Matthews: “Right-Wing” Opposition To Obama Due To “Sense The White Race Must Rule.” Real Clear Politics, May 15, 2013.
Chris Matthews Says 10 Or 20% Of Obama Opposition Rooted In “Sense That The White Race Must Rule.” By Tommy Christopher. Mediaite, May 16, 2013.
Chris Matthews and Al Sharpton: Obama’s Scandals Prove “Racism” and “White Supremacy” in GOP. Video. WeAreTheSavageNation, May 15, 2013. YouTube. Also here.
The Last Gasp of Aging White Power: But Time Is Not on Your Side. By Tim Wise. PoliticalArticles.Net, November 12, 2010.
Why Dummies Want to Forget the Tea Party Ancestry. Video. MockTheDummy1, June 2, 2010. YouTube.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Savage Online Videos Fuel Syria’s Descent Into Madness. By Aryn Baker.
Savage Online Videos Fuel Syria’s Descent Into Madness. By Aryn Baker. Time, May 12, 2013.
Baker:
The video starts out like so many of the dozens coming out of the war in Syria every day, with the camera hovering over the body of a dead Syrian soldier. But the next frame makes it clear why this video, smuggled out of the city of Homs and into Lebanon with a rebel fighter, and obtained by TIME in April, is particularly shocking. In the video a man who is believed to be a rebel commander named Khalid al-Hamad, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, bends over the government soldier, knife in hand. With his right hand he moves what appears to be the dead man’s heart onto a flat piece of wood or metal lying across the body. With his left hand he pulls what appears to be a lung across the open cavity in the man’s chest. According to two of Abu Sakkar’s fellow rebels, who said they were present at the scene, Abu Sakkar had cut the organs out of the man’s body. The man believed to be Abu Sakkar then works his knife through the flesh of the dead man’s torso before he stands to face the camera, holding an organ in each hand. “I swear we will eat from your hearts and livers, you dogs of Bashar,” he says, referring to supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Off camera, a small crowd can be heard calling out “Allahu akbar” — God is great. Then the man raises one of the bloodied organs to his lips and starts to tear off a chunk with his teeth.
Two TIME reporters first saw the video in April in the presence of several of Abu Sakkar’s fighters and supporters, including his brother. They all said the video was authentic. We later obtained a copy. Since then TIME has been trying to ensure that the footage is not digitally manipulated in any way — a faked film like this would be powerful propaganda for the regime, which portrays the rebels as terrorists — and, as yet, TIME has not been able to confirm its integrity. Abu Sakkar has not commented on whether the man in the video is indeed him because he is currently fighting on the front lines in Syria, according to fighters under his command. The video became public on May 12 when it was posted online by a proregime group and is indeed now being used as propaganda by regime supporters (and has already been shared 1,115 times on Facebook and has over 46,000 views on YouTube). These 27 seconds of footage provide a glimpse at how brutal the Syrian war has become — and a startling example of how technology appears to be fueling that brutality.
War is rarely anything but violent, but in Syria, where more than 70,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict since it started as a peaceful uprising inspired by the Arab Spring more than two years ago, the savagery has reached ghoulish proportions. And it seems that soldiers on both sides of the war are committing what appear to be crimes of war at least in part so that those acts can be viewed on the Internet. The ubiquity of camera phones and social media are enabling a mixture of propaganda, intimidation and boastful exhibitionism. In this, the first YouTube war, videos have driven the conflict even as they document its horrors.
Many videos from the Syrian battlefield, including the one that shows the man slicing out the dead soldier’s organs, also show the sectarian hatred that many fear is driving the war in Syria, especially the tension between the majority Sunni population and the minority Alawites. Assad is an Alawite; most rebels are Sunni. “Look at the heroes of Baba Amr,” shouts the man believed to be a rebel commander in the video, referring to a ferocious battle fought in 2012 between the rebels and regime forces near Homs, “slaughtering the Alawites and eating their hearts.” The anonymous blogger who posted the video on YouTube, attributing the video to al-Qaeda-affiliated Syrian rebel states: “These are the freedoms they want to import to our country.” The man in the video has been identified by another proregime group as Abu Sakkar, who commands the Al Farooq al-Mustakilla Brigade, a 60-man fighting force that is active in and around Homs, about 97 km north of Damascus and near the Lebanese border.
Videos like this prompt a troubling question: How do countries who want to support Syria’s rebels make sure they’re not unintentionally aiding rebels who might commit war crimes? Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are already providing the rebel forces with military aid, and the U.S. is helping with nonmilitary aid. There is an ongoing debate in Washington about whether the U.S. government should provide further aid to the rebels, possibly including weapons. Eating an enemy’s liver may be an extreme example of what appears to be a rebel atrocity, but there is enough documented evidence of extrajudicial killings, torture and desecration on the part of the rebels that it would be near impossible to know for certain who, exactly, are the “good” guys, says Peter Bouckaert, director of emergencies for the New York–based group Human Rights Watch. “In this context, where different rebel groups are fighting alongside each other, and sharing weapons, it’s difficult to control where the weapons end up. It is very likely that some of the weapons will end up in the hands of the likes of Abu Sakkar.”
