Jordan

A Half Century Since The Six Day War Of Israel Against Arab Nations In 1967

Ronald 6 Comments

It is now a half century since the Six Day Arab-israeli War of June 5-10, 1967.

Israel was able to overcome Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, and gain control of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Desert, and the Golan Heights.

Israel has had to engage in war since, and lost territory to Egypt in the 18 day Yom Kippur war in October 1973.

It has also had to engage in conflict with the Palestinians and their engagement in terrorism and warfare over the past half century, with the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) after the Six Day War.

The Sinai Desert, the Gaza Strip, and parts of the West Bank have been returned, but much of the West Bank, along with the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem remain under Israeli control, and the tensions in the area remain high.

This author wrote a study of the US-Israeli relationship from Harry Truman to Donald Trump, worthy of your attention, with the publication recently on History News Network, and then republished by Newsweek, and both versions are on the right side of my blog.

47 Years Since The Assassination Of Robert F. Kennedy: The Might Have Beens!

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Today, June 5, in the year 1968, 47 years ago, New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy, an active seeker of the Democratic Presidential nomination, had just won the California Primary over Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota.

It seemed as if RFK was on the way to the Democratic nomination, although Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who had not entered the primaries, had a strong backing from party bosses, labor unions, and city mayors and many Senators and Governors, so there was great uncertainty as to what might happen at the Chicago Convention at the end of August.

Tragically, however, history was transformed, as RFK was assassinated by a Palestinian Christian immigrant, Sirhan Sirhan, who was angered at RFK’s backing of Israel in the year earlier Six Day War, in which Israel won territory from Egypt, Jordan and Syria, with the war beginning precisely on that date in 1967!

There is still debate and speculation on the RFK murder, with some believing it was a conspiracy with more than one gunman involved.

In any case, RFK comes closest to any non Presidential nominee to be considered a likely winner of the Presidency, had he not been killed, so therefore the “Might Have Been” issue arises.

My forthcoming book on August 15, available with a 30 percent discount from Rowman Littlefield, with the indicated four digit code, devotes Chapter 10 to the Robert F. Kennedy assassination!

Barack Obama And Religious Extremism: Totally Accurate Statement, So Why The Outcry?

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President Barack Obama spoke up on Thursday at the Annual Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC on the dangers of religious extremism, promotion of one’s own faith as the only true faith, and legitimizing bloodshed and violence in the name of one’s God.

This was in reaction to the horrors that have been perpetrated by ISIL (ISIS) in the Middle East, including beheadings of Americans, British, and Japanese hostages; and the even more horrific act of taking a Jordanian pilot, captured while attacking ISIL targets, and setting him on fire, causing him to be burned to death.

What Obama said was that any religion that endorses or promotes such bloodshed and violence should be condemned, and he reminded our nation, much of it totally unaware of our history, that we had seen the lynching, butchering, and setting on fire of a few thousand African American men and boys in the American South and Midwest over a period of more than a hundred years of Jim Crow segregation in the 19th and 20th century and Ku Klux Klan influence; had also experienced nearly 250 years of slavery, which included similar mistreatment; and that world wide, there had been the Christian war on Islam during the Crusades; and the Catholic Church Inquisition of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance period.

Obama did not specifically mention the horrible persecution of Jews by Christians over two millenniums, and not just the Catholic Church, but also Protestant groups, including Martin Luther and the Lutheran Church; or the mass murder of Catholics vs Protestants in Northern Ireland, as recently as the period of the Irish Republican Army between 1969 and 1998.

And of course, in the Middle East, today, as shown by the setting on fire of a Jordanian who was Muslim, the old holy war of Shiite and Sunni Muslims continues unabated, as it has for 13 centuries; and there is also bloodshed between Muslims and Hindus in India; and turmoil in the Balkans, that led to mass murder by Christians against Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.

From what Obama reminded us of, plus the additional information provided here by the author, and well known to scholars, it is clear how devastating organized religion has been in its promotion of narrow mindedness and hate, and commitment to torture and extermination in the name of God, no matter which religion.

