Segacs's World I Know |
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Blog about politics (mideast and pro-Israel, Canadian and local Montreal), world events, and random thoughts.
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18.1.03
There have been demonstrations against war in Iraq in various cities around the world today, including Montreal. Everyone has a right to their opinion, of course. But in too many cases, these demonstrations are simply an excuse for anti-American sentiment to crawl out of the closet. And in others, it's a case of people not being able to tell the difference between Iraq and Vietnam. Even the slogans don't seem to have changed much:  The point is, Iraq is not Vietnam. And Saddam Hussein is determined not to resolve anything peacefully. He's not developing large-scale weapons to hold a science fair, you can bank on that. War is always regrettable, but unfortunately sometimes it is necessary. Appeasement has been proven extremely dangerous again and again, and would be even more dangerous here. This isn't Bush's war, or Blair's war, it's Saddam's war. | 17.1.03
This is a lousy year to graduate high school in Ontario. The Ontario government, in its wisdom, is eliminating the Grade 13 "OAC" program this year. That means that there's a whole year of students graduating from grade 13, and another whole year of them graduating from grade 12 . . . and they're all applying to university at the same time. With so many extra applicants, admissions cutoffs to Ontario universities are bound to be sky-high this year. So students who in a regular year would be borderline, this year are shit outta luck. Then again, I suppose anyone rejected from university in Ontario could always go to Concordia . . . | This just in: A counter-protest at Concordia is planned for Monday. Here are the details: Should be interesting. | When the going gets tough . . . fire the coach. The Habs fired head coach Michel Therrien yesterday, after losing a whole bunch of games in a row. The thing is, it's doubtful his replacement - Claude Julien, head coach of Hamilton's AHL team - will be able to do any better of a job. Struggling teams often fire their coaches and it usually makes very little difference in terms of performance. It must be so demoralizing for a coach. Want to win more games? Get rid of Patrice Brisebois! That guy's a total disaster on the ice, and is ridiculously overpaid. | It seems to me that those people angry about the antisemitic remarks made by the Lebanese Ambassador to Canada, Raymond Baaklini, are missing the point. Baaklini made widely-criticized remarks in a local Arabic newspaper about the media being "controlled by Zionists", and blamed the "Zionist party" for being responsible for pressuring the Canadian government to outlaw Hezbollah. His remarks ended with a not-so-subtle threat that "Canadians travelling in the Arab world shouldn't wear Canada T-shirts." He repeated his disgustingly racist and threatening comments several times before issuing a so-called "apology" that was really nothing even remotely apologetic. I am disgusted by these comments - but I don't understand why people are shocked. It's a pretty common accusation of Israel's enemies, and Izzy Asper, owner of CanWestGlobal, is a favourite target of these morons. Just open any edition of the Link to see that accusation made - in print - dozens of times. If Baaklini's remarks are unacceptable - which they are - then they should be equally unacceptable for all the other idiots who say the exact same thing, day in, day out. | Following the news on the weapons inspections in Iraq is like watching someone mine for gold in a desert. First, the inspectors don't find anything and it's news. Now, the inspectors maybe find something and that's news. In the meantime, none of the major players in this conflict, including the US and Iraq, seem to care too much about the inspections in the first place. The US knows Iraq is lying, and doesn't need a United Nations report to confirm it. Iraq knows it's hiding weapons, but finds it more effective to blame Americans for all its woes than to face the music. It seems that everyone's ignoring the obvious here. Saddam's got a whole country in which to hide weapons, and he's had nearly a decade in which to do it. He's got a civilian population that's so afraid of him, they'll do whatever it takes to protect his secrets. He's got an iron control on everything that goes on anywhere. His spies follow the inspectors around and anyone they talk to knows they'll be facing a firing squad if they shoot their mouth off. He's murdered thousands upon thousands of his own people, through terror tactics, shootings, bombings, and even chemical weapons. He's even killed off his own family members. And we're supposed to feel better because the chemical warheads were empty??? | 16.1.03
Sorry about the delay in blog posts . . . my ftp server went berzerk on me. Everything should be fixed now so blogging will resume as usual. | 15.1.03
