Our government will "admit that Iran is not starting a nuclear arms race, but joining one" and that the "the rules they impose on Iran should also apply to Israel" when it also admits that Israel has been stealing land from the Palestinians for over half a century in defiance of UN resolutions, has carried out a brutal occupation of the Palestinian people for all that time, and has tried twice to destroy enough of Lebanon to enable it to annex at least one of its rivers. The occupation and the attacks on Lebanon were paid for with OUR tax dollars, I am ashamed to say.

Both Israel and the US believe Israel can do no wrong. I guess they are both blind to reality.

"So when will our governments speak up? When will they acknowledge that there is already a nuclear power in the Middle East, and that it presents an existential threat to its neighbours? When will they admit that Iran is not starting a nuclear arms race, but joining one? When will they demand that the rules they impose on Iran should also apply to Israel?"

Never.
That is the code and it is taboo to mention it.

Besides, "and that it presents an existential threat to its neighbours" contradicts all the framing as Israel the innocent and vulnerable Democracy (decent, like us) surrounded by a sea of hostile backward Arab terrorists (evil vermin, unlike us the superior, good civilized and decent)

Israel is America's dark little secret. Created almost 60 years ago it now has a life of it's own. It's base of support is now our elected government politicians. Who are groomed, by Israel, to think of Israel as vital to American security interests. Israel goes to great lengths to indoctrinate American politicians who learn very quickly not to deny Israeli interests. This is why no American politician will touch the fact the Iran is joining an arms race.
Hoa binh

Israel is at least as dangerous as Iran and has violated more United Nations resolutions than all other countries combined but in eyes of America they can do no wrong. If we had a truly balanced middle east policy the Palestinians would have had a home of their own quite awhile ago.

Hypocrites and criminals. Like the U.S., Britain, Russia, etc., Israel will never give up it's nukes. The only alternative is to supply nukes to ALL Middle Eastern countries and achieve Mutually Assured Destruction and another Cold War. The M/I/I complex would love that. But at least countries could get some respect, like North Korea did. Nuclear proliferation sucks but what other choices have we? M.A.D. could work until the time the people of the world become enlightened enough to get rid of ALL WMD's and learn to live together like good stewards of our spaceship earth.

And we want to know why "they" hate us...Because they know us for the hypocrites we are.

Please remove your government from power now, before someone else is forced to do it.

When will they demand that the rules they impose on Iran should also apply to Israel?

I would suppose that will happen at about the same time as Israel's 'right to exist as a Jewish state' is openly questioned -- which is to say never. Let's face it. Israel is not subject to ANY of the same rules that apply to ANY allegedly 'free and democratic' country.

To quote Oren Ben-Dor:In our world, a world that resisted Apartheid South Africa so impressively, recognition of the right of the Jewish state to exist is a litmus test for moderation and pragmatism. The demand is that Palestinians recognise Israel's entitlement to constitutionally entrench a system of racist basic laws and policies, differential immigration criteria for Jews and non-Jews, differential ownership and settlements rights, differential capital investments, differential investment in education, formal rules and informal conventions that differentiate the potential stakes of political participation, lame-duck academic freedom and debate.

So long as 'exceptionalism' provides the fundamental underpinnings for any state and its 'defence' policies, whether it be Israel or the U.S., there can be no possible challenge or remedy in the context of comparisons with standards for the rest of the world. To describe such a situation as hypocrisy is not only much too mild, but overlooks the broader ramifications for any kind of equitable world order in general.

The code of silence exists to help us maintain a strategic presence in the Middle East. Israel has never had our national security in mind, nor does it particularly care for the fact that we feel entitled to dictate what they must do--or not do-- because of the aid we supply them. It's a foul little co-dependent relationship we have developed with Israel, and we'll maintain it as long as we can --precisely because we want that "ally" in the Middle east. Israel is using every means possible to advance its own agenda, including coercion of every sort at the highest levels. What do we expect?

The West has to push a two state settlement in Palestine, even though the settlements in the West Bank make this settlement a farce as far as justice to the Palestinians goes.

A one state settlement, a federal sytem of some kind, with Jerusalem a 'Canberra-type'capitol region, cannot be tolerated, because then a federal government containing Palestinians in power would have nukes.

So I can see why the USA admin is in a panic about its current push, diplomatically waterboarding Abbas and company into accepting what ever the US admin has in store for them.