Brigadier General Salim Idris, head of the Syrian Military Council (SMC), which oversees — according to its leadership — about 90% of the rebel forces, says such violence is unacceptable, and that no soldier under the council’s command would be allowed to get away with such actions. “Look, it is very clear that these kinds of behaviors, this cutting of bodies, is not allowed. If there is evidence that fighters from the FSA are doing something against human rights or international law, they will be brought before the court,” says Idris, referring to the Free Syrian Army, an umbrella name for the anarchic consortium of defected government soldiers, volunteers, jihadists and opportunists that make up most of the opposition fighting force, and nominally pledge allegiance to the SMC. Idris, who has not seen the video, but was told of its existence, questions the value of videos as proof, pointing out that they can be digitally manipulated. Furthermore, he maintains that the SMC has a watertight command-and-control structure in place that prevents these kinds of atrocities. He suggests that if they are happening, they are being perpetrated by the fighting groups not under his jurisdiction. Then he lashed out against Western journalists who focused on the human-rights abuses of the rebels, when “the regime is massacring women and children with knives. Where is international law when it comes to 200,000 martyrs and millions of refugees?”
The
video featuring the man believed to be Abu Sakkar is symptomatic of the blend
of brutality and technology on the Syrian battlefield. According to several
rebels interviewed by TIME, fighters from both sides no longer simply brag
about their exploits on the battlefield; they film them and share them,
competing in gruesome games of one-upmanship. This trading in trophy
atrocities, played up for the camera and passed from phone to phone, has a
desensitizing effect, says Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights, a pro-opposition U.K.-based organization that tracks fatalities
and human-rights abuses in Syria. When a 13-year-old boy is filmed beheading a
man and when footage of rape, torture and amputations are passed like trading
cards, it escalates the cycle of honor-driven revenge, as each atrocity, so
publicly shared, demands a response from the opposing side, according to Nadim
Houry of Human Rights Watch. “When people see these acts of brutality and
mutilation, it leaves deep scars, and there will be a temptation to replicate
it in revenge,” says Bouckaert. “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
Quite a few fighters in Syria interpret that literally.”
Rahman
says violent videos are showing up with increasing frequency. “I’ve seen
hundreds of videos like that from both sides,” he says. “They cut off limbs and
heads. They cut out hearts and livers, ears and tongues. They cut off private
parts and put them places. It’s abnormal. It’s inhuman what is happening.”
The
apparent rise of such incidents — or at least their documentation — is an
indication that the Syrian conflict is going in a very dark direction. And it
could get worse. Many Syria scholars say the regime — and the war — could last
for years.
There
are no good options for the international community. Western intervention on
behalf of the rebels could exacerbate sectarian tensions. Foreign boots on the
ground could incite an Iranian response in support of the regime, which it backs,
sparking a wider regional proxy war. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has
encouraged all jihadists to join in the fight against the Syrian regime;
further instability, with its rich recruitment pool and increased lawlessness,
is the terrorist group’s ideal incubator. And as more horrific videos emerge,
the rebels may find it harder and harder to persuade the international
community that they represent the best bet for a country descending ever
further into chaos.
Video: Syrian Rebel Commander Abu Sakkar Appears to Cut Out, Bite Heart of Dead Assad Soldier. By Brett Wilkins. Moral Low Ground, May 13, 2013.
Video purporting to show Syrian rebel atrocity highlights challenges facing West on aid. By Loveday Morris. Washington Post, May 14, 2013.
An Atrocity in Syria, With No Victim Too Small. By Anne Barnard and Hania Mourtada. New York Times, May 14, 2013.
Syria: Brigade Fighting in Homs Implicated in Atrocities. Human Rights Watch, May 13, 2013.
Syrian Truth | English | Facebook.
The Abu Sakkar Video. MegaWorldWideNews, May 16, 2013. YouTube. Also here.
Watching Syria’s War. Videos. Edited by Liam Stack. New York Times.
A Tangle of Bodies, All Women and Children, in a Darkened Room. Video. New York Times, May 14, 2013. YouTube.
Liam Stack:
This graphic video posted online shows 20 members of one family, including nine children, said to have been killed by government forces in al-Bayda, a village in the Baniyas district. Rebels said the government killed at least 322 Sunnis in Baniyas last week, and hundreds are missing. This video shows dead women and children in a darkened room. One woman’s body is surrounded by five children, while another woman’s head slumps back, a baby on her shoulder. The cameraman repeats, “Oh God, oh God.”
