Talking Up Both Sides of Centralization

Obviously, the neocons are struggling to formulate a response to the European Union, insofar as they are always fearful of anything that might serve as a counterweight to the U.S. This is to be expected. But what is interesting is how, when it comes to the EU, the neocons turn suddenly into decentralists, while, at home, neocons are all for centralizing power in Washington -- to the extent that they will smear anyone who does believe in decentralization and states' rights.

The Latest Statement (and Warning) from The Golden Mask of Persia

Bahman Nassiri, The Golden Mask of Persia, sends an invitation today to BATR and Neo-Con Watch readers to peruse his Latest Statement on Apocalypse Future. Mr. Nassiri's prediction in 2002 about a March 2005 target date for the War Over the Devil's Tears differs from Scott Ritter's recent prediction by only 3 months. But Mr. Nassiri's prescient remarks were made 3 years ago.

Which begs the questions: Who is Bahman Nassiri, really? Who was his father? Who are his present sources? What is the basis for his friendship with Lutheran pastor and BATR paleo-conservative correspondent Mark Dankof?

One thing is sure: Mr. Nassiri is an Iranian patriot who also loves America and its honest people and historic Old Republic.

Another thing is sure: The Judean prophet Daniel did his best apocalyptic work in predicting the rise and fall of Empires, and the Times and the Seasons, from Persia. The city of Susa (Shushan) comes to mind.

Reality mugs us all by Suzanne Fields

Economist magazine defines neocons with the back of the hand, describing them as "a small cabal of intellectuals — 'conservative ideologues'... scornful... of idealistic multilateralism." European critics blame them for messianic zeal, imperial designs and the war in Iraq, and a lack of a realistic assessment of where democracy can actually flourish.

'Anti-Islamist' Crusader Plants New Seeds by Jim Lobe

The CIP proposal, which says it expects to receive funding from contributors in the "American Shia community" and in "Sunni mosques once liberated from Wahhabi influence," also boasts "strong links" with Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and other notable neoconservatives, such as former Central Intelligence (CIA) director James Woolsey and the vice president for foreign policy programming at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Danielle Pletka, as well as with Pipes himself.

All is Calm: A Photo Essay from Bushehr, Iran by Ehsan Shahinsefat for The Iranian

World-renowned Persian photographer Ehsan Shahinsefat sends BATR and Neo-Con Watch readers a message tonight through Lutheran pastor and BATR correspondent Mark Dankof. Ehsan's message is entitled "All is Calm" and is comprised not of words, but of 20 photographs of the people and scenes in Bushehr, Iran.

Only time will tell if the speculation about an American-Israeli air attack on Iran will prove true in the next 12 months. If it does, Bushehr will be an obvious focal point for tragedy, suffering, and death. Ehsan's photos remind the average American--and the world--that the consequences of war are inextricably linked to human faces and souls made in the image of God, both young and very old.

Neoconservatism and Democracy by Martin Kelly

For nearly a year, the neoconservative fascists of the American Enterprise Institute, the ‘National Review Online’ ‘Townhall’ and the ‘Washington Times’ have insulted and slimed the Spanish people for their rejection of the liar Jose Maria Aznar, and his lying lie in the immediate aftermath of the Madrid train bombings last March that the Basque terrorists ETA were responsible.

The Dreaded 'S' Word by Thomas DiLorenzo

It should be clear to anyone who has been paying attention to politics in recent years that the modus operandi of the statist and imperialistic neoconservative cult that now dominates the Republican Party is not to debate its intellectual opponents but to wage campaigns of character assassination against them. They are modern-day Jacobins and, like the French precursors of totalitarian communism, believe that they alone possess knowledge of "the general will." Consequently, all dissenters must be "destroyed."

Neocon Mindset Main Stumbling Block: Sociologist

Dhaouadi said that ever since the induction of President George W. Bush into the White House, the neoconservatives around him have sought to impose their own norms and values on the Islamic world. “Since the US talks from a position of strength, it is not prepared to listen to the other country’s point of view.”

The Gonzocons Live On by Martin Kelly

The neoconservatives are the most powerful group of moon-howling paranoids ever to walk the face of the Earth. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have got nothing on Dr. Perle and Mr. Feith. Colin Powell's reported assessment of them as "f*cking crazies" now seems insipid, a bagatelle among insults. They are dangerous nutjob headbangers who don't just control nukes – they have frickin' arsenals of them!