Practically every person in the US with any knowledge of foreign affairs knows that Israel has a nuclear arsenal. I'd wager that if a pollster asked a random sampling of the adult population of this country whether or not Israel had nuclear weapons (if it hasn't already been done), an overwhelming majority would say "yes". Yet if a politician were ever to state the obvious, in whatever manner and whatever capacity, his/her career in politics would come to an end with that statement. While this is only one point by which the know-nothing and hypocritical political culture of the US demonstrates its pathological dysfunction, it happens to be one of the most significant. It seems as if the entire population of the country has conspired to remain silent about this matter.

Its called AIPAC richsmith2.

Great article by George Monbiot.

How can the American people remain so clueless???????
This questions drives me nuts because it seems to bother so few other people.

As a nation, we no longer educate, we simply choose not to know, as we prepare our "educated" youth (like the obedient Nazis youth) to run breathlessly on the treadmill of corporate capitalism.

Let everyone else fend for themselve!!!!!!!

U.S. democracy has been replaced by a corporate oligarchy, making mush of our minds. America has become a militant fascist nation and we have financed the military State of Israel to act in our own belligerant image and likeness.

Yes Katiedid, "And we want to know why "they" hate us…Because they know us for the hypocrites we are."

I treasure how the articles and discussions on CommonDreams exposes the great illusions of our times.

There's a socialist, anti-American country in the Middle East that believes our country, perhaps correctly, to be absolute fools. It's the same country that possesses nuclear weapons and has been a destabilizing force in a critical part of the globe--Israel. It's time for us sever our ties with this albatross hanging around our neck, and develop a policy independent of Israel and AIPAC.

Yes dcbeltway - as Ed McMahon would have said to Johnny,
"You are correct sir!"

I agree with all of the above, but I wouldn't dream of saying so because Abraham Foxman and Alan Dershowitz may sneak up on me, tie me up, and take turns excoriating me for blatant anti-Semitism.

If a member of an Israeli embassy were to read this set of comments, we would be labeled as anti-semitic Jew haters.

Remember the USS Liberty and her crew.

Do as we say, not as we do. It's wrong for Iran to have nuclear weapons and threaten other countries, but it's okay for the US, Israel and Pakistan to do so.

One of the more graphic illustrations of the capitalist world order's growing irrationality has been painted by one of its forward outposts—Israel. The state that Zionism created has begun sensing its mortality and is thrashing around accordingly. The guardians of the state are clearly in the grip of fear and uncertainty. During the most recent war the indiscriminate bombings in Lebanon and Gaza and the resultant killing of civilians and destruction of infrastructure, the kidnapping of Hamas legislators, the targeting of a U.N. observer post, and the outrage on Qana were desperate acts. Each farther outside the bounds of common sense than the one before.

Completely out of the blue on repeated occasions and in leaflets dropped on the Lebanese, Israeli leaders have felt compelled to mention their power to erase Lebanon from the planet. The Israelis are blustering past the graveyard and their bully's trepidation is bound to grow now that that adventure has gone badly.

Under normal circumstances the impending death of a form of racism like Zionism (see pictures of young Israeli girls writing messages and drawing on missile warheads soon to rain down on Lebanon) and the establishment of a secular state on the territory Israel now occupies where Palestinian Arabs of various religious persuasions and Jews could peacefully co-exist as equals would be cause for human celebration. Unfortunately, the panic that clearly grips Israel means they will likely join in U.S. attacks on Damascus and Tehran and resort to the use of their nuclear arsenal when all else fails. And that, on a larger scale, is the dilemma that the whole world faces as the capitalist system spearheaded by the United States begins experiencing it's last gasps.

George Monbiot is obviously not a very well educated man and lets others think for him since he seems to be unable to do so himself.
Iran is not attempting to develop nuclear weapons. Only bush and some fanatical jewish hawks (and apparantly Mr. Monbiot) actually believe so.
Mr. Monbiot also cannot distinguish between Nuclear Power and Nuclear Weapons. They are not the same and it would do him good to try to educate himself as to their difference.
It is sad that we have people that get all their information from FOX News and then try to write essays on topics they know nothing about.

How shy is Israel about their nuclear capability? I refer you to the "sampson option" where they plan to nuke the whole world before giving up on their zionist dream.

I agree with OREZ..ENO, the blatant scapegoating of Ahmadinejad is grade school bully tactics, and the fact that the media
parrot whatever DC or TelAviv spews is outrageous, a complete disservice to their
readers.

