Category Archives: U.S. Congress

Israel, U.S. Congress

U.S. Knesset Invites Netanyahu to Respond to Obama and SOTU……….

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“Speaker John Boehner has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress about Iran next month, a move sure to inflame the Obama administration, which is trying to negotiate a nuclear deal with the Islamic republic. Boehner later told reporters he did not consult with the White House about the invitation………..”

Apparently the Republican Congress have invited him, again, to respond to Obama’s State of the Union speech. And his groupies in Washington are trying to help him in the March Israeli elections.
Sheldon Adelson and his money be praised!
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Economics, Finance, U.S. Congress, U.S. Politics

New Age Heroes: Financial Opportunists, Lobbyists, and Rogue Crusaders………

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“Haym Salomon funded not only the Revolutionary War but several leading politicians, yet passed on claiming huge debts. On January 6, 1785, Haym Salomon, the Polish-born immigrant to colonial New York who is revered in American history as the financier of the Revolutionary War, died. He was all of 44 years old — and he was bankrupt………….”

They have a picture of a 10 cent U.S. stamp from 1975 calling Haym (Haim) Salomon a “financial hero”. It says somewhere that he ran a “brokerage business” as well, but apparently he had nothing to do with Salomon Brothers firm that came later. Mr. Salomon died bankrupt, but only because he lived in a different era.

Speaking of financial heroes, I fully expect the new U.S. Congress (both houses) to start creating new “financial” heroes. I expect some top lobbyists to be named, as well as CEOs of Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase and Mr. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs. For their role in the crash of 2008 that required government funds to bail all these geniuses out. The Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson of Las Vegas gambling, financial godfather of the New New Republican Party, will surely be on the list. Not to ignore some other likely candidates: famous anti-tax, anti-affordable universal healthcare, anti-affordable higher education, and anti-welfare ‘crusaders’.

The New New Democrats, led by you-know-who-she-is, should they win the White House in 2016, will likely not only follow the same path, but revert to their old habit of appointing top bankers as top financial officers of the U.S. government.
As for myself, I would suggest an economist like Paul Krugman or even Robert Reich for treasury secretary. But that would limit the New New Democrat president to one term. Unless she or he is impeached and convicted first by an uncharacteristically outraged Congress.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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CIA, Espionage, Torture, U.S. Congress, U.S. Foreign Policy

Hijacking America: from Liberators of Europe to Rectal Feeding by Hired Contractors………

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Have Yourself a Merry Little——-> Kenny G. Holiday ………..

“The CIA torture report lists ‘rectal feeding’ as a legitimate means of nourishing detainees. But the practice has no scientific backing, and is nothing but a torture method. There is enough contained in the newly-released Senate report on CIA torture practices to shock anyone’s conscience. News that CIA interrogators threatened violence against the children or parents of detainees, made them stand in stress positions on broken feet, and deprived them of sleep for up to a week at a time is appalling on its face. One needs no medical expertise to parse the horrors described. But what of “rectal feeding”? At first blush, this practice may have the appearance of legitimacy in cases where detainees refused to eat or drink. One man was put in a head-down position and Ensure was instilled into his rectum……………”

Does one hijacking deserves another? They say in the West that the Wahabbi Jihadis have hijacked Islam. So the solution is to have the torturers and their enablers hijack America and her traditions and values. To move her closer (and lower) to the level of the terrorists……….

How did it come down to this?
From the bright America of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and John Kennedy to this? To the recent American regimes of prevalent KGB-style domestic espionage and imaginative external torture? To the sorry lot of the past fourteen years of Bush, Cheney, and whoever calls the shots for Obama?

During the cold war, a favorite criticism of the Soviet Union was its all-powerful untouchable apparatus of internal espionage. The West allegedly won the Cold War, or did it? Can we say that after the disclosures of widespread spying on American citizens and their private correspondence and communications? The Allies won the war against the Nazis, but Western regimes are now using methods of torture for which they tried Nazis and others after the war. There is a difference in the extent of the torture. So it is a difference between “widespread torture” and “mass torture” as done by totalitarian regimes.

