Thursday, March 31, 2005

The neocon revolution by Martin Jacques

There was speculation last autumn that the second Bush term would be different, that the breach with Europe would be healed as a matter of necessity, that the US could not afford another Iraq, that somehow the new position was unsustainable. Already, however, from last November's presidential election it was clear that the neocon revolution had wide popular support and serious electoral roots, that it was establishing a new kind of domestic political hegemony. In fact, the right has been setting the political agenda in the US for at least 30 years and that is now true with a vengeance. All the indications suggest that the revolution is continuing apace.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Wolfie's Career Move from Failed Warrior to Humanitarian Banker by CHASE MADAR

Around the world people are gasping at the appointment of Paul Wolfowitz to head the World Bank. The baldness of it! And well might we gasp: how can this washed-up chicken hawk, whose crazy scheme of easily invading Iraq seems even crazier with each car bomb, be handed the top post at an organization that is ostensibly philanthropic? Wasn't it enough of a sick joke for the neocons to call their Mesopotamian oil-grab as a humanitarian intervention? Ahh, here those who remember their Cold War are feeling little pangs of memory. For this is not the first time an architect of a disastrous war has gone on to land a plum position in a bigtime philanthropy. It isn't even the first time a disgraced warrior has been rewarded with the keys to the World Bank.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Bring our troops back home by Kevin Alfred Strom

Even by the neocon's own standards -- which essentially amount to whatever is good for Israel is good, whatever is bad for Israel is bad -- the invasion and occupation of Iraq has not been an unqualified success. The Iraqi resistance continues as strong as ever. The credibility of the neocon war hawks, virtually all of them Jews, and their nonexistent WMD excuse for war, has plummeted to near zero among the educated and well-informed. The election in Iraq gave the largest share of power to the Shiite majority which looks with favor on powerful Iran, certainly no friend of Israel. Iran and its allies in Iraq also constitute a powerful opponent of the Jewish scheme to set up controlled media in that region to destroy the culture and the youth there, and control their elections -- just as they've done in America and most other Western nations.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Draft Needed to Bail Out Neocons by Paul Craig Roberts

The authors are probably correct that the neoconservatives' war plans cannot be undertaken with the present U.S. force structure. The neocons thought that in Iraq all the U.S. had to do was defeat a poorly equipped army. They overlooked that insurgency is a different kind of fighting.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Letting the Wolfowitz in the door by Jerry Mazza

Letting Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense and neocon emeritus, into the position of president of the World Bank, is tantamount to the proverbial "letting the fox in the hen house."

From Kennan to Wolfowitz by Leon Hadar

Is the U.S.-led war on terrorism that the neoconservative Mr. Wolfowitz helped to design looking more and more like a never-ending American engagement in global military confrontation – the kind of dangerous situation that the paleoconservative Mr. Kennan had tried so much to prevent?

The Fever of Revolution by Martin Kelly

Right now, the neoconservatives and their mouthpieces are full of talk of ‘democratic revolution’, a state of affairs they believe comes to exist through nothing more than the holding of elections, as if the existence of a middle class and traditions of dissent, free speech and free enquiry have no role to play in the making of genuinely free and democratic societies.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

GIVE MAX THE BOOT by Red Phillips

Mr. "Jack" Boot deserves our eternal gratitude for so wonderfully illustrating how far the conservative movement has fallen. What he pointed out, apparently as a defense of his neoconservative heroes, against one of "those types" of conservatives, had been precisely the indictment of the neos by the original conservatives since the neos joined the movement during the Cold War.

Neocon fantasies - Rather than a crusade for democracy, the war in Iraq remains a tragic failure. Plus, exploiting Terri Schiavo.

THE WAR IN IRAQ is a long way from being over. Already, though, the revisionist historians of the right are going to work, portraying this grotesque misadventure as a glorious mission to bring democracy to the Middle East. Everyone hopes for a decent outcome in Iraq, both for the long-suffering people of that country and for the security interests of the rest of the world. But on this, the second anniversary of the war, it is vital to remember what really happened, and to separate stark reality from neoconservative fantasy.

