John Chuckman

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DANIEL LARISON

 

“Trump’s Neocon State of the Union Address… a laundry list of false and misleading claims”

 

“The Iranian regime must abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, stop spreading terror, death, and destruction, and start working for the good of its own people. Because of our powerful sanctions, the Iranian economy is doing very poorly. We can help them make it very good in a short period of time, but perhaps they are too proud or too foolish to ask for that help. We are here. Let’s see which road they choose. It is totally up to them.” -Trump

 

Iran’s is a tragic tale. Over its entire modern era, in virtually all of its dealings with America.

Trump of course has made things worse, just as he does with everything he touches, but America has been hostile and brutal towards Iran since the early 1950s.

You may enjoy:

https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2020/01/06/john-chuckman-comment-americas-disturbing-modern-history-with-iran-and-now-we-can-add-state-terror-a-few-words-on-general-qasem-soleimani-iraq-is-ordering-the-american-military-out-a-big-st/

https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2020/01/30/john-chuckman-comment-iran-and-america-history-of-the-relationship-americas-ceaseless-stupid-hostility-of-more-than-forty-years-now-iran-will-campaign-long-and-hard-for-america-to-leave-its/

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Response to a comment saying, “Just in case anyone believes Israel’s story about a non-existent nuclear weapons program…”

The reality of Iran and nuclear weapons – that it has none and has never sought them seriously – will never be allowed to sink into the general public’s consciousness

Israel hates Iran for other reasons, and just will not relent using this convenient dirty tactic. Same of course for the entire mainline American news industry, which is highly biased in Israel’s favor.

The attitudes towards Iran are as unreasoning as America’s attitudes towards Russia. Russophobia you will have with you always, in one form or another, at least until there are fundamental changes in America.

Russophobia already has lasted about a century.

America has hated Iran since the 1950s (see my references above), and its hatred is only intensified by Israel’s attitudes and its influence in American politics.

Israel also plays a role in Russophobia. Despite its superficially good relations with Putin’s Russia, at the heart of the matter, Russia represents important barriers for American power.

But Israel loves and encourages the hyper-aggressive version of America because it sees that as a guarantee of its influence in its own region.

Just one more aspect of a destructive and counter-productive relationship between Israel and America.

John Chuckman

COMMENT ON TRUMP’S BIZARRE PEACE PLAN FOR THE MIDDLE EAST

Jerusalem to be Israel’s “undivided” capital, but East Jerusalem is somehow also to be Palestine’s capital, an arrangement which sounds a bit like the Palestinians renting some retail store space in an Israeli Jerusalem shopping mall.

 

Trump’s foolish approach to foreign affairs is repeated in every major initiative he undertakes – North Korea, Iran, China, Venezuela, Syria or Iraq – and it is no less again in his “plan” for Israel and Palestine.

Trump glibly calls the plan “a two-state solution” and “a win-win.”

But how can something be a “two-state solution” when one of the “states” has not even been consulted?

Diplomacy always requires a thorough understanding of both sides in a conflict, listening to each of them about concerns and trying to discover a formula which works for both of them, but this is not what Trump has done. Not at all. Not even a pretense.

We have the plan’s formal announcement made with Trump in the smiling company of the leader of just one of the two ”states,” the one already holding all the power because it occupies the other.

We have the leader of the other “state,” the one being occupied, rejecting a plan he has had no role in creating right after it was announced. Rejecting it entirely.

Indeed, President Abbas said the Palestinians are ready to negotiate with Israel, but only under the auspices of the “Quartet,” a set of international mediators which includes Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union.

The Palestinians will not negotiate in future with only the United States acting as mediator.

Abbas said the only way toward peace is to create a Palestinian state with borders from 1967 – that is, from before Israel’s conquest and occupation in a war – a consistent and fair demand made countless times in the past by many, including a few Israelis genuinely interested in peace, although there are not a great number of those because Israelis generally recognize that they are in control of the situation, and Trump only offers even more control. Israel’s decades of history have produced a national politics located almost exclusively on the Right.

If you look at maps of what Trump is proposing, what you see, unmistakably, is formalized apartheid. See the opening map here: https://mondoweiss.net/2020/01/the-deal-of-the-century-is-apartheid/

The other “state,” the one now occupied, almost resembles an island chain, an archipelago, locked inside the boundaries of the primary “state.”

Every important power applicable to the island-chain “state” is held by the surrounding “state.”

The primary “state” actually gets to expand its territory at the expense of the island-chain ”state.”

The surrounding “state” gets to annex the Jordan Valley and many illegal Jewish communities inside the island-chain “state,” acts effectively fragmenting the island chain further still.

