A Wonderful Combination of Stupidity and Hypocrisy
March 28, 2012 § 8 Comments
Anyone who knows me at all knows how strongly I feel about my alma mater. I loved every second I was there; it was the place where I found myself intellectually, grappled with complex issues surrounding religion and faith, and most importantly met my wife. My best friends to this day remain the ones I made in college, and I try to stay involved with the university by donating what little money I can afford, getting involved in different alumni committees and groups, and going back to visit any chance I get. I have degrees from three different universities and will soon add another from a fourth, and I don’t feel a genuine heartfelt affinity for any of them save the first. Unfortunately, it turns out that the place I love so much also happens to house an idiotic, hypocritical, shameful group of fools. That’s right Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine, I’m looking straight at you.
Is it because I object to a Palestinian state? Nope. Is it because I want Israel to continue to occupy the West Bank? Certainly not. Is it because I think that Jewish life is more valuable than Palestinian life? Wrong again. It is because I have zero patience at all for a group that thinks the best way to combat anti-democratic behavior, suppression of free speech, and silencing of dissent is to exhibit anti-democratic behavior, suppress free speech, and silence dissent. Please, someone explain to me the logic behind this brilliant tactical disruption of a panel of Knesset members, including Israel’s first Arab cabinet minister, to show that Israel’s alleged intolerance of dissent is best countered by committing the exact same offense yourself. Please explain to me why a protest against discriminatory policies should be carried out by announcing a vigilante-enforced parallel discriminatory policy against any Israeli official with the nerve to want to attend or speak at a Brandeis-sponsored event. I wonder if these paragons of liberal virtue have the basic skills of logic and reasoning to understand that their actions to disrupt the free exchange of ideas are the very antithesis of liberalism. I wonder if they comprehend that the effort to obnoxiously silence others and attempt to exclude an entire class of people from an imagined political or social community not because of anything they themselves have said or done but by virtue of who they are is the real display of fascism here.
The response to objectionable speech is not censorship, but more speech. If you are confident that you are right, then let your argument win the day. If, however, you are a cowardly bunch of simpletons who think that shouting down your opponents and preventing them from expressing their ideas in a public forum is somehow a vindication of any values you profess to uphold, then keep on doing what you’re doing. Time to grow up, Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine, and to think about the meaning of this quote from the man who lent his good name to your group: “If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the process of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.”
When Zero Problems With Neighbors Becomes Over The Top
March 28, 2012 § 5 Comments
This is a good example of where trying to make everybody happy is going to leave nobody happy. Erdoğan is in Iran today for meetings with Ahmadinejad and other Iranian government officials on the Iranian nuclear program and what to do about Syria. To begin with, the optics of this are just silly given that any knowledgeable Iran observer insists that the nuclear program and any real decisions pertaining to it are controlled by Khamenei and not by Ahmadinejad, so these meetings are likely a waste of Erdoğan’s time. More importantly, Erdoğan arrived in Tehran straight from South Korea, where he attended President Obama’s conference on nuclear security. It is possible that he is conveying a message from Obama to the Iranians, but if not it can’t be terribly reassuring to the U.S. that Erdoğan is running straight to Iran to brief them on whatever went on behind closed doors in Seoul. On the Syria issue, it also appears to be bad timing with the Friends of Syria conference beginning on Sunday in Istanbul in light of Iran’s support and bankrolling of Assad. I don’t think that anyone is under any illusions as to whether Iran is going to dump Assad over the side of the boat, and I guarantee you that Erdoğan and Ahmadinejad are not discussing the best way to set up a buffer zone, so why have these meetings now? I am all for diplomacy and think it will have a big place in resolving the Iran nuclear issue, but the timing of this feels very off to me. Why not wait until after the Friends of Syria conference, which might provide some more impetus to exert pressure on Iran? I understand that Turkey feels a vital need to maintain good relations with almost every state in the region, and it is part of what makes Turkey a valuable U.S. ally, but this is one time where trying to get everyone to like you is not going to yield any tangible benefits.