What Will Follow the IRI Regime in Iran? Mark Dankof's Thoughts for The Iranian

BATR and Neo-Con Watch correspondent Mark Dankof offered thoughts over a year ago in January of 2004 on the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) regime, printed in The Iranian. Observing that the tyrannical reign of the Mullahs could be brought to an end by millions of young people in Iran tired of fundamentalist theocracy (those born after the Pahlavi years and the 1978 revolution), Dankof's remarks 14 months ago underscore the disastrous blowback risks inherent in an American-Israeli military preemption of Iran--and the problematic character of the alliance between Sharon's Zionist agents and many anti-IRI Iranian activists. These remarks are worth further review as the Bush Neo-Cons and Sharon Likudniks embark on a game of Byzantine brinksmanship and intrigue with the government of Iran that could result in regional and global war in the next year.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Most of the citizens of USA are unaware of the building storm over Venezuela by Craig Winters

I think some people have missed the point of Mr. Barnes piece. I read it with a sardonic tone, that is it is mocking the neocon logic regarding Iraq and implying that the only reason for the invasion was to get the oil.

Cowboys for UN and World Bank by Fawaz Turki

After all, Wolfowitz and the other neocons in the administration were known as the American Likudniks, so protective of Israeli interests that they considered Ariel Sharon “soft on the Arabs” and often referred to the West Bank and Gaza as “the disputed territories.”

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Here's to Neocon Fratricide Posted by: Matthew Barganier

Over at Frontpagemag, where rejected submissions to National Review and the Weekly Standard go to die of embarrassment, Stephen Schwartz is on the attack again. Today, the daft little porcupine has his quills aimed at one Julia Gorin (no favorite of yours truly) for testifying to what anyone with eyes can see: the Serbs were victims of a US/NATO terror campaign that empowered Muslim terrorists in Kosovo. Along the way, Schwartz makes sure to get in an obligatory dig at Antiwar.com:

Monday, March 21, 2005

Choosing Wolfowitz definitely benefits Israel

According to analysts, choosing Wolfowitz to head the World Bank will have significance for Israel, as the World Bank is expected to play a key economic role in Gaza after the implementation of Ariel Sharon’s withdrawal plan.

Wolfowitz, a leading neo-conservative, is widely viewed as a close friend to Israel, who is quite aware of the Middle East issues.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

L. A. is a Den of Iranian Intrigue and Ambition from the Los Angeles Times

In 1999, Marze Por Gohar (Glorious Frontiers Party) activist Roozbeh Farahnipour was beaten, arrested, and tortured in Tehran for opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI)regime. Today, he sits in an office on Westwood Boulevard in Los Angeles while still being tailed by agents of the Mullah Regime in Tehran. His forward of the latest Los Angeles Times report on this world of international intrigue and danger to BATR and Neo-Con Watch correspondent Mark Dankof is being posted for American paleo-conservatives to read and ponder.

Wolfowitz critics call him a warmonger but as a neocon he's also a real democrat by Gerard Baker

Institutions generally identified as hotbeds of neoconservatism — think-tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Project for the New American Century — have received the kind of treatment usually accorded to Mafia families.

Friday, March 18, 2005

Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolfowitz by Jason Vest

To some, Paul Wolfowitz's nomination to be president of the World Bank is yet another sign of neoconservative political hegemony; to others, it smacks of a setback for the neocons, as it means one of their top (though least doctrinaire) defense intellectuals will, for the first time in his career, be using balance sheets, not bullets, as instruments for realizing formidable political vision.

