chaos and honey

thank goodness the press is still using the word alleged regarding the pentagon/ defense dept spy-mole saga....the story that seems to be coming out is rather odd. it will be interesting to see if the fbi goes through with an arrest of franklin, who as you may know by now, is not jewish. apparently he was and is profoundly pro israel, but to say it would be foolish, stupid, and absolutely criminal if aipac were to have taken info from such a low level source then think it had any significance of which to pass along to israel would be a vast understatement. as an organization aipac always makes sure people know first and foremost they are an american organization (jewish yes).
while it is possible that an individual in aipac might have decided to act alone with franklin in the hope of turning into some type of hero, it would be another thing for aipac to be involved at any high levels. seems impossible to believe that as an organization they wold be that naive - and i suspect thusly that they were not.
israel has proved me wrong before regarding sensitive info, the case of jonathon pollard being a point, this where they took details from a guy they could have received in a legal manner if only they had had the patience to wait for it. it seems highly unlikely that such a stupid misconception of what is important and vital could happen again........but then one should not place much faith in individuals who are zealous in their desire to look good for others. we shall see.
if you want my opinion i would say there is a 50/50 chance that this dark cloud is true to some misguided extent.....that, or a political game being played by some within washingston (this because this investigation has been going on for over a year and it suddenly comes out before the republican convention).
while it is easy to believe one country can spy on another (a trade known as long as prostitution) it is equally possible that there is political payback involved between competing agencies in washington.

just in case anyone is keeping track, seems the fanatics have had a pretty good week, they can take claim for two planes going down in russia, a bombing in afghanistan, another in iraq,and today's events in israel & the car bomb in moscow. to top it off it seems that there is evidence now coming to light that the plane that crashed in new york nov. of 2001 (after sept 11th) might have been done by a canadian based fanatic. (i wonder why we were lied to about that? can someone say panic?). if it were a sport the opposing side would ask for a time out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/30/politics/30spy.html?hp

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/470387.html

first of all allow me to say almost every jew inside of america who has supported the war in iraq and been talking tough about iran should be vomiting right now, not out of fear but out of frustration. and every american-israeli should be extremely angry. that i am saying this to an audience that is made up of jews who are american, israelis, and others who are not jewish (which are the majority) i know you will feel any way you want to regardless of what i think and write - AND YOU SHOULD. because in all likelihood i am too angry about the following to have any rationale at this moment.
if this entire pentagon/defense dept. / aipac / israeli story is true there is a serious problem about to occur. loyality of nation shall be questioned. fortunately it appears the man in question who is accused of passing on documents to aipac is not jewish, one down and only other fifty other things to solve now.
secondly, if it true - american jews should render aipac finished as an organization. they should stop funding it, they should kill it. because in a sense it has helped then (if true) to hurt (a polite word for destroy) american jews. how many more american jews will wither into assimilation because of this? aaaaah, this isnt a fair comment i suspect i will hear, but deep down i think everyone knows that anyone who questions his identity because of this can accept the possibility that there will be someone somewhere that says, "finished, no more". dont believe me? how many people tell you they are jewish in america but are not connected to being jewish except through some type of cultural identity that has nothing to do with religion anymore?
next, if this spy/ mole story is true and israel accepted info from aipac or the man in question indirectly/ directly, the current govt in power - the sharon govt must fall. it must be thrown out. though i dont expect israelis to come to this conclusion quite as quick as others. the sharon govt must be held accountable if they have anything to do with this. proving that will be a difficult task even if it is true. i will go into this only if the story merits it.
and while i speak in parables of truth, allow me to say i hope all of this is false, because if not it will quickly turn from a mere bad dream into a nightmare in which many will become obsessed with - not just jews but internationally. conspiracy theory folks will have no need to speak from a closet now. all they needed was this opening to become 'knowledgeable and great communicators of truth' warning everybody about the threat of the international jew. 'great' organizations and longtime 'friends' of israel will have interesting things to speculate too.
this is a developing story.........but none of this is good. compare it to cancer and pray that it doesnt kill.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3590068.stm
article and other related info on the bbc regarding the theft of 'the scream' over the weekend in oslo. listened to a report on the bbc world today too that suggested that a piece of art like this could be used as a commodity exchange in the criminal world for drugs or other stolen goods. most likely the work will be held for ransom. amazing that two guys can walk into a museum (with guns) and rip a 100 million dollar piece of art off the wall and escape via a car in a couple of minutes time. (the 100 million is a price tag i saw mentioned in the ny times which was said to be an estimated value if it were to ever come to the market in a legal auction). which means that if it is held for ransom that it is probable that the criminals could seek about 7 to 10 percent of its value (as a commission). highly doubtful that even the most evil of private collectors out there would take a chance to keep this painting in a secret library within a home. here's to hoping the painting hasnt been wrecked when the theives ripped it from its frame.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/22/business/yourmoney/22alte.html
above is an interesting article from ny times which clearly gets to the point regarding anyone planning on making money off of alternative energy investments in the near term. nevertheless it does show that their is a path being cleared (but will it take another 10-20 years, more?). in the meantime oil is king.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/20/international/middleeast/20iran.html
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/467085.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/sns-ap-hamas-indictments,1,7481855.story?coll=chi-news-hed
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/467406.html

i would like to add my perspective on the continuing fighting going on between sadr and his militia and the iraqi and american troops in najaf. IT IS a typcial middle eastern negotiating ploy to come to an agreement and then suddenly just as you are supposed fulfill what you have promised to ask for a bit more to make sure the deal gets done. this is as much an ISRAELI tendency as it is an arab one here. it is part of the reason this part of the world does not work properly. we believe everything is a 'shuq' (market) and can always get a better deal, and critiquely speaking we are terribly wrong.