The recent histories of Iran and Israel should be required background for every article on these topics. Too many Americans lack context to even question the propaganda they're being asked to swallow.

This is as kind as I can put it: Israel was a terrible, misguided experiment that failed, it's time to dismantle this entity
and find a new way forward.

Israeli zionists refuse to share so the one state option is out and they've ruined the two state option. I say give the zionists the bantustands and put them under the rule of the UN, the international court of law and Amnesty International.
Put them under a treaty like USA did to Japan after WWII where they are forbidden to have a standing army & weapons.

The zionist state is failed, has no purpose other than to create permanent conflict in the region - it has to go. byebye

Clue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Monbiot

Our 51st state gets more money than the other 50 from our government

Forget what the US says. Forget what Iran says.

Iran is the 4th largest oil producer and exporter in the world. Iran has the second largest proven reserves of natural gas in the entire world. It's busting at its seams with energy. There is only one reason it would spend the many billions of dollars, allocate precious country resources and endure international sanctions to enrich uranium- and anyone but a fool of the first order realizes it's not for more energy.

Often things are quite complicated. This is not.

Our 51st state gets more money than the other 50 from our government
curmudgeon99 November 20th, 2007 4:06 pm

No shit! That's the price of imperialism. The fed doesn't exist to kiss the butts of the states. You left out Pakistan, Egypt, and Jordan. But then again, Jew haters always do. It is called foreign aid.

I apologize for diverting this thread for a moment from the very real threat of nuclear weapons proliferation, but something more fundamental continues to bother me.

First of all, I welcome articles like this that point out that Israel is a large threat to peace in the Middle East by saying things like,

"Israel under Olmert is also a dangerous and unpredictable state involved in acts of terror abroad."

and,

"Nuclear weapons in Israel's hands are surely just as dangerous as nuclear weapons in Iran's."

But why must everyone also say things like,

"Yes, Iran under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a dangerous and unpredictable state involved in acts of terror abroad. The president is a Holocaust denier opposed to the existence of Israel."

It's as if everyone feels that they won't be taken seriously unless they use these words against Ahmadinejad. And, it's also as if anyone who questions Israel's right to exist in its present form is the most evil person imaginable.

Well, I guess I must be a pretty evil person.

Let me ask you, suppose the Iroquois and Huron Native American nations were to use the influence of Russia's military with all its nuclear capability to suddenly demand that all lands currently occupied by the United States of America be returned to them, and that about 20% of the territory be set up as occupied territories for us white Europeans (Americans) to live in. They could set aside places like Death Valley as an occupied territory.

Ridiculous?

Well, who has the more legitimate claim to their respective disputed territories? Native Americans or Jews? Native Americans lost their lands to the white Europeans in very recent history. In terms of historical time, it just happened, almost yesterday. If I understand it correctly, the Jews lost their lands to the Romans when, two thousand years ago?

Besides, Ahmadinehad has never said that the Jews did not have a right to a homeland. He simply questions, as I do, why it is that certain people who suffered in Germany during World War II are able to use the military influence of a superpower like the United States to make a claim to a territory whose people had nothing to do with their suffering. At least in my example of Native Americans the claim for the territory of the United States of America would be made against the very people who stole that land, which of course is us, white Europeans, who discovered it, although we choose to ignore the fact that Native Americans had occupied it for some ten thousands years. The Jews in 1948 made their claim for the territory of present day Israel against the Palestinians, who had exactly what to do with them, or with Hitler's Germany?

I realize that these questions are not going to be taken seriously. But don't they point out the foolishness of saying, as so many authors do in these articles, that Ahmadinehad is a holocaust denier and is therefore one of the most evil persons on earth?

One last point. I had to use the phrase, "one of the most evil persons on earth" because Ahmadinehad is not alone. There are many people, perhaps half the current population of this planet, who completely agree with him. Are we all evil?

Isreal has nuclear weapons. They have not signed the non proliferation treaty. They let no outside entities inspect their facilities. They don't even admit to having them. They practice apartied and racism. They meddle in the affairs of our countries. They have undo access to our government. They actively spy on us and have secret operatives running all over the place. They might even be running our goverment.
They attack their neighbors at the drop of a hat. They shot a million cluster bomblets into Lebanon at the end of their latest attempted invasion. They kidnap people from other countries and put them in their jails.
Please remind me again why we send them money and block every UN resolution that condemns them.

