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Jimmy Carter, the last US President to actually move peace forward in the Middle East by delivering the Egypt/Israel peace treaty, has now written a book. The title is "Palestine: Peace or Apartheid". On release of the book, there were a number of media interviews. Wolf Blitzer on CNN interviewed Dennis Ross, the Bill Clinton chief negotiator who was involved in the Swiss cheese proposal between Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat. This proposal would have seen the West Bank divided up into tiny Bantustans by Israeli-only access roads. Arafat rejected the proposal - perhaps his finest moment. The Jewish community predictably opined that the Palestinians never miss an opportinity to miss an opportunity. Who was it that said that? I think it was the same guy who said that Golda Meir had a vocabulary of 500 words but only used 200 of them. Of course, among those words was the statement that there was no such thing as a Palestinian.... Dennis Ross whined that Mr. Carter had stolen his maps. Mr. Carter was not available for an interview with Mr. Blitzer. Carole McNeill, CBC talking head, was able to interview Mr. Carter as well as Janet Stein of the Monk Centre for International Studies. Mr. Carter was careful to point out that he was not claiming that Israel was an apartheid state, but rather that there was an apartheid regime in the occupied West Bank. He also pointed out that a free speech debate of the Middle East has been suppressed. McNeill then interviewed Janice Stein. Stein has been a vocal supporter of the invasion of Iraq. Anyone who might wonder whether a free speech debate of the Middle East has been suppressed need only watch Stein in action. She not only angrily dismissed Jimmy Carter's arguments, but called for the shunning of the Carter Center, saying that it no longer had any credibility. There it is in a nutshell. Say anything other than the Israel party line, and you will be shunned by the Israelite community. No matter who you are, and no matter what you have accomplished.

Well of course. Jbg sees all Arabs and Moslems as a mass of screaming heeby jeebies because he/she/it is a bigot. One could just as well blame Timothy McVeigh for cigarette smuggling on southern Ontario Indian Reserves.... What a hoot. JBG. Get a clue.

Tony Judt; Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945; Penguin (paperback) This is a really extraordinary book. Builds superbly on Margaret MacMillan's "Paris:1919". Buy, beg or borrow this book. Here are some of the reviews.... "Brilliant... A book that has the pace of a thriller and the scope of an encyclopedia... A very considerable achievement." The New York Times Review of Books. Named by the New York Times as one of the ten best books of the year. "This monumental work is a tour de force." Foreign Affairs "Remarkable... The writing is vivid; the coverage -- of little countries as well as great ones -- is virtually superhuman...." Louis Menand, The New Yorker "Impressive... Mr. Judt writes with enormous authority." The Wall Street Journal. "Magesterial..."; The Boston Globe "Brave and remarkable." The Washington Post. "Not likely to be surpassed for many years...." Publishers Weekly (starred review). If you are to understand the underpinnings of our modern western world, you must read this book.

Too bad the bastard never had to stand trial. How sweet it would have been to see him in the dock with the CIA psychopaths who ran him. Thanks too for quoting Mark Steyn.

Another milestone in Canada/US relations.

If he tries to go back to the well yet again, he is going to have a very steep hill to climb. A great result, IMHO.

This line of reasoning always kills me. As if national identities are set in stone at the dawn of time, no n00bs allowed. National identites are the product of historical circumstances. They can be grouneded in ideology (there was no Jewish national identity Zionism emerged) or the result of "facts on the ground" (shifting borders, cultural cross-pollination, etc.) So, maybe there was no "Palestinian" before 1967. What matters is that they exist now. Very nicely said.

Good one!

I am happy to play the ball. Try criticizing Israel and see what accusations of racism come from the right. A good hockey coach will tell a defenceman to play the man and leave the puck for the forwards - just in case we might be looking for a Canadian point of reference.

Amazing. I have argued historical fact. With respect to a comparison of the Holocaust with the Ukrainian slaughter, my point is this: the Holocaust is used again and again to justify Israel's position on just about everything. The twentieth century has many such events. We need to start looking past the Holocaust when we try to find a resolution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. When Jews bring up the Holocaust, Arabs are clearly not impressed, whether you like it or not. Show me evidence of my bias against Jews, Black Dog. Yes, I respect you as well, Rue, and I hope you understand that I am arguing for what I believe is justice.