Baker:
The video starts out like so many of the dozens coming out of the war in Syria every day, with the camera hovering over the body of a dead Syrian soldier. But the next frame makes it clear why this video, smuggled out of the city of Homs and into Lebanon with a rebel fighter, and obtained by TIME in April, is particularly shocking. In the video a man who is believed to be a rebel commander named Khalid al-Hamad, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, bends over the government soldier, knife in hand. With his right hand he moves what appears to be the dead man’s heart onto a flat piece of wood or metal lying across the body. With his left hand he pulls what appears to be a lung across the open cavity in the man’s chest. According to two of Abu Sakkar’s fellow rebels, who said they were present at the scene, Abu Sakkar had cut the organs out of the man’s body. The man believed to be Abu Sakkar then works his knife through the flesh of the dead man’s torso before he stands to face the camera, holding an organ in each hand. “I swear we will eat from your hearts and livers, you dogs of Bashar,” he says, referring to supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Off camera, a small crowd can be heard calling out “Allahu akbar” — God is great. Then the man raises one of the bloodied organs to his lips and starts to tear off a chunk with his teeth.
Two TIME reporters first saw the video in April in the presence of several of Abu Sakkar’s fighters and supporters, including his brother. They all said the video was authentic. We later obtained a copy. Since then TIME has been trying to ensure that the footage is not digitally manipulated in any way — a faked film like this would be powerful propaganda for the regime, which portrays the rebels as terrorists — and, as yet, TIME has not been able to confirm its integrity. Abu Sakkar has not commented on whether the man in the video is indeed him because he is currently fighting on the front lines in Syria, according to fighters under his command. The video became public on May 12 when it was posted online by a proregime group and is indeed now being used as propaganda by regime supporters (and has already been shared 1,115 times on Facebook and has over 46,000 views on YouTube). These 27 seconds of footage provide a glimpse at how brutal the Syrian war has become — and a startling example of how technology appears to be fueling that brutality.
War is rarely anything but violent, but in Syria, where more than 70,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict since it started as a peaceful uprising inspired by the Arab Spring more than two years ago, the savagery has reached ghoulish proportions. And it seems that soldiers on both sides of the war are committing what appear to be crimes of war at least in part so that those acts can be viewed on the Internet. The ubiquity of camera phones and social media are enabling a mixture of propaganda, intimidation and boastful exhibitionism. In this, the first YouTube war, videos have driven the conflict even as they document its horrors.
Many videos from the Syrian battlefield, including the one that shows the man slicing out the dead soldier’s organs, also show the sectarian hatred that many fear is driving the war in Syria, especially the tension between the majority Sunni population and the minority Alawites. Assad is an Alawite; most rebels are Sunni. “Look at the heroes of Baba Amr,” shouts the man believed to be a rebel commander in the video, referring to a ferocious battle fought in 2012 between the rebels and regime forces near Homs, “slaughtering the Alawites and eating their hearts.” The anonymous blogger who posted the video on YouTube, attributing the video to al-Qaeda-affiliated Syrian rebel states: “These are the freedoms they want to import to our country.” The man in the video has been identified by another proregime group as Abu Sakkar, who commands the Al Farooq al-Mustakilla Brigade, a 60-man fighting force that is active in and around Homs, about 97 km north of Damascus and near the Lebanese border.
Videos like this prompt a troubling question: How do countries who want to support Syria’s rebels make sure they’re not unintentionally aiding rebels who might commit war crimes? Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are already providing the rebel forces with military aid, and the U.S. is helping with nonmilitary aid. There is an ongoing debate in Washington about whether the U.S. government should provide further aid to the rebels, possibly including weapons. Eating an enemy’s liver may be an extreme example of what appears to be a rebel atrocity, but there is enough documented evidence of extrajudicial killings, torture and desecration on the part of the rebels that it would be near impossible to know for certain who, exactly, are the “good” guys, says Peter Bouckaert, director of emergencies for the New York–based group Human Rights Watch. “In this context, where different rebel groups are fighting alongside each other, and sharing weapons, it’s difficult to control where the weapons end up. It is very likely that some of the weapons will end up in the hands of the likes of Abu Sakkar.”