Good ol' anti-Israel CBC. Tonight's The National had a full feature story on Concordia University and the tensions on campus. The report showed footage from the September 9th riots and interviews with pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel - and other - students, faculty, and administrators. It was a real in-depth look at the politics over at Gaza U . . . or at least it claimed to be. And could have been, if not for the constant one-sidedness. The footage of the riots focused on chants of "free Palestine" and clashes with riot police. Not a single mention was made of the many Jewish people who were roughed up, pushed, shoved, and spat upon. Not a word was said about the disgustingly antisemitic character of the riot. And words like "waiting to happen" and "provocation" continued the myth that the riot was the fault of everyone but the rioters. Misleading quotes gave the impression that Hillel was somehow just as wrong as SPHR. Pamphlets distributed by Hillel were highlighted as being controversial - in fact, these flyers were perfectly legitimate, but the anti-Israel forces were looking for something to pick on. No mention was made of the blatant outright racism of most of the SPHR material. And the CBC's blatantly self-serving attack on Izzy Asper has no business in reports. Watching the two organizations battle it out in the public eye is not only distasteful, it's leading to biased reporting. Concordia has enough problems, but this news report is only going to give encouragement to the CSU and their supporters. And as always, it is the students who will suffer the most. | Criminal - er - Concordia Student Union update. The CSU is now planning a protest in support - yes, support - of the 12 students arrested and charged in connection with the September 9th riots against Benjamin Netanyahu. Apparently, it's not enough for the CSU to use student money to pay the legal fees of those arrested. Now Yves Engler, VP Communications of the CSU, wants students to come out and demonstrate their support for these same students. This is a call to all those who protested in support of human rights and dignity, on September 9th, 2002.What, Mr. Engler, one riot a year wasn't enough for you? Note the twisted logic that is being used here. The CSU and the SPHR have been on a campaign these past couple of months to try and downplay the riot, claiming that it wasn't a riot after all, just a case of a few individuals making mischief. This disgusting revision of not-so-distant history has been going on for a while over at the Link's website. They're also trying to make the claim that this wasn't the case of anti-Israel demonstrators rioting in a racist, hateful manner, but the case of "two groups facing off" - thus implying that the victims of the riot were just as guilty as the instigators. Then, the CSU tries to blame the administration for "unfairly persecuting" those arrested. Never mind that arrests were only made after careful and exhaustive revision of video footage and accounts from the day. But in CSU lingo, anyone arrested is being "unfairly" persecuted by the "brutal" police. Then, Engler tries to justify the riots by villifying Netanyahu. We've heard this before. It's the same old song and dance. And I can't say I'm surprised at the CSU. Disgusted, yes, but not particularly surprised. I just want to add one thing, though: if these people are so clearly and obviously lying about what happened here, in our own city, just a few months ago, why should anyone take their word on anything they say about events taking place elsewhere? Anyone involved in the disgusting riot of September 9th ought to be ashamed, and punished. The fact that Mr. Engler and his CSU cohorts are proud of what happens should tell you all you need to know about what kind of people they are. | In an article at JWR, Jonathan Tobin criticizes the "self-righteous Diaspora lecturing" coming from people outside Israel who think they know better than the Israeli leaders how to solve the mideast problems. American Jews are fully entitled to their opinions about Israel, its leaders and its policies. All are open to criticism. In particular, Sharon is no more above reproach than his equally flawed opponents.That's all very well and good, but I don't think that anything will stop people from having their opinions - nor should it. As long as people keep brainstorming, maybe someone will eventually come up with a new idea. G-d knows they could use a few. | Charest calls Dumont a "closet separatist". Closet? Dumont signed the three-way agreement with Parizeau and Bouchard in 1995. He campaigned for the Yes side. He's slammed the PLQ for being "too close" to their Federal counterparts. If that's being a "closet" separatist, I don't know what being an overt one entails. The defection of former Bloc MP Pierre Brian to the ADQ shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. That being said, Charest has a point. Far too many naive people are buying Dumont's fence-sitting act. It's time to call a spade a spade. He's a separatist, and the PLQ remains the only federalist party in Quebec. | 14.1.03