The surrounding “state” holds control of all borders, airspace, underground water, maritime authority, and even radio frequencies.

On the map, you see a geography superficially resembling some North American Indigenous reservations, undoubtedly a model some Americans working on the proposal had in mind.

The North American system of Indigenous reservations very roughly works, although only with many injustices suffered and outbreaks of violence over the years. It works at all largely because of the immense disparities in population size between island-chain and mainland populations.

But the Palestinians have just as large a population – perhaps now even somewhat larger owing to higher birth rates – as the Jewish people of Israel.

Palestinians also have many rights recognized internationally, both by major international organizations and by a great many individual countries. They do not stand completely on their own.

But there is another difference in Trump’s proposal from the structure of North American Indigenous reservations, one you cannot see on a map, and one that is profoundly important.

Residents of North American Indigenous reservations are full citizens of the huge country – the United States or Canada, as the case may be – which surrounds them. Full citizens, and free to travel anywhere.

The Palestinians are not to be citizens of Israel and are to have no rights of any kind there. And the meaning of citizenship even in their own designated areas is to so be so curtailed as to be close to meaningless. They get to vote for a government, their own, which governs almost nothing, and they cannot even freely travel between the broken bits of their island chain.

It is especially in this key detail that Trump’s proposal far more exactly resembles the infamous Bantustans of apartheid South Africa than North American Indigenous reservations.

The one consolation people who are concerned about justice have here is the fact that it was not many years after South Africa vigorously pursued its Bantustan “solution” that the entire apartheid house of cards collapsed from outside pressure.

Israel works very hard at preventing such pressure from abroad developing with its lobbies pressuring legislators to curtail freedom of speech (trying to conflate criticism of the public acts of a well-armed state with the superstitious beliefs of anti-Semitism) and freedom of association (by seriously penalizing advocacy for, or membership in, free-choice boycott movements, the very things that brought an end to South Africa’s once powerful apartheid arrangements). That may work for a time, but it so fundamentally unfair that it cannot provide a lasting foundation for a new apartheid.

It seems to me it would be so much easier for Israel to make a genuine effort at peace with its neighbors, something it has truly never done. All those millions of Palestinians are not going anywhere despite years of dreams and schemes in Israel to see them get up and leave.

ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT NOTE

The iffy provision for East Jerusalem becoming Palestine’s capital applies only “when the Palestinians have taken adequate steps towards becoming self-governing.”

The patronizing qualifier reflects Jared Kushner’s words last year about the Palestinians not being ready for self-government.

The words are certainly in keeping with a sense of Trump’s “plan” having nothing to do with peace. It is about establishing virtually perpetual apartheid.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL NOTE

Well, the mystery of how you can have both an undivided Israeli Jerusalem and a possible future Palestinian capital is solved.

Although Trump speaks of “East Jerusalem,” he is, as in so many matters, simply wrong. What the plan actually promises Palestinians as their capital, provided they earn it, is a place called Abu Dis. It is not part of East Jerusalem, and it is now separated from the Old City by an eight-meter high wall. An illegal one, of course. The place is a suburban village. So, my opening sarcasm about renting space for a capital in a mall may be no exaggeration.

This might represent the plan’s most gratuitous insult because Jerusalem is just as important, sacred, and historic to Palestinians as it is to Israelis, and in fact they have lived there many centuries longer than contemporary Israelis.

But it is hard to think of what could be a greater insult than telling millions of people they are not ready to govern themselves and must earn the right to do so. People who have had a society in the region for centuries before a re-creation of Israel was imposed on them.

If you spoke that way in America about any large group of people – say an ethnic group dominating a city or state – you would be regarded as bigoted and arrogant (as well as wind up in court). Those words, bigoted and arrogant, exactly describe the people promoting Trump’s plan.

John Chuckman

EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS

 

“Turkey’s pledge to ‘take custody’ of ISIS prisoner camps called precarious by experts

“About 30 Canadian men, women and children are thought to be held in these camps”

 

This is just one more bit of peripheral noise about what’s going on in northeast Syria. No one, on any side, gives a damn about the mercenaries of ISIS.

What really concerns Washington is the failure of its plan to support the hiving off of the area as a Kurdish rump state, which is what the American troops there have been doing, training and supplying Syrian Kurds to fight against Syria’s government. The effort represented Israel’s consolation prize for the loss of the American-run proxy war intended to topple Syria.

Fighting ISIS has been the consistent cover story for this operation which involves American troops illegally in Syria doing things like building bases and supplying Syrian Kurds with weapons.