I think this is great. I am sorry you are not accepting volunteer moderators because I would like to volunteer to be the apostrophe moderator.

Reminds me of Einstein's description of relativity. When you sit next to a bore at a dinner party, time seems to slow down. When you sit next to a pretty girl, it just seems to fly. The problem is that they don't see it that way. You can believe this as long as you like, but as long as they don't agree, you are going to have a problem.

You could say the same thing for ecstasy, the very thing this thread was started to protest against. My response was to highlight the faulty thinking in saying that it is all Canada's fault. The irony seems to have been lost on you.

It's the apostrophe thing. Just amazes me how many people went through university (sometimes to the post-grad level) without learning the proper use of the apostrophe. You even see it in advertising on television, billboards and in newspapers. Imagine spending thousands of dollars on a billboard campaign having text that pluralizes TV as TV's

That comment was made in response to a comment by ... I forget who ... that the Palestinians already had a home, and that it is called Jordan. I make no apology for the New York comment, nor do I withdraw it. You talk like this, you get it back. With respect to pushing the envelope, I have said little that is not in well-reviewed published works, many of them written by Israeli Jews. My central thesis is that Israel has to start taking responsibility for the humanitarian disaster resulting from its creation and the way it is continually warping the politics of the Middle East. It has to understand that repression is not working and that it is not going to get away with the theft of Palestine. The release of the report by the US Committee on Iraq has been instructive. This committee, and many others, including Tony Blair, have said that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a major roadblock to peace in the Middle East. Not surprisingly, Ehud Olmert did what Israeli governments have always done.... deny, deny, deny. Unfortunately, that idiot Bush will probably not take the advice but listen instead to the Pentagon which always has one response to every issue: WAR WAR WAR. Look forward to an escalation in Iraq. Deja Vietnam all over again.

Is there any body else you'd like to let into the country so we can trash some more of our culture. Who am I letting in to the country?

A gang without a gun is just a mo-ped.

Lord thunderin' Jaysus. Why didn't you register as Gatsby? A missed opportunity IMHO!

Lord thunderin' jaysus. Are you serious?

I'm with you, but I think we should be able to chose the device. I would like to put it al on my flat panel. I think the idea of selling tv content like music albums is the way to go. And by the way, Al Jazeera. Bring it on baby! O I know there is a lot of bullshit. But how is that different than CNN? Fox. Don't even go there. Give me Al Jazeera. Ban Fox.

Has Seinfeld given you permission to use his name?

Great thread. If the major networks want to charge the cable companies, I say go for it. This will mean every supplier on the cable path will be an identifiable charge. The customer should have the right to pay for only the suppliers s/he wants, and reject undesirables. This could mean the end of bundling. We can only hope. And for the record, I am ready and willing to pay for the CBC; I am not ready and willing to pay for CTV and Global.

You are right. I read you wrong. Yes I think there are good guys. I think that the Hashemite Kingdom in Jordan is a good guy. I think it has been a good guy even in the days leading up to the 1948 war. This new kingdom, and Abdullah I in particular, was ready to welcome the new nation of Israel. I think that Weitzman and Sharrett knew that and I think that Israel has lost a sense of who its friends really are. I think the Abdullah II may be the best bridge to peace, but I think that we need to understand that there are things that are more important than military power. Why is it that we have to learn and re-learn this lesson over and over again in the Middle East? Even the Brits have never been able to figure this out. We need to look at the foundations of our own culture and understand why it is that we place so much confidence in power, and so little in experience.

You're making Ignatieff look pretty good, here

Having spent time in the Middle East, I can only conlude that this is all a plot. Ignatieff was put in place to set a honey trap that Harper would fall in to. Harper has gained a few votes in Quebec, and alienated damned near everyone else. Ignatieff is on his way back to Boston. Bob Rae is the only winner here. Political experience. Management experience. Heh, heh. You go, baie...