Ever wonder where the people outside of the United States get their rather unorthodox views of George Bush and American foreign policy? The most credible sources to these well-meaning auslanders are people like Michael Moore or Noam Chomsky who are, after all, Americans and carry with them comforting messages that seem to validate rather than challenge cherished stereotypes.
Today another American voice articulates the warm and fuzzy hatreds that most of the rest of us have long since discarded.
Dr. W. Scott Thompson of the prestigious Fletcher School at Tufts University publishes an article in The Jakarta Post that would not be out of place in Der Sturmer. His thesis: Jews control the United States in order to benefit Israel. How else, he speculates, can you explain America’s suicidal alliance with the devilish Israelis?
On the marrow of Sept. 11 Israel proclaimed that now we could understand their suffering from terrorism. That is the central fallacy. They were a major cause of our suffering. For terrorism against America, more than any other single factor, is caused by the sense of deprivation in Palestine and on behalf of Palestine.
According to Osama bin Laden two weeks after 9/11:
”What America is tasting now is something insignificant compared to what we have tasted for scores of years. Our nation (the Islamic world) has been tasting this humiliation and this degradation for more than 80 years.”
That would seem to predate the state of Israel. But no matter.
Israel is an annoyance to al Qaeda but hardly the sole reason for their humiliation. Does anyone think al Qaeda would evaporate and its members become good global citizens if only Israel ceased to exist?
Yes, apparently a lot of people think that. I know it’s a tired analogy but it’s true that there were also a lot of people who thought the Nazis would moderate themselves if only the Jews left Germany peacefully. Hell, there are still respectable people in Europe who believe that.
If there was any doubt that Thompson is on the fringe of respectable discourse he eliminates it by invoking the vision of that grand old statesman Mahathir Mohammed.
It is simply not permitted to call attention to the fact of record of Jewish financial influence and ownership of major media in the U.S. -- or, far more importantly, American political circles.
Not permitted yet constantly repeated, not coincidentally, by every political extremist on the Right and Left from David Duke to the Rev. Al Sharpton. It’s certainly permitted in America to say that the Jews control the banks and the media but unlike in Europe or Malaysia you will not be taken seriously.
It’s well known that the Dutch are among the biggest investors in the United States but as yet there is no mass movement to drink genever or license prostitutes. Of course, The Netherlands is another member of the non-existent coalition of the unilateral and may actually be the puppeteer nation pulling the strings of the United States but calling attention to Dutch influence is simply not permitted in the U.S.
Thompson goes on to uncover the suppressed news that Israel has weapons of mass destruction.
“If WMD were the problem,” he says, “apparently we went after the wrong country.” In fact, the United States has even more nukes that Israel. Perhaps we should have invaded Nevada.
WMD, like handguns, do not kill people by themselves. Intentions make the rather crucial difference.
Israel is waiting to unleash nuclear holocaust until when? Until its very existence is at stake. And a nuclear armed Osama would wait to unleash his nukes until when? Until the date happens to have an 11 in it.
Slight difference. A nuance as the WMD-possessing French would say.
Thompson says that Israel is also building a new Berlin Wall and oppressing minorities. Another nuance: the Berlin Wall was built to keep people in, not out.
Israel is the only country left in the world that legally enshrines suppression of an ethnic group by another.
Presumably Thompson was not writing that from a hotel room in Mecca because non-believers like him are not allowed to set foot there even if he happens to be a Saudi citizen.
On the other hand, Israeli Palestinians not only can vote in Israel, they can form political parties, campaign for office without fear of being beaten to death with rocks and serve as elected officials. If only the same could be said for Palestinians in the Arab world . . . or any Arab in the Arab world for that matter. (Outside of Iraq of course where democracy is taking root).
And what ranting apology for the Islamofascist death cult would be complete without a bizarre psychoanalysis of George W. Bush?
The president, desperate to prove his worth to his father, like any son, has sought to outdo him and win where his father lost. "Arik" (Sharon) showed him the way. Allied with the "moral majority" and its fixation on the Israel of Biblical texts, Bush the younger found someone who could allow him both to differentiate himself from -- and stand up to -- his father, whose views of the Israelis as president was ever so much less generous. In fact, almost diametrically opposed.
I must admit, I had never thought of this one.
In order to stand up to his domineering father, young George became president of the United States so that he could support Israel. I’m sure that would have pissed off my father too, but I found other outlets that didn’t involve convincing 50 million people to vote for me.
What would an Indonesian student or Swiss banker or Egyptian cab driver make of an article like this? Well, first of all it would validate their prejudices because it comes from a seemingly reliable source.
But how much do you or I know about Dr. Thompson? Nothing at all but this tirade with his name on it. It stands on its own. You are forced to draw your own conclusion. Does this person sound like a thoughtful observer or a bit of a crank? And importantly, does his affiliation with The Fletcher School reflect badly on the institution?
Why not contact Stephen Bosworth, the Dean of The Fletcher School at (617)627-3050 or stephen.bosworth@tufts.edu tell him what you think?
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