Brigadier General Salim Idris, head of the Syrian Military Council (SMC), which oversees — according to its leadership — about 90% of the rebel forces, says such violence is unacceptable, and that no soldier under the council’s command would be allowed to get away with such actions. “Look, it is very clear that these kinds of behaviors, this cutting of bodies, is not allowed. If there is evidence that fighters from the FSA are doing something against human rights or international law, they will be brought before the court,” says Idris, referring to the Free Syrian Army, an umbrella name for the anarchic consortium of defected government soldiers, volunteers, jihadists and opportunists that make up most of the opposition fighting force, and nominally pledge allegiance to the SMC. Idris, who has not seen the video, but was told of its existence, questions the value of videos as proof, pointing out that they can be digitally manipulated. Furthermore, he maintains that the SMC has a watertight command-and-control structure in place that prevents these kinds of atrocities. He suggests that if they are happening, they are being perpetrated by the fighting groups not under his jurisdiction. Then he lashed out against Western journalists who focused on the human-rights abuses of the rebels, when “the regime is massacring women and children with knives. Where is international law when it comes to 200,000 martyrs and millions of refugees?”
Video: Syrian Rebel Commander Abu Sakkar Appears to Cut Out, Bite Heart of Dead Assad Soldier. By Brett Wilkins. Moral Low Ground, May 13, 2013.
Video purporting to show Syrian rebel atrocity highlights challenges facing West on aid. By Loveday Morris. Washington Post, May 14, 2013.
An Atrocity in Syria, With No Victim Too Small. By Anne Barnard and Hania Mourtada. New York Times, May 14, 2013.
Syria: Brigade Fighting in Homs Implicated in Atrocities. Human Rights Watch, May 13, 2013.
Syrian Truth | English | Facebook.
The Abu Sakkar Video. MegaWorldWideNews, May 16, 2013. YouTube. Also here.
Watching Syria’s War. Videos. Edited by Liam Stack. New York Times.
A Tangle of Bodies, All Women and Children, in a Darkened Room. Video. New York Times, May 14, 2013. YouTube.
Liam Stack:
This graphic video posted online shows 20 members of one family, including nine children, said to have been killed by government forces in al-Bayda, a village in the Baniyas district. Rebels said the government killed at least 322 Sunnis in Baniyas last week, and hundreds are missing. This video shows dead women and children in a darkened room. One woman’s body is surrounded by five children, while another woman’s head slumps back, a baby on her shoulder. The cameraman repeats, “Oh God, oh God.”
Is There a Path Forward for Egypt? By Walter Russell Mead.
Is There a Path Forward for Egypt? By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, May 16, 2013.
Christians Uneasy in Morsi’s Egypt. By Stephen Glain. New York Times, May 15, 2012.
Morsy and the Muslims. By Shadi Hamid. Foreign Policy, May 8, 2013.
Christians Uneasy in Morsi’s Egypt. By Stephen Glain. New York Times, May 15, 2012.
Morsy and the Muslims. By Shadi Hamid. Foreign Policy, May 8, 2013.
Physically Strong Men Tend to Have Right-Wing Political Views.
Men who are physically strong are more likely to have right wing political views. By Emma Innes. Daily Mail, May 16, 2013.
Political Motivations May Have Evolutionary Links to Physical Strength. Press Release. APS, May 15, 2013.
The Ancestral Logic of Politics: Upper-Body Strength Regulates Men’s Assertion of Self-Interest Over Economic Redistribution. By Michael Bang Petersen et al. Psychological Science, published online before print, May 13, 2013.
Abstract:
Over human evolutionary history, upper-body strength has been a major component of fighting ability. Evolutionary models of animal conflict predict that actors with greater fighting ability will more actively attempt to acquire or defend resources than less formidable contestants will. Here, we applied these models to political decision making about redistribution of income and wealth among modern humans. In studies conducted in Argentina, Denmark, and the United States, men with greater upper-body strength more strongly endorsed the self-beneficial position: Among men of lower socioeconomic status (SES), strength predicted increased support for redistribution; among men of higher SES, strength predicted increased opposition to redistribution. Because personal upper-body strength is irrelevant to payoffs from economic policies in modern mass democracies, the continuing role of strength suggests that modern political decision making is shaped by an evolved psychology designed for small-scale groups.
Political Motivations May Have Evolutionary Links to Physical Strength. Press Release. APS, May 15, 2013.
The Ancestral Logic of Politics: Upper-Body Strength Regulates Men’s Assertion of Self-Interest Over Economic Redistribution. By Michael Bang Petersen et al. Psychological Science, published online before print, May 13, 2013.
Abstract:
Over human evolutionary history, upper-body strength has been a major component of fighting ability. Evolutionary models of animal conflict predict that actors with greater fighting ability will more actively attempt to acquire or defend resources than less formidable contestants will. Here, we applied these models to political decision making about redistribution of income and wealth among modern humans. In studies conducted in Argentina, Denmark, and the United States, men with greater upper-body strength more strongly endorsed the self-beneficial position: Among men of lower socioeconomic status (SES), strength predicted increased support for redistribution; among men of higher SES, strength predicted increased opposition to redistribution. Because personal upper-body strength is irrelevant to payoffs from economic policies in modern mass democracies, the continuing role of strength suggests that modern political decision making is shaped by an evolved psychology designed for small-scale groups.
