Tag Archives: politics

Boris

I refuse to be irrational about Boris – in fact, I rather like him. Whether he can weather the Brexit storm is another matter, but I like some of his decisions so far: Piti Pratel, Dom Cummings, for starters; getting rid of at least 17 ministers. Here’s a fair portrait of the man.

A propos Brexit, I though poor Theresa May was treated abominably for her efforts – I have enormous respect for the woman. I know a “feminist” who criticized her for crying when she stepped down! I found that rather mean-spirited. What was wrong with her having that honest moment? I am certain that if May were a Labour politician this “feminist” would not have criticized her so harshly.

And here is a link from a few months ago – “Brexit: the Musical.” It perhaps seems a bit dated now, but I found it hilarious. And it might yet come to pass.

Blair on Corbyn

This is very astute, and, I think, correct. 

Asked if he believed Corbyn himself was anti-Semitic, Blair said yes.

“Some of the remarks are not explicable in any other way, I’m afraid, and that is sad,” said Blair. “Does he think he is? No, he doesn’t think he is at all.”

This is quite a common thing with bigots, in general, but specifically with anti-Semites. They convince themselves they are “anti-Zionists” or “critics of Israel” and so on. I have a sibling like this (possibly two) and there is no question this person is an anti-Semite. But they will say till the cows come home that they are not. Alan, my late brother, had this person’s number years ago – but then, Alan was always the smartest in our family.

While I find the anti-Semitism of certain of my family members appalling, what is even more appalling is the number of apologists they have among our relatives. Same could be said for Corbyn’s apologists, as well as those of Ilhan Omar and her ilk. Alan used to point out to me that both the anti-Semite(s) in our family and their apologists totally lacked self-awareness. Is this a trait of all bigots? Does Ilhan Omar not know she is an anti-Semite? Or is she well-aware of her bigotry but deeply cynical? Do white supremacists not know they hate black people (and so many others)? One wonders.

Beryl O’Links

I’ve bookmarked and accumulated a lot of links in the past few weeks. I will not post them all, but here are a few of interest. I do want to add that I’ve had readers write me and say “hey Rondi, why don’t you comment on x/y/z?” Rest assured that as with everything that comes from me, there is no method to my madness. I do not ignore certain stories for political reasons or because I don’t care about them – as some have suggested – but merely for reasons of time allotment and forgetfulness. Of course, I am interested in some issues more than others, as most of us are.

So let us begin:

The Impossible Future of Christians in the Middle East.

When Turkey Destroyed its Christians. (This piece pains me enormously – I have such fondness for Turkey and Turks, in general.)

Fighting for the Soul of Islam in Sri Lanka, written by the novelist Ameena Hussein, after the horrific Easter bombings.

Rabbi present during the attack on the Poway Synagogue – and whose hands were injured – helps his surgeon don tefillin. Incredibly moving!

Sir Roger Scruton on the silencing and demonising of conservative thinkers.

Really interesting piece about Richard Holbrooke and American foreign policy.

The Mossad agent who captured Eichmann passed away. May Rafi Eitan’s memory be a blessing.

Article (in French) about why circuses that use animals are increasingly spurned by the public.

 Queen Victoria as you’ve never seen her before – a rare film clip of her (and she’s wearing hipster sunglasses!).

That’s all for today, dear readers. I like ending with the Queen Victoria link – it is cute and fun.

Miracles Happen!

Such as: pro-life and pro-choice advocates calmly discuss abortion. One could be forgiven for thinking this would never happen, especially given reaction to Alabama’s new abortion law, a law that will surely be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. One thing I keep reading and hearing from pro-choicers is that men shouldn’t decide laws about women’s reproductive rights – and yet it was an all-male Supreme Court that ruled in Roe v. Wade. And plenty of women are pro-life.

People just need to remain sane here, right? Fat chance.

Assange

So glad this creep has finally been arrested. Hope he spends a long time in prison. He is not a hero of free speech (nor is Snowden or Manning); he is nothing more than an anti-Western, anti-Semitic friend to tyrants, a narcissist, a liar and a self-aggrandizer. And don’t even get me started on how he treated his cat (though I would dearly love to know for sure that poor kitty is ok).

This article sums it up perfectly.

The Anti-Semitism of the Left

And these days, so much of it is from the left. Bret Stephens, as usual, completely correct.

A few facts ought at least to stir the thinking of those who subscribe to the progressive narrative. Israel’s enemies were committed to its destruction long before it occupied a single inch of Gaza or the West Bank. In proportion to its size, Israel has voluntarily relinquished more territory taken in war than any state in the world. Israeli prime ministers offered a Palestinian state in 2000 and 2008; they were refused both times. The government of Ariel Sharon removed every Israeli settlement and soldier from the Gaza Strip in 2005. The result of Israel’s withdrawal allowed Hamas to seize power two years later and spark three wars, causing ordinary Israelis to think twice about the wisdom of duplicating the experience in the West Bank. Nearly 1,300 Israeli civilians have been killed in Palestinian terrorist attacks in this century: That’s the proportional equivalent of about 16 Sept. 11’s in the United States.

Also: If the Jewish state is really so villainous, why doesn’t it behave more like Syria’s Bashar al-Assad or Russia’s Vladimir Putin — both of whom, curiously, continue to have prominent sympathizers and apologists on the anti-Israel left?

Read the whole column.

Sanity…

…in the New York Times, of all places!

If you see only an “Israeli-Palestinian” conflict, then nothing that Israelis do makes sense. (That’s why Israel’s enemies prefer this framing.) …

The fault lines have little to do with Israel. They run between dictators and the people they’ve been oppressing for generations; between progressives and medievalists; between Sunni and Shiite; between majority populations and minorities. If our small sub-war were somehow resolved, or even if Israel vanished tonight, the Middle East would remain the same volatile place it is now.

[Emphasis mine.]

Read the whole thing.

Charlie Hebdo, Four Years Later

Those awful murders, at Charlie Hebdo and at the Hyper Cacher, happened four years ago yesterday. I repost this piece of mine, which I think if one of my better efforts, and this very important analysis from Spiked Online (a website you should be checking on a regular basis).

From the Spiked article:

Free speech is the right to express one’s ideas without fear of retribution, even if others disagree with you – even if they are repulsed. This right leaves people free to dissent and free to persuade others of their ideas. No political, religious or ideological viewpoint should be allowed a special exception from challenge, criticism or ridicule.

But once the moment of ‘Je Suis Charlie’ faded, prominent voices effectively began to blame Charlie Hebdo for the attack.

When PEN America, a writers’ organisation, decided to give its Free Expression Courage Award to Charlie Hebdo, more than 200 well-known writers protested.

I mentioned yesterday how much I miss my brother (scroll down) – well, all the more so when it comes to these issues. Not a chance in heck he would have been blaming the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists and editorialists for their own slaughter.