Teh Funny!--But Not Really. Sick, Rather

Neither the Onion nor Fafblog! can compete with the New Republic:

Michael B. Oren: To prevent a regional conflagration, Israel should attack Syria...

And:

Jonathan Chait: Israel retaliated by attacking the parts of Lebanon's infrastructure that could be used to spirit the kidnapped soldiers out of the country, and followed it up by trying to destroy Hezbollah's artillery. In so doing they made every effort to minimize civilian casualties...

Comments

[otto]

"Even the liberal New Republic ... "

('ETLNR')

[Roger Albin]

Well, this is bizarre. Oren's own account in his very good book on the Six Day War shows clearly that the Six Day War is a poor analogy with the present situation. Oren shows well that the Israeli preemptive attack was a well justified response to a real threat to the existence of Israel, something that can hardly be said to exist now.

[entlord]

This is tame stuff; among the talking heads of radio punditry the discussion is if the US or Israel should launch air attacks against Tehran's nuclear facilities and if the attacks should be conventional or nuclear; if Israel should be satisfied with bombing Syria to its knees or if Israel should invade with ground forces and occupy Syria and if Israel should set up a DMZ with Lebanon (after pushing to Beirut) or whether Israel should immediately start expelling Palestinians from Lebanon.
The video game corps is especially bloodthirsty this time and have completely bought into the Leon Uris mythos.

[Samuel Knight]

Great example of how seemingly informed analysis just veers off its rocker in TNR. How many times do read seemingly well - informed writers making just astoundingly stupid judgement calls in that magazine?

On issue, after issue, they just don't seem to logically think through almost anything. A glittering example of some of the worst features of DC wonkishness.

And yes, the vitrol that I direct at TNR is mainly driven by the fact that they still want to lead as "liberals" - despite their horrible record. Plus the fact that Peretz really seems to be a despicable jerk, so it would be nice to see his handiwork go down the tubes.

[Auros]

It's sort of like Monty Python.

"The New Republic's not dead... it's just... pining for the fjords!"

[Barry]

Samuel, one reason is that they suffer no bad consequences. If they were on their third tour of Iraq, they might think differently, but life's been far better to them than they deserve. The other reason, of course, is that Peretz has collected a fine stable of Likkudnik presstitutes, and they know who signs their checks.

[stunster]

I took the liberty of highlighting this insanity at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/17/14488/4928

[Gary]

You silly people. Israel shouldn't just attack Syria, it should do as we do in Iraq and occupy it!

[ahem]

There's a 'blame Syria for everything' neurosis in certain sections of the Israeli population; Oren is just part of it.

It's not as bad as Kristol's 'and this is why we must go to war with Iran'. In fact, it's time to parody that grinning necromonger: 'Steroids in baseball? We must attack Iran!'

[ahem]

And, of course, I can't think of anything better for Israel's position than to turn over Syria to the radicalised Sunni majority.

/snark.

[dale]

There's a certain history to this insanity. Better dead than red. Destroy the village to save it. Start a regional conflagration to prevent a regional conflagration.

As we see in most of our recent wars- the grand plans of the war mongers usually just lead to the murder and sufferings of the civilian populations. That used to be seen as immoral. Now we seem to accept it as a matter of fact.

[Kurzleg]

Posted by: Barry | July 17, 2006 at 12:57 PM
"Samuel, one reason is that they suffer no bad consequences."

What do you mean? I cancelled my subscription two weeks ago?

[Kurzleg]

Ditch that second question mark. I did indeed cancel.

[Barry]

Kurzleg, as long as Peretz' wife's money holds out....

[Ahmad Chalabi]

And you thought I was crazy...

-

[andres]

To remind people of the historical parallels, TNR expresses the same sort of thinking that led to the outbreak of WWI in the aftermath of the personal tragedy/geopolitical triviality that was the Archduke's assassination. The Likudnik propaganda heard both here and in Israel reminds me of the "smash Serbia" drive to war in Austria-Hungary, with GW and Cheney bearing remarkable similarities to Kaiser Bill and von Moltke.

There are times when, to sensible people, the rush to war and aggression seems like a ghastly form of mental illness. This entire administration in that sense seems to be mentally ill. Unfortunately, quite a few people in it are not but are fully willing to take advantage of the situation.

[section321]

The comparison to Fafblog and the Onion gets even better. One of the other lead stories is:

Bush really is too dumb to be president
by Jonathan Chait

And these guys are just now figuring that out? I've know that for almost seven years.

A fine mess his strategery has gotten us into.

[bdr]

It's like that scene at the end of Patton, when Patton rages that the US should start a war with the Soviet Union since (I gotta paraphrase) "we're gonna have to fight'em anyway and we've already got the army here."
And then the commanding general Patton is bitching too gives Patton a "you're ffffing crazy look and storms out."

Trouble is today, the roles are reversed, or would be if they could.

[liberal]

Barry wrote, "Kurzleg, as long as Peretz' wife's money holds out...."

Not any longer. Peretz sold TNR a couple years ago.

[JimPortlandOR]

Peretz still holds about a third of TNR, but sold the other 2/3rds to two very conservative NY investors - which helps explain both Peretz's mania and TNR's neo-con slant.

It used to be a violation of the laws of war to have a ship (TNR emblem) sailing under a false flag. TNR ceased being a liberal publication long ago, but proudly flys the BushCo/PNAC flag in foreign affairs.