So Obama was offering a moral lesson, but yet the outcry by right wingers, who do not wish to be reminded of the sins of Christianity fanatics, and only wish to look at the Muslim fanatics today, and imagine that this is the whole story of religion in history, is very troubling. They fail to realize that many more Muslims have been killed by the barbarism of ISIL (ISIS), and their refusal to accept and recognize the history of Christianity as being just as full, historically, of violence and bloodshed, bodes ill for the future ability to understand and accept religious differences and promote religious tolerance!

Foreign Policy And The Republican Party: Time For Jon Huntsman, NOT Rand Paul Nor Dick Cheney Viewpoint!

Ronald 1 Comment

Foreign policy is tearing the Republican Party into factions, nothing really new, as the same situation arose in the time of World War II and the Cold War.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is calling for a return to military options in the Iraq mess, with much of the nation being take over by Sunni Muslims, establishing Sharia Law and slaughtering Shiite Muslims, and also endangering Iraq’s neighbors, including Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and alarming Shiite Iran.

This whole mess was caused by the US intervention in Iraq in 2003, based on false premises promoted by Dick Cheney and the neoconservatives, who want a similar intervention now to overcome ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), a group even rejected by Al Qaeda as too violent and extremist!

This is a nightmare in the making, and also threatens Israel, and is bound to lead to a wider war in the Middle East very soon, as it is believed ISIS is not content to gain control of Iraq.

So along comes Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, often called an isolationist, who is against any intervention in the Middle East, and blames the George W. Bush-Dick Cheney administration for the present mess, rather than Barack Obama for having withdrawn all military forces at the end of 2011. But Rand Paul is seen by many as having no clue to foreign policy issues.

So one might wonder: Where can Republicans turn to for a rational, reasonable, intelligent foreign policy, not based on the advice of neoconservatives and Dick Cheney, but also not isolationist like Rand Paul?

The answer is former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, who has the ONLY extensive foreign policy experience of any potential GOP nominee for President in 2016. No one is paying attention, because Huntsman is seen as not conservative enough, not Tea Party backed, not sufficiently anti Obama.

The only hope for the Republicans in 2016, however, is for them to overcome their divisions, and unite around Jon Huntsman as the only legitimate nominee, who is sensible, sane, and also able to deal with “real world” situations in the world, without the extreme reaction of the neoconservatives and Dick Cheney, or the isolationism of Rand Paul!

But will the GOP be smart enough to realize this? The betting odds are, sadly for them, and for the nation, NO!

Obama, Biden, Kerry, Hagel (Syria) Vs. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld (Iraq)

Ronald 15 Comments

The tragedy of the Iraq War, an ill conceived and unnecessary war, which weakened the United States and emboldened Iran, is now haunting the Obama Administration, as it considers military intervention in Syria, as a result of the use of chemical weapons, believed to have been promoted by the government of Bashar Al Assad.

Chemical warfare is an illegal crime under international law, and a crime against humanity, and IF it is proved that Assad authorized this, rather than a renegade group, it is essential that the international community punish him for his war crime!

If nothing is done, then it will be seen as an endorsement of a war crime, a crime only done by a very small handful of government leaders in world history, including, of course, Adolf Hitler!

It will show that the world is again sitting by as they did when Hitler came to power in 1933 in what became known as Nazi Germany!

But the failures of the Iraq War, including the human cost and financial burden, is now burdening the Obama Administration as they plan strategy.

But to compare the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld led tragedy to what might be done under Obama, Biden, Kerry, Hagel is to distort reality, as the credibility of the first group is extremely different than that of the second group!

We are talking about three leaders who regularly lied to us, against four leaders with solid credentials and principles, who are reluctantly planning an intervention in a measured way!

The hypocrisy of Republicans who rushed to back the Bush Administration, while now opposing action by the Obama Administration, is nothing new, part of the continued attempt to undermine anything that Barack Obama and his colleagues want and believe in, whether domestic or foreign.

Obama wants a limited engagement, similar to Bill Clinton’s intervention in Kosovo in 1999, a 78 day bombing campaign against Serbia, with only a loss of one plane, and no human casualties.