Caveman Cold Case PBS Documentary.
Caveman Cold Case. Video. Secrets of the Dead. PBS, May 15, 2013. Also at in four parts at YouTube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
About the episode:
A tomb of 49,000 year-old Neanderthal bones discovered in El Sidron, a remote, mountainous region of Northern Spain, leads to a compelling investigation to solve a double mystery: How did this group of Neanderthals die? And, could the fate of this group help explain Neanderthal extinction? Scientists examine the bones—buried over 65 feet below ground—and discover signs that tell a shocking story of how this group of six adults, three teenagers, two children and a baby may have met their death. Some bones have deep cuts, long bones are cracked and skulls crushed—distinct signs of cannibalism. Was it a result of ritual or hunger? Neanderthal experts are adamant that they were not bloodthirsty brutes. Will this investigation challenge their views? What happened here 49000 years ago will take us on a much bigger journey—from El Sidron to the other end of the Iberian Peninsula where scientists are excavating beneath the seas off Gibraltar in search of Neanderthal sites. Scientists working here had theories—but no proof—for why Neanderthals went extinct. El Sidron may change this.
Late survival of Neanderthals at the southernmost extreme of Europe. By Clive Finlayson et al. Nature, Vol. 443, October 19, 2006.
Last of the Neanderthals. By Stephen S. Hall. National Geographic, October 2008.
Neanderthal Code. Video. National Geographic, September 23, 2008. YouTube.
Neanderthal: BBC Documentary. Video. SpooksBBC, January 16, 2013. YouTube.
“One Small Step for Man . . .” The Humans Who Went Extinct. Chapter 8. By Clive Finlayson. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
See also: Decoding Neanderthals NOVA Documentary; Becoming Human NOVA Documentary.
Watch Caveman Cold Case on PBS. See more from Secrets of the Dead.
About the episode:
A tomb of 49,000 year-old Neanderthal bones discovered in El Sidron, a remote, mountainous region of Northern Spain, leads to a compelling investigation to solve a double mystery: How did this group of Neanderthals die? And, could the fate of this group help explain Neanderthal extinction? Scientists examine the bones—buried over 65 feet below ground—and discover signs that tell a shocking story of how this group of six adults, three teenagers, two children and a baby may have met their death. Some bones have deep cuts, long bones are cracked and skulls crushed—distinct signs of cannibalism. Was it a result of ritual or hunger? Neanderthal experts are adamant that they were not bloodthirsty brutes. Will this investigation challenge their views? What happened here 49000 years ago will take us on a much bigger journey—from El Sidron to the other end of the Iberian Peninsula where scientists are excavating beneath the seas off Gibraltar in search of Neanderthal sites. Scientists working here had theories—but no proof—for why Neanderthals went extinct. El Sidron may change this.
Late survival of Neanderthals at the southernmost extreme of Europe. By Clive Finlayson et al. Nature, Vol. 443, October 19, 2006.
Last of the Neanderthals. By Stephen S. Hall. National Geographic, October 2008.
Neanderthal Code. Video. National Geographic, September 23, 2008. YouTube.
Neanderthal: BBC Documentary. Video. SpooksBBC, January 16, 2013. YouTube.
“One Small Step for Man . . .” The Humans Who Went Extinct. Chapter 8. By Clive Finlayson. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
See also: Decoding Neanderthals NOVA Documentary; Becoming Human NOVA Documentary.
Watch Caveman Cold Case on PBS. See more from Secrets of the Dead.
Game of Thrones: The Bear and the Maiden Fair.
Fashion’s unlikeliest couple: Designer Giles Deacon said to be dating fearsome Game of Thrones star, Gwendoline Christie. By Ruth Styles. Daily Mail, April 12, 2013.
Game of Thrones’ Worst Scene Yet? By Ross Douthat, Spencer Kornhaber, and Christopher Orr. The Atlantic, May 13, 2013. Dismemberment, disappointment, and dragons: Our roundtable on “The Bear and the Maiden Fair,” the seventh episode of the HBO series’ third season.
Discussion of Game of Thrones Season 3, Episode 7: “The Bear and the Maiden Fair.” Panel with Ben Mankiewicz, John Iadarola, and Brett Erlich. Video. What the Flick, May 13, 2013. YouTube.
More on Game of Thrones here and here.
Game of Thrones 3x07: Jamie Lannister Saves Brienne of Tarth from a Bear. Video. GameOfThrones2013, May 12, 2013. YouTube Also here, here, and here.
Game of Throne 3x07: Tywin and Joffrey. Video. GameOfThrones2013, May 12, 2013. YouTube. Also here and here.
