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The Madoff Lesson As Applied to Jews and Arabs!

 
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BeitragVerfasst am: So Dez 28, 2008 11:05 pm    Titel: The Madoff Lesson As Applied to Jews and Arabs! Antworten mit Zitat

The Madoff Lesson As Applied to Jews and Arabs!

By M.J. Rosenberg
December 25, 2008

The Bernie Madoff swindle teaches many lessons, most of which do not bear mentioning in this post which is devoted to United States dealings with the Middle East.

But one lesson does apply. Viewing the world through an ethnic lens produces serious visual distortions. It appears that many, if not most, of Madoff's investors trusted him because he was one of their community. He could be believed. He was one of them.

Madoff, understanding the power of the ethnic tie, used it to steal his kinsmen's money. Few non-Jews were caught in his web.

The lesson is simple. Don't invest ethnically. The religious or ethnic affiliation of your broker is about as relevant as that of your mechanic or obstetrician.

Most Americans already seem to understand that. They chose for their President a man who shares ethnic and racial ties with only a small minority of them. If ethnic ties were in fact that ties that bind, Hillary Clinton or Chris Dodd or John McCain would be President-elect, not Barack Hussein Obama.

Ethnic solidarity has its place, but it is a limited one. At its best, it leads members of the group to care for other members. At its worst, it leads to blood feuds and war.

The same thought occurred to me as I contemplated the Obama transition team's meeting with Jewish organizational figures in Washington two weeks ago. The Obama people did a great job, especially because they included not just the status quo lobby but also the organizations, like Israel Policy Forum and J Street, which support negotiations and an end of the occupation. That is new. In the past, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations made sure that "peace" groups were not in the room. For the Conference, ethnic solidarity usually demanded that the administration hear only from the most ethnically solid in favor of the status quo.

Those days are over.

But I'm ready for the next step. There seems to be no rhyme or reason why groups dedicated to helping Israel achieve peace and security should be invited to the same meeting with groups like the Zionist Organization of America. ZOA is a fringe group -- indifferent to American interests in the Middle East and believing that Israel's interests are best served by both the occupation and the conflict over it.

What do we have in common with the ZOA? Nothing, except an ethnic tie.

What could we have in common with a group that put out the following statement in December: "ZOA opposes any diplomatic effort or United Nations resolution, such as that supported by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, designed to anchor the concept of creating a Palestinian state in accordance" with the Annapolis process.

ZOA opposes a Palestinian state, supports the settlers, and vilifies Arabs and Islam. We do not belong in the same room or category with ZOA any more than "NARAL: Pro Choice America" belongs with "National Right To Life" because both are concerned with abortion.

It would be much smarter, and infinitely more productive, for Jewish groups who support the two-state solution to be in the same room with Muslim, Christian, and Arab groups that share that commitment. We have nothing to say to the ZOA. But we are on the same page with Dr. Ziad Asali, President of the American Task Force on Palestine who tells anyone who will listen (including successive US Presidents, top Israelis, Congress, and his fellow Arabs) that the conflict will end, once and for all, when Israel has security and Palestinians have a state. In the meantime, Asali opposes any and all forms of violence and repeatedly tells Palestinians - in Arabic and English - that the use of violence must be permanently abandoned.

It hardly needs saying that Jews who share those views are infinitely closer to Asali than to right-wing Jews whose worldview represents everything we struggle against.

I would urge the White House that the next time it wants to strategize with various groups about the Middle East, they should organize the meeting according to shared values not shared ethnicity. It simply cannot expect those who support President-elect Obama and Secretary of State-designate Clinton to offer honest counsel while sitting in the same room with those who both oppose (often vitriolically) Obama and Clinton but, even more, their vision for the Middle East.

Similarly, it may also be time for like-minded Jews, Arabs, Christians and whatever to lobby Capitol Hill together to advance common goals.

