Thursday, December 28, 2023

YOUNG AMERICANS, NEW VIEWS ON THE MIDDLE EAST, OPPRESSION AND WHO THE OPPRESSORS ARE

                       by HUGH MURRAY

 Since October 7, many liberal academics and others have been surprised by the reaction of many of the young in the West to events in the Middle East.  Indeed, some have been shocked.  At Cooper Union, where Pres. Lincoln had spoken after being elected to national office, Jewish students now had to hide as crowds of students and others were demanding both anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish policies.  And the slogan - From the River to the Sea, Palestine Shall Be Free, is really a call to abolish Israel, and in some minds either expel all the Israelis, or kill all the Jews. genocide.  The university presidents of Harvard, M.I.T., and U. of Pennsylvania were questioned about such similar demos on their campuses, and their answers so dissatisfied Congressional representatives, and even more wealthy donors to the universities, that there were demands that all 3 resign.

     But it was not only in academia.  On the streets of many large cities, pro-Palestinian demos stopped traffic, engaged in fights with Jews, demanded a change in US and Western foreign policies, beginning with a cease fire in Gaza.

     What happened?  One noted, that Jews have just discovered that the Left Wing now considers them to be whites.  And according to the post-civil rights era doctrines, all whites are racists and oppressors.  People of color, by definition, cannot be racists, while only a few collaborator's with the conservatives can be oppressors.  Confusing the debates, the word anti-Semitism, which might refer to a people and a language group.  Various Middle Eastern people spoke a similar language, like Arabic, Hebrew, Coptic, ancient Egyptian, and others.  During the 1930s, when it became an issue, Persian changed its name to Iran to indicate that it was not Semitic but Aryan.  Since both the Muslim and Jewish people of the Middle East speak Semitic languages, it makes little sense to speak of a Palestinian calling a Jew a bad name and labeling the one shouting as anti-Semitic.  He may be anti-Israeli, and/or anti-Jewish, but he is not anti-Semitic as he himself is a Semite.

     It is a surprise to see the spread of the intense hostility to Israel, but it follows years of political correctness taught in schools.  Now called Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the new formula openly rejects the old civil rights call for equality.  They reject equality and demand equity, which means, favoritism to help the oppressed and harm the oppressor.  And in this scheme all whites are oppressors, and lately many Asians are also now part of the oppressor groups, while most people of color (you are not allowed to say colored people, that is a term of the distant past).  So Jews, like some Asians, have been moved by the new ideologues from the category of the oppressed to that of the oppressor.  And the oppressors must be silenced first, and later, other measures.  Free speech on campus means the Left can say anything, including talk of genoside for the oppressors.  Suddenly Jews and some Asians have fallen out of grace, out of the category of the oppressed.  They are now to be chastised like the other oppressors, like the whites.  The new reality is that even in Australia a major carol sing can be interrupted by Palestinian activists.  And a month prior, signs appeared by the famous operal house, "Gas the Jews."

       We should be shocked by the horrors of this ideology, as it now applies to Jews and some Asians.  And especially how it has been used against white people for decades.  But the Palestinian cause is not new, and it has already changed American history.

     On a summer day a few decades ago a well-dressed gentleman exited a California hotel, somewhat agitated, as he spoke to a tv newsman, "I don't understand, he said he did it for his country!  How could he say such a thing?"  The man nodding his head in disbelief at what he had just heard.  He had just listened to what the young man said who had shot and killed Democratic Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy.  The man being interviewed, clearly a Democratic activist, could not believe what he heard, that the assassin killed Kennedy for his country.  What the man did not understand was that Sirhan Sirhan was not born in the US.  He was born in Palestine.  And he did it for his country, by his own thinking.  He was not Muslim, but Christian.  Sirhan was Palestinian.

     If Sirhan were released from jail, he would be a great hero in the Middle East,  And he dud change the US,  When Kennedy defeated Sen. McCarthy in the California primary, he might have won the Democratic nomination, and then the presidency.  Think of how that might have changed America and the world!