Game of Thrones 3x07: Daenerys at Yunkai. Video. Jaqen H’ghar, May 13, 2013. YouTube. Also here and here.
Game of Thrones’ Worst Scene Yet? By Ross Douthat, Spencer Kornhaber, and Christopher Orr. The Atlantic, May 13, 2013. Dismemberment, disappointment, and dragons: Our roundtable on “The Bear and the Maiden Fair,” the seventh episode of the HBO series’ third season.
Discussion of Game of Thrones Season 3, Episode 7: “The Bear and the Maiden Fair.” Panel with Ben Mankiewicz, John Iadarola, and Brett Erlich. Video. What the Flick, May 13, 2013. YouTube.
More on Game of Thrones here and here.
Game of Thrones 3x07: Jamie Lannister Saves Brienne of Tarth from a Bear. Video. GameOfThrones2013, May 12, 2013. YouTube Also here, here, and here.
Game of Throne 3x07: Tywin and Joffrey. Video. GameOfThrones2013, May 12, 2013. YouTube. Also here and here.
Game of Thrones 3x07: Daenerys at Yunkai. Video. Jaqen H’ghar, May 13, 2013. YouTube. Also here and here.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
E. D. Hill On Her Double Mastectomy.
E. D. Hill Discusses Her Double Mastectomy. Video. The O’Reilly Factor. Fox News, May 15, 2013. YouTube.
America’s New Oligarchs—Fwd.us and Silicon Valley’s Shady 1 Percenters. By Joel Kotkin.
America’s New Oligarchs—Fwd.us and Silicon Valley’s Shady 1 Percenters. By Joel Kotkin. JoelKotkin.com, May 14, 2013. Also at The Daily Beast and New Geography.
Georgia Tech Takes MOOCs to the Next Level. By Walter Russell Mead.
Georgia Tech Takes MOOCs to the Next Level. By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, May 15, 2013.
More on MOOCs here and here.
More on MOOCs here and here.
Despite Efforts to Erase It, the Nakba’s Memory Is More Present Than Ever in Israel. By Noam Sheizaf.
 |
|
A
Palestinian photographer standing during a minute of silence commemorating the
Nakba, during a ceremony held by Palestinian and Israeli students in the
entrance to the Tel Aviv University. Rightwing vigil protesting the ceremony
and policemen are seen in the background. May 13, 2013 (photo: Yotam Ronen /
Activestills) |
Despite efforts to erase it, the Nakba’s memory is more present than ever in Israel. By Noam Sheizaf. +972, May 14, 2013.
Toward a Common Archive/Video testimonies of Zionist Fighters in 1948. Exhibition opening event with the curator Eyal Sivan, Prof. Ilan Pappe and Raneen Jeries. Moderator: Areej Sabbah-Khoury. Zochorot.
Palmachic Testimony: We Expelled, We Bombed, We Killed. By Amon Lapid. Yedi’ot Hakibbutz, February 15, 2013. English translation by Ami Asher. Zochorot.
Testimony of Yerachmiel Kahanovich, Palmach Soldier at Lydda in 1948. Filmed in Kibbutz Degania Alef on July 23, 2012. By Eyal Sivan. English version by Ami Asher. Zochrot. Video at YouTube. Towards a Common Archive, YouTube.
Sheizaf:
Yedioth Hakibbutz is the weekly magazine of the United Kibbutz Movement. It is delivered every week to hundreds of Kibbutzim as part of the weekend edition of Yedioth Ahronoth, the best selling paper in Israel. Even at a time of diminishing political influence – there is not a single representative of the United Kibbutz Movement in the current Knesset – the Kibbutzim remain both a symbol and a stronghold of conservative Zionism, and the mainstream tone of Yedioth suits them well.
Q: Did you let the [Palestinians] residents get away?YK: At first, yes. The intention was to expel them, these were the orders of the bosses, Yigal Alon and Yitzhak Sadeh. Sometimes we had to shot one or two, and then the rest got the message and left on their own. You need to understand: if you didn’t destroy the Arab’s home, he will always want to come back. When there is no home, no village, there is nowhere to return.Q: Do you remember the battle for Lod and Ramleh?YK: I don’t like to remember this so much… we shot shells into a mosque where many people were hiding. There was no choice.Q: We shot?YK: I shot with the PIAT [anti-tank weapon]. It has an enormous shock wave.Q: And what were the results?YK: Not pretty. They were all scattered on the walls.Q: How many?YK: I don’t know. Many. I didn’t count. I opened the door, saw what I saw, and closed [it].Q: What did you feel?YK: What can you feel after a thing like that? But if we didn’t do it, we might have been fighting to this very day. Then I stood with the Browning [machine gun] over the creek through which the remaining residents escaped. Anyone who strayed off track, got a shot.Q: From you as well?YK: From me too. I felt really bad but I was a good marksman, and there were times when they only asked me to fire a single bullet. At the village next to Ramleh, two shots were enough. In 45 minutes the village was empty. They got the message.
