Gisteren publiceerde de NRC een artikel van de zionistische journalist Shmuel Rosner die een oproep deed om Israel en de propaganda van de pro-Israel lobby 'minder zichtbaar in het nieuws' te maken, omdat 'De hoge zichtbaarheidsgraad tijdens iedere verkiezingscyclus, de overweldigende aandacht - het is allemaal niet echt in Israels belang.' Het is een opmerkelijke oproep in een krant die zich de slijpsteen voor de geest noemt. Openheid en transparantie zouden moeten worden toegejuichd in een parlementaire democratie, en niet moet worden bestreden door journalisten die zich democratisch noemen. Maar nee dus. Dat geldt niet voor de NRC. Speciaal voor de lezers die wel voor democratische controle zijn, het volgende artikel:
'Zionism, Militarism, and the Decline of US PowerReview of James Petras' book
By Stephen Lendman
October 22, 2008 - "Global Research"
James Petras is Binghamton University Professor Emeritus of Sociology. His credentials and achievements are long and impressive as a noted academic figure on the left. A well-respected Latin American expert, and a longtime chronicler of the region's popular struggles.He's also a prolific author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including his latest titled "Zionism, Militarism, and the Decline of US Power" and subject of this review. It follows from his earlier 2006 book: "The Power of Israel in the United States" that documented the Israeli Lobby's enormous influence over US Middle East policy and its destructive effects.Petras continues the story in his latest book. Asks is Israel good for America, and responds by exposing and critiquing American Zionism. Its powerfully destructive influence. Its stranglehold on US politics, academia, the media, clergy, and over all segments of society voicing dissent. He debunks the notion that the Israeli Lobby is like all others and provides convincing evidence of its influence and veto power over war and peace, trade and investment, multi-billion dollar arms sales, and all Middle East policy issues under Democrat and Republican administrations alike.Every Petras book is important. So is this one at a time the most powerful Washington Lobby is assured that a new administration will continue and expand the current "Global Wars on Terrorism." Petras explains the dangers. The current disastrous foreign adventurism. America's economic decline as a result, and the calamitous global fallout overall. High-level officials won't read this book, but they should. To realize the dangers of their destructive policies. How they threaten the republic's survival and are heading the nation for insolvency and ruin.Part I - Zionism and US MilitarismHow Zionist Power Promotes US Middle East WarsPretexts for invading and occupying Iraq went from:-- WMDs; -- to removing a dangerous dictator;-- to establishing democracy in the Arab world;-- to preventing a civil war;-- to needing a colonial military victory to retain our global superpower status;-- to reassuring regional regimes they can rely on us for protection; and-- to proving America can fight and defeat "terrorism."However, the longer the conflict continues (as well as the Afghan one), the less credibility any argument holds. The more likely an occupied people will grow more restive and reassertive. A similar likelihood that popular resistance will grow throughout the Middle East, Eurasia and elsewhere. The greater the economic and political cost. The less able a depleted military will be able to sustain foreign wars, and less willing the US public will put up with them. Yet they continue, and explanations why crop up as follows:(A) A War for Oil with arguments ranging from:(1) Big Oil wanted it;(2) the White House acted reflexively on its behalf; to(3) the urgency to secure the region's oil that Saddam Hussein threatened.Petras responds that these explanations "fail several empirical tests:"(1) Big Oil opposed the war and wants peace and stability instead;(2) the oil giants tried to establish economic ties with Iraq before the invasion; they want and are denied the same arrangement with Iran and all other oil producing countries;(3) they prefer gaining new markets and business economically and by building good relationships with host countries; not a single Big Oil CEO favored war and occupation; and(4) "windfall profits" haven't materialized as benefits accruing from occupation; lucrative contracts to develop Iraqi oil aren't arranged; and the country is too violent to warrant serious investments to do it, except in the Kurdish north.Still, war was declared. The occupation continues. The political and economic costs are enormous. Big Oil has been a loser, not a winner, and the evidence shows that the powerful Israeli Lobby trumped any opposition the oil giants could pose to match it.Petras refers to the Zionist Power Configuration (ZPT). Its influence over the administration and Congress. Its tentacles spanning the country at the grassroots. Its control of the media, academia, the clergy, and important professional elements in the population. Its "slavish obedience to official Israeli policy" even when US interests are harmed. Its threat to US democratic freedoms, and the fact that anyone daring to confront Israeli policy becomes a target to be intimidated, blackmailed, smeared, pressured, and removed from positions of authority.'
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