Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.

The Jewish State and the Holocaust

by Oui Thu May 2nd, 2019 at 12:17:18 PM EST

All wars of choice are horrible episodes in terms of human suffering and devastation of lives lost.

The 20th century was one of the ugliest with many genocides and the first unleashing of massive destruction by use of the atom bomb.

The European Union was founded on the principle of the Four Freedoms and to build a union of peace, not accepting devastation of war. In the new century, the lessons of history seem to be lost as the production and spread of arms is seen as economic well being. I strongly disagree ... and will resist thru my writing and voice at the ballot box.

Raphael Lemkin (June 24, 1900-August 28, 1959) was a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent. Before World War II, Lemkin was interested in the Armenian genocide and campaigned in the League of Nations to ban what he called 'barbarity' and 'vandalism.' He is best known for his work against genocide, a word he coined in 1943 from the root words genos (Greek for 'family,' 'tribe,' or 'race') and -cide (Latin for 'killing'). He first used the word in print in Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation - Analysis of Government - Proposals for Redress (1944)

More below the fold ...

Frontpaged - Frank Schnittger


Destruction during the Vietnam War and the use of Agent Orange - a war crime no one was held responsible in a court of international law.

Yom HaShoah and Its False Premises | Tikun Olam |

Today is Yom HaShoah, an international day of mourning for victims of the Holocaust.  I have written often here on this subject.

When I was a graduate student I compiled the oral history of an Auschwitz survivor, publishing it in the Los Angeles Times on Yom Hashoah 1977.  In the 1990s, I visited Theresienstadt while leading a New York Jewish Federation mission to central Europe.  In the 1930s, one of my grandmother's brothers left this country disillusioned because, as he said in Yiddish, t'iz a g'nayvishe land ("it's a land of thieves").  He later perished in Poland.

GIven all this, how can one justify the mockery that is made of the day by Israel and many who exploit it for political purposes?  Israel has turned it into a national spectacle.  Somber speeches are made. Lessons are offered and learned.  But they are largely the wrong ones.

[...]

I was deeply disturbed during my visit to Theresienstadt to see Israeli flags draping every possible historical artifact there.  As if Israel was the only possible answer to this horror.  I'm also disgusted that the Polish government permits IAF F-16s to flyover the Auschwitz site, as if Israeli military might is the only proper response to this indelible historic suffering.  Let's not forget the prophet's admonition: "Not by might and not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord."

I'm deeply troubled by the parochialism of Jewish attitudes toward the Holocaust: it is a unique event in the history of the world.  It is our tragedy. No one else's.  No one can plumb the depths of our suffering.  And no one may question or doubt any act that we take as long as we invoke the Holocaust to justify it.

No, the only thing unique about the Holocaust is the number of dead and perhaps the methodical industrial organization of the killing.  There have never been 6-million killed in any previous or subsequent genocide (yet).  But that does not mean that there have not been other genocides or that there will not be genocides in future.  Genocides are not unique to Jews.  Tribes, religions and ethnic groups of all stripes have shared in such suffering throughout human history: the Tutsi of Rwanda, the Rohingya of Burma, Cambodia under Pol Pot, and finally the first modern genocide, of the Armenians, perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks (an event Israel refuses to officially recognize).  The ancient Israelites even exterminated some of the tribes which occupied the land when they first entered it.

Display:
One of the defining issues of our age: The Holocaust, its causes and consequences will echo through history for many generations to come. Unfortunately too few of those echoes are positive. Never Again has become a recurring theme...

Index of Frank's Diaries
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Thu May 2nd, 2019 at 09:34:34 PM EST
Too often the weapons of destruction are blessed by clergy, inhumane atrocities white-washed by religion or simply the military snuffing out lives commemorated by crosses. The craziness of war seems to be lost on today's generation and the ngo's for peace have evolved into think-tanks funded by wealth and right-wing groups or individuals. In The Netherands we have lost many renowned organizatons with a goal and study towards peace between nations and cultures. Likely with peace at heart, this would be a first step to save planet Earth from destruction by industrial activity and waste.

