Afternoon Blog and News Roundup - 2006-09-13
* Khatami at Harvard says "kill gays", gets politely applauded by liberal academics. Condi Rice says "grab the future", and 200 people turn their backs and hold up protest signs because she's "complicit in violence". They're all batshit crazy.
* Only bright spot of the day: suggestion that the US should test nonlethal weapons on its own citizens so that it won't get criticized when it uses them abroad. We couldn't agree more, but in fairness it should only be tested on crowds of people who insist that the US should care about international opinion in the first place. By which we mean "liberals" (if the two liberals reading this are confused by that substitution, just imagine that "people who insist that the US... in the first place" was "Jews" and "liberals" was "Israel". Thin euphemisms that basically mean the same thing to the audiences they're directed at, etc etc)
* The Israeli Consulate is trying to balance the natural liberal qua anti-Israel inclinations of public education employees in bluest-of-blue NYC:
The New York City Council's education committee approved a curriculum on Israel initiated by the public relations department of the Israeli Consulate in New York. The curriculum will be integrated into the training program for educators teaching in 1,400 public high schools in New York City. The teachers will be able to register to a 30-hour course dealing with the history of the State of Israel, its economy, the high-tech industry, Israeli art and Ethiopian Jews.
We found out about this story when it was delivered to our inbox from a academic listserv with the subject "NYC SCHOOL CHILDREN MAY BE GIVEN ISRAELI PROPAGANDA AS A COURSE" (caps in the original, obvi). That insidious Israeli art. It'll brainwash ideologically myopic, Nation-reading New York public school teachers unless everyone takes. action. right. now.
* European definition of progress on Iran:
Three European nations attempting to persuade Iran to renounce uranium enrichment agreed Wednesday on common language for a statement that is critical of Tehran but does not jeopardize delicate talks. Consensus was achieved only after compromise among the three. Diplomats accredited to a meeting of the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency said that while France and Britain favored a tougher approach, Germany supported a more toned-down text. They asked for anonymity in exchange for sharing confidential information with The Associated Press.
If there was ever a better example of the European process fetish (let the process of actual diplomacy stand in for diplomacy itself, feel like you've actually achieved diplomacy), then we haven't see it. Today. From the IHT... Seriously though, best not jeopardize those delicate talks. Iran might do something crazy, like a building Heavy Water Reactor that is useful only for enriching weapons-grade plutonium. Or start enriching uranium. Or have a former President declare Iran's intention to hit Israel with nuclear weapons because the use of a [single] nuclear bomb in Israel will leave nothing on the ground" whereas an Israeli strike on Iran "will only damage the world of Islam" It'd be totally insane if any of that happened. Best not to jeopardize the talks. Keep it up guys.
* The UN thinks that it's time to start giving Hamas money. Actually, the UN thought that the day after Hamas was elected, they just couldn't say it out loud. To reporters. Too much.
* Only bright spot of the day: suggestion that the US should test nonlethal weapons on its own citizens so that it won't get criticized when it uses them abroad. We couldn't agree more, but in fairness it should only be tested on crowds of people who insist that the US should care about international opinion in the first place. By which we mean "liberals" (if the two liberals reading this are confused by that substitution, just imagine that "people who insist that the US... in the first place" was "Jews" and "liberals" was "Israel". Thin euphemisms that basically mean the same thing to the audiences they're directed at, etc etc)
* The Israeli Consulate is trying to balance the natural liberal qua anti-Israel inclinations of public education employees in bluest-of-blue NYC:
The New York City Council's education committee approved a curriculum on Israel initiated by the public relations department of the Israeli Consulate in New York. The curriculum will be integrated into the training program for educators teaching in 1,400 public high schools in New York City. The teachers will be able to register to a 30-hour course dealing with the history of the State of Israel, its economy, the high-tech industry, Israeli art and Ethiopian Jews.
We found out about this story when it was delivered to our inbox from a academic listserv with the subject "NYC SCHOOL CHILDREN MAY BE GIVEN ISRAELI PROPAGANDA AS A COURSE" (caps in the original, obvi). That insidious Israeli art. It'll brainwash ideologically myopic, Nation-reading New York public school teachers unless everyone takes. action. right. now.
* European definition of progress on Iran:
Three European nations attempting to persuade Iran to renounce uranium enrichment agreed Wednesday on common language for a statement that is critical of Tehran but does not jeopardize delicate talks. Consensus was achieved only after compromise among the three. Diplomats accredited to a meeting of the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency said that while France and Britain favored a tougher approach, Germany supported a more toned-down text. They asked for anonymity in exchange for sharing confidential information with The Associated Press.
If there was ever a better example of the European process fetish (let the process of actual diplomacy stand in for diplomacy itself, feel like you've actually achieved diplomacy), then we haven't see it. Today. From the IHT... Seriously though, best not jeopardize those delicate talks. Iran might do something crazy, like a building Heavy Water Reactor that is useful only for enriching weapons-grade plutonium. Or start enriching uranium. Or have a former President declare Iran's intention to hit Israel with nuclear weapons because the use of a [single] nuclear bomb in Israel will leave nothing on the ground" whereas an Israeli strike on Iran "will only damage the world of Islam" It'd be totally insane if any of that happened. Best not to jeopardize the talks. Keep it up guys.
* The UN thinks that it's time to start giving Hamas money. Actually, the UN thought that the day after Hamas was elected, they just couldn't say it out loud. To reporters. Too much.