     And with our open borders today, how many more Sirhans is Biden encouraging to come to America?  Will any of them change America the way Sirhan did??

     

\


Sunday, December 17, 2023

US and P. R. CHINA BOTH COURT VIETNAM

The following article, from RT, is informative not only about the visit of China's leader, Xi Jinping, to Vietnam, but aabout the situation of Vietnam being courted by both the USA and P. R of China.  Though RT asserts that the views expressed are solely those of the author, Rimur Fomenko, that author wrote an article worth pondering.  Hugh Murray

 18 Dec, 2023 00:59

This Asian nation is key for the US-China power struggle

Vietnam has found itself in the position of kingmaker, being crucial for the plans of both Beijing and Washington for Asia
This Asian nation is key for the US-China power struggle

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has just paid an official visit to Vietnam, where he met with the leaders of Hanoi’s ruling Communist Party. Xi hailed the ties between the two countries and vowed to take them to the next level, while numerous business agreements were also signed.

Such a move would seem obvious given the two countries are not only neighbors, but share the same political ideology. However, their relations are more complicated than that.

Three months earlier, Vietnam was visited by US President Joe Biden of all people, who succeeded in elevating America’s relationship with the South East Asian nation to a strategic partnership. Then, just weeks ago, Japan did the same thing. When looked at from this angle, Xi’s overtures to Hanoi do not look as powerful, but rather represent one of a series of voices from larger powers seeking to win hearts and minds in Vietnam, a nation of geopolitical significance which will contribute to the outcome of the power struggle in the Asia-Pacific.

Although Vietnam is a communist state, this does not mean its relationship with Beijing is amicable. While of course it is not openly antagonistic or hostile, grassroots opinion in the country is wary of China, because a great deal of Vietnamese history involves a power struggle to maintain its independence from the Chinese imperial dynasties.

Vietnam, like many Asian nations, derived a great deal of cultural, philosophical, and technological capital from China, yet its national identity has always been premised on being a distinctive nation from China and not being politically dominated by it. Ideology is not relevant here.

Vietnam recognizes that China is its most critical economic partner – on the other hand, it is striving to avoid ‘Chinese hegemony’. This is not just historical, but modern as well. In 1978, China invaded Vietnam in order to break its alliance with the Soviet Union and assert dominance over it.

Not only that, the two countries also have rival claims in the South China Sea, a contested waterway with critical shipping routes and resources. From Hanoi’s considerations, this leads to a foreign policy of non-alignment which seeks to court multiple foreign powers, including the US, to maximize its own strategic benefits.

How, one may ask, can Vietnam possibly court the US given the history between the two? Can Hanoi trust Washington? Vietnam appears to be confident in its relationship with the US, despite the scale of atrocities committed during the Vietnam War, because Hanoi won that conflict on its own terms and reunified the country.

Given this, Washington is now returning to the table because it sees Vietnam as a partner to try and contain China. Sure, Hanoi has ideological and political reasons to be suspicious of it, and the White House can never be an ‘ally’, but what the US offers is a chance to accelerate Vietnam’s own economic development and also increase its military leverage in the abovementioned dispute with China.

Of course, Beijing sees this, and therefore the resulting outcome is a struggle for Hanoi’s loyalty. This means, however, that China increasingly has to offer more to be allowed to ‘be at the table’ and compete with the other powers, and also that Vietnam gets to set the terms of engagement and be ‘the kingmaker’.

From the Chinese perspective, Vietnam is in fact an important aspect of the global trade and supply chain because it provides a mask to conceal the ‘made in China’ label to get around various trade restrictions and tariffs imposed by the US. Many Chinese companies are investing in Vietnam precisely because of this, which is why Chinese trade with ASEAN as a whole has surged to replace trade with the US.