It's disgraceful that nuclear weapons are being celebrated at Westminster Abbey | The Guardian Opinion |

On 27 October 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, the US navy dropped depth charges on the Soviet nuclear submarine B-59. With the vessel damaged and cut off from communication with Moscow, its captain, Valentin Savitsky, assumed that the US and USSR were now at war, and thus initiated steps to fire its nuclear torpedo at US forces. Protocol demanded that all three of the senior officers should approve the launch. Although one officer agreed with Savitsky, the other, Vasili Arkhipov, vetoed the decision. The world came within a whisker of thermonuclear war.

The continued proliferation of nuclear weaponry represents one of the greatest threats to humanity's long-term survival. Yet tomorrow Westminster Abbey is hosting a service to "celebrate" 50 years of Britain's "continuous at-sea deterrent" - that is, having a nuclear-armed submarine on constant sea patrol, ready to attack or threaten anyone, anywhere, any time. As part of a series of events led by the Royal Navy, the invitation-only congregation (including Prince William) will be asked to rejoice at this dubious achievement and, somewhat incongruously, to "pray for peace".

Protests and peace vigils are planned to take place outside the abbey during the service, and nearly 200 Anglican clergy have signed a letter calling for it to be cancelled. They point out that in July 2018 the Church of England's General Synod passed a motion declaring that "nuclear weapons, through their indiscriminate and destructive potential, present a distinct category of weaponry that requires Christians to work tirelessly for their elimination across the world".

Nuclear Close Calls - an Overview
Close Calls with Nuclear Weapons | Union of Concerned Scientists |
Stanislav Petrov: The man who may have saved the world in 1983

Cold War 2.0 is much more dangerous as the two major nuclear powers do not cultivate cultural exchange or have basic high level meetings to avoid a catastrophy. U.S. Congress is a major factor in setting a foreign policy based on war, not peace. The choice for extremists as advisors to the President in the White House is another major risk for war. Trump's first term was mainly to depose of all the gains made by his predecessor Barack Obama, the wordt case scenario will start by a Trump re-election.

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Fri May 3rd, 2019 at 10:44:26 AM EST
It's not just nuclear weapons that are celebrated in Westminster Abbey. The first person to use chemical weapons in large quantities in the Middle East (General Allenby) is buried there.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri May 3rd, 2019 at 10:54:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Amman2Jerusalem to bridge the Jordan River ...

Allenby/King Hussein bridge - VIP service $115 pp

To leave Israel, each person pays a $50 surcharge.

After the War; Baker's Hope: Jordan River As Peace Sign | NY Times - May 15, 1991 |
Allenby Bridge Journal; A 15-Yard Span Over a Great Divide | NY Times - July 18, 1987 |

Gen. Edmond Allenby Marches into Jerusalem

The Palestine theater of war (there was another battle zone in the Middle East - the war in Mesopotamia/Iraq in which the British suffered one of their worst defeats - the siege of Kut el-Amara) was secondary to the European war (especially the western front, but also the eastern front) but on the other hand, it was a more dynamic and fast going war, unlike the static and indecisive war on the western front.

Turkey entered the war on November 2, 1914, after concluding a secret pact with Germany. The war in the Middle East started at the end of that month, when a British force, sent from India, landed in Basra and conquered it.

New Zealand Palestine Campaign - 2nd Battle of Gaza

The British gamble on winning a quick and daring victory at Gaza in March 1917 had failed. The commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Murray, now drew up a more cautious plan for a second attempt to take the town, three weeks later.

Three of the EEF's infantry divisions, the 52nd (Lowland), 53rd (Welsh) and 54th (East Anglia), would attack together in a set-piece frontal assault, supported by as much firepower as Murray could scrape together. Extensions to the British railhead from El Arish allowed him to add 16 heavy guns to his artillery brigades' 92 18-pounder field guns and 24 4.5-inch howitzers. Gaza's proximity to the Mediterranean coast enabled naval support from the French coastal defence ship Requin and two Royal Navy monitors. Murray also managed to get a shipment of eight tanks and 4000 gas shells from the United Kingdom. This would be the first time that gas was used in the Middle Eastern theatre.