Not only was the effort a very nasty piece of business to be doing in someone else’s country, but a rather foolish one, considering the well-known attitude of Turkey’s Erdogan about having any Kurdish-run entities on Turkey’s border.

It represents just one more embarrassing mishap in the running of the American empire, whose affairs often are handled with the aplomb and dignity of the Keystone Cops.

 

AFTER WORD:

The real interests at work in northeastern Syria project are easily understood from various comments following Trump’s initial moving of some American troops, effectively allowing Turkey’s Erdogan to invade the region.

We had the Congress’s most vigilant defender of all the interests of Israel, Senator Lindsey Graham, blowing huge clouds of steam almost immediately, but of course speaking in disguised terms about concerns for “allied” Kurds.

Other members of Congress quickly chimed in, also with concerns for the Kurds and various suggested punitive measures to be brought against Turkey.

Trump did one of his typical clownish flip-flops by starting to talk about the need for maybe something stronger than sanctions against Turkey.

And this morning, Netanyahu, who of course should have nothing to say about what happens in northeastern Syria, made threats about Israel maybe assisting the “valiant Kurds.” Oh, sure, Israel as defender of valiant Kurds.

Then, we have stories like the one above, from CBC, suggesting concern for the Kurds’ ISIS prisoners coming under Turkey’s charge. About thirty are thought to be Canadians. The irony is almost overwhelming since Canada has only recently spoken against repatriating Canadian members of ISIS.

Something from Russia brings things together nicely.

There are two notorious Russian pranksters, Alexey Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, very clever fellows who have a number of times pulled off the stunt of calling someone famous while pretending to be someone else famous and getting the person they call to answer sensitive and embarrassing questions, recording the answers.

I suspect they are with Russian security services, given all the special knowledge required to place such calls, and their efforts often provide real insight along with some laughs.

They called Lindsey Graham twice, pretending to be the Turkish Defense Minister, and they recorded him saying: “I told President Trump that Obama made a huge mistake in relying on the YPG Kurds. Everything I worried about has come true, and now we have to make sure Turkey is protected from this threat in Syria. I’m sympathetic to the YPG problem, and so is the president, quite frankly.”

Talk about hypocrisy, the man says the very opposite in confidence to his public words.

John Chuckman

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY NESRINE MALIK (FROM THE GUARDIAN) IN CHECKPOINT ASIA

 

“Saudi Arabia Won’t Attack Iran. But It May Pay Someone Else To

“What do American Hessians cost these days?”

 

https://www.checkpointasia.net/saudi-arabia-wont-attack-iran-but-it-may-pay-someone-else-to/

 

“Meanwhile, Saudi looks on – as ever, the indulged and unpunished provocateur of the Middle East”

That leaves out, just as you might expect if you are aware of the extreme bias of “The Guardian,” one of the most bent newspapers on the planet, the real “unpunished provocateur,” the one behind many events involving Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Israeli influence is almost entirely responsible for Trump’s blundering stupidities in the Middle East. His pointless hostility towards Iran and his support for Saudi Arabia’s bloodletting in Yemen and other places.

And, indeed, Israel is largely responsible for the new military status of Saudi Arabia, its having become a major ranking global spender on armaments.

Before the blood-brother bond between Netanyahu and the Crown Prince we see today, Saudi Arabia would never have been allowed to buy those mountains of American weapons.

“Talk of tens of billions of dollars in new American arms! Are you crazy, you schnook?” Netanyahu would have been on the phone to the President in the middle of the night.

They used to despise Saudi Arabia in Israel. Not that many years ago.

Now, they embrace almost as the closest allies. The embrace is never greatly publicised or bragged about – that could have serious consequences for the general, very conservative population of Saudi Arabia and for the stability of the Murderer Prince’s Crown.

But there has been a profound change as these two wealthy outsiders realize how much in common they have, and as the new Saudi Tyrant works hard to earn “creds” in the right places, doing all kinds of desired dirty work in Syria and Yemen and other places.

I call them “wealthy outsiders” because relative to the hundreds of millions who inhabit the region, they are both outsiders by culture and circumstances.

The Saudi Crown is only a little older than Israel itself is. It is not an ancient kingdom, as it likes to style itself.

It was formed very close to the time of Hitler’s accession to power in Germany, just a few months before. And just three years after the end of Hitler’s reign, Israel was created. In a region of truly ancient civilizations, they are both newcomers, and they are both viewed by many as usurpers.

And they are both rich usurpers. After all, in any society, being wealthy sets you apart from most of the population, as we see now so starkly with “the one percent” versus the rest in the United States.