Chinese companies build key parts and components, ship them to their own factories in Vietnam where assembly is completed, and the product then goes to the US. It creates the deception that ‘made in China’ is going away and allows indirect Chinese trade with America to continue. Thus, the integration of the Vietnamese and Chinese economies is accelerating. This is enough to keep the peace between the two countries.

At present, given US military encirclement, China is not in a strategic position to engage in confrontation with Vietnam, which is why Xi has chosen to throw everything at it in the name of diplomacy. Keeping Vietnam as a neutral and non-hostile neighbor is thus a core priority for China, especially given the fundamental foreign policy doctrine of the US to instigate division between Beijing and its neighbors as a means of containment. Vietnam, however, simply wants the best of all worlds, and it is certainly getting it for now.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

Monday, December 11, 2023

FINLAND OPENS UP IT's OLD FILE ON OSWALD

Finland has opened up its old file on Oswald.  Seems like nothing too exciting.  The big question, when will the US open up its files on the Kennedy Assassination of Nov. 1963?  I suspect they would be somewhat more interesting.  This report comes from RT.       Hugh Murray


 10 Dec, 2023 15:23

Finland declassifies JFK killer files

Lee Harvey Oswald spent several days in Helsinki in 1959 before his defection to the Soviet Union
Finland declassifies JFK killer files

The Finnish Security Intelligence Service (SUPO) has declassified a 60-year-old file detailing Lee Harvey Oswald’s mysterious visit to Helsinki in advance of his defection to the Soviet Union, just over four years before he assassinated US President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Oswald was adjudged by the Warren Commission in September 1964 to have been the sole gunman who fired the fatal shots from the Texas School Book Depository on Elm Street in downtown Dallas that killed Kennedy the previous November.

The day after Kennedy’s murder – November 23, 1963 – SUPO composed a memorandum into Oswald’s Helsinki trip that paints a unique, if somewhat incomplete, portrait of one of the most infamous characters of the 20th century.

The newly declassified files show that former US Marine Oswald, then 19, checked into Helsinki’s Hotel Torni on October 10, 1959 for a five-night stay, but stayed for just two nights, local outlet Yle News reported Saturday. Oswald’s US passport application showed his stated intention for the trip was related to seeking education either in Switzerland or at the University of Turku in Finland.

However, as Yle notes, Oswald’s application to the Finnish university proved to be false and ignited speculation as to his true motivations. Despite their efforts, Finnish authorities were unable to discover more information about his movements during this brief period.

On October 12, 1959 Oswald applied for a USSR visa at the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki – an application, the Warren Commission would later note, that was approved unusually quickly. Details about his arrival in Helsinki also remain somewhat of a mystery. Uncertainties as to his exact route have led to speculation he arrived in Finland from either England or Sweden.

The SUPO investigation, the declassified files reveal, found it more likely that Oswald arrived via Stockholm either by plane or boat. The Finnish intelligence service also determined that while in Helsinki, Oswald had been “apparently waiting for a visa.”

It also notes that after departing Helsinki, Oswald arrived in Moscow where he almost immediately expressed an interest in obtaining Soviet citizenship. Oswald spent about two and a half years in the Soviet Union, mostly in Minsk, present day Belarus, where he worked as a lathe operator in an electronics factory.

A separate trove of documents into Kennedy’s assassination released by the US government last year cited comment from former KGB officials who said that “at no time” was Oswald a KGB agent, and that he was considered to be “crazy and unpredictable” during his Soviet years. The US government source added that Oswald was suffering from depression and homesickness for much of his time in Belarus.

Oswald, who never formally renounced his US citizenship, returned to the United States in the summer of 1962. He was shot dead while in police custody by businessman Jack Ruby two days after Kennedy’s assassination.