Could it be this new for-profit approach to national security of these past few years? The system that hires unaccountable “private contractors” and torturers and creates a chance of deniability? A deliberate alibi for officials at a cost of millions to the treasury paid to these private contractors? The modern legal equivalent of Mafia “hit men” pretending to be patriotic while inflicting unusual pain for a lot of money?
Would Messrs Bush, Cheney, their accommodating Counselors, and those in the Obama White House who condoned the practice accept to be “rectally fed”?
Can anyone imagine “rectal feeding” condoned under any American president that preceded Bush, Obama, and possibly one of the Clintons? Not even Reagan and Nixon, who were perceived as tough but had some honorable limits.
Normally you would consider the U.S. Senate as a sane place where grown-ups would impose some limits on such un-American behavior. But even that window will not be there anymore. It will be closed come January. The crazies look ready to control the asylum.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Blockade of Iran, Iran, Israel, U.S. Congress, U.S. Foreign Policy

Middle East Love-Hate: Iran and America, Islamic Republic Blues………..

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“One of the reasons this episode is deeply confusing might be because the “vibe” in Iran, the general feeling of walking down the streets, through the markets, the way we were received everywhere by total strangers and passersby, was overwhelmingly friendly. I have said that Iran is the most outgoingly warm, “pro-American” place we’ve ever shot—and that’s true: in Tehran, in spite of the fact that you are standing in front of a giant, snarling mural that reads “DEATH TO AMERICA!”, you will, we found, usually be treated better by strangers—meaning smiles, offers of assistance, curious attempts to engage in limited English, greetings and expressions of general good will—than anywhere in Western Europe, It would be hard to imagine strangers in Germany or France or England, on recognizing you as American, giving you a thumbs-up and a smile simply for your nationality. That was overwhelmingly the case in Iran…………”

This is a love-hate relationship: more love on the popular level, more hate on the political level. I have seen it in the Middle East and even among some Iranians in America. Many Iranians dislike American foreign policies in the region. They especially hate the unilateral economic blockade that they correctly believe Israeli leaders and their American political allies have pressured and browbeat Mr. Obama into imposing on their country.

Many mullahs and hardliners also naturally suspect and fear an opening to America. After all, they see how China has changed under Chairman Mao’s heirs so that it is now a “people’s republic” and “communist” only in name. Can the “Islamic Republic” be far behind? Probably not: many people in Iranian cities hope so. It is already changing profoundly from the inside.

Iran still probably has the most pro-American people in the whole Middle East. Many Iranians have relations, family ties, among the huge Iranian-American diaspora. They are also a relatively young population reacting to an orthodoxy their government has tried to impose on them, with waning success. They welcome mainstream American journalists who often visit, then go back home and declare their undying support for the economic blockade. (No surprise there: few if any would dare declaring against the sanctions and keep their jobs with the New York Times or Washington Post). Talking on a popular level, not on a government level: most mullahs and Revolutionary Guards are hardly pro-anything American and the U.S. Knesset Congress is violently anti-Iranian.

It is different from the Israelis that media propaganda here routinely picture as the most pro-American. Maybe they mean some shared ‘Western’ political and social values, and in many cases shared citizenship. Maybe the Mossad and the CIA and the military have some close cooperation, maybe, but that is government. The Israeli ties also reflect a degree of dependence, what many Muslims see as a one-way street that is often shaped by domestic American politics.

Nor do many others in the region feel friendly toward American policies. After all, the biggest attacks on the American homeland were planned and executed mainly by terrorists from two major allied Middle East countries. No doubt more are being planned and thwarted even now.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

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AIPAC, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, U.S. Congress, U.S. Foreign Policy

Left-ish in Congress, Rightist in Gaza: Torn Between AIPAC and Principles ………

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“Much of the American left is critical of Israel, particularly since its incursion into Gaza. But in the halls of Congress, even progressive Democrats beloved by grassroots activists are loath to criticize the Jewish State’s ongoing military offensive. A Pew Research Center poll released Monday showed that a plurality of Democrats across the country, 35 percent, and liberals, 44 percent, said that Israel had “gone too far” in its response to its conflict with Hamas. Meanwhile 47 percent of Democrats told Gallup that Israel’s actions during the current conflict were “unjustified,” compared to just 31 percent who thought the opposite. But these opinions are nearly impossible to find in Congress. Democrats, when asked a question about Israeli operations in Gaza, had two standard responses: irritation, or else a statement of their broad support of Israel………….”

The article asks: why can’t Congress (meaning its relatively left-ish members) criticize Israel?

Silly question: criticizing Israel publicly in Washington is taboo. It is, well, like throwing the apple pie that your mom baked right into her face then adding insult to injury by burning old glory at the table.

The answer to that question is mainly spelled A-I-P-A-C (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee). Mainly, because Hamas, like many other Islamic fundamentalist groups, is not known for great public relations, not the positive kind of PR. Any criticism in the West of the Israeli conduct of this onslaught on Gaza has nothing to do with any case that Hamas makes. The criticism, mostly in AIPAC-less Europe, is mainly related to the mass killings of civilian people in Gaza by Israeli forces.

