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The Sensible Realism of a Bygone Generation: George Kennan’s Attitudes on Race, Eugenics, and Multiculturalism, Part 1

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The Kennan Diaries
by George Kennan, edited by Frank Costigliola
New York: Norton, 2014, 768pp

The newly published diaries of George Kennan contain numerous passages that indicate the distinguished diplomat, scholar, Russian authority, and foreign policy sage also had a firm grasp of adverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and domestic political trends, which he clearly viewed as detrimental to the national interest. If any public figure in this day and age was as outspoken as Kennan, their career would be finished!

The diaries provide an exceptional snapshot of the author’s mindset over the span of nearly nine decades. Editor Frank Costigliola points out that Kennan left behind a private diary that takes up five linear feet of archival space. Researchers have had access to this material, but much of this work until now remained unpublished.

Reviewing the edited volume in the Washington Post, historian Douglas Brinkley notes that The Kennan Diaries “should come with a warning label.” He describes Kennan as a “gold-plated Cassandra” (referring to the goddess who had the gift of prophecy but the curse of never being believed). Brinkley counsels his fellow “Henry Wallace-George McGovern liberals” that his otherwise appealing foreign policy views are eclipsed by his unacceptable statements on apartheid and “his antiquated opinions on women’s rights,” not to mention “homophobic” and “pro-eugenic” beliefs, which “make it impossible for him to be a true hero of the left.”

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Crier au bobard antisémite pour faciliter la guerre avec l’Iran

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English version here

Article d’origine publié le 29 décembre 2013

[Note du traducteur: Le titre d’origine est “La stratégie du canard (the canard strategy) au service de la guerre avec l’Iran”. En français familier, un “canard” désignait une fausse nouvelle, un bobard, ou d’après le Littré, un “conte absurde et par lequel on veut se moquer de la crédulité des auditeurs”. L’expression “canard antisémite” est fréquemment utilisée par Mr Foxman (littéralement, l’homme-renard), le président de l’ADL.]

Le Lobby pro-israélien, temporairement mis en échec par le succès des négociations avec l’Iran, n’a pas perdu de temps pour se frayer un nouveau chemin vers la guerre au moyen de la Loi “Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act” de 2013 [loi pour un Iran exempt d’armes nucléaires]. Ce projet de loi est actuellement examiné par le Sénat, sous la direction de Bob Menendez, Chuck Schumer, et Mark Kirk, tous de fervents soutiens du Lobby pro-israélien.

Le projet de loi comporte deux aspects remarquables. Tout d’abord, il interdirait à l’Iran tout nouvel enrichissement d’uranium quel qu’il soit. Et tout le monde sait que l’Iran n’accepterait jamais cela, si bien que l’adoption de ce projet de loi garantirait l’entrée en vigueur des sanctions encore plus sévères qu’il autorise, ce qui mettrait l’Iran dans une situation intenable. La guerre tant désirée serait pratiquement assurée.

Deuxièmement, le projet de loi met une énorme pression sur les États-Unis pour qu’ils entrent en guerre si Israël juge opportun d’attaquer l’Iran. Le projet de loi

comprend une disposition non contraignante qui stipule que si Israël lance “une action militaire de légitime défense contre le programme d’armes nucléaires de l’Iran”, les États-Unis “devraient soutenir Israël et, conformément à la loi des États-Unis et à la responsabilité constitutionnelle du Congrès d’autoriser l’usage de la force militaire, ils devraient assurer un soutien diplomatique, militaire, et économique au gouvernement d’Israël pour la défense de son territoire, de sa population et de son existence “.

“Devraient soutenir Israël” est une formulation délibérément vague. Mais si le projet de loi passait, alors l’interprétation minimale serait que cette loi constitue une approbation du Congrès à l’aide américaine, si jamais Israël décide de partir en guerre. Read more

Competing Nationalisms in Ukraine

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In “Which Way White Man?,” Tom Sunic discusses the downside of European nationalism:

The Hungarian nationalist party Jobbik has had significant success in its PR overtures in the mainstream media in Europe and it deserves to be commended. Yet, few White American nationalists can comprehend their irrational call of the soil and blood and why Hungarian nationalists are not only concerned with Gypsy crime or with their government sell-out of the national treasure to foreign sharks, but also with the fact that one third of Hungary’s historical land still belongs to neighboring Romania and Slovakia. It must be amusing to observe from the American watchtower how White nationalists in Europe endlessly quarrel about which state in their vicinity should be in charge of a small creek in Transylvania or swaths of former German lands in today’s Silesia. For Europe’s White nationalists, however, these territorial, cultural, or linguistic disputes are a matter of life and death.