[Phoenix Woman]

Peretz still holds about a third of TNR, but sold the other 2/3rds to two very conservative NY investors - which helps explain both Peretz's mania and TNR's neo-con slant.

So they're doing to TNR what Connie Black and Dickie Perle did to the once-honorable Jerusalem Post?

Maybe if we're lucky, the financial devils behind TNR will collapse as spectacularly as has Lord Black of Crossharbour.

[rogergur]

that chait, orren, klein-halevi are stupid is no surprise. the mental hard on they are having now is the fantasy that with one swipe of a bomber's wing Israel can do what the US expedition to Iraq failed at: defang the paper tigers of terrorism and inaugurate the era of democracy all over the ME. by greenlighting Israel's bombing and calls on its neighbors to engage in civil war, the bushies and their backers are swinging for the fences or is it throwing a hail mary? (your favorite sport's metaphor here.) of course, these dreamers forget how glad most israelis were to finally leave lebanon and even gaza. i have often wondered how these folks square their notion of Israel the invincible with that of Isrel the victim.
my gratitude to anyone who can explain it in 50 words or less.

[Jim H]

What has happened is, Israel and the US now have the same war strategy. One of the enemy commits a traffic violation, nuke his capital. If he's a transient, nuke it twice for "sheltering" him. Nuke Beirut to "get them to disarm Hezbollah." Sure, and then they'll greet us with flowers and chocolate. And the war? It'll be fast! And cheap!

When they get in trouble, they will ask us to bail them out by invading Syria.

And since, under the Bush regime, the interests of the United States and the interests of Israel are identical-- Damascus, here we come!

[spiiderweb]

I was rather proud of this comparison.

[spiiderweb]

I didn't know html tags don't work.

...this comparison.

http://spiiderweb.blogspot.com/2006/06/little-overkill-anyone.html

[Peter]

Frankly, the more Oren's conservative agenda comes to the forefront, the more I become suspicious of his account of the Six-day War. I'm not the biggest fan of Norman Finkelstein (who has his own agenda), but he does make some good points about Oren's tendentious presentation of the events leading up to war in 1967:

http://www.ussliberty.org/orenbook.htm

[Captain Video]

"To prevent a regional conflagration, Israel should attack Syria..."

War is Peace!

[Captain Video]

The same clueless ideologues who lured us into the Iraqi quagmire now want to lure us into additional quagmires, i.e. the middle east and Iran.

It's time for the American people to tell these warmongers in no uncertain terms!

HELL NO, WE WON'T GO!!!

[melior]

Ya know, if NRO ever decided to display pictures with a story, they could easily show us what "every effort" looks like:

http://tinyurl.com/np2mt

They can't be worried about the extra bandwidth costs when they already brag about how proud they are of being a money-losing venture... Maybe they just need some help with that a href stuff.

[Brian Boru]

Hell, I cancelled my subscription something like 30 years ago. Digby a while ago suggested that it might be a good time to reread Tuchman's March of Folly (and I think he actually did so). Guns of July might someday be an interesting sequel to Guns of August, if anyone's around to write/read it.

[blah]

Those guys are wimps. They are not thinking creatively enough.

To avoid a regional conflagration, we need to invade Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.

Once we have started war with all of those countries, only then will be able to ease our fears of a regional conflagration.

[christo]

Now Bush our President has out Fafblogged the Fafblog. Reality supplants amateur satire. How can this world be improved upon? Is the electricity still running in California so you can read this note or are you experiencing a flashback of the summer of enron shortages?

This Sunday sermons by our ayatollahs in the megachurches on how Ken Lay has been taken up to heaven to enjoy the 72 virgins along with the trophy wife, three principality size residences, and a selection of imported automobiles.

[a different chris]

>And Oren is suggesting not a war but a strike

"A strike" huh? Oh, well never mind then, we thought he wanted to do something unreasonable. Carry on.

/ sarcasm

[sophiegogs]

The 'think-they-know-it-alls' could learn a lot about the whole middle east situation from those who know it first hand -- and have even more knowledgeable friends than themselves.

For example:

http//:rickwrites.blogspot.com/

[Barry]

Anybody who proposes a 'strike', proposes a war. He/she just figures that it'll be a short, easy war. A cakewalk, so to speak.

[Barry]

"i have often wondered how these folks square their notion of Israel the invincible with that of Isrel the victim.
my gratitude to anyone who can explain it in 50 words or less."

Posted by: rogergur

I've heard this 'duality' proposed as a common feature of fascism. Strong enemies explain why 'we' are held down, and justify extreme measures. The weakness of the enemies makes proposed wars/extreme measures look safe.

[Neil']

Well, how well can we see the degree to which a nation minimized civilian casualties, given a military objective we can understand? How does the techinical capability of Israel affect this judgment? Who can we trust to analyze that and comment on it? Has anyone already done a good enough job?

[The Fool]

Poor Jonathan - he seems to be selling his soul for his career. I first became aware of him when wrote some good articles attacking Bush's budget policy. They were quite good. But in the last couple of years he has become a complete tool.

Following the party line at TNR may be good for the resume, Jon, but you're making a public asshole of yourself in the process, and the thing is, your words are recorded for posterity. You'll never live it down.