Perhaps the underlying problem here in terms of getting our government to recognize that their surrogate in the ME, Israel is guilty of dispossessing an entire people and keeping them in the equivalent of reservations, is that would require acknowledging our own history.

We (the US) create and energize mini-me's and call them allies so that we can feel less isolated or culpable in our criminl behaviors. And better yet, we can actually convince ourselves that we are just defending a kind of underdog, poor beseiged little Israel, surrounded by all those scary Arabs. The truth has been so twisted that it is no longer recognizable, and even still, many of our citizens, as well as many in Israel know that there is somethng terribly wrong with this picture.

Yes attack Iraq, Iran and Iran because they are supposedly developing nuclear weapons WHILE Israel already has 200+. Can anyone spell hypocrisy? Oh wait - Iraq, Iran and Syria have muslim population. Can anyone spell crusade?

Oh well....

In response to OREZ_ENO I do think people should read this article about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Two sides to every story. Who is right who is wrong. I don't speak Farsi so I don't know. What I do know is there is a great deal of black propagandists pushing for war which makes me dig deeper.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16218.htm

Thoughts?

First, the holocaust happened. It didn't only affect Jews, but it did happen.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, let me add to grubstaker's link that neither did the Palestinians/Arabs ever say that they would push Israel into the sea, as is often repeated. This was propaganda created by Isreal to garner support. At least, that's what Jimmy Carter wrote in his book, Palestine, Peace Not Apartheid.

As for nukes: Israel, Pakistan - our "friends." Why shouldn't Iran?

"Yes, Iran under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a dangerous and unpredictable state involved in acts of terror abroad."

WTF? Ahmadinejad is a puppet - the mullahs in Iran run the show. Why no mention of them? Maybe it's because we'll start to understand the real picture...?

Shit, here we go again, the ruthless leading the duped.

Another deliberate obfuscation that Monbiot apparently has missed is the statement repeated by Israeli spokesmen that "it will not be the first power in the Middle East to introduce nuclear weapons".

This is a reference to the brief period during the cold war when the US had nuclear weapons in Turkey. They were removed as part of a quid pro quo with the soviets following the Cuban missile crisis. The Soviets publicly withdrew their nuclear missiles from threatening positions in Cuba, and a few months later the US quietly withdrew its nuclear missiles from threatening positions in Turkey (and agreed not to invade Cuba again).

So, Israel will not be the "first", but the US never forces them to clarify that they are referring to Turkey and that Israel is by this account the second power to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East.

So long as the United States keeps exporting billions of dollars to Israel in the form of foreign aid (Israel produces practically nothing and is our very own welfare state with the average Israeli citizen receiving more U.S. tax dollars than the average American citizen) the problems with its arrogant, unaccomodating government will only increase. If we cut off the funding, this so-called country would collapse overnight.

Monbiot/Mole

Santayana said, "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."

Is history taught in the schools anymore? Have you read any of the one sided crap and distortions that purport to be history as currently written?

Those of us in our seventies and eighties remember recent history as having lived it. It often has little correspondence with what is said to have happened by modern pop history writers.

If we cannot recognize our mistakes, if we cannot look at what has worked and what has not through the centuries, we will just continue as we are now, reliving the buildup to Nazi Germany, or Soviet Russia. Then there will be war, or financial collapse.

The only major difference is that we now have the ability to completely destroy the earth and its ecosystem several dozen times over, and people in charge that think that would be really neat, if they don't get their way.

If we don't work together to keep global warming slowed down enough to where the planet can deal with it, then earth will become like another Venus, but we will not be here to see it. We'll be gone long before. Perhaps, someday in the distant future, something will step on the surface of the moon and see footprints and garbage and say, "Hmmm, it looks like Kilroy was here."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to the US recently in a clear gesture of peace. He was ridiculed, called ignorant, and relegated to answering questions about human rights concerns (when the real topic at hand was averting World War). Every line uttered by the Columbia University President host sounded as though it was chosen by the AIPAC. The Iranian President spoke rather eloquently about principles of freedom and peace. The American host behaved like a bratty child.

Although it has been floating around like gospel truth, Ahmadinejad did not say he wants to wipe Israel off the map. This one line falsehood will quite possibly become the basis for our next war.

Instead of waging war against every country that may or may not be developing nuclear weapons, a better strategy would be to not become the enemy of every country. The spread of nuclear technology is inevitable. The United States is unable, financially and otherwise, to either attack or bribe other nations away from nuclear capability.