The list goes on and on all over Europe. The case study is a traumatic Croatian nationalism, which expresses itself, as a rule, in rigid papist ultra-Catholicism and which establishes its negative legitimacy in the endless name-calling of Christian Orthodox Serbs. A question: Can one be a good White nationalist without excluding the Other White nationalist?

We are certainly seeing some of that now in Ukraine. Ukraine is a textbook case of the costs of multiculturalism, a story of competing nationalisms. Around 17% of the population, mainly in the in the East and South of Ukraine, is ethnically Russian and favors strong ties with Russia. Read more

The Blame Game

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Prime Minister David Cameron on his visit to Amritsar's Golden Temple where he laid a wreath where Indians were killed by British colonial forces in 1919

Prime Minister David Cameron on his visit to Amritsar’s Golden Temple

When is an apology not an apology? When it is the British government offering “deep regret” for the supposed misdeeds of its imperial forefathers. The latest mea culpa comes from Prime Minister David Cameron who has apologised to the Sikh community for Britain’s supposed role during the massacre at their holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar during a hostage crisis in 1985.

This came as a surprise to everyone, including most Sikhs, who were unaware of any British involvement when the Indian army raided the temple during the clashes which took place nearly forty years after Indian independence.

But Prime Minister Cameron has insisted that yes indeed there is something to apologise over. His civil servants had been rooting through the archives and had come up with something suitably incriminating. It turns out that a single British officer was dispatched to the scene at the time of the stand-off and his advice was ignored. So that was the extent of our “colonial interference” on that occasion. Cue fulsome apology. Read more

News from Europe: The Swiss vote and Alain Soral

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At TOO we have often said that the revolution will begin in Europe. Several new developments. First, the Swiss voted “‘against mass immigration,’ following a successful campaign by the populist right-wing Swiss People’s Party, which blamed an influx of foreigners for higher crime, rising rents and congested streets” and that “Swiss culture is being eroded.” Swiss Economy Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann blamed it on “a break in trust between business, citizens and the political elite.”

As in all Western countries, elites have advocated globalism and open borders with no input from the great mass of citizens. In the case of Switzerland, immigration is running nearly 1% of the population per year, an extraordinarily high rate. If the U.S. would mean around 3 million immigrants per year, around 3 times the current (outrageously high) rate.

The EU is not pleased because this vote conflicts with its policy that there be no borders within Europe (and high immigration from outside Europe). But it was cheered by Marine LePen, Geert Wilders and other European nationalists. Polls indicate that the May elections for the European Parliament could bring in around 150 nationalist MEP’s. “Those gains will pressure local policymakers to take a tougher stance on the nationalists’ favorite issues. The U.K. and Germany, for example, are already talking about limiting welfare benefits for migrants.” Read more

Karl Pearson, Immigration, and the War over Jewish Intelligence, 1925–1935

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I often take great pleasure from looking into the past and finding, among persons and works of great genius, ideas that we very closely share. Recently I’ve been looking into the life and work of Karl Pearson (1857–1936), a man commonly considered to be one of the founders of modern statistical science. Born in London, Pearson’s formal education began only at age 15 at the city’s University College School. A precocious talent, he later attended King’s college at Cambridge where he won the Third Wrangler position of the Mathematical Tripos in 1878. His initial work after his formal education was as an author, lecturer, and lawyer. In 1884 he was offered a position at University College, London in applied mathematics, where he taught mathematics to young engineering students. He was reported to have been an effective and charismatic teacher, devoting considerable time and energy to these duties while also producing an impressive output of original work in applied mathematics.

Pearson’s mathematical contributions are immense. He pioneered discussions of relativity and antimatter, and in 1892 he wrote The Grammar of Science, a famous work covering many scientific themes. He is also credited with being one of the first mathematicians to truly consider data as essential in scientific inquiry. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states that “Pearson was responsible for almost single-handedly establishing the modern discipline of mathematical statistics, including the invention of a number of essential statistical techniques.”

