Category: Politics

Oenighet råder enligt Expressen i SD:s partiledning om Mikael Janssons utmärkta ja till “vilandeförklaring” av det s.k. värdlandsavtalet, och beslutet ska tydligen tas upp till ny behandling i ett möte med riksdagsgruppen nu på eftermiddagen (tisdag 24:e maj). Är så fallet är det ett mycket allvarligt bevis för partiets radikalisering och övergivande av sin mest grundläggande åskådningsmässiga profil. Läs Simon O. Petterssons inlägg i Samtiden i februari, Stoppa smyganslutningen till Nato.

16 September, 2015

The Misadventures of Hillary Clinton

CounterPunch, 2015     Amazon

United State wars are getting repetitive. Always the same old scenario. The mainstream media alert public opinion to the latest “villain” supposedly threatening to slaughter “his own people”. The U.S. does the job instead with its drones and missiles. The new “villain” is soon forgotten, but his country is left in a shambles, with competing fanatics vying to dominate the chaos. Something new is needed. How about a Woman War President? Hillary Rodham Clinton has painstakingly groomed herself for the role. Her record as Secretary of State shows that she is fully qualified to be the first woman to be known as the “mother of all drones” or even to launch World War III.

Reviews:

“Veteran journalist Diana Johnstone captures the imperial worldview of Hillary Clinton in memorable detail. Hillary the Hawk, as U.S. Senator and Secretary of State, never saw a weapons systems she did not support nor a U.S. war practice she did not endorse. This included her hyper-aggressive launch of the war on Libya (against the opposition of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates) and the resulting sprawling chaos, violence and weapons dispersal spilling beyond Libya’s war-torn society to larger regions of central Africa. Johnstone documents Hillary Clinton as ‘the top salesperson for the ruling oligarchy’ and ‘the favorite candidate of the War Party.’ That is what is at stake in November 2016.”  Ralph Nader

“If you are still fooled by Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as the Democratic Party, then Diana Johnstone’s book will dispel the myth that either they or the party are redeemable. Hillary, like her husband, Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership, are controlled by corporate money and willing accomplices in the crimes of empire. Her appeal to gender holds no more promise for the poor, the working class or the wretched of the earth we tyrannize around the globe than Obama’s appeal to race. The predatory engines of corporate capitalism and the security and surveillance state will run as smoothly under her direction as they did under her predecessor. If you doubt this, read this book.”  Chris Hedges

“Diana Johnstone has written an extremely valuable book on Hillary Clinton, which not only examines in detail Mrs. Clinton’s political history and record, but places them in their evolving political context, which enlightens readers on the domestic and international political environment within which she works and into which she adapts.and serves.”  Edward S. Herman

About the Author:

Diana Johnstone was European editor of In These Times and press officer of the Green group in the European Parliament from 1990 to 1996. She is the author of The Politics of Euromissiles and Fools’ Crusade. She lives in Paris.

2004

Tom Woods Show, 18 April

How Israel’s Lobby Moves America

Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (2016)

Publisher’s Description:

The Israel lobby exerts incredible power and influence over America. Some identify only one organization, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), as “the lobby” citing its influence on Capitol Hill. This is wrong. Many interconnected organizations channel their power and influence through AIPAC in Congress. Hundreds more “mini-AIPAC’s” coordinate with AIPAC and their own national office to lobby state legislatures to pass model legislation and spending authorizations benefitting Israel – without publically disclosing most of their lobbying activities. Others operate quietly, policing what is allowed to appear in mainstream news media and channeling “hush money” to civil rights organizations to keep them out of grassroots pro-Palestinian movements. Coordinated, effective and highly averse to public scrutiny, the Israel Affinity Organizations that make up the lobby have transformed America. While some informed voters know the U.S. provides more foreign aid to Israel than any other country, the total flow of charitable, tax dollar, military aid, intelligence and “opportunity cost” are unknown to those footing the bill – and the lobby is determined to keep it that way.

Yet storm clouds are gathering over Israel’s lobby. Public opinion polls asking the right questions indicate Americans are nowhere near as approving of unconditional support as many Israel lobbyists insist. Most American Jews have nothing to do with Israel lobbying organizations. More important, broad and deep societal changes, along with the technology-driven rise of alternative and social media, are transforming large numbers of Americans from mostly unaware supporters into informed and active dissenters.

Big Israel is a comprehensive, historical, data-driven analysis of how the Israel lobby exerts influence across the United States. Based on a detailed review of more than 4,000 nonprofit organization tax returns, declassified U.S. government files and closely-held internal reports from Israel lobby organizations, Big Israel reveals how staid, respectable and bona fide social welfare organizations transformed themselves into a networked lobby for a foreign country – inflicting immense damage on average Americans. Big Israel offers many surprising insights into the Israel lobby’s strengths and weaknesses so that Americans working for peace and justice in Middle East policymaking can finally turn down the rolling thunder of propaganda and take effective action.

Look inside on Amazon

About the Author:

Grant F. Smith lives, researches and writes about the Israel lobby in Washington, DC. Smith is director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep), a nonprofit organization that studies U.S. Middle East policy formulation. Smith’s research about the lobby is frequently published at the Antiwar.com news website and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs magazine. Big Israel is Smith’s eighth book about the Israel lobby. In his thirty-year professional career as a researcher, Smith has investigated financial services and global telecommunications industries, worked in twenty-two countries assessing the impact of regulatory and trade regime changes, and managed multinational research teams. Smith has a BA in International Relations from the University of Minnesota and MIM (Master of International Management) from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

Norma, 1991

Från baksidan (där även finns icke direkt till denna bok relaterade citat från Arne Ruth i DN om Lindbom):

Den västerländska demokratin har under århundraden kämpat som en polemisk negation av det traditionella samhället. Denna kamp, som positivt uttryckt gällt friheten och jämlikheten, får emellertid i och med utgången av det andra världskriget sin historiska avslutning.

Människorna och samhällena ställs därmed inför en helt ny situation. Friheten och jämlikheten är inte längre ideologiska element och strävanden i en formbunden värld, friheten och jämlikheten förkunnas nu vara absoluta, ovillkorliga värden utan någon begränsning, höjda över tid och rum. Demokratin är inte längre en livs- och samhällsform, demokratin har lämnat tillvarons formvärld och förvandlats till en pseudometafysisk myt.

JOB:s kommentar:

Lindbom beskriver vanligen Rousseau bara som Människorikets store sagoberättare, som berättar sagan om just Människoriket. Här introducerar han emellertid en definition av myten (s. 18-20, 29), som avser att gå utöver eller utveckla och stärka sagobegreppet i detta sammanhang. Rousseau blir Människorikets mytskapare.

Den historiska, grekiska grunden för denna definition är litet oklar, och den diskuteras såvitt jag minns inte – eller åtminstone inte på ett sätt som ökar denna klarhet – på något annat ställe i Lindboms författarskap. Man kan förstå behovet av en starkare term än saga, men för begriplighetens skull bör man förstå att beskrivningen i termer av saga och sagoberättare här kvarstår oförändrad.

Den största nyheten här är att ett kapitel ägnas Heidegger, som endast kort omnämndes i Fallet Tyskland (1988). Faktum är att i denna bok Heidegger och inte Rousseau framställs som Människorikets störste allmänne tänkare. Läsningen är, liksom Evolas, kritisk, men kanske inte någon av Lindboms starkaste analyser.

Ingrid och Conrad, 8:e april

Handbok för den äkta oppositionen

Arktos, 2015

Baksida:

25 January