Get out of our faces, stop choking our democracy and stop acting like such a pompous, overbearing, modern-day Sultan.'"

Turks "aren't (yet) trying to throw out their democratically elected Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan"? An act of "revulsion"? Is that all it is? According to the BBC on June 7 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22809430):

"Mr Erdogan responded to calls for his resignation by referring to his election victory in 2011 when he took 50% of the vote.

'They say I am the prime minister of only 50%. It's not true. We have served the whole of the 76 million from the east to the west,' he told the crowd.'

It was the first major show of support for Mr Erdogan following a week of protests in which his opponents have called for him to resign."

As reported by Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/10/us-turkey-protests-idUSBRE94U0J920130610):

"Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned protesters who have taken to the streets across Turkey demanding his resignation that his patience has its limits and compared the unrest with an army attempt six years ago to curb his power."

According to The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/10122409/Mother-of-Turkish-protester-killed-in-Ankara-Erdogan-must-resign.html):

"The mother of Ethem Sarisuluk, one of five people killed in a fortnight of protests in Turkey, tells Justin Vela that the protests must continue until Prime Minister Erdogan resigns."

As reported by Haaretz (http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/with-one-voice-they-yelled-erdogan-resign.premium-1.527192):

"For the last two days, Istanbul’s main center, Taksim, and its surrounding areas, have been under siege due to a massive peaceful protest. Thousands of canisters of tear gas have been fired at hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters throughout the city, together with water-cannons spraying tainted water that burns the skin, all while the protesters screamed in unison, 'Erdogan Resign!'"

And as reported by Friedman's own newspaper (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/world/middleeast/turkish-leader-agrees-to-meet-protest-organizers.html):

"The protesters later widened their grievances into a broad rebuke of what they consider the authoritarian style of Mr. Erdogan and his political party, which is supported by religious conservatives in Turkey. The protesters have demanded the resignation of governors and security chiefs in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, the punishment of abusive police officers and the release of people detained in the protests. Some have called for Mr. Erdogan to resign."

Is the message of the Turkish protesters simply, "Get out of our faces, stop choking our democracy and stop acting like such a pompous, overbearing, modern-day Sultan," as Tom would have us believe? Or could it also have to do with the fact that Turkey leads the world in arresting journalists (see: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/02/2013217124044793870.html)?

And as long as we are on the topic of Erdogan, you will recall that when interviewed by Fareed Zakaria in 2012, Obama listed Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan as one of his best international friends (http://swampland.time.com/2012/01/19/inside-obamas-world-the-president-talks-to-time-about-the-changing-nature-of-american-power/). Care to comment now, Mr. President?

Obama: A Penny (Pritzker) for Your Thoughts?

Do you remember Obama's "Executive Order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel" (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/ethics-commitments-executive-branch-personnel), which required US executive agency appointees on or after January 20, 2009 to sign a pledge "that any hiring or other employment decisions I make will be based on the candidate's qualifications, competence, and experience"? Note that the order applied to appointees, but not to Obama himself.

Back in June 2011, The Telegraph had already observed that something peculiar was afoot at the Obama White House (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/8578546/Barack-Obama-campaign-donors-rewarded-with-government-jobs.html):

"Nearly 80 per cent of President Barack Obama's top campaign donors have been rewarded with senior United States government jobs, according to a new study.

The appointments have taken place despite Mr Obama's campaign promises that he would break with long-established practice and hire people based on their qualifications and experience rather than making patronage appointments.

. . . .

But a Study for the Centre for Public Integrity has found that 27 out of the 36 people who 'bundled' donations of more than $500,000 . . . received jobs such as ambassadorships or economic advisory roles. About fifty per cent of bundlers who raised more than $200,000 . . . got jobs.

Louis Susman, a Chicago investment banker with no diplomatic background but who raised $300,000 . . . for the Obama campaign, was appointed American ambassador to London in July 2009.

At the time Robert Gibbs, then White House press secretary, made light of the appointment by saying Susman was qualified for the post 'because he speaks English'.

Donald Gips, a Colorado businessman, was appointed ambassador to South Africa in mid- 2009 after raising $500,000 . . . for Obama. Steven Westlym, a green energy entrepreneur also raised $500,000 for Obama and has since seen four companies within his business interest receive more than $500 million . . . in loans, grants, or stimulus money from the Energy Department.

Julius Genachowski, a law school friend of Mr Obama, was appointed Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He raised $500,000 . . . for the Obama campaign and he and his wife have visited the White House more than 100 times since the appointment according to White House logs.