Kadima Election Update
March 27, 2012 § Leave a comment
As I predicted, Mofaz has won. So now comes the interesting part, where Livni leaves Kadima, and Mofaz either brings Kadima into the Likud coalition, or challenges Netanyahu directly and then folds the party when it gets devastated in the next election.
Anyone Still Think That Both Livni and Mofaz Will Be Kadima Members By The End of Today?
March 27, 2012 § Leave a comment
This is starting to sound like a GOP primary in South Carolina. I can see why Mofaz’s camp might want to employ some trickery after what happened during the last Kadima leadership vote, and Livni’s protestations ring a bit hollow, particularly given her efforts to expel Likud supporters from Kadima only after she decided they were likely to vote for Mofaz. Personally, I am rooting for a Livni victory because she presents Israeli voters with a greater contrast to Netanyahu and a wider variety of choices is a good thing for democracy. I also think Livni is a symbolically important figure in Israeli politics given that she is a woman in a strongly male-dominated political arena, and more crucially she is one of only a handful of Israeli politicians not tainted by corruption or suspicion of corruption. I fear though that she is going to be the loser today, and there is no doubt in my mind that irrespective of who wins, the loser is going to leave Kadima and the party itself will not last more than one more election cycle. Livni and Mofaz are too different and detest each other too much to coexist, all the more so in light of the rhetoric used by both sides in this campaign. And unlike the Netanyahu-Shalom rivalry within Likud, which is in some ways much nastier, there is not going to be enough at stake given Kadima’s sagging fortunes for both Livni and Mofaz to stick it out. Silvan Shalom can hold out hope that he can eventually dislodge Bibi and become PM and thus brave the various insults levied at him by Bibi, but Kadima is past its peak and is rapidly approaching its nadir. Here’s to hoping that if Livni does indeed lose, this is not the last that we’ve seen of her.
Michael Schur for President of the World
March 27, 2012 § 1 Comment
If you are not a baseball fan, you can stop reading right now since this will bore you, but with Opening Day upon us I just can’t help myself.
Michael Schur is the man responsible for Parks and Recreation, but he is also the man responsible for something much greater. From 2005 to 2008, he did something that is infinitesimally unlikely, which is that he (along with his co-collaborators) wrote both the best sports commentary website and the best piece of comedy to ever exist, and they were both the same piece of work. For anyone who is not familiar with www.firejoemorgan.com stop whatever it is you are now doing and block off the next 6 hours of your life to read it. The site has been defunct since November 2008 and I still check it weekly in the naive hope against hope that something new has been posted. For nearly four years, any time I was sitting at my computer and laughing out loud barely able to breathe, my wife would say, “Let me guess, you’re reading Fire Joe Morgan.” Schur had an email exchange with Bill Simmons on Grantland earlier this week, and while it was merely a shadow of his old site, it just reminded me that he should be appointed emperor of the world, or maybe just given a bigger platform than an NBC sitcom to demonstrate why he is the best comedy writer alive.
So please Michael Schur, what would it take for you to start doing Fire Joe Morgan regularly again? I read your Ken Tremendous blog on Baseball Nation, but that is not nearly enough. There is a legion of HatGuy fans awaiting your return.
Turkey’s Growing Defense Industry
March 27, 2012 § Leave a comment
Turkey announced a new strategic plan to increase its defense industry production and is aiming to crack the top ten worldwide producers in five years. This is a big step up for Turkish arms makers, and it goes beyond the production of traditional Turkish arms like tanks to include drones, anti-tank missiles, and air defense systems. Not coincidentally, Turkey used to purchase drones, electronic warfare systems, anti-tank missiles, and air defense missiles from Israel, but the Israeli Defense Ministry has cancelled or is reviewing most of these sales. Most recently, Israel canceled a $140 million contract with the Turkish air force for airborne intelligence gathering systems. The fact that Turkey has decided to expand its own production over a five year period does not bode well for the resumption of defense agreements between Turkey and Israel, and neither does the fact that Turkey is moving into new areas that are Israeli strengths. For those who were hoping that resumed defense cooperation and trade ties were going to be the hooks that led to a Turkish-Israeli rapprochement, this is not an encouraging sign.