Members of Congress would be delighted to hear in concert from Americans of various ethnicities about policies that are good for America and good for the Middle East. After all, by definition, Members of Congress view their constituents as Americans. Why can't we sometimes make our representations to Congress as such, not as a particular kind of American.

I am not saying that there is no role for lobbying by Jews qua Jews or Arabs qua Arabs. There is. But we need to move beyond that. On November 4, America decided to join much of the rest of the world in moving into a new era. Think about it. If someone had told you in the months and years after the World Trade Center fell that the next President's middle name would be "Hussein," you would have laughed.

But Barack Obama was elected and an African-American family will be calling the White House home in less than a month.

It is a new day. Hallelujah.


So let's start applying the Obama lesson to other areas as well, starting with lobbying for the two-state solution.

Dr. Asali says it best: "I do not believe that the conflict should be seen any longer as pitting Israelis against Palestinians, but must be re-conceptualized as a struggle between those who are committed to ending the conflict based on two states against those on both sides who persist in clinging to hostility. Those who are prepared to recognize each other's dignity and self determination in two sovereign states share a common purpose, and have more in common with each other than with their compatriots who are bent on conflict for generations to come."

It is not Jews vs. Muslims and Christians. It is people of all kinds who believe that peace and security can only be achieved through mutual respect and unconditional negotiations versus those who cling to ethnic hate, occupation, and violence. One road leads to security for two peoples. The other leads to more Mumbais.

It's time to choose.



Comments

My guess is that Bernie Madoff did not set out to steal or to run a Ponzi Scheme. He just doesn't have a theif/con man's face. I think he somehow got behind the eight ball, made some bad decisons and fell into a trap. Like the bookkeeper who "borrows" with every intention of paying the money back, but only gets in deeper.

Yes, I agree completely, it isn't Jews versus Muslims vesus Christians. The world is made up of 95% sheep and 5% wolves. The wolves seem to always win. I recently saw a heartening clip on utube where a herd of Wilderbeasts turned on a small pride of Lions that had grabbed a young Wilderbeast. And the Wilderbeasts won the confrontation. The wolves win because they are in packs and they pick on the weak. If only the deer and sheep of the world would get together and fight back.

Posted by Faroff
December 25, 2008



Um, you do realize that successful thieves and con-persons don't look like what they are right? That's part of the reason they are successful.

We don't know if he intended to scam people, and ponzi scheme is his word: from what we currently know i do not think it bears a tremendous resemblance to that.

Anyhow the problem with shared values is that it produces what we have now only in reverse. Bush and neo-cons share the values in regards to Israel with AIPAC and Nutso-yahu so others are just shut out of the debate (and this is extended to the media as well).

A came across a comment once "No one has done as much to make me anti-Semitic as Martin Peretz." That kind of stifling of debate is what makes me feel powerful and angry enough about it advocate cutting all ties to Israel unless it retreats to the 1967 borders and gives up it's nukes.

Posted by MNPundit in reply to a comment from Faroff
December 27, 2008



I would be interested to know several things about Dr Asali:

(1) What is his views on the so-called "Palestinian Right of Return"? Not mentioned in your column here.

(2) What does he think should be done about the HAMAS-controlled Gaza?

(3) What does he think should be done with the "moderate" FATAH-controlled Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade terrorists?

(4) What does he think about the virulent Judeophobic propaganda in the government-controlled (i.e. FATAH) state media?

(5) What is he doing politically in order to get the Palestinian Authority to adopt his ideas? Which Palestinian political movement is representing his views? What does Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas think about them? What right does Asali have to make policy for the Palestinians? Who chose him to be their spokesman?

MJ, I know it feels good for you to find some token Palestinian who claims he has "moderate" views and then you can point to him with pride and say "see, they are not all extremists, there IS someone to talk to", but the relevant question is WHAT POLITICAL POWER DOES HE HAVE? William Shirer, the author of "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" was in Berlin in September 1939 when World War II started with the invasion of Poland. He noted great apprehension among the German civilian population. They probably didn't want war. BUT THERE WAS WAR ANYWAY. How many Iraqis really supported Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent war with the US?