Sink the Law of the Sea Treaty! by William Norman Grigg

Conservative Americans who consider George W. Bush a champion of national sovereignty have been shocked to learn that the president seeks Senate ratification of the UN's Convention on the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). Despite the Senate's refusal thus far to ratify the treaty, it went into effect in 1995, and elements of the vast regulatory apparatus it outlines are already in operation.

When fully implemented, LOST would consummate the largest act of territorial conquest in history, turning seven-tenths of the Earth's surface over to the jurisdiction of the United Nations. It would create a mammoth bureaucracy to regulate exploration of the ocean depths and commercial development of the seabed's riches. The UN would also be empowered to collect royalties on seabed mining, thereby providing the world body with a potentially enormous independent source of revenue to fund its agenda for "global governance."

None of this seems compatible with the Bush administration's reputation for flinty-eyed defense of our national independence. Yet during her Senate confirmation hearings in January, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated that the Bush administration "would certainly like to see [LOST] pass as soon as possible.... And we very much want to see it go into force."

"Joining the convention will advance the interests of the United States military," Rice claimed on January 18. "The United States, as the country with the largest coastline and the largest exclusive economic zone, will gain economic and resource benefits from the convention.... And the United Nations has no decision-making role under the convention in regulating uses of the oceans by any state party to the convention."

Rice's unqualified endorsement of LOST lets several important questions go begging. For instance: why is it necessary to sign a UN treaty in order to enjoy "economic and resource benefits" from ocean territory we already own and control? If the UN would have no role in regulating the use of oceans within our sphere of influence, how would it be in a position to grant us the "economic and resource benefits" referred to by Rice?

But nobody present at Secretary Rice's confirmation hearings was inclined to ask such pointed questions. Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), a noted Republican internationalist who supports ratifying LOST, was delighted by Rice's rapturous endorsement of the pact.

Continue: Get US out! of the United Nations

Make Kim Jong-il the New Honecker: Neocon Columnist

The best way to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue is for China to open its border, turning Kim Jong-il into a North Korean version of former East German leader Erich Honecker, whose regime was overthrown, a neocon columnist has proposed.

Duncan Currie, an editorial assistant with the U.S. neoconservative mouthpiece The Weekly Standard, offered the suggestion in a Monday column entitled, "Kim Jong Honecker? Our Strategy for Dislodging the North Korean Tyrant Should Recall East Germany."

The unmaking of the neo-conservative mind by Spengler

In the paranoid imagination of left-wing critics, the neo-conservatives form a network of Leo Strauss acolytes infiltrating the United States' seat of power, and guide the world's only superpower into imperialist adventures. On the contrary, they are fighting political and cultural battles of a past generation which neither were won nor lost, but merely became irrelevant. Like T S Eliot, the neo-conservatives play at faith rather than live in the world of faith, a stance that eliminates their relevance to a world in which faith politics dominate.

The Neocons' Devotion to Doctrine by Leon Hadar

Not surprisingly, Bill Kristol, the editor of the leading neocon magazine Weekly Standard, is thrilled, writing recently that "it's good news that the president is so enthusiastic about Sharansky's work. It suggests that, despite all the criticism and the difficulties, the president remains determined to continue to lead the nation along the basic foreign policy lines he laid down in his first term" and, well, use the full political, economic and military resources to ensure that China and Russia, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan, and other US allies in the war on terror – not to forget the above-mentioned Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan – pass the "town square test."

Neocon Inaugural? by Donald Devine

The president had formally adopted the neoconservative mission to take democracy to the world and install freedom everywhere. The United States had finally accepted its Woodrow Wilsonian responsibility to create a hegemonic empire to bring peace and democracy to all. Neocon par excellence, William Kristol, was ecstatic. He characterized the speech as “informed by Strauss and inspired by Paine,” referring to the American radical revolutionary Tom Paine, and to Krisol’s college mentor, Leo Strauss. No higher compliment is possible in the neocon pantheon.

The Assassination of "Mr. Lebanon" by Habib Siddiqui

Hariri had both friends and foes. To the neocons and Israeli policy makers, he was too anti-Israel. To the Syrians and their Lebanese allies, he was anti-Syrian, accusing him of being behind the US-backed UN Security Council resolution last September that called for a Syrian troop withdrawal. To the leftists, he was too pro-American. To radical Muslims, he was too pro-Saudi. Hariri also had business enemies who hated him for his real estate and media-empire.