This is the Congress that gave Netanyahu many more standing ovations than it would give a U.S. president. On both sides of the aisle, as they like to say. As for the Right-ish (scratch that, make it extreme rightist) majority of the Red Congress, this blind pro-Israeli (right or wrong) stance might be just another political IOU. They are eagerly awaiting the time when all Jewish people convert to the true faith that persecuted them for two thousand years. That would be when the Rapture comes. At that time, the Red politicians anticipate a restoration of universal virginity rather than universal health care, end of Planned Parenthood and Welfare for the tykes, and the final eradication of HIV and other forms of STD.

Some of the more pious among them may still get to keep their place in those little black books (Psssst: they are safer than a digitized database, the Feds can’t get into any little black book unless they are also clients).

Cheers

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

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Israel, Syria, U.S. Congress, US Foreign Policy

Defining an Enemy: Torn Between Syria, Israel, and a Skunk……..

      

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Watched a morning CNN show. They had two U.S. senators, a Democrat from the Northeast and a Republican from the West. Senator Barrasso of Wyoming is a former doctor and seems like a reasonable man. No doubt he is. Yet he kept doing a common (but stupid) senatorial thing: he kept making assertions that simply are not supported by any facts. He kept saying things like “Syria is an enemy of the United States”. Now calling some country “an enemy” has big implications and should not be used cavalierly as many U.S. senators do, especially when the senator is not up for reelection. 

Which started me wondering: how do you define “an enemy”? Which raised a few questions as I tried to figure out an appropriate definition:

  • When was the last time Syria was at war with the United States (the traditional ‘official’ definition of ‘an enemy’)? 
  • When was the last time Syria attacked the United States? 
  • When was the last time the United States attacked Syria?
  • When was the last time Syria took American hostages? 
  • When was the last time Syria arrested any American? 
  • When was the last time Syria was caught sending spies into the United States? (It does, but less than the Chinese).
  • When was the last time any Syrian who is not a Wahhabi committed violence against American personnel or property?
  • When was the last time Syria said that Mr. Obama’s days are numbered? (Even though in this case the days are numbered and well-known).


The immediate tempting conclusion is that an “enemy” to the U.S. Senate and Congress is someone who disagrees with U.S. government policy. But no, that is not quite correct, not in all cases. Mr. Netanyahu disagrees vigorously with United States policy in the Middle East, yet he is a hero to the U.S. Senate and Congress. Mr. Al Assad also disagrees vigorously with United States policy in the Middle East, and he is considered an enemy (and a skunk to boot).

Africa, Apartheid, Israel, U.S. Congress

Netanyahu Skips South Africa, Puts ‘Both’ His Eggs in U.S. Congressional Basket…………

      

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“Mandela, in both life and death, symbolized the idea of equality among all human beings and opposition to the apartheid regime, which subjected people to different laws based on race or ethnicity. Israel under Netanyahu’s leadership, in which segregation, racist legislation and discrimination on the basis of nationality are flourishing virtually undisturbed, cannot say it respects Mandela’s heritage, nor can it join the family of nations whose flagship values are the striving for civil equality and the fight against racism. Mandela spoke out in the past in favor of the Palestinian struggle – something that earned him no points with Netanyahu, who sees the Palestinians as demonic enemies with whom there is no possibility of dialogue. It’s also possible to infer that the core of Mandela’s struggle – the war on racism against blacks – doesn’t burn in the Israeli prime minister’s bones, since just this week Netanyahu and his coalition partners were busy passing the so-called Infiltration Law, which allows people to be jailed for up to a year without trial, and is aimed primarily at African migrants………………..”

Also sprach Israel daily Haaretz.
Netanyahu is increasingly depending on two kinds of allies: his own domestic extreme rights wing supporters and the U.S. Congress (both houses, both parties). He probably feels that he needs no one else: he can get elected and he can outmaneuver President Obama with his own houses of Congress, including the Democrat-controlled Senate. It is true: both houses of the U.S. Congress are now more likely to do Netanyahu’s bidding than that of Obama. After all, when Netanyahu spoke to a joint session of Congress, his old tired predictable rhetoric got many more standing ovations than Obama’s State of the Union addresses.

In fact, even as I write this post, Congressmen and senators facing elections next year are pushing through new Iran resolutions that would derail Mr. Obama’s peace attempts. They are doing the bidding of a foreign leader who is no doubt lobbying and campaigning by phone against the policies of the president of the United States. Some Arab media have reported that the White House is allegedly reduced to sending emissaries to Tel Aviv to help moderate a U.S. Congress that is eager for war (both houses, both parties) on behalf of the Israeli right wing.