While there is no way to know the reaction of Iran, Russia, China and others if there was an internationally led effort to punish Syria’s outlaw government, it is hard to conceive that intervention in Syria would lead to a wider war.

In any case, a chemical warfare Syria represents a threat to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and really, the civilized world, so to do nothing is simply unacceptable!

Let us pray for the good judgment of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry, and Chuck Hagel, as they face what could be the signature foreign policy challenge of the Obama Presidency, and hope that other nations, including Great Britain, whose Parliament just rejected any action, will come to support a necessary minimal intervention against an international outlaw government, which threatens the long range sanity of the world, if chemical warfare goes unpunished!

Barack Obama, The Successful Diplomat In The Middle East!

Ronald 3 Comments

President Barack Obama is finishing a triumphant trip to the Middle East, having visited Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan, and making clear the following:

America will continue to be backing Israel in any threat from any source, including Iran.

The only way to ultimate peace and tranquility is for there to be a Palestinian state alongside Israel, with both accepting the reality of a moderate government that respects the rights of both nations, and gives opportunity to young Palestinians and young Israelis for a future secure and prosperous existence.

Obama was able to convince Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to apologize to Turkey for an unfortunate naval incident in 2010, therefore helping to restore good relations between the two nations, an important development for Middle East stability.

It is clear that a large portion of the Israeli people, particularly the young, admire Obama, based on the reception he received in his most important speech, one of the greatest of the Obama Presidency. The government of Netanyahu is, clearly, more hawkish than the general Israeli population, but Ohama is working on him to promote hopes for a peaceful resolution, ultimately, of the Middle East conflict!

Barack Obama knows that Netanyahu must deal with him, and Obama now has the upper hand, but with the assurance that America will act, if need be, against an Iranian nuclear threat!

Three Key Events Of June 5 And 6, Which Transformed America , Commemorated

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While the author was away for a week’s vacation in Montreal and Quebec City, three key events, which transformed America, were commemorated.

Historically, the first event was D Day, the invasion of Normandy, France by the United States, Great Britain and the Free French, on June 6, 1944. This was the beginning of the final push against Nazi Germany, opening up a second front in the war against Adolf Hitler. Thouands of Americans and other allied troops died on that day and in the days that followed on a great mission, and this is what makes the World War II generation called by many the “greatest generation”!

So on the 67th anniversary of that pathbreaking event, one needed to stop and think how rapidly we are losing that generation, with the minimum age of those engaged in that great battle now being 85! We can never do enough to salute the bravery and courage of those who perished, as well as those who survived that crucial moment in World War II, allowing us to be the society we are today!

Secondly, on June 5, 1967, 44 years ago, the Six Day War of Israel versus Egypt, Jordan and Syria, began after information came to the Israelis of an imminent attack, and their decision to commence a war of pre-emption. The war lasted just six days, and led to Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, the Sinai Desert, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank.

Out of this war came the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the rise of Yasser Arafat, and two generations of terrorism, which have affected the security and safety of Israel, the United States, and all western nations. And attempts to negotiate peace on the occupied territories has led to return of some land to Egypt and the Palestinians, recognition by Egypt and Jordan, but failure to recognize Israel by other Arab nations, and attempts by the US to promote a comprehensive peace, meeting with utter failure and constant tensions in the area.

But to expect Israel to return more territory without guarantees of security, safety, and recognition of their right to exist, is to dream the impossible.

Finally, exactly a year after the beginning of the war in the Middle East, Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, brother of the slain President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles immediately after winning the California Presidential primary. Considered the front runner for the Democratic nomination for President, RFK was murdered by a Palestinian Arab named Sirhan Sirhan, who worked in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, and was angry over RFK’s open support of the Israelis in the Six Day War a year earlier.

So RFK became the first victim of Palestinian terrorism, something not recognized for a long time. And America lost its possible future President, and one has to wonder how he would have performed as President of the United States.

Many have seen RFK as a transformative figure, who would have changed the course of American history in a major way. We will never know how his impact would have affected us, but we are well aware that we had an opportunity for a major change to the left, and instead descended into Republican conservatism which has put America in a precarious state in the past 40 years, and has caused the Great Recession that we are still reeling from in 2011!