Nov. 24, 2009 Rabbi Avi Shafran : The Atheists' unintended gift JWisdom.com: You are a Philanthropist with Aliza Bulow (5 minutes) Nov. 23, 2009 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Negotiating nuisances JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff Nov. 20, 2009 Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry Nov. 19, 2009 Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes) Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics Nov. 18, 2009 Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes) Nov. 17, 2009 Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations? JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung Nov. 16, 2009 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes) Nov. 13, 2009 JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes) Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity Nov. 12, 2009 The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes) Nov. 11, 2009 Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes) Nov. 10, 2009 Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes) Nov. 9, 2009 Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes) Nov. 6, 2009 Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes) Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man Nov. 5, 2009 The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes) Nov. 4, 2009 Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered? JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes) Nov. 3, 2009 Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes) Nov. 2, 2009 Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes) Oct. 29, 2003 Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review June 8, 2009 / 16 Sivan 5769 Tiananmen icons By Jonathan Gurwitz http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | More than two centuries ago, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant laid out the proposition that the internal character of a nation — literally, its constitution — defines its external actions. Democratic nations built upon republican ideals and the rule of law will tend to be peaceful. Despotic governments that tyrannize their own people will also tend to terrorize their neighbors. Kant wrote in his 1795 essay, "Perpetual Peace": "In a constitution which is not republican, and under which the subjects are not citizens, a declaration of war is the easiest thing in the world to decide upon, because war does not require of the ruler … the least sacrifice of the pleasures of his table, the chase, his country houses, his court functions and the like." The 20th century was the proving ground for Kant's theory. Hitler and Stalin brutalized their own people before devastating most of Europe and then, under Stalin's communist successors, keeping half the continent behind an Iron Curtain. Later on, Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the Kim dynasty in North Korea tortured, gassed and starved the unfortunates who suffered their rule while attacking their neighbors and building the infrastructure of international terrorism. The communist Chinese government, which, 20 years ago this week, massacred peaceful protestors in Tiananmen Square, certainly follows in this despotic tradition. A government that wages war on its own people seeking democratic reform, one that sends tanks down the Avenue of Eternal Peace to slaughter thousands of unarmed students, will have no compunction about the use of violence beyond its borders. And so a regime that beats and imprisons Buddhist monks in Tibet — which China considers a province — is also the principal accomplice of the Sudanese government's genocide in Darfur. A party apparatus that sees Christians, Muslims and Falun Gong as ideological threats to its existence must keep the People's Liberation Army — with 2.3 million active duty troops — on a war footing against free Taiwan, with a total population of only 23 million. Zhao Ziyang was, in 1989, the general secretary of the Communist Party and one of China's most powerful leaders. He was an accomplished economic reformer who sympathized with the students and sought a peaceful resolution to the Tiananmen Square protests. Communist hardliners, however, outmaneuvered Zhao. For his lack of enthusiasm in defending the party, Zhao was placed under house arrest for the final 16 years of his life. Last month, Zhao's memoirs — secretly recorded during his confinement — became public. In translations provided by the Wall Street Journal, the former communist boss reveals an evolution in thinking that sounds remarkably Kantian: "The democratic systems of our socialist nations are all just superficial; they are not systems in which the people are in charge, but rather are ruled by a few or even a single person. "We can say that if a country wishes to modernize, not only should it implement a market economy, it must also adopt a parliamentary democracy as its political system. Otherwise, this nation will not be able to have a market economy that is healthy and modern, nor can it become a modern society with a rule of law." Zhao died in 2005. It would be too much to call him a hero of Tiananmen Square, though his subsequent defiance under house arrest was valiant, even noble. The world doesn't know who most of the real heroes of Tiananmen Square actually were. After Zhao's ouster, those who weren't killed were made to disappear in the Chinese gulag. What we do have are a handful of images, the most powerful being that of a man staring down a column of tanks. Tank man, as he is known, is gone. So far as we are aware, he left no memoirs. His spirit lives on, however, among Chinese people and people everywhere who would challenge the pleasures of their leaders' tables for a freer life and a more peaceful world. 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. Comment by clicking here. JWR contributor Jonathan Gurwitz, a columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, is a co-founder and twice served as Director General of the Future Leaders of the Alliance program at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. In 1986 he was placed on the Foreign Service Register of the U.S. State Department. Jonathan Gurwitz Archives © 2009, Jonathan Gurwitz

Arnold Ahlert  Mitch Albom  Michael Barone   Dave Barry  Tony Blankley  Andy Borowitz  David Broder  Stratfor Briefing  Mona Charen  Linda Chavez  Ann Coulter  Greg Crosby  Larry Elder  Suzanne Fields  John Fund  Frank J. Gaffney  Lloyd Garver  Jonah Goldberg  Julia Gorin  Jonathan Gurwitz  Paul Greenberg  Lewis Grossberger  Victor Davis Hanson  Betsy Hart  Nat Hentoff  David Horowitz  Laura Ingraham  Cheri Jacobus Jeff Jacoby  Paul Johnson  Jack Kelly  Ed Koch  Ch. Krauthammer  Michael Ledeen  John Leo  David Limbaugh  Kathryn Lopez  Rich Lowry  Michelle Malkin  Jackie Mason  Dick Morris  Bill O'Reilly  Jim Mullen  Clarence Page  Kathleen Parker  Dennis Prager  Wesley Pruden  Tom Purcell  Jonathan Rauch  Celia Rivenbark  Robert Robb  Cokie & Steve Roberts  Pat Sajak  Debra J. Saunders  Culture Shlock  Roger Simon  Michael Smerconish  Thomas Sowell  Mark Steyn  John Stossel  Cal Thomas  Bob Tyrrell  Diana West  Dave Weinbaum  George Will  Walter Williams  Byron York  Mort Zuckerman  Robert Arial  Chuck Asay  Baloo  Chip Bok  Dry Bones   Lisa Benson  John Branch  Gary Brookins  John Cole  J. D. Crowe  John Deering  Brian Duffy  Everything's Relative  Mallard Fillmore  Jake Fuller  Bob Gorrel  Joe Heller  David Hitch  Jerry Holber  Steve Kelley  Jeff Koterba  Dick Locher  Chan Lowe  Ranan R. Lurie  Jimmy Margulies  Rick McKee  Michael Ramirez  Kevin Siers  Jeff Stahler  Ed Stein  Danna Summers  John Trever  Gary Varvel  Kirk Walters  How 2  Lori Borgman  The Savvy Consumer  Elder matters  Fixit  Dr. Peter Gott  GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko  Richard Lederer  Tech Maven  Every Monday Matters  Nutrition Myths  Bookmark These  Bruce Williams  How Stuff Works