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THE INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ISRAEL LOBBY Former top CIA analysts Kathleen and Bill Christison give CounterPunchers the real scoop on the Israel lobby and precisely how powerful it is. Read how US presidents from Wilson, through FDR to Truman were manipulated by the Zionist lobby; how Israel bent LBJ, Reagan and Clinton to its purpose; how Bush's White House has been the West Wing of the Israeli government; how Washington's revolving doors send full-time Israel lobbyists from think-tanks to the National Security Council and the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans. For all who want a true measure of the Lobby's power, the Christisons' 8-page dossier, exclusive to CounterPunch newsletter subscribers, is a MUST read. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each monthBut remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! |
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Today's Stories June 12, 2006 Jennifer Loewenstein June 10 / 11,
2006 Robert Fisk Diane Christian Joe Allen Ralph Nader Fred Gardner Dave Lindorff Dave Zirin /
John Cox Dennis Perrin Greg Moses John Chuckman Michael J. Smith Roger Burbach Ira Moskowitz Sam Bahour Seth Sandronsky Michael Berg Kirsten Roberts Ron Jacobs Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Website of the
Weekend
June 9, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Paul Craig Roberts Gary Leupp Eric Ruder Evelyn Pringle Mickey Z. Michael J. Smith Patrick Cockburn Website of the
Day
June 8, 2006 Chris Floyd Michael Dickinson Ron Jacobs William S. Lind Joshua Frank Missy Comley Beattie Lloyd Williams Bill Christison Website of the Day
June 7, 2006 Dave Lindorff Sunsara Taylor John Walsh David MacMichael Mickey Z. Evelyn Pringle Myles Palmer Laura Ribeiro Website of the Day
June 6, 2006 Diane Christian Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Norman Solomon Darmont / Genovali Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Subcomandante Marcos Patrick Cockburn Website of the Day
June 5, 2006 Bruce Jackson Chris Floyd Michael Neumann Heather Gray William Hughes David Swanson Alexander Cockburn Website of the Day
June 3 / 4, 2006 Robert Fisk James Petras Rosemary Radford Ruether Harry Clark Jeffrey St. Clair Ron Ridenour Ron Jacobs Fred Gardner Peter Montague John Walsh Greg Moses Sean Donahue Mike Whitney Dave Patten Ali Khan Robert Dotson,
MD Hammond Guthrie St. Clair / D'Antoni Poets' Basement Website of the
Day
June 2, 2006 Kathy Kelly Alan Maass Mickey Z. Dave Lindorff Chris Kutalik Sunsara Taylor Sam Husseini Mike Ferner Website of the
Day
June 1, 2006 Brian Cloughley David Peterson Lee Ballinger Jonathan Cook Mike Whitney Paul Rockwell Clifton Ross Kevin Zeese Website of the
Day
May 31, 2006 Dave Lindorff Joshua Frank Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz P. Sainath Ramzy Baroud Seth Sandronsky Mickey Z. Ralph Nader Jeffrey St. Clair Website of the Day
May 30, 2006 Lee Ballinger Jonathan Cook Gary Leupp John Ross Robert Jensen Michael Dickinson Michael Carmichael Tim Wise Harry Browne Website of the
Day
May 27 / 29,
2006 Paul Craig Roberts Kathleen Christison Kathy Kelly Christopher
Reed Lawrence R. Velvel Tom Barry Gary Leupp Col. Dan Smith Ron Jacobs Don Fitz Fred Gardner Peter Montague Raymond Garcia John Farley Seth Sandronsky Tia Steele Lenni Brenner Dr. Susan Block Scott Michael Perey Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Recipe of the
Weekend Website of the Weekend
May 26, 2006 Col. Douglas
MacGregor Brian J. Foley Michael Dickinson Missy Comley Beattie Pierre Tristam Joe Allen Kona Lowell Roger Burbach Website of the
Day
May 25, 2006 Les AuCoin Jeff Halper Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Bob Wing Elise Gould Robert Bryce Website of the Day
May 24, 2006 Michael Donnelly Patrick Cockburn Lucinda Marshall Dave Lindorff Shmuel Rosner Moshe Adler Heather Gray Pratyush Chandra Paul Craig Roberts Floyd Rudmin Website of the Day
May 23, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Sharon Smith Sunsara Taylor Joel Whitney Alice Cherbonnier Ron Jacobs Kristen Ess Patrick Cockburn Website of the
Day
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June 12, 2006 Rebranding a TeamEnglish Nationalism and the World CupBy MIKE MARQUSEE In London at the moment you can't get away from it. The red cross flag of St. George is fluttering from cars and balconies, plastered on windows and billboards, inscribed on chocolate bars, pizza boxes and soft drink bottles. And in case anyone was not aware that England were off to compete in the World Cup, the message is re-enforced round the clock by every media outlet in the country. The flag was first deployed as an emblem for England during the Crusades, but since the 18th century has been superseded by the Union Jack, representing the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as it's formally known. For many years, the St. George's flag was widely seen as the property of the far right, a symbol of backward-looking, xenophobic Englishness. However, in the last decade or so it has regained respectability as a sporting symbol, the only one available for those who want to show their enthusiasm for the England team in cricket, rugby or football.
