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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
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February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
April 14, 2009
/ 20 Nissan 5769
Drifting toward the cataract
By
Paul Greenberg
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
"We seem to be moving, drifting, steadily, against our will … toward some hideous catastrophe. Everybody wishes to stop it, but they do not know how." Winston Churchill, speaking in the House of Commons, April 14, 1937
We seem to be back in the 1930s not just financially but diplomatically. In both finance and diplomacy, the structures holding up the old order shiver, and all sorts of remedies are proposed. Except one: a clear, steady determination to shore up first principles like freedom, faith, accountability and a return to the one virtue that sustains all the others: courage.
In 1937, when a backbencher stood up in Commons as time was running out to save the peace, and repeated the same warnings he had been uttering for years, he was about as welcome as Cassandra prophesying doom. She was only a madwoman, they said in Troy. Just as they would say in London that Mr. Churchill was really getting to be a crashing bore.
Surely, said the sophisticates of the time, the world could work something out with Herr Hitler. Why not leave it to the diplomats, to the international community, to some hopeful new leader rather than that old curmudgeon? Defense? It was too much bother. Times were tough. Better to economize and hope for the best. Words cost less than actions.
No wonder words are so cheap; their supply multiplies while their value diminishes. The whole world now expresses wordy concern about North Korea's latest provocationfiring off a missile that may not have attained orbit around Earth but nevertheless achieved its objective: attention. And attention can be converted into concessions: more economic aid, more food shipments, more power plants….
Pyongyang's list of demands grows as endless as its arrogance. Which was predictable. Its scare tactics have worked before, and they should work again as a morally disarmed world rushes to (a) denounce North Korea, and (b and more significant) appease it.
Consider the response of the president and commander-in-chief of the world's supposed superpower. Barack Obama goes to Europe and says the United States should lead the way to nuclear disarmament because we are the only nation that has used a nuclear weapon in war. No need to mention that the use of that horrendous weapon ended one world war and ushered the world into this century without another. Call it peace by terror, for both East and West had atomic weapons but realized that to actually use them would mean The End.
Winston Churchill, as sage in his old age as in his mere 60s, compared this balance of terror to that of two scorpions in a bottle, each aware that, if they stung the other, both would die. But soon the bottle will be full of scorpions as one nation after another moves to acquire The Bomb and the means to deliver it. Or maybe pass it on to some al-Qaida that will deliver it for them just as Pakistan's A.Q. Khan spread the blueprints for nuclear weaponry far and wide.
The greater danger facing the world was never in the nukes themselves but in who would have them. Who really objected to the Americans or Soviets or Brits or French or Israelis or even Communist Chinese becoming nuclear powers? Each in their own way wielded nuclear weapons conservatively. Their nukes served as a deterrent to preserve the balance of power rather than upset it.
In a changed world in which North Korea's erratic dictatorship, aka the crazy aunt in the attic, fires still another missile over the heads of its neighbors, and Iran's leader openly proclaims its intention to wipe another country off the map, international protests are about as effective as … well, as they were in the 1930s. If you ever wondered what happened to the old League of Nations, it didn't actually disappear. It was just reincarnated as a now equally impotent but much wordier and uglier United Nations.
As that Member of Commons warned after Munich, while an English leader and his talk of Peace in Our Time was being cheered by the multitudes: "Do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor we rise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time."
Some words do indeed carry meaning, even prophecy.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Send your comments by clicking here.
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