Rewriting history ...

Mesopotamia 1920s Churchill's battle planes drop poisonous gas shells

A new way of controlling Iraq was needed, and the man who needed it most was Winston Churchill. As war secretary in Lloyd George's coalition government, Churchill had to square huge military budget cuts with British determination to maintain a grip on its mandate in Iraq.

The result became known as "aerial policing". It was a policy Churchill had first mused on in the House of Commons in March 1920, before the Iraqi uprising had even begun.

"It may be possible to effect economies during the course of the present year by holding Mesopotamia through the agency of the Air Force rather than by a military force. It has been pointed out that by your Air Force you have not to hold long lines of communications because the distance would only be one or one-and-a-half hours' flight by aeroplane. It is essential in dealing with Mesopotamia to get the military expenditure down as soon as the present critical state of affairs passes away."



'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Fri May 3rd, 2019 at 12:33:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Mesopotamia 1920s Churchill's battle planes drop poisonous gas shells

I don't see that in the article itself. My recollection is that Churchill wanted to use poison gas against the Kurds (before they became the good guys) but for some reason it was never done.

by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri May 3rd, 2019 at 09:09:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, he had plans but not the planes to drop poison gas without risking the life of the pilot. Or at least, that is my recollection.
by fjallstrom on Sat May 4th, 2019 at 06:28:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]
As a minister of war he insisted on using "poisonous gas" against revolting tribes in India in 1919. His later advocates insist that he meant use of tear gas, but nevertheless, the India Office refused.

He also encouraged the Air Marshal Trenchard to experiment with mustard gas against Mesopotamian rebels, but that never came to nothing. He honestly thought that Mesopotamia really wasn't worth an expensive, proper bombing...

Where he succeeded, was using gas against Soviet troops in Russia, of all places. Porton Down, of all places, had developed a new gas, DM, that was then tested against Russians in Murmansk-Archangel. It's decapacitating "vomit gas", now internationally banned.

by pelgus on Sat May 4th, 2019 at 02:50:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
ADAMSITE (DM) : Vomiting Agent | CDC |
U.S. soldiers are treated for exposure to DM (Adamsite) candle gas during training
Military Chemical Warfare Agent Human Subjects Testing

Arsenic-Based Warfare Agents: Production, Use, and Destruction

Diphenylchlorarsine (British Code, DA; German Code, Clark I), diphenylcyanoarsine (British Code, DC; German Code, Clark II), and diphenylaminearsine (common name, Adamsite; British Code, DM) typically belong to vomiting agents that are toxic through inhalation, ingestion, and skin contact. Exposure to aerosolized agents results in ophthalmic and pulmonary irritation which progresses to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headache and mental status changes. Symptoms usually persist for several hours after exposure. Death has been reported with excessive exposure (Holstege, 2010). During combat, agents are dispersed as an aerosol that irritates the eyes and respiratory tract.

M device air dropped by the British during the incursions at Murmansk and Archangel in 1919

The War Gases by Dr. Mario Sartori (1939)

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sun May 5th, 2019 at 07:16:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
An Open Letter to Emperor Akihito: For establishing a genuine democracy in Japan

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun May 5th, 2019 at 03:59:09 AM EST
An extremist columnist writing in right-wing newspaper De Telegraaf.

Spiegel Interview with Author Leon De Winter: 'The Europeans Are Chasing Illusions'

Violence mullahs Iran also signal to US | De Telegraaf - Column |

Gaza is governed by Mafiose families with specializations in terror and corruption. In the peace negotiations between Israel and Egypt, Israel wanted to return control of Gaza to Egypt (Egypt had dominated the strip between 1948 and 1967), but President Sadat did not want Gaza, a strip of land with smugglers, troublemakers, archaic-tribal family clans. So Israel was stuck with Gaza until 2005. Then Gaza became "Judenrein" and more or less independent.