The relative wealth of Saudi Arabia and Israel sets them apart from most of the Middle East.

The Saudis with immense reserves of oil, and Israel with immense flows of foreign aid and resources from the private sector in America and Europe. If you count both government and private sources, Israel is likely the most heavily subsidized entity in history.

So, they do have a lot in common when compared to the great mass of the Middle East. And they both need to protect what they have.

The importance of their both being kinds of wealthy outsiders trumps all ethnic or religious differences, at least for the ruling class. Ordinary folks in both places don’t count for much, just as is the case in most places.

Especially now that Saudi Arabia has totally ceased to make the sounds it made twenty years ago. Then it tried to appeal, as something of a leader, to the region’s Muslim masses, but that has now been forgotten for the most part.

Fear over the consequences of 9/11 drove the Saudi Crown away from some its old ways even before the new Crown Prince took over, killing and kidnapping and bombing his way to favor in American and Israeli eyes.

After all, America could have invaded immensely wealthy Saudi Arabia just as easily as it did impoverished Afghanistan. There were a number of facts in those events that easily could have been bent to supporting the purpose.

So, the Saudis began changing their ways even before Prince Bone Saw took command with a wave of kidnappings and huge ransoms and hidden violence, stuff Trump swept aside with words about correcting old corruptions in the Kingdom, such is the meaninglessness of words in American politics and international affairs.

It was quite noticeable to someone like myself who occasionally read some Saudi Internet publications. The tone and approach changed dramatically. Some of my old articles critical of affairs in the Middle East used to be reposted by editors on certain Saudi sites, but that stopped completely.

The good Prince wasn’t really first in line for succession, but the half-senile old King went along, undoubtedly having had words put into his ear about how favorably the fresh and progressive new Prince would be received in Washington and Tel Aviv.

So, established succession practices were dumped, and the Crown Prince started shedding a bright new light over the Middle East. It included a big PR build-up in the “Western” press, the good old Guardian, for example, being rather lavish with favorable articles about a man who would prove a mass killer.

There was also a big PR tour arranged in the United States in which the Crown Prince washed the blood from his hands long enough to shake hands and banquet with many American politicians and notables.

We observe now only a little gesture or word, here or there, about some event in the region made to appeal to the locals, something Israel completely understands, having itself a leader who has done nothing but lie for his entire career, thirteen years as Prime Minister, lying ceaselessly to his own people and to the leaders of other countries and international organizations.

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Response to another comment:

You have that wrong, as do many Americans.

The Saudi government intensely disliked Osama bin Laden, even though his family was a rich and influential one in the country. They did not like his opposition to American influence in the Kingdom. Being a rather devout Muslim, he viewed the American influence and presence at the very center of Islam almost as blasphemy or apostasy.

The government secretly paid Osama to stay out of the country. The Afghanistan Taliban government gave him refuge because he was viewed both as a hero in the fight against Soviet occupation and as a devout Muslim.

The Saudi government did not pay him to attack the United States. If you know anything, it’s a preposterous notion. And had there been even a grain of truth to it, how much more attractive and rewarding it would have been for Washington to invade Saudi Arabia rather than bleak Afghanistan.

The Saudi elites were totally in bed with influential Americans. For example, money for George Bush’s poorly performing little oil company came from Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Princelings regularly went to showplaces like Las Vegas, and they made many American investments. By the way, a little later, the Crown Prince himself was a friend and frequent visitor to Jeffrey Epstein’s establishment.

Your suggestion is one that a number of rather questionable American politicians have put out there, notably New York Senator Chuck Schumer.

Perhaps to divert attention away from certain serious facts, pretty much kept buried, like the two squads of Israeli spies who tracked the airplane gang travelling around the United States for a while and completely anticipated what happened, some of them even photographing the event from the roof of a truck they rented under the name of a non-existent moving company, something never explained.

The Israelis, so far as we know gave no notice to American authorities, although American authorities may well have already known. Whatever the case, 9/11 has never been explained.

https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/john-chuckman-comment-a-survivor-says-even-the-simplest-questions-around-911-have-not-been-answered-by-government-yes-and-some-disturbing-truths-around-those-events-the-saudi-arabian-nonsense/

The Saudi payments, when discovered by investigators, were kept secret because people wouldn’t understand, and now that the payments are known, they were right, people do not understand. They have even become a basis for trying to instigate unwarranted lawsuits, something Senator Schumer may well have been trying to encourage constituents to do.

Investigators were only trying to protect the Saudis, something completely in keeping with all past close elite relationships and having nothing to do with suspected guilt.