Posted by YBD
December 26, 2008



I just found the answer to my question on the American Task For Palestinie web page:

http://www.americantaskforce.org/policy_and_analysis/issue_paper/1223503715_0

They give the usual double-talk we also hear from the Palestinian Authority that they INSIST on Israel accepting the "right of return" and then we will negotiate its implementation.

Nothing new here.

Posted by YBD in reply to a comment from YBD
December 26, 2008



YBD, as an avowed supporter of the occupation, of the settlements, etc, it is no surprise that you have to insist that "the only good Arab is..."

My piece is about the good people of all ethnicities vs. the haters of all ethnicities. Thanks for weighing in to prove my point.

Posted by M.J. Rosenberg in reply to a comment from YBD
December 26, 2008



MJ says:

"ZOA opposes a Palestinian state, supports the settlers, and vilifies Arabs and Islam."

I don't know much about the ZOA but I am certain thay you are spreading deliberate falsehoods about them "vilifying Arabs and Islam". I am sure he DOES attack EXTREMIST Arabs and EXTREMIST Islam, but of course, any exaggeration is justified for the cause, which is YOU VILIFYING your political opponents. I could just as easily say you vilify Jews and Judaism, if I wanted to exaggerate.

Hagit Ofran, an Israeli "peace activist" (and granddaughter of Yeshayahu Leibowitz) in a recent column in Ha'aretz stated that, as hard as she works for the Palestinians and shows them that she opposes the "settlers" no less than you do, that she still encouters hatred by Palestinians against her personally BECAUSE SHE IS A JEW AND AN ISRAELI. So you can say "I have more in common with Palestinians than I do with the Jewish Right", but still ethnicity does count with a lot of people. You have heard the myth that "4000 Jews didn't show up at the World Trade Center on 9/11". That shows more about what those who are telling this lie think about ethnicity than it does about the Jews because you know very well that if you or I or any other Jew knew about impending danger we would warn EVERYBODY about it, without regard to race, creed, or national original. Yet such a story makes the rounds in parts of the world like the Middle East where such ethocentrism is taken for granted-where one's identity is centered primarily around the tribe or the clan.

Posted by YBD
December 26, 2008



When Jews kill Muslims...

Rosenberg's reaction: "This is an unconscionable outrage!"

When Muslims kill Jews...

Rosenberg's reaction: "It would be an unconscionable outrage to blame Muslims!"

No, Rosenberg, it was unnecessary for you to write this column. Your lack of identification with Jews and empathy for those who wish to annihilate them were previously quite apparent.

Nice Madoff reference, though. How did you find the restraint to avoid including Judas Iscariot in your screed?

Posted by galdsher
December 26, 2008



As for J Street, I have searched in vain for the group's condemnation of the Mumbai slaughter at the Jewish Community Center. Nothing on their website. Nothing on Google. No response to a request for a copy of their condemnation regarding the murders of the rabbi and his wife. A self-identified "Jewish" group that has ample time to condemn Jews who dissent but no time at all to condemn the murderers of Jews.

J Streeters are your kind of Hebrews, Rosenberg. Irate about Jewish settlers building homes on the West Bank. Indifferent to the killings of Jewish civilians.

Posted by galdsher
December 26, 2008



Omigod. J Street never condemned the Holocaust either.
Or 9/`11.
Or the Irish potato famine.
Or JFK's assassination.
What is their problem?

Posted by M.J. Rosenberg in reply to a comment from galdsher
December 26, 2008



Also, Galdsher, do you think I care if you call me a self-hating Hebrew. Or whatever. If I viewed the world that way, why would I write what I do.
No, Galdsher, attacks like yours cheer me, knowing that I'm driving you crazy.
Not just me. Even worse, you are driven crazy by the fact that 90% of American Jews view the world as I do.
Grateful that our great-grandparents came here and left your worldview behind.