We can say Mr. Netanyahu is putting both his eggs in the Congressional basket. Congress, of course, has fewer eggs than it used to, or maybe just has smaller ‘eggs’ than before, but that probably has nothing to do with taking any testosterone.
FYI: I was translating literally from Arabic in the last paragraph.
Cheers
mhg

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Al-Qaeda, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism, U.S. Congress

Tropical Paradise Lost? Rendition from Guantanamo, a Brotherhood of Cutthroats……….

      

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“The Senate and House Armed Services committees have reached a deal that would, for the first time, loosen restrictions that impede the Pentagon’s ability to transfer Guantanamo detainees to foreign countries, making it slightly easier for the Obama administration to pursue the president’s longstanding goal of closing the detention facilities. The compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 would expand the executive branch’s ability to transfer Guantanamo prisoners to other countries, while maintaining the ban on bringing them to the United States. The proposed NDAA would allow detainees to be sent to Yemen, but would require the administration to report on the Yemen government’s ability to detain, rehabilitate or prosecute them…………………”

The Saudis try to rehabilitate the al-Qaeda veterans by transforming them from violent Wahhabis into peaceful Wahhabis, and sometimes by getting each one a wife or two (preferably). It all depends on the clout of their tribes: those of the larger tribes are usually given preferential treatment and the tribes are enlisted to help “turn” them. Some of them regress and are sent to Yemen or Iraq and Syria to do their God’s work of blowing up civilians (that is the Wahhabi God’s work).
As for those sent from Gitmo to Yemen: they’ll be held in the most secure prison in that splintered country for a few weeks, after which they’ll be busted out by their Al-Qaeda pals or their tribal folks. Then they’ll rejoin the Brotherhood of Cutthroats and they’ll make new targets for American drones.

FYI: There are no Shi’a members of Al-Qaeda, just like there were no Jews in the Nazi Party and for similar reasons. Hence there are no Shi’as in Guantanamo. If there were any, their rehabilitation method would be swift: they would be quickly beheaded in Saudi Arabia upon rendition.
Cheers
mhg

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Arabian Peninsula, Syria, U.S. Congress, US Foreign Policy

No Honest Brokers in Syria? Maybe Belize or Fiji or Israel………

      

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“Iran’s potential participation in the Geneva 2 discussions would be an additional indignity to those in the Syrian opposition who still seek cooperation with the United States and the West. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers told The Daily Beast that he doesn’t think Iran should be included. “I don’t believe Iran is an honest broker in Syria to any degree. They are operating Hezbollah, supporting them, giving them weapons, giving them intelligence,” he said. “That would not be a great outcome. You cannot continue to alienate our allies in the region, just to get a deal.”……………”

That is true, what Congressman Rogers said: Iran is not an honest broker in Syria because it supports one side of the civil war. Any party that supports one side can’t be an honest broker.
So, can you tell me who can be an honest broker in Syria now? That means: can you tell me of a country that doesn’t support any one of the many sides of the civil war? Maybe Belize? Or perhaps Vanuatu or Fiji?
 
It is tempting to go to a ridiculous extreme and suggest Israel as ‘honest’ broker since they dislike all sides of the Syrian war and all sides hate them, and they probably have something to lose no matter what the outcome. It all depends on their assessment of which side is ‘preferable’ as the lesser evil in the long term. I bet some of the impotent Arab potentates would love this last suggestion even as they scowl at it with feigned indignation.

Cheers
mhg

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Palestine, U.S. Congress, U.S. Politics

Old Music and Paranoia: Republican Gohmert-us Asinus Texacus…….

      

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“Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) recently repeated a debunked conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was deploying a “secret security force” as part of the health care reform law, but he wasn’t sure if they were being trained with weapons or syringes. In a Friday interview, Christian radio host Janet Mefferd told the Texas congressman that the evidence of President Barack Obama creating a civilian security force and hoarding ammunition was adding up…………….”

This guy is a true-blue red-blooded schmuck. I recall Goh-mert once claimed that Hamas was getting their children born in the United States with the goal of planting their moles, hidden agents, here. He claimed he based that conclusion on the “confession” a pregnant Palestinian lady he met during a flight (to Texas).
Thus the cerebral travails, trials, and tribulations of Gohmert-us Asinus Texacus. And just for that, we shall entertain him with one of my old favorite songs. Unfortunately it is unlikely to be one of Louie’s favorite songs.

Cheers
mhg

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