The assassination of Hariri matches very well (almost like a carbon copy) with previous activities of the Mossad. It provides Washington the necessary pretext to broaden its ‘war on terror’ to punish Syria and Hizbullah, something that Israel and its neocon friends have long wanted. The ‘Amen corner’ inside the Capitol Hill also would not require any solid evidence, much like the WMD case in Iraq, for approving punitive measures against Syria and its allies.

Outfoxed by bin Laden by Paul Craig Roberts

The neoconservatives' goal is the same as Osama bin Laden's – to spread instability in the Middle East. The neocons seek to foment instability in order to justify more U.S. invasions in an insane quest to remake the Middle East in the American image. Bin Laden seeks instability in order to topple the secular rulers and recreate Islamic rule. Bin Laden does not want U.S. troops out. He wants to suck America in deeper in order to create revolutionary insurgency throughout the Middle East.

Baiting a Trap for Bush? by Patrick J. Buchanan

There is no vital U.S. interest in Lebanon. There is no vital U.S. interest in the Gulf other than oil, which the Arabs and Iran have to sell to us and wish to sell to us. No Arab nation has attacked the United States since the Barbary pirates, and none wants war with America. Only Osama, Sharon and the neoconservatives look longingly to a "World War IV" and a "clash of civilizations" between America and Islam.

Negroponte, a Neo-Con? Shocking!! by Jude Wanniski

You may remember, Senator, I posted a memo on the margin to you on April 27, 2004, when I learned that John Negroponte, the US Ambassador to the U.N., was nominated to be the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. I told you then that, from what I could see, he was a loyal agent of the megalomaniac neo-con Cabal to run the world, and we would regret putting him in charge of promoting "democracy" in Iraq.

Imperial Mafia, Bushspeak, neocons and hypocrisy by William Blum

As can be seen in my essay referred to above, another neocon leading light, Michael Ledeen, of the American Enterprise Institute, also tried his hand at prognostication shortly before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, declaring that "If we just . . . wage a total war against these tyrants, I think we will do very well, and our children will sing great songs about us years from now."

John Negroponte, Dirty Warrior by JENNIFER ROESCH

In the post-9/11 era, Negroponte has managed to re-package and sell himself as an effective diplomat and power broker. He is just one of the many hawks who have seen their careers revived in this period. In this process, the neo-cons have been aided and abetted by a Democratic Party that has rolled over on every nomination and provided cover during every major political crisis that the Bush administration has faced. It is clear that Bush feels he faces no repercussions by nominating the likes of Negroponte.

Neo-Cons and Israeli Lobby Declare War on Putin by Michael Collins Piper of American Free Press

Final Judgment author and American Free Press correspondent, Michael Collins Piper,
sends Mark Dankof of BATR his latest take on the Neo-Con/Israeli Lobby declaration 
of war on Vladimir Putin.


Neo-Cons, Israeli Lobby Declare War on Putin


By Michael Collins Piper
Author of "Final Judgment: The Mossad Role in the JFK Assassination Conspiracy"
and "The High Priests of War"
Correspondent for American Free Press


America’s neo-conservative 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, Senators John
McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), two of the Israeli 
lobby’s leading congressional stalwarts, introduced a resolution in the Senate
on February 19, condemning Putin and urging President Bush to push
for suspending Russia’s membership in the G-8 group of industrial nations.

Latching on to the president’s emphatic declaration in his January 20 inaugural
address of a new global campaign by the United States for the
promotion of "democracy." Lieberman announced that "President Putin’s assault on
democracy in Russia violates the spirit of the industrialized
democracies and the letter of Russia’s obligations to the Group of Eight. We
must openly confront anti-democratic backsliding in Russia for the sake of
all those who look to the United States as a beacon for freedom." The resolution
was designed to put President Bush on the spot, coming just as
President Bush was preparing for his scheduled meeting with Putin in Slovakia on
February 24.

The motivation for the effort by the neo-conservatives and their congressional
spokesmen to undermine Putin is quite clear, inasmuch as Putin 
recently challenged Bush and Israel by daring to say publicly that he (Putin)
does not believe that Iran is seeking to building nuclear weapons of 
mass destruction. 