Damian Penny quotes a Jerusalem Post piece by Edward Alexander about intellectuals and philosophers and their moral justification of Palestinian terrorism. The article highlights examples of people from academia who have become the intellectual voices of suicide bombers. This particular form of atrocity has not only failed to disturb the equanimity of our heavily petted professors but has elicited from many of them a stream of rhapsodic admiration, sympathetic identification (with the murderers, not their victims), and high-toned apologia. A few examples, among many--a philosopher, a literary critic, and a theologian--should illustrate the pattern.The article gives examples. Ted Honderich, who actually said that Palestinian Arabs have a "moral right" to blow up Jews. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, who claimed that the 9/11 attacks were a justifiable response to "state terrorism". And Karen Armstrong, who tosses out the comparison of Israelis to Nazis like it was water. Needless to say, reading some of these quotes made me sick to the stomach. But Damian's reaction was "Why I hate philosophers", and I'm not quite ready to go that far. Sure, I'd be more than willing to say I hate these particular people who call themselves philosophers. But anyone can bang out chopsticks on the piano; that doesn't make us all Mozart. Similarly, anyone can use words and twisted rhetoric to justify heinous acts of murder. They might even get hired by a university and given a vehicle for these views. But that doesn't make them philosophers. To write off the entire field of philosophy - which, at its core is a basic search for truth, meaning, and values - because of a few bad apples is unfair, at best. It is precisely when people stop thinking that our world falls apart. | More Palestinian voices speak out against suicide bombings . . . sort of. The headlines are jumping all over the fact that the Palestinians engaged in a London conference via video hookup denounced the terror attacks. However, a cursory glance at the wording used reveals another angle: "The suicide bombings will not bring us peace, and confiscating of our liberty will not bring you security," Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said. "Let us together reject extremism in all its forms. Let us together choose the path of peaceful negotiations."This is the classic Palestinian position. It's been Arafat's official position all along. Pay lip service to condemning suicide bomb attacks, but then redirect the finger at Israel with language like "extremism in all its forms" or the now-infamous "cycle of violence". The above statement wasn't really a condemnation of terrorism; it was another chance to attack Israel. Exercising superhuman restraint, Israel didn't retaliate militarily to the cold-blooded murder of 23 civilians in Tel Aviv last week; instead, it imposed such mild sanctions as travel bans. But apparently even that is too much for the Palestinians, who evidently would like to get away with terrorism scot-free. Israel, understandably, is skeptical about the aims of this "peace conference" in the first place: In Israel, Zalman Shoval, an adviser to Sharon, said: "The present terrorist-promoting (Palestinian) leadership is not a peace partner, and that is part of the reason why we didn't let these so-called delegates go to London for this conference, because we think it would just be another charade."So far, it seems to be living up to that prediction. | Blogging has been light these few days, due to large amounts of stress at my day job. I hope to resume more regular posting soon. | 13.1.03
Lieberman announces candidacy for a run at the Democratic nomination for 2004. Look for comments from the usual antisemitic suspects about the "Jews taking over the world" in, oh, about 30 seconds. | Tensions in the Middle East have been heating up all weekend over the prospect of war with Iraq. Leaders of surrounding nations are warning of turmoil that will erupt in the event of war. "If war breaks out, God forbid, it will be a big problem," Abdullah told the official Jordanian news agency Petra. "Nobody can predict the dimension of the tragedy it (war) will have whether on the Iraqi people or the whole region."While on the surface these were warnings to Iraq to cooperate, their subtext is clear: go to war against Iraq, and Israel will come out the loser. It's a bald-faced threat against the United States that essentially says, leave us alone or else we'll revert to type and make Israel the scapegoat to deflect from other crises. Anyone notice a pattern with the Mideast way of thinking? The rules of the game seem to be simple:
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