June, 2010 archive

. . . because they really like blowing stuff up.

Steve Benen looks at how Turkey, which is a long-time ally of both the United States and Israel and a member of NATO, has suddenly become an enemy of both, according to some members of the right wing.

Remember that Turkey recently had one of its ships boarded on the high seas by Israeli commandos in an extra-legal assault; people died. In the old days, when I was a young ‘un, that was referred to as a “provocation.”

(The Israeli government apparently considers the mere existence of those who believe that the residents of Gaza need food, clothing, and medicine to be a provocation justifying what, had it been done by any other nation anywhere else, would be considered piracy. I consider the mere existence of certain persons to be a provocation, but that does not allow me to deny them food, clothing, and medical care.)

Now the Wingnut Wurlitzer (to use a phrase I’ve seen at Balloon Juice) is trying to transform Turkey into an enemy of the United States and Israel, despite history.

Benen specifically discusses Liz Cheney’s performance:

Even for Liz Cheney, this is pretty nutty. Turkey is not only a NATO member and long-time ally of the United States, it’s also been a key Israeli ally. Obviously, the May 31 raid has pushed the relationship to the breaking point, but labeling Turkey as a country that “threatens to destroy” Israel ignores years of history.

(snip)

Her entire analysis is completely absurd, but if recent months are any indication, this is a trend worth watching — how soon will other conservatives start characterizing another U.S. ally as an enemy?

History and facts are, of course, irrelevant in Greater Wingnuttia. WIngnuts are the Humpty-Dumpties of history.

They need more enemies because,

• when the only tactic you recognize is blowing stuff up, and
• when it’s bad form to blow up your friends, then
• you have to convert friends into enemies so you can fantasize about blowing them up.

No, it doesn’t make sense to me either, but I believe blowing stuff up should be avoided if at all possible (except maybe plastic model cars with firecrackers, but that was a long time ago).

But apparently it makes sense in Greater Wingnuttia, where fantasies of endless worldwide wars seem to satisfy on some deep emotional level.

Addendum:

The UK Observer opines:

As Israel’s security forces detained another ship attempting to run the embargo, the Rachel Corrie, the justifications for continuing the blockade were becoming ever more convoluted. As Bradley Burston, an Israeli columnist wrote last week, it is no longer about Israel’s defence but about the sterile business of defending the fact of the siege itself. It is worth recalling that the embargo was initiated not as a response to the rocket fire from groups in Gaza aimed at Israeli towns but in response to Hamas’s seizure of power in Gaza from a Fatah movement that had attempted to block Hamas’s popular mandate.

(snip)

History has shown blockades of this kind are rarely successful. Most notably, the decades-old US embargo of Cuba has achieved next to nothing. And the facts about Gaza are not difficult to establish.

As someone I know once said, Israel has its own wingnuts to contend with. And the Israeli wingnuts are running the show these days.

Furthermore, as someone else has pointed out, wars against ideas always fail. You can kill people; you cannot kill ideas.

Blowing stuff up rarely solves problems, here, there, and everywhere.

All things to all people.

Via Bart Cop.

Thoreau has a thought.

Fact Check dot org checks in on Arizona’s profiling statute. The discussion of the “But why the outcry? These people are here illegally, right?” argument is well worth the two minutes it takes to read:

Here’s Fact Check’s summary. Follow the link for the full analysis.

We’ll leave it to others to decide whether Arizona’s new immigration law is a good thing or a bad thing — but here we try to straighten out some of the confusing factual claims. First, a quick summary. Contrary to what the law’s defenders often say, the new statute does more than merely mirror federal law. For example:

• It’s a state crime for an illegal immigrant to apply for a job, or to solicit work publicly.
• The law also makes it a misdemeanor for a citizen driving a vehicle to stop to hire anyone if that “impedes” traffic.
• Citizens will be able to sue officials or agencies whose policies interfere with vigorous enforcement of federal immigration law.

On the much-discussed issue of whether the law permits or encourages “racial profiling,” we find:

• The amended law allows police to consider “race, color or national origin” when deciding whether to ask somebody for proof of citizenship, but only to the extent already deemed constitutional by the courts.
• It remains to be seen how police will interpret the law’s anti-profiling language in practice. State officials tell us they have yet to work out what factors police should be trained to use to establish “reasonable suspicion” of illegal status.
• Federal officials are open to criticisms similar to some of those being made about Arizona’s law. A federal manual for training state and local officials says they may consider whether a person has a “thick foreign accent” or looks “out of place” when deciding whether to ask them about their immigration status.

Finally, we examine a widely circulated chain e-mail written by an Arizona state senator who supports the law, and find her claims to be misleading. The violence against ranchers that she describes is real, but it is the work of Mexican crime cartels, not illegal immigrants.

Andrew Bacevich on the futility of blowing stuff up over there while letting stuff go to hell over here. A nugget:

From one administration to the next, the US government has failed to anticipate the threats actually endangering the well-being of the American people. Worse, when those threats materialize — here at home, not in Central Asia or the Persian Gulf — authorities respond belatedly and ineffectually. Even as Washington has fixated on distant wars of dubious necessity, Americans have lost their savings, lost their jobs, and lost their homes. Some have lost their lives, others have lost their livelihood.