Saturday, December 9, 2023

HUMURRAYOUS

BREAKING NEWS: 

 President Biden asserted today that he realizes his speech is sometimes slurred, and he does have trouble at times on stairs.  He acknowledges he is old, and age is beginning to interfere with his duties as President.  He thinks it is time for him to withdraw from the presidential race of 2024 and endorse a younger person, but one who is experienced in the ways of how Washington works.  So today, he is endorsing for president in 2024 a younger man, experienced, and with the proper background on how to get things done.  So today I am endorsing my son, Hunter Biden for President in 2024.  (Just to make sure that people understand, that is a joke.)(And I hope it remains only that.)

+++++++++++++++++

     Some years ago, in the summer of 1945, a knowledgeable Senator spoke with the new President of the US, Harry Truman.  Truman was elected as VP, but Pres. Franklin Roosevelt had died in mid-April so Truman, who had not even been informed about the development of an A-bomb, had to learn on the job rather quickly. 

    The Senator asked Truman, "You can't be serious about using that new bomb on a Japanese city.  We will first have to have a cease fire to remove the civilians from the targeted area.  That is essential for a humane way of war."  Truman replied, "When we drop the bomb, the bomb itself will remove many of the civilians.  And then we will have a real peace!"  (This is not a real conversation; this is a joke, but one with relevance to today.)    Hugh Murray


         

Friday, December 1, 2023

FROM FIRST WORLD TO ?? RESULTS OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND CORRUPTION

 In living memory of most, one African nation stood out as perhaps the closest to a first world nation.  It had one of the best airlines in the world, a thriving manufacturing and agricultural economy.  Its borders were crossed each day by the poor from neighboring nations trying to get into this prosperous land.

But what happened?  White rule ended.  The new rulers imposed affirmative action hiring and promotion, so that lesser qualified and unqualified candidates soon had the jobs in industries, while white farmers were killed and are still killed about 1 a week, while a political rally in a stadium filled with at least a thousand blacks sang, Kill the Boer, Kill the White, with rat tat tats to imitate gun fire.

Race hatred, and I mean open hostility to whites, affirmative action in hiring, corruption, incompetence, the new South Africa slides into the cesspool of failing post-colonial states. --  Hugh Murray

The following article comes from RT:

1 Dec, 2023 11:29

China helps BRICS partner solve power outages – media

South Africa has received the first batch of Chinese generators
China helps BRICS partner solve power outages – media

South Africa has received a shipment of 450 gasoline generators donated by China to ease the impact of severe power shortages in the country, local media reported on Thursday.

According to Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, about 100 more generators are expected to arrive in the near term.

The equipment will be distributed to public service facilities across the country, according to an earlier statement from the government.

The generators will be used as backup to alleviate the impacts of load-shedding in the delivery of services in clinics, schools and courts, while the government continues to implement the energy action plan to ultimately end load-shedding and create sustainable energy security.”

The donation is a part of the Technical Assistance Program, which covers a raft of deals inked between Beijing and Pretoria on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg this past August. Apart from a donation of power-generating equipment worth $8.9 million, the program includes a grant of around $26.8 million intended to upgrade South Africa’s power transmission and distribution network.

South Africa has been grappling with a power crisis for years, with its state utility Eskom struggling to fully supply electricity due to frequent breakdowns at its coal-fired power stations, which led to record power cuts earlier this year.

Some experts note that there may be a deeper meaning to China helping South Africa overcome its energy crisis, despite Ramokgopa stating in an earlier interview that there are “no strings attached” to the program.

I don’t think there are strings attached, but there are expectations attached, and it is done with these expectations to oil the wheels of future business… I think this is more of a political signal. A signal that China is interested in cooperation with South Africa, that they have business interests here and want to expand those interests,” energy analyst Chris Yelland told 702 radio station.

