Tuesday, June 15th, 9-10 a.m. Pacific (noon-1 pm Eastern) on http://NoLiesRadio.org, to be archived here a few hours later…
Philosophy professor and 9/11 truth supporter Richard Curtis debates anti-Zionist activist Jeff Blankfort on just who’s wagging whom here. Does the Israel lobby dominate US Mideast policy, as Jeff Blankfort has argued? Or is Israel just an expendable forward base for US empire, as Richard Curtis suggests?
Note: Richard Curtis’s new book, to which I contributed, will be in print very soon, and may be ordered now.
[Also note: I will be discussing this topic in a symposium with Gilad Atzmon and Jim Fetzer of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, in London, UK, on July 14th, 6-9:30 PM, Friends House, Euston Road opposite Euston Station. Please spread the word! More details at Rediscover911. ]
Mr. Curtis' arguements were a little lacking in substance and there was much conjecture from the imperialist POV. It is as if he believes that we do not understand the nature of US imperialism.
We do understand its nature, but we also understand that this is a unique relationship which took an awful lot of time and effort to engineer. I respect what the Israel movement has achieved, especially it's ability to operate above the law and to destroy people's careers and livelihoods.
The Chomsky Club explain the Israeli issue through the US imperialist narrative. Chomsky explains the relationship as being mutually beneficial, as do AIPAC on their home webpage. I guess they dont need to back up their arguements with sound logic as they have the media on their side and Chomsky doesnt really take too kindly to disagreement, the gods never do.
Curtis claims that the rifts between the US and Israel executives is all pantomime but has he actually studied the relationships between numerous US administrations and the Israel movement? From listening to his views, it is obvious that he has not for if he had done, he would realise that many of these adminstrations have been against this strange relationship and have lost their positions because of it.
The Chomskyist approach is to blame it all on the US, it's a kind of psychosis which helps maintain tribal loyalties.
Blankfort has provided ample evidence as to the nature of the relationship and summed it up quite well when saying that the Israel movement is like a boulder on the road. You can't move it, you have to work around it.
Curtis' point that Obama and Biden are playing a game when being ridiculed by the Israelis is to put it bluntly, bullshit. The idea that they are merely attempting to appease public unrest on the issue by playing the punchbag is in my opinion, an example of an individual creating self-serving junk logic to serve their own lazy comforts.
Keep up the fight.