George Handlery about the week that was. An advance for the President of Hope? The end of the Zionist conspiracy. Katyn, once more. What “it cannot happen” guarantees. Flee from information into the underbrush of fads. Old terrorists do not fade away, they dive under.
 
1. The new American President stands to benefit from a period during which, exploiting his universal popularity, diplomatically much will be possible. A number of old positions that allegedly prevented settlements can now be given up. The claim can be made that the new and uncompromised President of Hope has changed all equations. This makes it for the US side and her opposite possible to abandon hither hard positions that might have played to a home audience without having a chance on the interstate level. For the old deadlock Bush can be made responsible and, therefore, old positions can be surrendered without loss of face. In the case of those “hostiles” who secretly feel that they have painted themselves into a corner this will bring results. However, the genuine hard-liners will miss the chance as they try to harness the new wind that blows to further their cause.
 
2. Some myths are tenacious. A popular article of faith mentioned by those who now look beyond Obamania to chart their course makes the point. It is the suggestion that a change-of-sides by the US is to be made the proof of “change”. So the question is “will Obama confront the powerful Israel-lobby” and “stop the financing of the occupation of Palestine”. The inferences ignore that the Jewish vote is split. The division is to the advantage of the Democrats. Those Jews (and others) who emphasize Israel’s existence in security voted Republican. Those “Zionist conspirators” who voted Obama knew and accepted that their favorite is inclined to change significantly the US’ Near Eastern policy. Therefore, those concerned can rest assured. With Jewish blessing the “Zionist conspiracy” has less influence on Obama than it ever had on any US Administration since 1948.
 
3. To protect Europe and herself against rocket-transported WMD attacks by rogue states, the US has proposed to station ten defensive missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia opposed the project. The interceptors supposedly endanger her security. Moscow reacted with a special present to celebrate Obama’s election. It announced that mid-range rockets will be set up in her Kaliningrad/ Königsberg enclave located between Poland and Lithuania. Frankly, besides the psychological aspects of this, the move has no military consequence and thus does not change the balance of power. The newest is that, sensing the new Jell-O built into the US position, Moscow offered not to station the weapons in exchange for dropping the Czech/Polish project. This amounts to a generous deal of something for nothing.
 
4. Katyn is a symbol that is comparable to Auschwitz. Except that, under Soviet and now Russian pressure, since WW2 it is not advisable to mention the matter. As a result, in many cases, the term is not recognized and so even here, an explanation becomes necessary. The Katyn massacre describes a KGB action through one of the extermination’s venues. The purpose was to eliminate thousands of Polish nationals – frequently POWs – or persons who had fled to Soviet controlled territory once Hitler, then still a Soviet ally, had attacked Poland in 1939. The idea had been to “decapitate” Poland by murdering its best educated elements. This amounts to the Soviet equivalent of the Nazi policy of enslavement of Polish “subhumans”. After the war, the Soviets made Katyn into a matter upon which her, “friendship” depended. Accordingly, contradicting the existing evidence, Katyn had to be blamed on Nazi Germany. Since the collapse of the USSR the Stalin-Hitler pact’s secret clause (it divided Eastern Europe), as well as “Katyn” have been admitted and confirmed by Russia. Reflecting the rise of chauvinistic nationalism, Putin’s system is again squeamish about Katyn. It is a gloomy symbolic sign surrounding a highly revealing episode. Meanwhile, some are still inclined to buy their peace by practicing complicity through silence.
 
5. You do not have to confront or invite in the world’s problems. They will visit you in response to your attempt to ignore them.
 
6. Our method of crisis management. Whenever we all agree that, “it cannot happen” we are making sure that it does.
 
7. The German Greens – in practical terms the ecological section of the pale Reds – have chosen a new Chairman. Mr. Ozdimir – a relative moderate – is of Turkish descent and places weight on bringing the majority together with the immigrant community. The choice hardens an impression. In Europe, the Left has those nationalized immigrants that form a closely linked unintegrated community in its electoral core of supporters. This explain why the Left is for uncontrolled immigration, easy nationalization and the virtual autonomy from the rule of law of groups that also disproportionally benefit from diverse welfare services.
 
8. About fad-fed views. They amount to the spreading replacement of thinking by echoing the sound of the herd’s stampede. The resulting PC is merely a symptom of the tendency to put our brains in the stand-bye mode once a comfy crutch to lean on is handed to us. Oddly, this happens at a time when, by pushing a button, a deluge of information becomes available to all. Therefore, an old truth we liked to agree upon falls. The inclination to be seduced by shibboleths has not lack of information or intelligence as its cause. Could it be that, the flight from felling individually generated positions does not represent a contradiction and that it amounts to a clumsy defense against the broad pallet of contradictory ideas? This makes sanitizing a neutering competing facts and interpretations by stuffing them into handy containers an attractive defense against the uncertainties of our age of complexity. The result is coping by simplification.
 
9. If Darfur is mentioned, an association emerges. In it massacres by an ethnically and religiously alien government comes to mind. The painful blemish on the collective conscience of the world provokes commiseration. It is sufficiently strong to make us throw a few pennies into the hat. Now, if one is sincere then one must be prepared to condemn the Sudanese government even if it has powerful protectors and happens to be dominated by adherents of the Religion of Peace. [This seems to be an imperative even if the victims are black Christians. --> This is wrong; Marcfrans is right. The Blacks in Darfur are Muslims -- gh, Nov 24] The dilemma here is that expressing outrage provoked by a misdeed is not possible in a vacuum. Supporting victims implies combating the cause of the inequity. This becomes uncomfortable if the impostor is strong or is backed by a major power. Facing up to those who pull the strings in the background of an atrocity can be quite uncomfortable. The case of Darfur and Sudan has just produced an illustration for the dilemma for nice guys that are unwilling to make a fist. Even though properly embargoed Sudan is now purchasing modern airplanes. They are MIG 29s. Russia is the seller. Therefore, those who really want to help Darfur would have to pressure Russia in deeds and not only in words. The likely response, however, will be to courageously send bandages to fix up those who will be machine gunned by the planes.
 
10. Leniency has a price that is not paid by the generous. Ultimately it is the innocent “bystander” who pays. Spain’s cops are looking for a terrorist called appropriately, Ignazio Chaos. The embarrassing thing is that the police are trying to catch someone it already had. Having been found guilty in the death of 25, the man had been in jail for 21 years. When he was caught for the first time, he got 3000 years. However, that only meant needing to do time for thirty years max. Since Mr. Chaos behaved well he was scheduled to be set free in 2006. That did not work out because he published a newspaper article that was interpreted to be a threat with terrorism. This resulted in some extra time. However, those in charge of public order could not be easily dissuaded from helping a victim of bad fortune. Ask yourself, do people in jail not deserve pity and therefore help? Especially if they are locked up for three thousand years which is a long time and therefore likely to cause depression! Therefore, Mr. Chaos was let go. Nevertheless, he also had to return for a hearing. Well, can you guess who missed the hearing? The only sign of life from the freed con was from the day of his release. In a message to a Basque gathering, he advised them to do what he had in mind, which was to “continue the armed struggle”. If Chaos is caught again he will probably explain his misbehavior with a midlife crisis. At 53 this might even convince the fools who let him lose on society to forgive again. November 20: A court orders the release of five Guantanamo detainees. Their terrorist involvement could not be established to the court’s satisfaction.