Sunday, November 19, 2023

IRAN ANNOUNCES IT HAS HYPERSONIC WEAPON

 The following article comes from RT.  I watched American news Subday night, and much was devoted to the death of the wife of former Pres. Jimmy Carter, who still lives.  His wife, Rosalynn died at 86.  There were other news stories that may have allowed no time for this - but if true, it is a very important story.  Hugh Murray



Iran unveils its newest hypersonic missile

Tehran’s ballistic weapon reportedly makes use of a technology possessed by very few nations
Iran unveils its newest hypersonic missile

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) unveiled the nation’s cutting-edge hypersonic missile at a ceremony in Tehran attended by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday, local media reported. The projectile reportedly makes use of rare hypersonic glider technology. 

The missile was presented at the Ashura Aerospace Science and Technology University during an exhibition showcasing the Islamic Republic’s advancements in aerospace tech. According to the IRNA news agency, the Fattah-2 missile is equipped with a hypersonic glider warhead that places it “in the HGV… class of hypersonic weapons.” 

The Iranian media reported that the Islamic Republic has become the fourth nation in the world to make use of such technology.

A hypersonic glide vehicle, or HGV, is a type of warhead that allows it to maneuver and glide at hypersonic speeds. It is usually mounted on ballistic missiles and can significantly change its flight trajectory after launch, which makes it a much harder target for a potential enemy’s missile defense systems to detect than a typical warhead traveling in a more predictable arc trajectory. 

Very few nations have operational HGV missiles to date. One of them is Russia, which possesses the ‘Avangard’ gliders mounted on its silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles like the ‘Sarmat’. The Russian HGV is capable of flying between 20 and 27 times faster than the speed of sound or between 24,000 and 33,000 kilometers per hour and has an explosive yield of up to two megatons, which is more than 100 times greater than the explosion produced by the US nuclear bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

In 2019, China officially put its DF-ZF HGV missile into service. Mounted on a road-mobile medium-range ballistic missile, the Chinese hypersonic glider can travel up to 10 times faster than the speed of sound at a speed of 12,360 kilometers per hour and carry a nuclear charge. 

The US was expected to have its ‘Dark Eagle’ Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) enter service in September, but its fielding has been delayed due to a scrapped critical test of its glide vehicle. The weapons system is still expected to become operational by the end of the year, according to media reports. 

Little is known about Iran’s Fattah-2 missile, as the national media provided very few details on the projectile’s technical characteristics. Its predecessor, the Fattah missile that was officially unveiled less than six months ago, on June 6, had a range of 1,400 kilometers and could travel between 13 and 15 times faster than the speed of sound.

The commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said later in June that the projectile’s range could be increased to 2,000 kilometers. Such an operational range could potentially allow Iran to reach the territory of Israel, which Tehran considers to be its arch-enemy. According to the Iranian media, the Fattah missile was also capable of penetrating through a potential enemy’s air defenses and destroying them.

Saturday, November 18, 2023

PUTIN ON GAYS, HONG KONG AND GUADALAJAR GAY (OLYMPIC) GAMES

 I am surprised by this.  Glad to see it.  Since the source is RT, I assume it is accurate.HUGH MURRAY

 
Also, I understand that the Gay (Olympic) Games went on as scheduled in both Guadalajara - not far from Acapulco where 50 people died in a powerful hurricane this November.  AND the Games also went on as scheduled in Hong Kong.  This may be a sign that HK is not totally following the ways of Beijing.
For the first time, the GGames were divided, the first scheduled in Asia and Mexico.  Chinese leader Xi did not go to HK to attend any of the GG, #11, or just GG XI.  Perhaps to avoid the gay issue, Xi went instead to San Francisco.  (For those living outside of the US, this is ironic humor, because San Francisco is one of the most gay cities in the US, and in the world, probably much more so than either HK or Guad.)
The following is from RT:
17 Nov, 2023 20:07

Putin says ‘something unexpected’ about LGBTQ

Russian president is okay with LGBTQ themes infusing cultural events, but they mustn’t become a mandatory requirement for winning
 