@grubstaker

Thank you very much for this link.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16218.htm

Although when I wrote my above opinion I had more in mind Ahmadinejad's recent exchange with the president of Columbia University, I have long been curious about Ahmadinejad's previous statements to his own people. I am happy to be enlightened to the fact that what most sources say Ahmadinejad said is grossly exaggerated and completely out of context. I agree with you that this link should be read by anyone interested or concerned about this subject.

What I particularly like about this link is that it expands on what is often reported as Ahmadinejad's apparent refusal to answer a question directly, by instead asking other more detailed questions. Indeed, I recall Columbia University's President Bollinger concluding Ahmadinejad's lack of a direct yes or no response as a denial of the holocaust. But of course Ahmadinejad's did not in that exchange even come close to denying the holocaust. What I think is happening here is that Ahmadinejad often speaks above the intellectual level of people like President Bollinger, and especially people like Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes or CNN's Anderson Cooper as described in your link. I believe that all these people are so focused in translating everything into 5-second sound bites that they fail to realize what is actually being said to them. The truth is, the world is a complex place and often there are no yes or no answers. I downloaded Ahmadinejad's entire exchange at Columbia and except for once on the subject of homosexuality, I found him very knowledgeable and enlightening. He has earned my greatest respect. I will not comment on the homosexuality issue here because a comparison of general attitudes on that subject between our two cultures, American and Iranian, is too complex a subject for this forum.

@iammyself

Like you, and like Ahmadinejad, I do admit that yes, the holocaust did happen. But as Ahmadinejad points out, there is some difference of opinion over exactly what did happen during the holocaust. And I, like Ahmadinejad, feel that everyone should be free to research the subject and to follow whatever path that research leads. It is that exact point that Ahmadinejad made at Columbia for which President Bollinger concluded was a denial of the existence of the holocaust. But there is a lot of value to Ahmadinejad's opinion. For example, we have all seen those terrible photographs of the piles of dead bodies discovered by the allied armies who liberated the various camps. There is no denying such evidence. But exactly how did those people die? Most of those photos show highly emaciated bodies. What would cause that? Do these bodies look like healthy people who were gassed in a chamber immediately after arriving at a death camp, or are they people who were worked and starved to death over a long period of time? Aren't these legitimate questions? And is asking such questions denying the holocaust? Yet, as Ahmadinejad pointed out at Columbia, it is illegal to ask such questions in most European countries. It is also illegal in Canada. Some people have been jailed for discovering through their legitimate research that many of these people died in a manner different from what has been popularized by the "official" holocaust story.

In a previous post I recounted something that for me was one of life's enlightening moments about the holocaust. It was the discovery that the famous Anne Frank, who is so often used as representative of the holocaust, did not die in a gas chamber. You can easily check this out yourself on the web. Even the common reference Wikipedia gives an accurate account of her death. It turns out that Anne Frank was originally sent to Auschwitz, which is always referred to in the "official" holocaust story as the most famous death camp. But she died at Bergen-Belsen of typhus. It seems that 8,000 women were transported from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen, possibly because they were sick from typhus. Now why would the Germans do that? After all, it takes a lot of resources to transport that many people, especially at that point in the war when opposing armies were closing in from both sides. Why not, if these women were already at a death camp, just send them to the gas chambers? Especially if they are sick and could possibly cause an epidemic in another camp, which it seems they did? These are legitimate questions that I remain curious about. I have not found any good, believable answers.

When I was in the military we had an expression, "Don't believe anything you hear and half of what you see." In addition, my flight sergeant often said, "Before you die you will learn that everything you now believe in is a flat out lie. Absolutely everything!"

I think it is healthy to be skeptical. Obviously the Jews suffered greatly during the war. But in addition they also gained a lot of world sympathy, sympathy that was one of the contributing rationales for them occupying Palestine. So, how much of the holocaust is supported by actual evidence, like photos and official documents, and how much is exaggeration for the purpose of legitimizing the invasion of Palestine? Isn't it my right to be skeptical about this? And how much of Israel's current behavior, as pointed out in this article and its many good responses, including yours, suggests that Israel is a country built on false premises, a country that is turning out to be one of the world's most evil nations, behind the United States of course?