Behind the neocon nomination by Rhys Blakely

Aiming to thwart this, Europeans are raising the spectre of Caio Koch Weser, the former World Bank official – and aide to Robert McNamara, no less – who five years ago was blocked from heading the IMF. Sauce for the goose will do for the gander, say Mr Wolfowitz’s opponents. Even the American-friendly press department at No10 was moved yesterday to point out that Mr Wolfowitz’s nomination was just that, a nomination, and that there may be others on the way.

But should Mr Wolfowitz's billing as the neocons’ necon preclude him from taking the job?

Wolfowitz, Eine Karriere by Srdja Trifkovic

The answer is now clear: Far from seeking cooperation and partnership, Wolfowitz and other neoconservatives want to create a permanent rift between the United States and Europe. His famous Vanity Fair admission likewise caused furor in Europe. It made a mockery of Powell’s claim that Iraq was being attacked because it had violated its “international obligations” under its 1991 surrender agreement, which required the disclosure and removal of its WMD’s.

The Character Assassins by Justin Raimondo

Schwartz cherry-picks quotes from my work with the same deceitful alacrity as his neocon confreres in the administration cherry-picked "intelligence" in the run-up to war with Iraq:

As a liar, a fraud, and an unrepentant leftist – "I come from the radical left, and in many respects, I haven't changed," he said in a March 2003 interview with The Atlantic Monthly – Schwartz fits right in with the neoconized "conservative" movement of today.

Wolfowitz at the World Bank door by Emad Mekay and Jim Lobe

Another neo-conservative expressed concern that Wolfowitz's departure from the Pentagon could dilute the administration's proclaimed commitment to democratic change. "The president has sent pretty clear messages about that, but the number of senior administration officials who truly believe in the [democratic] tenets of the Bush doctrine is relatively small," said Tom Donnelly, a national security analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. "I, for one, am a little nervous about how policy itself may change. He might rather have been secretary of state, but that job was already taken. This is an administration that has been sort of inbred and has relatively few individuals to move around to these jobs."

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Secret U.S. Plans For Iraq's Oil by Greg Palast

The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil, BBC's Newsnight has revealed.

Two years ago today - when President George Bush announced US, British and Allied forces would begin to bomb Baghdad - protestors claimed the US had a secret plan for Iraq's oil once Saddam had been conquered.

In fact there were two conflicting plans, setting off a hidden policy war between neo-conservatives at the Pentagon, on one side, versus a combination of "Big Oil" executives and US State Department "pragmatists."

Bush Strategy for Syria, Lebanon and Iran by GARY LEUPP

As someone who believes that the Bush administration fully intends to implement the neocon plan for regime change in Syria, Iran, and Lebanon in the next couple years, I've watched it and the compliant media build the cases necessary for attack. Just as the disinformation apparatus spun out charges one after one against Iraq (many of them now forgotten, although they produced a climate of fear and hatred and served their psy-war purpose at the time) from 9-11 to March 2003, so they have piled on accusations and insinuations against Syria, Iran and Lebanon's Hizbollah.

International Conference on the Status of Mordechai Vanunu in Israel from Palestinian Christians

The Palestinian Christians Yahoo group has asked BATR correspondent Mark Dankof to re-post this March 10th news release on the coming re-examination of the Mordechai Vanunu case by the Israeli Knesset. In addition to the United Kingdom link, BATR readers may also find the posting at www.vanunu.com and www.vanunu.org.

The news release contains contact information for those interested in finding out more about the upcoming hearings, or registering support for Mr. Vanunu--who, among other things, has corroborated Michael Collins Piper's Final Judgment verdict that the Israeli Mossad and David Ben Gurion were the compelling actors in the assassination of President John Fitzergald Kennedy.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Resurrecting the Neo-Con Failures by William A. Cook

As we commemorate the now annual date of America's March of Madness into Iraq, where the Neo-Con forces of liberation became the forces of occupation, we witness these very same Pharisees lift their respective heads above the roiling waters of the river Styx into which they sunk this country, tentatively waving their cheerleaders' pom-poms in celebration of their ultimate triumph, the democratization of the mid-east.