[...]

Plotting

Iran's regional ambitions suffer from American boycotts. A fleet around the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and a large number of bombers were sent to the region. Trumps security adviser John Bolton stated that this is a response to "a number of troubling and escalating clues and warnings." It is unclear what Iran is cooking up. But it is so serious that America finds it necessary to prepare a large army; this is not something Trump likes to do.

Without Iran it would have been quiet in and around Gaza in recent days. The mullahs in Tehran are a curse for the whole world.

Writers, publishers and collaboration with Nazi occupier in WWII. Part 2 The hard core.

Amsterdam student unrest in 1966 - newspaper De Telegraaf was targeted ...

De Telegraaf Riots

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Fri May 10th, 2019 at 06:38:40 PM EST
by Oui (Oui) on Fri May 10th, 2019 at 06:58:33 PM EST
"the methodical industrial organization of the killing"
I think this is the difference. My mother's older brother was a US Army officer during WW II. He saw combat as a platoon leader in the Third Army. My grandparents were ethnic Germans from Hungary. After the war, my uncle was assigned, apparently because he was bilingual, to a US Army team investigating the death camps. He had always been proud of his German heritage, a heritage of music, science, and philosophy. He couldn't reconcile that with the cold engineering of mass murder that he saw. My aunt said he would awake screaming and crying decades afterward, not because of his combat experiences, but because of the camps.
Last year at my high school reunion a classmate told me of visiting Armenia the prior year and seeing the barn where her grandmother had been burned alive with eighty other women. My once cheerful classmate started crying as she told us.
I saw a PBS special about the Wannsee conference and the cold engineering of mass murder. The scale and terrifying coldness of that makes the Armenian genocide pale in contrast, although I do not make light of that.
I can understand hot blood, Lord knows, I have been in a killing rage myself. But, like my uncle, I cannot understand cold blooded mass murder of strangers.
by StillInTheWilderness on Sat May 18th, 2019 at 11:58:18 AM EST
I have lived through the aftermath of the vast destruction of WWII. In time I have learned not to blame the German people as soon as I realized the potential of mass killing of humans is inside all of us.

Us versus Them! The deplorables, the Muslims, the transgender ...

Texas transgender woman seen in videotaped attack found dead

It's twenty years since Columbine when mass killing by white youth on fellow white students in an affluent white community. Should have been a wake-up call for America. It was for the gun lovers and the NRA.

Just over 100 years ago ...

From my diary - Yesterday's Bolsheviki and Today's Deplorables.

I.W.W. DEFECTIVES

Many Members of This Notorious
Organization Found to be Subnormal

To the Editor of The New York Times:

    I have just read with great interest your editorial article in today's issue on "Our Bolsheviki," by which name you designate the members of the I.W.W.

[...]

Let us consider them as sick people, have them examined by psychologists to determine their degree of mentality, and if they are found to be subnormal shut them up in farm colonies of industrial plants under guard and see what we can do with them.

    We in America are too prone to lock the doors after our horses are stolen. Would it not be possible to deal with this I.W.W. menace in a sane and scientific manner and break it up before to much damage has been done?

    New York, May 3, 1918          R. B. S.

[Superbly written in the style of Us vs. Them as in the clash of civilization and by demonizing a large group of people, described as a lower class. This was just 15 years before the Rise of Hitler's Nazi regime of terror and the Final Solution of concentration and death camps across Europe.]

We're just a minute away from another nuclear holocaust on Iran ...

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 21st, 2019 at 06:34:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I've written about the psychology of Der Drumpf - Black Triad.

I recall an excellent write-up by a blogger Plutonium Page - I crossed swords with her about the Dutch quite often - on Auschwitz ...

I can't find her diary, but did come across an article written by Albert Einstein published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

On the Moral Obligation of the Scientist

Related reading ...

Keeping America safe after 9/11 and extraordinary rendition, torture, etc.

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Tue May 21st, 2019 at 06:35:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]


Display:
Go to: [ European Tribune Homepage : Top of page : Top of comments ]