Putin says ‘something unexpected’ about LGBTQ
Members of the LGBTQ community and its culture are part of a modern society and shouldn’t be barred from being represented at cultural events or contests, Russian President Vladimir Putin believes. At the same time, such themes must not be mandatory criteria for winning said contests, as appears to occur in the West, he suggested.
The president made the remarks on Friday as he spoke at the 9th International Culture Forum in St. Petersburg. Putin was asked by Emir Kusturica, the iconic Serbian film director and screenwriter, about his opinion on LGBTQ topics becoming a mandatory requirement for winning certain film contests in the West.
“Yes, indeed, we see that at various competitions in Western countries, in order to win something, you need to either tell, write, or show the lives of sexual minorities, transgenders and transformers – many different names for them,” Putin stated.
But I’ll tell you something unexpected. They too – these topics and these people – have the right to win, show and tell, because this is also part of society. This is also what people live by. It’s bad if they just win all sorts of competitions, that’s of no use.
The president stressed that “equality” should be a universal principle, including in cultural contests.
The International Culture Forum is currently underway in St. Petersburg, set to go on until November 18. This year, the major international event is titled the ‘Forum of United Cultures.’ The Forum brings together representatives of some 70 nations from around the globe, including more than 30 culture ministers, and hosts multiple events that end with panel discussions on various culture-related matters and an international dialogue
     +++++++++++++++++

Ironically, on the RT site, the same day, this story also appeared::
Russian authorities want to outlaw ‘LGBT’
The Justice Ministry has lodged a lawsuit seeking to designate the “international LGBT movement” an extremist group

Thursday, November 9, 2023

DEMOCRATS WILL WANT TO KICK JILL STEIN AND THE GREEN PARTY OFF THE BALLOT, AND WHO ELSE? WILL WE BE PERMITTED TO VOTE FOR TRUMP?

 Newser had a short article about Jill Stein planning to run again as the Green Party candidate for President in 2024.  I live in Wisconsin now, and recall the dispute about getting her on the ballot in this state.  In 2016 Stein ran for the Greens, and in Wisconsin won about 20,000 votes.  That year Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by about 16,000.  Democrats blamed Stein for the loss of Wisconsin and other states, and played legal tricks to kick her off the ballot in 2020.  Democrats also prevented Kanye West from appearing on the ballot in Wisconsin in 2020.  Result: Biden defeated Trump by about 20,000.  Though, as the voting rolls have not been vetted here and in 2020 Democrats made it easy to vote by mail, and no check much about the returned vote, and the nursing home vote, and the Zuckerbergs' contribution to Dem front NGO's in Wisconsin and elsewhere, well, I suspect the Dems could have manufactured many more Biden votes if needed then.

    Anyway, here is my comment on the Newser story:  The Democrats will be using every dirty trick to keep her and the Green Party off the ballot, just as they did last election in Wisconsin - knocking off Stein, and preventing Kanye West from getting on. The GOP does not target the Libertarian of Constitution Party - these dirty tricks, step 1 of the election steal, begins with preventing people from voting for their favorite. Of course in 2024, the Dems are trying to prevent ex-Pres. Trump from getting on the ballot.

The aim if the Dems is a one-party dictatorship, just as they used to have in the Solid South, like when I was young and grew up there. If the Dems are able to steal the 2024 election as they did in 2020, America will be over.
  Hugh Murray

Saturday, November 4, 2023

SOME GREAT FILMS I HAVE SEEN -HOPE YOU GET TO SEE THEM TOO - Hugh Murray

 I have gone to countless movies over the years, some I loved, some were so-so, some a waste of time.  I decided to make s short list of those that I think are great.  Some have faded over time, or more properly, I grew up.  For example, when quite young I loved Abbot and Costello in various films, as when they met Frankenstein or Dracula or the Mummy.  But as an adult, it wasn't even that funny anymore.  Some, like Laurel and Harvey, did, and I still enjoy their comedies.