Charles Rivkin, an entertainment company president, raised more than $500,000 for Obama's campaign, and became ambassador to France.

Cynthia Stroum, a wealth Seattle businesswoman and large campaigner for Obama who was appointed to be ambassador to Luxembourg resigned in February 2011 after a State Department report accused her of a 'confrontational management style' that led to an 'extremely difficult, unhappy, and uncertain work environment', allegations she denied."

Sweet.

Now in 2013, Obama is appointing Forbes 400 Member Penny Pritzker, who has an estimated net worth of $1.85 billion, as commerce secretary. As reported by Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2013/05/02/obama-to-nominate-forbes-400-member-penny-pritzker-as-commerce-secretary/):

"Pritzker ran Obama’s fundraising operation in 2008. While she took less of a leadership role during his 2012 re-election campaign, she still gave $117,000 to the effort and bundled more than a half million in contributions, according to OpenSecrets.org. She also donated $250,000 to his most recent inauguration."

Any link between the donations and the appointment? No way. Not Obama. He wants Penny for her thoughts.

Iran Continues to Arm the Taliban

By now, most have forgotten Roger Cohen's April 8, 2009 New York Times op-ed, "Israel Cries Wolf" (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/opinion/09iht-edcohen.html), in which Cohen wrote:

"What’s critical right now is that Obama view Netanyahu’s fear-mongering with an appropriate skepticism, rein him in, and pursue his regime-recognizing opening toward Tehran, as he did Wednesday by saying America would join nuclear talks for the first time."

Cohen's prattle was consistent with the views of the Obama administration: If we "make nice" to Iran, surely they will respond in kind.

Consider now where Obama's overtures have ultimately taken us, as reported by The Telegraph:

"British Special Forces in Afghanistan have seized a convoy of powerful Iranian rockets destined for Taliban fighters.

The haul is the strongest evidence yet of a significant escalation in Tehran's support for the Taliban, military officials said.

The consignment of 48 rockets hidden in three trucks was intercepted last month after a fierce fire fight which left several insurgents dead in the remote southern province of Nimroz, bordering Iran.

. . . .

The 122mm rockets have twice the range and twice the blast radius of the Taliban's more commonly used 107mm missiles and have not been seen in action against Nato forces for the past four years.

The 48 weapons had been deliberately disguised to appear manufactured elsewhere, but tests by weapons experts had determined they were from an Iranian factory.

. . . .

The rockets have a range of more than 12 miles and shower shrapnel to a radius of nearly 100 feet."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8371807/SAS-seize-Iranian-rockets-destined-for-Taliban-fighters.html

Of particular interest here is Shiite Iran's increasing willingness to arm the Taliban, whose adherents consist primarily of Sunni Muslim Pashtuns. In addition to Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran has now taken under its wing yet another terrorist proxy. So much for the Obama Doctrine of appeasing tyrannical regimes while undermining longstanding allies.

The Telegraph: Russia Warns of Meltdown at Iran's Bushehr Reactor

In an article in The Telegraph entitled "Stuxnet virus attack: Russia warns of ‘Iranian Chernobyl'" (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8262853/Stuxnet-virus-attack-Russia-warns-of-Iranian-Chernobyl.html), Con Coughlin writes:

"Russian nuclear officials have warned of another Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster at Iran's controversial Bushehr reactor because of the damage caused by the Stuxnet virus, according to the latest Western intelligence reports.

. . . .

Bushehr is due to produce its first electricity for Iran's national grid this summer after Russian technicians started loading the first nuclear rods into the reactor last October.

Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's foreign minister who also serves as head of the country's Atomic Energy Organisation, rejected suggestions earlier this month that the Bushehr opening schedule should be postponed. 'All the rumours related to the Westerners' claims that Stuxnet had caused damage to the nuclear plants are rejected,' he said.

However, Russian scientists working at the plant have become so concerned by Iran's apparent disregard for nuclear safety issues that they have lobbied the Kremlin directly to postpone activation until at least the end of the year, so that a proper assessment can be made of the damage caused to its computer operations by Stuxnet."

Perhaps you thought I was joking when I wrote in November:

"Will there be additional surprises awaiting this Iranian enterprise? Sadly, I have already expressed my regrets to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that I will not be able to attend the opening ceremony for the Bushehr power plant - if they ever decide they have removed all the bugs from the operational software - but will send Hugo Chavez in my stead, and when they press the button activating the reactor, I will be pleased to toast their success at a distance of several hundred miles from the meltdown."

http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2010/11/stuxnet-shuts-down-iranian-centrifuges.html

No joke was intended, and I have cancelled my vacation plans in Iran . . .