Perhaps we must reword Disraeli's observation above to fit the times: "A Neo-Con Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy."

The Neocon Job May Backfire . . . Big Time Redux by Phil Toler

The Zionist dream to subjugate the entire area is now in tatters because everyone outside the US and Israel can easily see that the bluff has been called, and nothing short of all-out nuclear warfare, which, given the lad with his finger on the big trigger cannot be ruled out, will stand in the way of the completion of the Neocons’ greatest nightmare: an awakened Shia giant amidst the surrounding US-supported dictatorships that will lead, sooner or later, to collapse from within each client state.

Triumph of the neocons by Geov Parrish

Naturally, Bolton's accusation got more headlines than Carter's refutation of it, and it is that sort of media-friendly recklessness America risks if Bolton is confirmed in his new post. Once again -- as with Alberto Gonzales, Condoleezza Rice, new homeland security director Michael Chertoff, and new intelligence czar John Negroponte -- the highest posts in Bush's War on Terror in this second term are being given as promotions to rank ideologues who have, more often than not, embarrassed themselves and disgraced their country during Bush's first term.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Bolton's Baggage by Tom Barry

Bolton shares much with the closely knit neoconservative political camp: their read-meat anticommunism, their obsession with China and their support of right-wing Zionism in Israel, and their glorification of US power as the main force for good and against evil in our world. Bolton has also forged close links with neoconservatives while a scholar at the Manhattan Institute and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Although sharing most of the neoconservative ideology, Bolton is not himself a true-blue neocon.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Realists Rout Neocons by Justin Raimondo

That neoconservatism owes more to the legacy and spirit of the founder of the Red Army than it does to the canons of a recognizable conservatism is a point to which the neocons are especially sensitive. This underscores their status as outsiders in a movement they've essentially corrupted and perverted into a parody of its former self. The Bushian-neocon dogma that only the implantation of "democracy" on a global scale can ensure the safety and security of U.S. citizens owes nothing to the traditional conservative commitment to prudence and antipathy to revolutionism, and everything to the Trotskyist critique of Stalinism.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

The next ambassador to Iraq by Mark Kilmer

The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan is Dr. Zalmay Khalitzad. The next US ambassador to Iraq will be, if confirmed Dr. Zalmay Khalitzad, described by the New York Times as "a protégé of Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz since long before Mr. Bush took office."

The Dems can use the hysteria they've tried to generate regarding neocons, and also that Khalitzad was once an advisor to Unocal, an energy company with a direct interest in oil.

Friday, March 11, 2005

DC Cinema Palestine Film Festival notice from the Council for the National Interest Foundation

Blessings in Disguise by Karen Kwiatkowski

Of course, to rational people, rewarding neoconservative policy failures and ideological idiocy seems unthinkable – mistakes and violation of the Constitution and other laws should be punished, the low and lying performers fired. But rational people miss the wondrous point of the Bush presidency.

It begins in the mind of poor George Walker Bush, and his life up to and including Texas governor. A morally impoverished Connecticut born and educated "Texan" with political bloodlines but no commitment to true conservatism, simmering with resentment of his Poppy and burning with embarrassment for one too many business failures, Dubya was a dream come true for neoconservatism – a populist born-again Christian with instant political name recognition, and yet as intellectually and morally hollow as a dry well.

The neocon 'war with no dimensions' by Alan Bock

The war in Iraq occurred and it still commands widespread though diminishing emotional support. Thus there is still a place for a book like "America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order," a critique of foreign policy under Bush - and much more - from a principled conservative perspective.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Neo-Cons Declare War on Russia by Michael Collins Piper

America’s neoconservative Elite and their collaborators in the pro-Israel lobby in Washington have fired a first shot in the opening guns of a new Cold War being launched against Russian Premier Vladimir Putin.