Although the burgeoning hostility against Putin by the neo-conservatives has
been widely hashed over in small-circulation pro-Israel publications
and American Jewish community newspapers on a regular basis, it has only been of
recent date that mainstream publications such as The
Washington Post and and The New York Times, to name the most prominent, have
begun to echo those concerns about Putin, almost as if the big
name dailies were taking the lead from the other journals. Increasingly,
however, the word that "Putin is a possible enemy" is now being breached to
the average American, through the outlets of the mass media.

Although Russia joined the G-8 nations (which includes Britain, Canada, Japan,
France, Italy and Germany) in 2002, the companion resolutions in
the Senate and the House ask the president to enlist the other G-8 countries to
join with the United States in suspending Russia’s G-8 membership
until such time as President Bush decides that Russia is supposedly committed to
so-called "democratic principles."

This is the second time that McCain and Lieberman introduced such a measure,
although their last effort, in 2003, failed in committee. At that time,
two other members of Congress, California Reps. Tom Lantos—a Democrat—and
Christopher Cox—a Republican—introduced a companion
resolution in the House of Representatives which reached the House floor, but it
was never voted upon.

Reflecting on the fact that the media was increasingly promoting hostility to
Putin, American Free Press noted on October 25, 2004 that the media’s 
primary concern about Putin stems from the fact that he has been moving against
the handful of billionaire plutocrats in Russia (many of whom also 
hold Israeli citizenship) who grabbed control of the Russian economy with the
open-connivance of then-Russian leader Boris Yeltsin, following the 
collapse of the old Soviet Union.

One American hard-line pro-Israel publication, The New Republic, raised the
question on September 24, 2004: "Is Russia going fascist?" asserting
that whether Putin personally remains in power or not, there is a growing
movement "nationalist" in nature—that holds great sway among the Russian
population. TNR expressed concern that "a fascist revolution" could be in the
offing, meaning a movement hostile to the Israeli oligarchs (with
international criminal connections) who rule the Russian economic scene. Likewise,
much earlier, in his 1995 book, Russia: A Return to Imperialism,
Boston-University-based Israeli academic Uri Ra’anan sounded the concern that
post-Soviet Russia may pose a threat to the West.

These works echo such writers as Jonathon Brent and Vladimir Naumov who, in
their 2003 book, Stalin’s Last Crime, published evidence that
longtime Soviet leader Josef Stalin was almost certainly murdered in 1953 after
he began moves toward exorcising Zionist influence in Soviet circles
of power. They concluded by saying that "Stalin is a perpetual possibility,"
leaving open the theoretical proposition that Putin, or other would-be
Russian leaders, may ultimately emerge as heir to Stalin’s anti-Zionist legacy.

Essentially, with the American neo-conservatives (whose ideological godfathers
are widely known as admitted ex-Trotskyite communists) now
moving against Putin, it is as if we are seeing a rejuvenation of the war
against Russian nationalism by the Trotskyites, retooled for 21st century
geopolitical considerations. Now—unlike in the first half of the 20th century
prior to the founding of the state of Israel—the central role of that Middle 
East state in the neo-conservative worldview cannot be understated, for the
concern about Israel is a front-line consideration in the neo-conservative 
campaign against Putin.


-- 

Douglas Feith on Asymmetrical Sovereignty

I appreciate the opportunity to address the Council on Foreign Relations, this productive and influential body. The Council has many claims to fame, including its having been featured in a diverse set of inane conspiracy theories – figments of the fevers of both the left wing and the right. I can now empathize. As one bugbear to another, I say: It’s good to be here with you.

The Anti-Conservatives by Patrick J. Buchanan

Who and what converted a president who came to office with no knowledge of the world to the idea that only a global crusade for democracy could keep us secure? Answer: 9/11—and the neoconservatives.

Giddy with excitement, the neocons are falling all over one another to hail the president. They are not conservatives at all. They are anti-conservatives, and their crusade for democracy will end as did Wilson’s, in disillusionment for the president and tragedy for this country.

