Archive for the ‘Orient’ Category
Posted by Ron Coleman on February 14, 2008
Combine unparalleled left-wing self-hatred with academic idiocy, and what do you get?
A Hebrew University Sociology department M.A. thesis entitled “Controlled Occupation: The Lack of Military Rape in the Israeli Palestinian Conflict” notes that the relative absence of instances of rape by Israeli soldiers is an alternate method of achieving the same kind of degradation of Palestinian Arabs that would be achieved through a directed policy of raping Arab women. The abstract of the paper, authored by doctoral candidate Tal Nitzan, notes that “the absence of directed military rape constitutes an alternative way of realizing the same political goals [usually achieved by directed military rape]. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we can see that the rarity of military rape only strengthens the ethnic boundaries and clarifies inter-ethnic differences, just as directed military rape would have done.” The thesis, selected for publication by the university’s Shaine Center for Research in Social Sciences, was supervised by Hebrew University sociologist Eyal Ben–Ari and a senior lecturer in education, Edna Lomsky-Feder.
I’ve heard sociologists apeak of “status anxiety,” but for originality and chutzpah, I have to admit that this thesis takes the cake.
Yes, but not taking the cake would be just as bad — if not worse!
Hat tip to Craig Karpel.
Posted in Oppression, Orient, Sisyphus | 5 Comments »
Posted by Ron Coleman on February 12, 2008
Posted in Orient | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ron Coleman on February 10, 2008
Instapundit:
WELL, DUH: Poll finds plummeting support for the Taliban, Osama bin Laden. Generally, once they start blowing up fellow-Muslims, their support plummets. And whatever else you say about the Bush Administration’s strategy, it seems almost as if it were tailor-made to produce this result.
Actually a rather hoary story, at this point, though yes, the opposition will not admit it. I just keep asking, though: What do we have to do get them to disapprove of blowing up the rest of us?
Posted in Orient, Sisyphus | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ron Coleman on February 5, 2008
Even Frank J. pauses to reflect on the remaining GOP field, in the “shadow” of a nuclear Iran:
For the Republicans, this is where I’m sorry to say Romney doesn’t shine. McCain has the foreign policy experience, and I think he will take a break from repeatedly sodomizing conservatives to handle the Iran problem decisively. Romney may be the better conservative, but he’s a bit of a indulgence in a time of global conflict. Not saying I’d vote for McCain over Romney were I voting today, but with all the country faces and my brother in Iraq now (and most likely not for the last time), it’s a thinker. I don’t understand why the talk radio guys think it’s so simple.
“I don’t understand why the talk radio guys think it’s so simple.”
Posted in Orient, Politics and Poker, Stragety | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ron Coleman on January 13, 2008
Jonathan Rosenblum:
After the failed Camp David summit of 2000, George Will pronounced then prime minister Ehud Barak “perhaps the most calamitous leader any democracy has ever had” for the way he had succeeded in “delegitimizing all previous [Israeli] positions….”By that standard, our current Ehud is worse.
Read the rest here.
Posted in Orient, Past is prologue, Stragety | 7 Comments »
Posted by Ron Coleman on December 28, 2007
Neo-neocon:
The big news today seems to hardly be news at all. Like a tragic play you watch anyway, knowing it will not end well, Benazir Bhutto’s assassination—once by shooting and again by bombing, just to make certain—almost seems to have been an inevitability. . . .Whatever you may think of Bhutto’s politics (my recent take is here), it’s impossible to argue with her bravery.
That seems to hit just about the right notes.
Posted in Oppression, Orient, Past is prologue | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ron Coleman on December 27, 2007
This is so wild you have to see it to believe it. I have seen it, in fact, and I still don’t believe it.
An official Dutch government production?! Are we being scammed?
And as laughing matters go… if things were now going the way they were six months ago in Iraq… would this have been made? (Via Insty.)
Posted in Jocularity, Orient | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ron Coleman on December 25, 2007
Jihad Watch:
Here, courtesy Ron Paul and John Stossel, is a Christmas Eve repast of common but false assumptions about the global jihad and what we can do about it: “Ron Paul on War,” by John Stossel.
Read it!
Posted in Orient, Stragety | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ron Coleman on December 24, 2007
Instapundit:
THIS SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT: “If a nuclear war between Israel and Iran were to break out 16-20 million Iranians would lose their lives – as opposed to 200,000-800,000 Israelis, according to a report recently published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.”
I actually don’t believe the hype suggesting that the Iranians would be willing to “absorb” casualties of that magnitude in order to achieve their supposedly insane desire to incinerate the Jews. God forbid regarding the whole thing.
But I will say this: Losses of that magnitude to Israel would be relatively more catastrophic to the Jewish state, both because of Israel’s much smaller population (there are about 71 million Iranians and 7 million Israelis) and the relative paucity of high-value targets in Iran (i.e., infrastructure) compared to Israel.
On the other hand, ultimately it seems from that article that Israel maintains a considerable deterrent — at least technologically. Will it in ten years? Will it care enough about itself, have enough understanding of its reason for being, to will survival?
Posted in Orient, Stragety | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ron Coleman on December 11, 2007
Dave Price at Dean’s World:
The situation is, er, spiraling into control, or something.
As a result, violence has dropped considerably since June and there have been signs that Baghdad is becoming less chaotic. U.S. casualties have fallen from 101 in June to 37 in November, according to an AP count, and Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in the country, says there has been a 60 percent decline in violence over the past half year.
Of course, there are numerous caveats given, such as:
That is a rarity in what has been a relentlessly unpopular war.
Long forgotten are the 80% approval ratings in 2003, and the press’ Fake News Division is hard at work making sure they never return.
Posted in Medialites, Orient, Sisyphus, Stragety | Leave a Comment »