    As a youngster, I saw the western 1953 film  "Shane."  I was about 15, whereas the boy in the film was only 6, but I had thought it was terrific.  Saw it recently on Pluto, or missed a little of the beginning.  I did not so identify with the boy, as with a young man, a Southerner, and knew that strains of Dixie would be played somewhere in the film.  The young man is a good guy, trying to farm like the other new arriving farmers.  He knows that the cattle dealers object to farmers cutting into their territory, fencing off land where the cattle used to roam, reducing their grazing lands, trying to blockade their fast routes to the north.  The cattlemen were cutting and destroying the fences of the farmers, and threatening them with gunfights.

  The Southerner is a farmer, and helped a farmer to survive some of the threats.  Cattlemen then hire a professional gun slinger to help persuade the farmers to depart.  The Southener comes to town and confronts Jack Palance, the bad gunslinger.  Dixie is played in the background.  Then Palance seeks to provoke the rebel to draw his pistol first, insulting the young man as a Southerner, trash, and so are his Confederate generals.  Reb draws, and is killed by the evil Yank, who will not be judged a murderer because the rev drew his weapon first.  [And in these days of hatred and prejudice, and demands to destroy our own history, pulling down monuments not only to Lee, and Beauregard, but to Jefferson, Washington, AND Columbus, it is amazing Shane is shown anywhere.]  

  The boy's dad is now trying to prevent the farmers from running away, leaving all they have tried to build up. but many farmers or their wives are concluding it is too dangerous to stay with Palance in town.  Time to go.  The boy's dad plans to take a stand alone, but Alan Ladd, who recently had been working for that family, is a gunslinger himself, trying to get out of that business.  Ladd decides he, not the dad, will ride to town to face Palance.  A fist fight between Ladd, and the dad.  Ladd goes to town, shoots Palance, and rides into the sunset. ignoring the shouts of the boy, "Come back, Shane."

  The film includes debates about the role of cattlemen and ranchers, and indirectly provides a good argument in favor of colonialism.  The cattlemen had their day, as they pushed off the more primitives who were there before them.  Now the farmers are the new economy for the futures, and they will replace the cowboys on the cattle drives with plowed fields; replacing gunslingers with sheriffs.

  A film made less than a year prior to Shane, is another great film - High Noon in 1952.  The Sheriff of a small town in the west has just married an attractive Quakeress, and soon learns that a real bad criminal is to be released today, and should arrive in town on the train at noon, and he plans to get his revenge on the sheriff and the town that sent him to prison for so long.  Sheriff knows he will have to get a posse to stop this tough gun-fighter.  His new wife, a pacifist, is saying he should not do this, get others to handle it.  Sge demands he leave town with her, and they can avoid the inevitable gun fight.  He loves her, but duty demands that he stay and fight.  The criminal was a top notch shooter, and word is he has rounded up his gang to come with him and assure he gets his revenge.  Sheriff goes to round up men to help, and a number say they will meet him before noon.  Goes to others and when they hear who is coming, they find excuses not to come.  One after another declines.  When he goes to meet those who said they would help, they askwhere are the rest? Sheriff tells them, it's just us (2 or 3).  Then they back out.  Noon.  Train arrives.  Bad guy there and he brought several bad guy buddies with him..  Shoot out?  Wife plans to depart.  Will the Sheriff get any help?  The town falls to the criminals?  See the film for the answers.

  Another great film, Black Orpheus, the 1959 film made about a Brazilian Carnival ce;ebratopm pressed into a Greek mythological template.  The music, color, actors, excitement, even the dread - it all ge;s to make a spectacular work of art.  I had a boss who was quite intelligent, a black woman, who despised it because of some stereotypes in the film.  Not everyone will agree with my assessment.