The Israeli Palestinian Conflict and the Spread of Empire and Desolation by Ronald Bleier

But today, in the wake of 9/11 and the reinstallation of George W. Bush for a second term as president, once again, many believe through fraudulent means, we are confronted with an energized and radical neo conservative movement with nowhere to go but onward and down. I think my father said it best a few months before he died a year and a half ago, "they don't do anything good." He was absolutely right. They are bent on an ideological destruction of the mission of government which is supposed to be by, for, and of the people.

Standard Weekly Lies by Thomas DiLorenzo

As I quickly learned upon the publication of The Real Lincoln, the first reaction of virtually all neoconservatives to a publication with which they disagree, from the Claremontistas to National Review, The Weekly Standard, and AEI, is; 1) to lie about the actual contents of the publication, and then attack their own straw-man arguments; 2) to wage a personal smear campaign against the author; and 3) to quote each others’ lies from #1. This textbook neocon procedure was on display again recently in a February 15 Weekly Standard online "review" of (or more accurately, a hatchet job on) Tom Woods' book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, by Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Sex, Lies, and Jeff Gannon by Justin Raimondo

This story isn't about sex – although Gannon's reported sideline as a gay escort (or was his "journalism" the sideline?) could figure even more prominently as the personal and the political meet and merge in this case. It's about a bitterly fought internal power struggle inside the Bush administration, pitting the neoconservative clique centered in the office of the vice president and the civilian upper echelons of the Pentagon against the remnants of resistance in the intelligence community, in the top ranks of the military, and in the diplomatic corps. It's about the lies the former told in order to bamboozle Congress and the nation into a disastrous conflict in the Middle East – and the crimes they committed in covering up the lies. It's a story about the neocon "alternative" media – such as "Talon News" and its many proliferating clones in cyberspace and the world of print and television – the purpose of which is to refract and distort images of an unjust and increasingly troubling war into the illusion of "victory." It's about payola pundits and media whores who swallow the party line without question and without even charging a fee. If Gannon is a plant, then what about the other right-wing screamers and ranters with an identical agenda and tactics who are, in many cases, just as sleazy?

Syria in the Crosshairs by Justin Raimondo

Once again, it's all about Israel.

The escalation of U.S. pressure on Syria is the culmination of a strategy plainly and clearly outlined in a 1996 paper prepared for Tel Aviv's Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, entitled "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm." This collaborative effort by Richard Perle, James Colbert, Charles Fairbanks, Jr., Douglas Feith, Robert Loewenberg, David Wurmser, and Meyrav Wurmser – most of whom are now ensconced in high positions in the Bush administration – outlined for then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a new Israeli strategic vision:

The neoconservatives in the administration have long planned to go after Syria: two years ago, Julian Borger of the Guardian reported that plans for an invasion were readied by Rumsfeld, but vetoed by Bush: to our perspicacious neocons, a veto is only a postponement. The propaganda barrage started last year, and it is now reaching its climax with the assassination of Hariri and the subsequent outcry.

Hariri Killing Sure to Bolster US Hawks by Jim Lobe

"It is certainly possible that the Syrian military leadership was sufficiently stupid and arrogant to decide to assassinate Hariri," according to C.S. Smith, a regional specialist at the University of Arizona. "But many others stood to benefit from such an act, including right-wing Phalangist Christian elements closely tied to neocons in the Bush administration."

Indeed, Walid Phares, a right-wing Lebanese-born Christian and fellow of the neoconservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), issued a statement immediately after the killing that appeared designed to cast suspicion on Syria and one of its allies in Lebanon, Hezbollah.

Is Bush a Neocon? - Dave Nalle

Bush can be a Neocon for the Neocons and a reform Republican for the rest of us and so far the party hasn't been torn apart by the contradiction. The ultimate outcome looks promising. Most of the Neocon issues got as far as they are likely to get before the election and there's not much more that can be done with them no matter how Bush tries.

OLD RIGHT portal seeking contributors

If you like The BATR NeoCon Watch, consider getting involved with OLD RIGHT. The main content section is Old Right Topic News http://www.oldright.com/index.php

This area has 15 Themes set up for posting. OLD RIGHT is seeking contributors to post directly on this page. I would register a username and password from my end and forward login and password instructions. Looking for about five folks to post one essay a day using this PHP format that is widely available and simple to use.

No approval for direct posting. Each contributor can post on any of the 15 Themes. OD members should contact me directly at: oldright@frontiernet.net to arrange for posting privileges. Topic News is not a forum. It’s a web page on our portal site.

SARTRE