Although it hasn’t been reported widely in the America mass media, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (DConn.), two of the Israeli lobby’s leading congressional stalwarts, introduced a resolution in the Senate on Feb. 19, condemning Putin and urging President Bush to push for suspending Russia’s membership in the G-8 organization of industrial nations.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

On North Korea, Via Social Security by Martin Kelly

Part of that cold war’s realpolitik is that should China decide to implement its policy of regime change on Taiwan, all rhetoric in support of that country’s right to exist will be forgotten, just to ensure the Chinese keep buying dollars. It will be the Sudetenland all over again, but of course the neocons don’t do appeasement – do they?

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Reforming the UN the Bush way by Kaveh L Afrasiabi

Unfortunately, neither Wolfowitz nor any other neo-conservative of the Bush administration seems minutely disturbed by the flagrant discrepancies between international norms and their recipe for action, decried by German philosopher Jurgen Habermas as "the unilateral, world-ordering politics of a self-appointed hegemon" reducing the UN Charter to "a scrap of paper".

Choice of Bolton shows US mood by James Harding

Mr Bolton was the most conspicuous hawk in Colin Powell's State Department during the first Bush term, an unflinching advocate of military action against Iraq, a hardliner on Iran and North Korea and, quite often, a critic of multilateral diplomacy.

News last week that the White House has been considering Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defence secretary and a neo-conservative hawk, as a candidate to head the World Bank further illustrates the spirit of international outreach in Mr Bush's second term.



Monday, March 07, 2005

John Bolton, a Bully Diplomat by Jude Wanniski

At the NATO workshop I attended in Lisbon over this last weekend, I cited Bolton's decline and Zoellick's elevation as a sign that the neo-cons had been set back and we might be able to expect a more reasonable foreign policy emanating from Washington in the second Bush administration. I could see smiles all around and heads nodding in agreement from the four dozen people around the table – most of them from the countries on the Mediterranean whose people had opposed the war in Iraq. They were encouraged by the Zoellick selection and I imagine their blood pressure is now on the rise over Bolton.

Rozaneh Magazine: Another Great Source for Iran and Central Asia Info for Literate Americans by Mark Dankof

Mark Dankof of BATR recommends Rozaneh Magazine as yet another source of on-line information about Iran and Central Asia for American paleo-conservatives--and Americans in general--interested in learning more about this most critical area of the world from regional experts whose information and insights are unfiltered by the cadre of idiots in the American mass media.

Shirin Tabibzadeh is the Editor. The publication has a laundry list of respected Persian specialists including Dr. Kaveh Farrokh of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, whose work for Rozaneh may be sampled at:

http://www.rozanehmagazine.com/JanFeb2005/aFarrokhArab.html

Democratization or Disintegration? by Jim Lobe

Feeling vindicated by dramatic events in the Middle East since the Iraqi elections Jan. 30, especially the growing international clamor for Syria to withdraw from Lebanon, neoconservatives are calling on President George W. Bush to seize the moment by pressing for "regime change" in Damascus and Iran, as well.

Despite its own missionary rhetoric, the Bush administration, however, seems inclined to wait until the dust from the latest developments has settled and, to the growing frustration of the neocons and other unilateralists, to ensure that it not get too far ahead of its European allies in dealing with the region.

Friday, March 04, 2005

Neocon Amorality by Robert Parry

Indeed, to understand the administration’s neoconservative foreign policy, one must recognize how this moral framework works: First, it sets out worthy-sounding goals – freedom, democracy, security – and then it applies whatever tactics are deemed necessary – torture, murder, unprovoked invasions – along with an aggressive propaganda strategy at home.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Urgent! Journalist Murdered in Azerbaijan. Details to Follow by Azer Hasret of CASCFEN/Baku

Azer Hasret of CASCFEN in Baku, Azerbaijan sends Mark Dankof of BATR and Neo-Con Watch a hastily translated article from Russian to English. It describes the heinous, sinister murder of an avant-garde editor in Azerbaijan. Who and what is behind this assassination in a land of Blood, Oil, and Machinations? Stay in touch with CASCFEN for the information you won't see in the American/Western press.