I use the same skepticism that I learned in the military for my own country's invasion of Vietnam and now Iraq, and I have discovered over the years that there is not a shred of truth behind any of the reasons for each of these wars. Not a single shred. The Gulf of Tonkin was a made up event. The weapons of mass destruction were made up events. All lies. And what about the assassination of John F Kennedy? Yes, I'm really that old. I remember it well. And for a long time I believed the official story. But now I know that it was all lies. Oswald did not kill Kennedy. I recently learned that about 60% of Americans when asked respond that Oswald did not kill Kennedy. He was most probably killed by people within his own American government (CIA and FBI). I'm talking about people who, like our current gang of neocons in Washington, believe they are fulfilling some higher mission by committing a small crime. They might have said, "We need to save our country from communism. That Kennedy is leading us down the wrong path by not invading Vietnam and Cuba. Let's kill him and save the country from communism." Personally, I place my bets on Lyndon Johnson as being the one who actually gave the order to kill President Kennedy. Yes, the same Lyndon Johnson who made up the Gulf of Tonkin incident and started a war that ended up killing 50,000 American soldiers for absolutely no reason beyond supporting the military industrial complex. These are the same kind of people who might say, "We need a galvanizing event, like a new Pearl Harbor, in order to justify invading the Middle East. Why not blow up the World Trade Center and blame it on terrorists?" Look closely at the videos of the collapsing towers. Look at the collapsing Building 7. Remember, it takes weeks of preparation in order to do that to a building. Building 7 was destroyed within only hours after the twin towers, and it was clearly demolished using explosives. Yes, America is truly an evil empire.

So tell me, after hearing all these lies, do you really expect me to believe every detail of the official holocaust story? And, do you expect me to demand that world leaders like Ahmadinejad believe in every detail also? I believe what I see evidence for, but I doubt very much anything else. I leave it to you to determine for yourself which aspects of the holocaust story are supported by evidence, like photographs and official documents, and which aspects are not. And please, if you ever come across a photograph or other indisputable evidence of a gas chamber being used to kill the Jews during World War II, please post it somewhere so I can finally put that doubt to rest.

It makes you wonder why these imperialistic authors continue with their absurd analysis. With their supposedly astute perception, can't they see that the imperialist system is deteriorating rapidly as in no other epoch in history? Why do they persist with their vacuous statements that Iran is an international threat? And why do they always bring up the non-issue that Iran is a "holocaust" denier? As if the slaughter of some few millions of Jews during the second world war was unique in history. If they did any research, which is clearly beyond the scope of their intelligence, or perhaps better said, beyond the scope of their duty to their imperialist masters, they would learn that the slaughter of Indigenous Americans was far more extensive than that of the Jews and if any event in history deserves a holocaustic label it is that deplorable mass murder which was perpetrated by the U.S.A. No doubt, such closet imperialists wish to present their evil views in a sublime way so that it will appear that they are really progressives while they incessantly promulgate war for profit.

Not to mention the slaughter of the african diaspora...

Does Mahmoud believe the holocaust is exaggerated because the non-existent gays in his country made it up? I think Mahmoud needs some rest and a prescription...I hear Cuba gives drugs away for "free".

Sincerely,
Salary Plame
CIA undercover super secret operative

They hate us for our freedoms; they hate us because we are a democracy. What simplistic nonsense.

No they hate us because when Bush took office (they) the Arab nations, quickly realized that the USA was no longer an honest broker between Israel and the Palestinians.

We have allowed a monster to develop in the Middle East and it is not Ahmadinejad, it is the nation of Israel.

Unfortunately for the world, the governments of Israel and the USA are both controlled by extreme right wing fanatics.

We cannot forever hold back the tide of nations trying to acquire nuclear weapons; it is inevitable that they will do so.

It will be incumbent upon the next generation of liberal politicians to either learn to get along with their neighbors or start preparing for the approaching dawn of eternal winter.

Dictionary definition of Semitic: A member of any of the peoples speaking a Semitic language, including Hebrews, Arabs, Assyrians, Phoenicians, etc.

As it can be seen, the Hebrews are only a small part of the mix, and they get even smaller when we consider that the majority of those who migrated to Israel do not speak Hebrew and are just learning it, i.e. they are not even Semites by the dictionary definition.

So, why is that every time someone criticizes Israel, they accuse him of being anti-Semitic, when in fact the majority of those who came to Israel are far from being Semitic?

Again, per definition, anyone who is against Arabs can be said to be anti-Semitic. Ergo, since we know that Jews are against Arabs, they are all anti-Semitic, right? So, who's really anti-Semitic?

