By some accounts the war between Palestinians and Zionists has been going on since 1947, by others since ’67. But by all accounts it’s the war that’s never going to end. There’ve been battles: ’48, ’56, ’67, ’73. Coupled with… Read More ›
9/11
FROM THE YES-BUT-DON’T-SAY-IT FILE
The core axiom driving any cognising organism is to treat like cases alike. And this, of course, requires that it distinguish between this collection of things and that collection of things. These distinctions are not always easy. Are we in… Read More ›
RIGHTS-TALK AND THE CURRENT PROPAGANDA WAR
Depending on when you start counting – and depending on who’s doing the counting – Jews and Arabs have been at war in Palestine since the first implementation of the Balfour Declaration in the early 1920’s, or since the Naqba… Read More ›
RIGHTEOUS KILLING
Most of us draw the distinction – and thankfully the law does too – between celebrating an illegal act and advocating one, and then between advocating one and inciting one. For example, I’ve made no secret that I thought 9/11… Read More ›
IT’S CLEARLY THE JEWS
I have a colleague – okay, he was a colleague, but neither of us works there anymore – who believes that nothing is what it seems. Well no, because if nothing is what it seems, that would have to include… Read More ›
CELEBRATION AND INCITEMENT
Amnesty International has always been notoriously silent about Israeli apartheid, because, understandably enough, it doesn’t want to alienate its sizeable Jewish donor base. It ignores a relatively few injustices so it can attract the resources to fight far more. Well,… Read More ›
JUST WALK AWAY
In Canada, the US and the Antipodes, English is the name of the language spoken by us Western settler colonialists. I accept that. So those opposed to Western settler colonialism should have no trouble accepting that the language they’re speaking… Read More ›
THE WHO-STARTED-IT GAME
When two parties are having at each other, strictly speaking somebody has to have delivered the first blow. But how far back are we to reconstruct? Or, what amounts to the same thing, what’s the statute of limitations on retaliation?… Read More ›
UKRAINE, RUSSIA, AND THE DOOLITTLE RAID
Suppose I accuse you of wearing a blue tie on a Tuesday. Surely the most obvious response is, What’s wrong with wearing a blue tie on a Tuesday? Well, Russia is accusing the Ukrainians of having bombed a fuel depot… Read More ›
ON CONDOLENCES
Allow me to just stipulate. By political individualism, as distinct from individualism simpliciter, I shall mean the view that what justifies the coercive power of the state are the interests of its constituent members. By contrast, for the collectivist it’s… Read More ›