Walt, as you know, is half of the anti-Semitic, factually challenged duo behind 'The Israel Lobby'. That particular book, interestingly enough, echoes one of the central theses of Mein Kampf, the myth of a disloyal Jewish fifth column, with Jewish money and Jewish behind-the-scenes power poisoning the fabric of the nation.
So I'm certainly not surprised to find him admitting that he owns a copy and apparently has read it in detail. For that matter, so have I,but I never incorporated any of it in my writing.
Walt's main theme in this piece concerns his disagreement with the efforts of the Bavarian State government to prevent new editions of Hitler's book from being published in Germany (where it's banned) now that the copyright has run out.
After mouthing the expected politically correct homilies about the book's racial views Walt puts forth the proposition that banning is the wrong way to go, because:
"In addition to being filled with a lot of appalling racist claptrap, Mein Kampf is an awful book-turgid, tedious, badly organized, and mostly boring. So the danger that a German edition it will win a lot of new converts seems remote. Second, it's widely available in pirated versions on the Internet and in plenty of other countries (including the Untied States), so anybody with neo-Nazi sympathies can get a copy already."
Walt doesn't mention it for obvious reasons, but a lot of those countries are in the Arab world, where 'Mein Kampf' translates as 'My Jihad' and is a runaway bestseller, thanks to a translation to Arabic by Hitler's good friend and ally Amin al-Husseini, the Palestinian Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.
The Arabic version of Mearshimer and Walt's offshoot of 'Mein Kampf' also shares the distinction of being a nifty bestseller in that part of the world.
Walt essentially says that censoring 'Mein Kampf' is a case of shutting the barn door after the horse has run off. No argument there.
But I also find his criticism of the book's views a huge case of the pot saying to the kettle 'Hello, Mr. Black.'
Hitler was just a lot more honest and up front about things.
At what point has Israel ever persuaded the United States to act against its onw best interests with regards to foreign policy? I can't think of a time. While Israel does receive money from the United States, it is a pitiance compared to what the Arabs receive. Also, it comes with significant strings attached and other restrictions on how it much be used. This is not the case with money given to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other Arab countries.
ReplyDeleteWill the United States go to war to defend Israel? The answer to this question is no. At least this is the case under current Democrat and Republican leaders. Will the United States go to war to defend Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, "Palestine", or any other Arab country receiving US money assuming it had the means to do so. In the case of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the answer is an emphatic yes. This has already been done once before. In the case of the other countries, the answer is most likely the US would go to war to defend them, assuming it had the means.
Clearly Arab influence has been in play in the past in getting the United States to act in ways that did not serve its interests. An example of this is the invasion of Serbia. In this case, the United States came to the aid of an Islamists terrorist supporting entity and in the process created friction with Russia. In this case, America's national security has been jepordized on multiple fronts. Islamic terrorists are stronger, Russia is angered, and the United States is weaker. This is a clear example of US policy being manipulated to serve interests other than those of America and the Arabs very likely played a large role in this process. Israel has never manipulated the US to act in ways that run contrary to its just interests.
Btw, during the first Gulf War when Israel was attacked by Iraq why didn't we get out of the way and let Israel take out Iraq's military? We could have stayed out of the way, a major problem would have been solved, and some of our brave men and women who perished in that war could likely still be alive today. Also, the need to go back to Iraq in 2003 would have been eliminated.