The
Lod-Ramleh region was one of places where a massive, intentional expulsion of
the Palestinian population took place. Controversies surround the departure of
Palestinians from other areas; whether they were forced to leave or whether
they escaped on their own. It’s not that important. The Israeli decision not to
allow refugees to return to their homes – sometimes as early as two weeks after
they fled or were forced to leave – is what made them refugees. Later came the
confiscation of the entirety of “unclaimed” Palestinian property, which leaves
no doubt about what happened in 1948. Intentional or not, this was ethnic
cleansing.
 |
|
Cover of
Yedioth Hakibbutz featuring a story
with a former Palmach fighter who confessed to his part
in killing Palestinians
during the 1948 war.
|
It happened today: at the entrance to Tel Aviv University some people marked the Nakba day and nobody did anything about it.
In
fact, there was a small Im Tirzu vigil against the Nakba Day ceremony at Tel
Aviv University, but except for some insults shouted into the air, the ceremony
went on without interruption. Here is a video of the event:
The editor of Yedioth Hakibbutz told me that the interview with Yerachmiel Kahanovich went viral on Facebook but that at the same time, it hardly generated any hostile responses from kibbutz members. She sounded slightly disappointed.
Land: The Heart of the Conflict Between Palestine and Israel. By Dalia Hatuqa.
Land: The Heart of the Conflict Between Palestine and Israel. By Dalia Hatuqa. Al Monitor, May 15, 2013.
Palestinians Mark “Nakba Day” in Gaza, West Bank.
Palestinians mark “Nakba Day” in Gaza, West Bank. By Elior Levy. Ynet News, May 15, 2013.
Nakba Day Protests. Photo Gallery. Real Clear World, May 15, 2013.
Nakba Day Protests. Photo Gallery. Real Clear World, May 15, 2013.
The Clan of the Cave Bear.
The Clan of the Cave Bear. Directed by Michael Chapman. Starring Daryl Hannah. Narrated by Salome Jens. Warner Brothers, 1986. Mile Jukić, March 3, 2013. YouTube.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
From Winterfell to King’s Landing: The Cartography of Game of Thrones. By Frank Jacobs.
From Winterfell to King’s Landing. By Frank Jacobs. Foreign Policy, May 10, 2013.
How the cartography of Game of Thrones explains the world.
More on Game of Thrones here. More GOT maps here.
How the cartography of Game of Thrones explains the world.
More on Game of Thrones here. More GOT maps here.
Multiculti U. By Heather Mac Donald.
Multiculti U. By Heather Mac Donald. City Journal, Spring 2013.
Is the UC system starving the humanities? By Peter Schrag. Sacramento Bee, July 22, 2012.
Is the UC system starving the humanities? By Peter Schrag. Sacramento Bee, July 22, 2012.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Empty Chair. By Michael J. Totten.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Empty Chair. By Michael J. Totten. World Affairs, May 12, 2013.
Decline of the Empire. By Gore Vidal.
Decline of the Empire. By Gore Vidal. The Nation, May 13, 2013.
The Demise of the Anti-Israel Card. By Barry Rubin.
The Israel Card Has Been Overplayed. By Barry Rubin. Real Clear World, May 13, 2013. Also at GLORIA Center, Jerusalem Post, PJ Media.
Standoff at the Western Wall Over Praying By Women. By Jodi Rudoren.
 |
|
Members
of a group called Women of the Wall read from the Torah near the Western Wall
in Jerusalem in December. Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times. |
Standoff at Western Wall Over Praying By Women. By Jodi Rudoren. New York Times, May 10, 2013.
Anat Hoffman: Fighting on holy ground. By Jeremy Sharon. Jerusalem Post, May 14, 2013.
Pray Like I Do. By Steve Hochstadt. History News Network, May 15, 2013.
At a Sacred Site, a Fight Over Women and Prayer. By Jodi Rudoren. New York Times, December 22, 2012.
Israel to Review Curbs on Women’s Prayer at Western Wall. By Jodi Rudoren. New York Times, December 22, 2012.
Angelina Jolie Heads Off Breast Cancer With a Preventive Double Mastectomy
 |
|
Actress
Angelina Jolie arrives for the G8 Foreign Ministers Meeting in central London
April 11, 2013. REUTERS/Toby Melville. |
My Medical Choice. By Angelina Jolie. New York Times, May 14, 2013.
Jolie’s Disclosure Highlights a Breast Cancer Dilemma. By Denise Grady. New York Times, May 14, 2013.
Angelina Jolie: I Has a Double Mastectomy. TMZ, May 14, 2013.