There is no "greater then" or "less then" in the history of imperialist slaughter. Quit downplaying the anti-Jew holocaust in Europe as "less then" simply because it's one of the few western historians will cop to. It was real, and the west stands accountable for it, just as the west will stand accountable for the slaughter they are currently launching using one of their favorite victims, the Jew as a catspaw beneath the rubrick of the deathtrap Zionism.

As for Iran, if they have any sense, they're building a bomb. If Jews had been able to build a massive weapon in the Warsaw Ghetto seventy years ago, a great part of European Jewry would have been saved, and the Palestinian people might have been spared the experience of paying for seven hundred years of European anti-semitism.

On the other hand,

eshu November 21st, 2007 10:55 am -- [T]he anti-Jew holocaust [...] was real, and the west stands accountable for it [...]If Jews had been able to build a massive weapon [...] the Palestinian people might have been spared the experience of paying for seven hundred years of European anti-semitism.

I suspect "the Palestinian people" may find some difficulty in following the logic of their atonement for European anti-semitism. I certainly do.

If opposition to that Zionist injustice equates to "anti-Semitism", then I guess I'm "anti-Semitic" -- and so are many Jews. Thanks to AIPAC and its minions, the epithet has been robbed of all meaning anyhow.

I wonder why Iran has not offered to accept the same limits on nuclear weapons as Israel and accept the same inspections, or have they not just hired the right PR firm?

Some time before the Iraq War began, CNN Europe showed a short debate between some guy from an American right-wing "think-tank" and an elderly lady speaking for an anti-war movement.

She pointed out that the US was in no position to lecture other countries about the criminal possession of WMD since it spent zillions on its own war-machine, including ABC weapons, and had little regard for the lives of other (non-white)people, should they happen to be in the way of some grand plan for "full spectrum US dominance".

Mr. Wise guy replied - barely able to hide his contempt for this "unpatriotic" attitude:
"It is not the weapons. It´s who has them."

This doctrine is the perfect justification for the blatant hypocrisy of US "foreign policy" where "our allies" can ignore or violate human rights and international law as they please as long as it is in "our strategic interest" to look the other way (> Saddam, Musharraf,Saudis, etc.)

We all know that "some are more equal than others" and this applies even more to the state of Israel which came into being under "special circumstances": the terrorist attacks carried out by "freedom fighters" from the IRGUN and other militant groups (like the assassination of Lord Moyne, the bombing of the King David Hotel and the "accidental death" of UN envoy, Count Folke Bernadotte) are now mostly forgotten.

In the post-colonial era eruptions of violence in the Middle East were not unusual, but Israel is the "only democracy" in the region which promoted a former "terrorist" to Prime Minister.... (Menachem Begin was a leading member of IRGUN, a terrorist organisation by current standards).

The state of Israel was born out of grave injustice, ignorance and terror. The Balfour declaration treated the Palestinian population simply as "non-jewish communities" and ignored their political rights completely. This festering wound is the root cause (though not the only reason) for the growth of islamic "terrorist" groups.

I am only wondering, those of you, who have rightly condemned US unconditional support for Israel - are you going to vote for the Democratic Party? Is there a point in voting at all? (Choosing the lesser of two evils?...)

Let's add to this that Israel's behaviour has shown it to be a "dangerous and unpredictable state involved in acts of terror abroad". It has occupied the lands of others. It has ethnically cleansed them. It has engaged in acts of state assassination. It has launched attacks on neighbours, killing thousands without remorse and destroying vital infrastructure. Israel is manifestly a country in a state of mind in which it might use WMD - and already has it.

TheLorax-I don't think either one of us know whether Iran is attempting to develop nuclear weapons. I have often heard the argument as to why oil-rich Iran should need nuclear power. However, a credible expert on UCTV recently stated that it is possible Iran may have no "exportable" oil after about 2014. Viewed in that light, nuclear power might make sense for them.

1. Israel MUST be de-countrified.

2. And this hemisphere given back to the Native Americans--NINETY million of us were murdered here in our own lands.

The Indigenous Americans certainly should have their own country, but I don't see how it would be possible for them to have all of the ancestral land since there are so many others living on that land now. An idea I had, though it may not seem credible to the Indigenous Americans, is to make the Northwest quarter of the U.S. the Indigenous American's country. That being comprised of the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and the top half of Nebraska. Besides being the least populated region it also has some of the best wild land remaining in the continental U.S.A.