  Another French film, made in 1960 made my list, Purple Noon.  I had seen many American crime dramas, in movies and on tv, but this was really quite different.  In sunny upper class southern Italy, there is some travelog aspect to this, but it is a murder, where you begin to identify with the clever murderer.  Surely, he will be caught, but, no, the police are off the track again.  He must be caught when this happens, but no again.  Then the protagonist, Alain Delon, has just killed a man at least 50 pounds heavier than he.  They are on perhaps the 3rd floor, and Delon must carry the man down a spiral staircase so they both appear drunk (and alive) so he can get the guy out and dispose of his body.  A terrific scene.  The American remake, decades later, "The Talented Mr. Ripley" should be seen so one can appreciate how much better the French film was.

Saturday, October 14, 2023

ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO EXIST

While many protests in major cities condemn the recent Palestinian attack on Israel.  And in Paris, London, Manchester, Edinburgh, New York City, and elsewhere others praise the Palestinians, argue that the Israelis got what they deserved during the kidnappings, stabbings, shootings, etc.  I was shocked to learn that the Sydney, Australia Opera House recently hosted a "Gas the Jews" rally, and some of the protestors, when interviewed, openly declare, that if they hear someone express certain views about the Middle East or the Koran, "they will kill them,"  A few days ago a teacher in northern France was murdered by a Muslim terrorist, and Saturday, a main train station was closed as was the Louvre.  Needless to say, Jewish schools and synagogues are increasing vigilence, as Hamas called for a day of Jihad to begin.

The protests in American cities include Muslims, and also anti-war leftists, some left Democrats or Democratic Socialists.  Below, I include ar article from a recent issue of the Militant, a Trotskyist newspaper in the US about an interview with Cuba's Fidel Castro by Jeffrey Goldberg, whom I assume is the same writer who today is often on America's National Public Radio to "balance" its pro-Democratic Party spins.  Goldberg is a Never Trumper type Republican.  The interview is not from last week, obviously, but the message is important.

 

Fidel Castro: ‘Without doubt, Israel has right to exist’

BY SETH GALINSKY
October 23, 2023
“Nothing compares to the Holocaust,” Fidel Castro told Jeffrey Goldberg in 2010 interview. Castro, left, with Goldberg, right, and Jewish community leader Adela Dworin in Havana, August 2010.
ESTUDIOS REVOLUCIÓN“Nothing compares to the Holocaust,” Fidel Castro told Jeffrey Goldberg in 2010 interview. Castro, left, with Goldberg, right, and Jewish community leader Adela Dworin in Havana, August 2010.

Since the pogrom by Hamas and its allies, Stalinists and middle-class radicals have been organizing actions under the slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free” — a call for the destruction of Israel and slaughter of the Jews. That’s the exact opposite of what Fidel Castro, the central leader of the Cuban Revolution, had to say about Israel and Jew-hatred.

Castro often strongly disagreed with the Israeli government. At the same time he openly expressed his support for the right of Israel to exist as a refuge for the Jews.

In 2010, after then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had proclaimed the Holocaust — the murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis — was an “unprovable and mythical claim,” Castro invited Atlantic magazine writer Jeffrey Goldberg to come to Cuba and interview him.

Fidel told him the Iranian government would better serve the cause of peace by acknowledging the “unique” history of antisemitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence.

“I don’t think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. I would say much more than the Muslims,” Castro told Goldberg. “They have been slandered much more than the Muslims because they are blamed and slandered for everything.”

“Over 2,000 years they were subjected to terrible persecution and then to the pogroms,” Castro said. “The Jews have lived an existence that is much harder than ours. There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust.”

“Let’s imagine that I were [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” Castro said, “I would remember the 6 million Jewish men and women, of all ages who were exterminated in the concentration camps” when making decisions.

Goldberg asked Castro, “Do you think the State of Israel, as a Jewish State, has a right to exist?”

“Yes, without a doubt,” Castro replied.

“True revolutionaries never threaten to exterminate a whole country,” Castro had told Le Monde in September 1967, in response to Arab governments and others calling for Israel’s destruction.