are the words 'humanitarian crisis' a politically correct way to cover up genocide?
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/20/international/africa/20darfur.html?hp
amazing that anybody would take seriously any effort to speak with the sudenese govt.

is it possible the general public has grown just a tad weary of the 'great events'........seems to me there is quite a large population in and around greece and europe that could have quite easily gone to the olympics. sydney had a problem selling tickets for events too, this is not the first time poor ticket sales have happened. also lets remember that the great sporting tradition of equality and fair play have been completely in ruins within athletics for the past twenty years because of doping. i think it is quite possible a large amount of people are tired of being told what is significant in our world and also i suspect some people dont want to pay to watch 'juiced' athletes compete and find out later the person that came in second is now the winner because the person that 'won' had cheated. perhaps the fear factor of possible terrorism plays a role in the less than great crowds but i believe it is very insignificant. also lets remember the high cost of the euro on the american tourist right now.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/18/international/europe/18terror.html?hp
i guess the above would only have been important if they had not been caught.........

there are people telling us that the united states and israel are trampling upon the basic constitutional laws which have come into place and evolved the past 800 years starting with the magna carta, but the u.s. and israel are fighting wars. we can argue all day about what is right and wrong, but i believe that the folks being held on the island hamlet in cuba are not run of the mill common folk from villages in central asia. simply said, war is not pretty, but what would be worse would be to lose the war because we dont want to appear to be too rough.
while i understand that many walking the globe refuse to believe that it is a war, i am not one of them. sometimes kindness is another form of appeasement. once in a while during life you have to fight, imo this is one of those times. while i am certain there are detainees in cuba that dont belong there this can only be judged within the scope of history.
here is an article from ha'aretz yesterday regarding the latest 'hot' issue concerning palestinian prisoners here.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/465303.html
the hunger strike that some palestinian prisoners are starting and the way in which israel is combating it by having meat cooked near the cells of the prisoners to entice them to eat is certain to make bigger news in the days to come.
the bbc recently said that there are approximately 8000 palestinians being held as prisoners for security reasons by israel.
as for the number sighted i dont know. ha'aretz in this article list some numbers too.
while never good to have your prison systems overflowing with people there are some instances when it cannot be avoided. i doubt israel is perfect and suspect not everyone in a prison here needs to be but again the situation dictates some type of action to safe guard the public. lets say the palestinian population is about 2.7 - 3 million in the west bank and gaza we are then speaking about a potential of less than half one percent of population in the midst of an armed conflict against another that is being held (i am certain this number will be argued about). call them p.o.w's or anything you want but cold hard reality is that something must be done until palestinian authority changes their policy of negotiating through bomb belts and poor quality missiles.
i would rather be tough on prisoners, detainees, suspects and infringe upon their rights to save the lives of another thousand innocent victims......
while people all too easily want to point out the 'injustices' being commited by the u.s. and israel. they refuse to look at the greater context of history and the many times in which rules of law were tweeked, whether this had to do with war or colonialism.
it is an empty arguement for europeans and others in the west who are against war to point out - "oh yes, that was terribly impolite what we did to them (fill in your own historical tragedy here) then, but we should make sure others act in a more civilized way and we will teach them the lessons we have learned...because it is most disagreeable".......please, it is an easy position to take when you sit on the winning side in history. appearing polite after victory is good form isnt it?
as for israel and anyone else treating people from a position of strenght today, that is the way it goes.....any country in their right mind would do it. please take a look at the security efforts in place to make sure disaster doesnt strike around the world. do you think it is all for show? do you think it is all propaganda?
it is called taking responsibility for ones own actions. do not tell me that what israel does is looked upon poorly around the world, you dont think i know that? but too, do you really believe israel has another choice? having been in this little part of the world for a while now, i can tell you that it feels a whole lot better going to sleep without sirens and radio alerts waking you up in the middle of the night.
my problem with the arguement against treating prisoners too harshly is that many people seem to be pointing out only the negatives about the united states and israel and forgetting that both the u.s and israel are accountable and do take responsibility for their actions. lastly the protesters always hold up the u.s and israel to a higher standard than they do other countries and institutions. why not hold france, columbia, the palestinian authority, china, russia, the united nations, iran, sudan, rwanda, central congo, etc, etc,.....up to the same standards? the rules of law are for all of us arent they?

the following is an opinion piece regarding the iranian judo athlete that refused to compete with the israeli.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/writers/08/16/iran.protest/index.html
only thing funny about this story is that the israeli lost his next match to an algerian.

http://www.jewishtucson.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=122779

above is an article by the ap published by www.jewishtucson.org regarding the growing interest in american voters living abroad and particularly those that are voting in israel.

question , how would you make the world safer? what would your plan be? or would you simply prefer surrendering? and while closing your eyes to it all may count as a plan how does that exactly help the people that suffered under the taliban, under hussein, the people that are dying under the sudenese govt, and the millions that will be at risk if the world trys to wish 'the problem' away. and if you want to ask me what the problem is - it is a dangerous mixture of religous and nationalistic fanatism. yes it can be misconstrued and pointed out that the states, israel, and a few other 'western' countries that choose to battle can be cast as the bad guys. but that is fine too, if it is a battle of ideology - and turning into a war between secular nationalism and religious nationalism i know where i stand. at some point you might be forced to make that decision. maybe it is all hype, maybe it is a giant conspiracy that i have been sucked into. but i have seen the fatigue and death caused by destruction and i tell you one thing..........when you least expect it, these bastards will remind you that you stand on the other side whether you want to be there or not.