Neoconservatives push internment for American Muslims by Saeed Shabazz

Daniel Pipes--described by Law Professor Paul Campos of the University of Colorado as a “well-known neoconservative intellectual”--wrote in his daily column in the New York Sun on Dec. 28, 2004, that “yes, I do support the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.” Mr. Pipes continued: “given what was known and not known at the time, the U.S. government made the correct and right decision.”

Syria tops neo-cons target list

For many American neo-conservatives, the word salsa doesn't signal the Latin American dance but rather it's the in-group terminology based on the initial letters of a congressional bill signed by President Bush into law just last year.

Why I Do It by Karen Kwiatkowski

Brian Wilson thoughtfully questions why people write or speak out against the impervious gigantean state. He wonders why people take pains to share a bit of the obvious in a global sitting room of likeminded people. It’s nice, he says, but what’s the point?

Rothbard’s answer is perfect, of course. But I have been thinking about what inspires and motivates me, as just one person among millions, to curmudgeonly stir the pot of American foreign policy and neoconservative claptrap at home and abroad.

Iraq - Blood

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Iran Haters Meet in Washington Tomorrow: Anonymous Persian Source to Mark Dankof

Dear Mark Dankof:

There is an important meeting tomorrow in Washington D.C. Capital Hill building: set up by infamous Iran-hater & Israeli military intelligence Colonel "Yigal Carmon". See
http://www.uebersetzerportal.de/bilder/yigal_carmon.jpg

He has invited a lot of congressmen to tell (brainwash) them that Iran is going to attack inside the U.S.!

He has 22 years of intelligence experience in PSYOP (Psychological Operation) & he knows how to brainwash people.

He is also director of MEMRI, which is dedicated to anti-Iran hate propaganda.

I wish I could attend this meeting and ask a few question about Israeli intelligence involvement with Kurdish, Azari & Balochi terrorist trainings against Iran.
=================
U.S. Newswire Press Releases
February 28, 2005

'MEMRI' Event on Capitol Hill
The briefing will focus on threats made by Iran against the U.S., including calls for attacks on American soil.

To attend, Capitol guidelines require that non-Hill staff RSVP to
Phone: 1-202-955-9070
Email: RSVP@memri.org

Event: "Must-See Iranian TV"
WHEN: Wednesday March 2, 2005 at 2:45 to 4:00 PM
WHERE: Capitol Building, LBJ Room (S-211)

Americans Should Get Real by Leon Hadar

According to the neo-conservative ideologues, the leading global democratic power (the United States) and its courageous liberty-loving ally in North-east Asia (Japan), are standing up to a repressive regime (China) that is threatening to strangle a fledgling democracy (Taiwan).

Neocons' take

At the same time, the spineless and greedy Europeans seem to be ready to appease once again another dictatorship. In this narrative concocted by the neocons, there is the Community of Democratic Nations headed by America and joined by (among others) Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Britain, India, Ukraine, and New Europe, and then there are (among others) China, Russia, Venezuela, Iran, and North Korea.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

The Attacks on Ward Churchill by EMMA PEREZ

We've done some preliminary research and analysis and it's become clear exactly what's at stake and what we're up against. CU-Boulder has been made the national frontline of the neocon battle for dominance in academe.

Ex-CIA chief tells forum about long war ahead

"I called it World War IV for a while," he said, but now he refers to it as "the longest war of the 21st century. I think it will last for decades."

"These are three totalitarian movements," Woolsey said. "Totalitarian regimes around the world pretty much know they're going to run into us" at some point.

Describing himself as the nearest thing to a neoconservative those attending the Camden Conference would hear, Woolsey said he supports the U.S. war with Iraq, while at the same time outlining what he believes are the mistakes of policy that led to it.