Posted by M.J. Rosenberg
December 26, 2008



"Also, Galdsher, do you think I care if you call me a self-hating Hebrew."

I never called you a Hebrew, primarily because while we disagree strongly I would not claim that you are something you despise. What I claim is that you are a bigot, someone whose visceral response to the murders of Jews consists of castigating Israeli settlers and Martin Peretz.

Hebrew? No.

Pathological anti-Semite? Yes.

Posted by galdsher in reply to a comment from M.J. Rosenberg
December 27, 2008



I read MJ's columns for the same reason I occasionally watch O'Reilly on Fox: to laugh in amazement at the way his mind works.

to YBD and other rational posters: we all know Rosenberg is never going to see the error of his ways. For MJ, Jew=bad, Islam=religion of peace, Palestinian=poor victims of racist oppression.

in this story about not letting "ethnic" considerations cloud your thinking, MJ tells us that since an "African-American family" will be in the White House, everything's going to be ok.

hmmm...

Posted by gretz
December 26, 2008



Rough days for racists. You lost your country.

Posted by M.J. Rosenberg in reply to a comment from gretz
December 26, 2008



It could happen to anybody within a group with a basis of trust. This reminds me of the Cyclops character John Goodman in "Brother Where Art Thou." It's like clubbing your new 'friends' at a picnic on the pretext of selling them Bibles.

Posted by Mike7Woodson
December 26, 2008



http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/12/palestinian_rocket_kills_2_gaz.php

Maybe Hamas and its thugs should take a few minutes to ponder Mr. Rosenberg's wisdom about not investing ethnically before they kill more little Palestinian girls in their zeal to kill Israelis.

Posted by sageemetchai
December 26, 2008



My piece is about the good people of all ethnicities vs. the haters of all ethnicities.
You are an intolerant hater. You hate people who disagree with you. From your point of view, people who disagree with you deserve your hate and don't deserve any tolerance, so from your point of view you are hater and a good person in the same time.

Posted by tnathan
December 27, 2008



Rosenberg, how would your column differ if you hated Israel? It is interesting that jihadist organizations do not embrace the Likud platform that you claim is anathema to Israeli interests. They demand Israeli withdrawal from the "occupied territories", as you do. They condemn Israel for retaliating against Hamas, as you do. They rage against the malevolent power of the Evil Jewish Lobby, as you do. Their narrative and yours are identical.

Those who are explicitly committed to Israeli destruction fervently embrace your entire agenda: surrender land to make Israel less defensible, passively absorb violent attacks by terrorist groups, allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons for the purpose of eradicating the Zionist Entity. Those who claim to be anti-Israel could sue you for plagiarism.

Rosenberg, you and J Street express your "love" for Israel by parroting the talking points of Hassan Nasrallah. The difference is candor: He honestly acknowledges that he hates Israel and seeks its destruction. You are too craven to do the same.



Posted by galdsher
December 27, 2008

Right On!, Mr. Rosenberg

Posted by PTroub
December 27, 2008



Attention Rosenberg!

The evil Jews are retaliating against your terrorist confreres! Rather than passively absorbing rocket attacks, the Israelis are killing the murderers!

Please write an impassioned column condemning the Diabolical Zionists. While you are at it, throw in a few nasty epithets for AIPAC and Martin Peretz.

Do it soon. The only thing that can improve upon the experience of seeing Israelis kill genocidists is reading you whimper about it.

And you can bet that while J Street did not condemn the Mumbai murder of the rabbi, those Jew-hating vermin will definitely excoriate Israel for defending itself.

Guaranteed, Rosenberg, just as you are guaranteed to entertain me with your impending disordered rant.

Proceed.

Posted by galdsher
December 27, 2008

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/25/the_madoff_lesson_as_applied_t/


Kommentar!

"Don't invest ethnically."

Den obigen Satz, sonst nichts, hatte ich auf Deutsch in der Presse gepostet. Er wurde sofort geloescht.
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