Rather than merely developing new probability theory, Pearson used this theory as a tool with actual data. He subsequently became well-known for his work in various measures of correlation; perhaps the most widely used today is Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient. Many of his statistical procedures are still in use, such as Pearson’s “Chi squared goodness of fit test.” In 1901 Pearson established the journal Biometrika, which remains in print today and is still considered to be one of the most important statistical journals. Read more

Abe Foxman’s Retirement: A TOO Retrospective, Part 2

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Part 1.

The Canard Strategy. Foxman loves to silence his opponents by simply saying that they are resorting to canards. Andrew Joyce began his article “Justice Denied: Thoughts on Truth, “canards,” and the Marc Rich Case” by noting:

One of the most intriguing features of the posturing of the Anti-Defamation League, and other Jewish ethnic activist organizations, is their frequent discussion of what they call ‘canards.’ There are, I am informed, many ‘canards’ ranging from allegations that ‘the Jews’ killed God and mutilated communion wafers, to allegations that Jews control the media and have inordinate influence in the areas of culture and politics. … It was apparent to me that the question of whether Jews were supernatural ‘demons,’ and the question of Jewish over-representation in the media or at elite universities, were clearly worlds apart — the former simply ridiculous and the latter capable of being empirically examined and, at least in theory, logically and rationally discussed. …

Over time, organizations such as the ADL have come to jealously guard this list [of canards], and ‘canard’ has in fact achieved the remarkable feat of acting like a magic word — capable on deployment of making even the most blatant Jewish misdemeanor disappear. Take for example American Jews, who are no more ‘loyal’ to Israel than a Chinaman — because to suggest otherwise would be to employ the ‘canard’ of ‘dual loyalty.’ Likewise, Jews have an unblemished record when it comes to matters financial — because to say otherwise would be to employ the ‘canard’ of the greedy or untrustworthy Jew. Palestinian children never fall victim to Israeli incendiary devices — because to say otherwise would be to employ the ‘canard’ of the ‘Blood Libel.’

A good example of Foxman using the canard strategy related to dual loyalty was his reaction to a Huffpo article that attributed Sen. Bob Menendez’s attempt to undermine the Obama administration’s Iran policy to AIPAC influence.  Now one might think that the matter of AIPAC influence would be obvious or at least a strong possibility for a senator who received $340,000 from AIPAC (more than any other candidate in the 2012 election cycle), but Foxman sees nothing but a canard:

Whether done intentionally or not, it is deeply troubling to see how easily even a well-respected mainstream media outlet like the Huffington Post can fail to see the ugly stereotype projected when the language of “sabotage” is combined with the image of an identifiably American Jewish organization known for its effectiveness in promoting U.S. political support for Israel. The charge of dual loyalty leveled against Jews has, for centuries, been a catalyst for scapegoating and vilifying Jews. It has no legitimate place in our society.

But it’s an effective strategy:

The result of this strategy is that legitimate discussions of Jewish influence and dual loyalty are off limits under pain of being charged with “anti-Semitism.” Foxman’s tactic, very familiar by now, is to argue that somehow the fact that Jews have been charged with dual loyalty and power over governments over the centuries logically implies that any current suggestion of dual loyalty and influence by Jews could not possibly have any empirical basis—that such charges are automatically nothing more than scapegoating. …

The common sense of it is just the opposite: If over the centuries Jewish groups in widely separated times and places have often been seen as influencing governments to pursue policies beneficial to Jews but not necessarily the rest of society and as more loyal to Jews in other societies than to the wider society they live in, the obvious suggestion is that these are real patterns, as indeed they are (see here, p. 38ff on Jews as an influential elite and p. 60ff for the pattern of dual loyalty; it’s interesting that the first examples of both of these “canards” may be found in the Book of Exodus). …

The charge of “age-old anti-Semitic canards” cuts off any rational, empirically based debate before it can start, which is exactly what the ADL wants. The charges themselves are portrayed as nothing but irrational anti-Semitism reflecting a medieval mindset. No need to discuss the evidence. (“The Canard Strategy in Service of War with Iran“)

The canard strategy was also on display in the wake of the financial meltdown:

It’s well known that when the financial meltdown first hit, the ADL was concerned about “a dramatic upsurge” in anti-Jewish messages on Internet discussion boards devoted to finance and the economy in reaction to the huge bailout of Wall Street. The ADL press release is predictable in its attempt to characterize such outbursts as irrational hatred against Jews: Abe Foxman complained darkly that in times of economic downturns, ”The age-old canards … about Jews and money are always just beneath the surface.” (“Jews Embarrassed by Jews: Slumlords — and Goldman Sachs“) Read more