Of course, there's an obvious logic in supporting one's own home team, a logic that makes itself felt everywhere. And England supporters understandably resent being stereotyped as narrow-minded national chauvinists. Nonetheless, the ubiquitousness of the flag and the branding of every product under the sun with "England" does raise troubling questions. Only a month ago, in the English
local elections, the racist British National Party seized the
headlines by electing 33 candidates to council seats. Though
this was less than one per cent of the number of seats up for
grabs, it was a significant symptom of the broader impact of
the politics of immigration. Polls indicated that between 18
and 24 per cent of the electorate might consider voting BNP.
Disturbing, but not surprising, when the agenda of the BNP echoes
and is echoed by the mainstream preoccupation with the alleged
threat posed by asylum-seekers. Manipulation of the national identity is by no means confined to politicians of the extreme right. Having re-branded itself, New Labour has also sought to re-brand both Britain and England, pepping up the old identities with hyper-modern connotations, while at the same time reassuring the public that the boundaries with which they are familiar will remain intact.
The growth of the European Union, coupled with the devolution of some powers to Scotland and Wales in the late 1990s, has spurred a debate about "Englishness". While an awareness that this is not a clear-cut entity is to be welcomed, the problem with this debate is that it never gets very far. The question of what constitutes Englishness always carries with it the question of what constitutes non-Englishness. Cataloguing common values, customs or culture proves impossible, not least because England, like every other society, is criss-crossed with conflicting values, customs and cultures. What's more, Englishness carries both national and ethnic meanings. Being English is frequently used as a synonym for being white native-born English. The presence of non-white players in the England team acts as a corrective for this, as does the eminence of England's Swedish manager. But the context in which England is defined is wider than football. A history of Empire - in which the English were a globally privileged stratum - flows into contemporary debates surrounding the war on terror, the presence of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the rights of immigrants and the erosion of civil liberties. The media, sponsors and advertisers have made a huge investment in the World Cup and will do everything possible to maximise their return on it. That includes dedicating enormous resources to persuading people with no interest in football that the England team's Cup fortunes should be important to them, that there is a mystical link between themselves and the young men in England jerseys kicking a ball on the fields of Germany. Here Englishness becomes a content-free but potent attachment, easily exploited by the marketeers of both products and ideologies.
However, even as the red crosses proliferate, a more relaxed and fluid approach to sporting partisanship is also evident. In my neck of the woods, in north London, where our community includes substantial numbers of people with roots in the Caribbean and West Africa, the banners of Trinidad and Ghana can be seen, sometimes displayed alongside the flag of St. George. I've also spotted more than few individuals wearing Ronaldinho or Ronaldo replica shirts, and Portuguese and Spanish cafes sport their own colours. The cosmopolitan nature of English club football has also given a shake to the kaleidoscope of loyalties. Compared to national sporting identities, club identities are more a matter of choice and personal circumstance. For the individuals involved, they are therefore more expressive and intimate. Arsenal makes its home hereabouts and I know Arsenal fans whose rule of thumb in this World Cup is simply to support any team that has an Arsenal player in it, which enables them to transform themselves, when required, into supporters of France, Holland, Spain, Ivory Cost, Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Togo or Switzerland.
I'll nail my colours to the mast by declaring that the only result that really matters to me in this World Cup is that England do not win. That's not because I dislike the players or the manager; in fact, this side is one of the best and most entertaining England have sent out for many years. But the impact of a World Cup win on the society I live in would be deleterious. It would ignite an orgy of nationalistic celebration, which in present circumstances cannot be dismissed as harmless fun. Sport is essentially and intoxicatingly trivial, but in the World Cup it's the trivial magnified to mega-drama. One of the event's compelling, sometimes disturbing features is the way it infuses the pointlessly beautiful (beautifully pointless) game with an aura of immense consequence. When the penalty is missed, the world gasps. The amazing thing is that the event somehow survives the vast economic and ideological weight foisted on it, and remains such a gripping showcase for human genius and fallibility. Mike Marqusee is the author of Wicked
Messenger: Dylan in the 1960s and Redemption
Song: Muhammed Ali and the Sixties. He can be reach through
his website: www.mikemarqusee.com
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org. |