Angelina Jolie’s brave message. By Arthur Caplan. CNN, May 14, 2013.
Angelina Jolie Makes a Courageous Choice. By Rush Limbaugh. RushLimbaugh.com, May 14, 2013.
Angelina Jolie’s mother Marcheline Bertrand taught daughter about living and survival. By Randee Dawn. NBC News, May 14, 2013.
Angelina Jolie: Jokes About Her Double Mastectomy Get Ugly On Twitter. By Christina Huffington. The Huffington Post, May 15, 2013.
Public Response to Angelina Jolie’s Mastectomy Proves We Still See Women As Body Parts. By Carrie Murphy. BlissTree, May 14, 2013.
The Choice. By Mark E. Robson, M.D. The Huffington Post, May 17, 2013.
Angelina Jolie’s Aunt Dies Of Breast Cancer Days After Op-ed. AP. The Huffington Post, May 26, 2013.
Breast Cancer Survivors: Stop Sexualizing Our Disease. By John Johnson. Newser, October 30, 2012.
Cancer Free at 33, but Weighing a Mastectomy. By Amy Harmon. New York Times, September 16, 2007.
It’s Okay to Look at Our Chests. Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. American Cancer Society.
Pink Lotus Breast Center website.
Michael Savage on Angelina Jolie Double Mastectomy. Audio. imitator777, May 16, 2013. YouTube.
Angelina Jolie and Recovering After Breast Surgery. Video. Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2013.
Angelina Jolie’s Bold Choice for a Double Mastectomy. Video. The Young Turks, May 15, 2013. YouTube.
Double Mastectomy: Angelina Jolie’s Bold “Preventive” Medical Choice. Video. politicalarticles, May 15, 2013. YouTube. Also at The Cycle. MSNBC, May 14, 2013.
From Mastectomy to Mess-Tectomy. Video. HuffPost Live, May 24, 2013. AOL On.
Is College Moving Online? By Nathan Heller.
Laptop U. By Nathan Heller. The New Yorker, May 20, 2013.
Has the future of college moved online?
An Avalanche Is Coming: Higher Education and the Revolution Ahead. By Sir Michael Barber, Katelyn Donnelly, and Saad Rizvi. Institute for Public Policy Research, March 2013. PDF.
If You Read One Thing About MOOCs This Week. . . By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, May 16, 2013.
More on MOOCs here and here.
Has the future of college moved online?
An Avalanche Is Coming: Higher Education and the Revolution Ahead. By Sir Michael Barber, Katelyn Donnelly, and Saad Rizvi. Institute for Public Policy Research, March 2013. PDF.
If You Read One Thing About MOOCs This Week. . . By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, May 16, 2013.
More on MOOCs here and here.
Male Suicide: Where’s the Outcry? By Walter Russell Mead.
Male Suicide: Where’s the Outcry? By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, May 13, 2013.
Men in Decline Means More Single Moms. By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, March 20, 2013.
Suicide Rate Rises Sharply in U.S. By Tara Parker-Pope. New York Times, May 2, 2013.
What’s Driving the Rise in Suicide Among Middle-Aged Men? By W. Bradford Wilcox. The Atlantic, May 13, 2013.
Summary of Emile Durkheim’s Suicide (1897). Excerpt from Robert Alun Jones. Emile Durkheim: An Introduction to Four Major Works. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 1986. Pp. 82-114.
Suicide: A Study in Sociology. By Emile Durkheim. Edited by John A. Spaulding and George Simpson. Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press, 1951.
Men in Decline Means More Single Moms. By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, March 20, 2013.
Suicide Rate Rises Sharply in U.S. By Tara Parker-Pope. New York Times, May 2, 2013.
What’s Driving the Rise in Suicide Among Middle-Aged Men? By W. Bradford Wilcox. The Atlantic, May 13, 2013.
Summary of Emile Durkheim’s Suicide (1897). Excerpt from Robert Alun Jones. Emile Durkheim: An Introduction to Four Major Works. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 1986. Pp. 82-114.
Suicide: A Study in Sociology. By Emile Durkheim. Edited by John A. Spaulding and George Simpson. Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press, 1951.
The Lethality of Loneliness. By Judith Shulevitz.
The Lethality of Loneliness. By Judith Shulevitz. The New Republic, May 13, 2013. Also find it here.
Shaking Off Loneliness. By Jane E. Brody. New York Times, May 13, 2013.
Social Relationships and Health. By James S. House, Karl R. Landis, and Debra Umberson. Science, Vol. 241, No. 4865 (July 29, 1988). Also find it here.
Shaking Off Loneliness. By Jane E. Brody. New York Times, May 13, 2013.
Social Relationships and Health. By James S. House, Karl R. Landis, and Debra Umberson. Science, Vol. 241, No. 4865 (July 29, 1988). Also find it here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)