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and the Middle East
"With the various right and left arms of the Israeli-
Jewish lobby firmly in control of both political parties in the
U.S...'the lobby' is assured that the key positions at the
White House, Congress, the Pentagon, Foggy Bottom,
and CIA will always be held by already-approved members
of their club.... Maybe even more importantly to the
Israelis, no one unacceptable to them can ever get
a top policy job in today's Washington the way
things have been arranged and organized."
by Mark Bruzonsky*
Mid-East Realities EDITORIAL - MER - www.MiddleEast.Org - 3 August 2004: John Kerry's Middle East policies have already been heavily mortgaged, if not downright sold, to those who have the greatest interest and power in controlling what the U.S. does in the crucial Middle East region and in determining where American arms, monies, and covert actions flow in the future -- powerful American Jews closely associated with Israel.
True today's Republican party is also heavily mortgaged when it comes to the Middle East -- but to different groups and persons. The Republicans are mortgaged to the Christian evangelical community and to the hard-line Jewish Zionist neocon lobby which has managed as never before to place so many of its key operatives in leading positions at the Pentagon, the CIA, the State Department, and the National Security Council as well as important media connections. To name a few names: Wolfowitz, Feith, Abrams, Perle, Libby, Zakheim, Frum, Kristol, Krauthammer, Altman, Podhoretz, and many others.
Today's Democratic party is similarly mortgaged but to competing groups comprised of Jewish Zionist 'liberals' long associated with the Israeli Labor party and what use to be seriously called 'the peace process'. To name a few names: Ross, Indyk, Berger, Spielberg, Saban, Albright, Rubin, Grossman, Laipson, Lieberman, Streisand, Miller and many others.
The Washington game being played today is among many of the same operatives who have been around for decades now, and they all know instinctively at this point how the game of political musical power chairs is played when the other party comes to power. Those who have been waiting in the wings at various holding operations including foundations, think-tanks, universities, and law firms simply exchange places with those who in effect then form another new shadow government when out of power politely awaiting again their next turn.
With the various right and left arms of the Israeli-Jewish lobby firmly in control of both political parties in the U.S. when it comes to Middle East policies, the lobby is assured that the key positions at the White House, Congress, the Pentagon, Foggy Bottom, and CIA will always be held by approved members of their club, albeit some more 'liberal' (Democrats) and some more 'conservative' (Republicans). Maybe even more importantly to the Israelis, no one unacceptable to them can ever get a top policy job in today's Washington the way things have been arranged and organized by the big money men coupled to their large assortment of policy professionals and de facto as well as de jure lobbyists and 'journalists'.
In the case of Kerry, fully a third at least of his top funders (the so-called 'vice-chairs') and well over half of his top Middle East policy advisers (the officials-in-waiting) are Jewish and all are closely connected with the Israelis and acceptible to them. If Kerry is elected and the Democrats take back executive power in Washington it will be a return to the old Carter-Clinton policies when it comes to the Middle East. It's all very reminiscent of how the extended Israeli-Jewish lobby infiltrated the Clinton campaign a decade ago, and the Carter campaign long before that, making sure that whomever resides in the White House is controlled (or if need be checkmated) by them, as well as by Congress, no matter what other pressures for independent policies there might be.
One of the major players now out of the closet is the man who has probably given the most money to the Kerry campaign and to the Democratic party in recent years. In addition to his long-time Israeli connections he's even got an Israeli name, Haim Saban. Add to that this is the same Saban who a few years ago essentially purchased a part of the Brookings Institution in downtown Washington, long known as a bastion for Democratic party players waiting for their next turn at power. His money in fact got a whole new think-tank within Brookings named after him; and here Saban installed non-other-than Martin Indyk, former head of the original Israeli-Jewish Lobby Think Tank -- the Near East Institute now headed by his sidekick Dennis Ross -- to be head of the new Saban Institute.
Add to this sordid Washington brew additional American society realities with regard to the extraordinary concentration of media ownership and information control in what now has to be thought of as a carefully managed pseudo-democracy nearly totally dominated by big money and pressure groups. Here too powerful wealthy American Jews and those they can hire to work for them -- nearly all with long and close associations with Israel -- predominant in an overwhelming manner. To name a few names: Zuckerman, Bronfman, Sultzberger, Redstone, Levin, Koppel, King, Blitzer, Kondrache, Kristol, Crystal, Peretz, Eisner, Chernin, and many others.
The reality is that the much-touted American 'two-party system' is in actuality closer to a single large corporate establishment party with two intermingling branches; so much so in fact that sometimes key players are confused which party they belong to and even change sides in midstream. To name just a few names: Eisenhower, Reagan, Powell, Clark, Kerry and many others.
Indeed, it is because of this now deeply-entrenched situation that 'liberal'
Democrat John Kerry's first choice for Vice-President was 'conservative' Republican John McCain; that neocon Democrat Joe Lieberman recently teamed up with flag-waving Republican Senator Jon Kyl to reconstitute the 'Committee on the Present Danger'; and that long-time billionairess Republican wife Teresa 'Heinz Kerry' now wants to be First Lady of the Democrats.
What all this means for the all important Arab-Israeli conflict -- the original cancer that has now metastasized and poisons U.S. relations with the Arab and Muslim worlds -- is that with a Kerry victory there will be another major push to try to cajole and entice Yasser Arafat, or his successors, into accepting some kind of shriveled, disjointed, and permanently crippled Palestinian Statelet; even though what the Israelis have already done to the once Holy Land, formerly known as historic Palestine, makes that 'final solution' no longer realistic. Lacking any other suitable policy acceptable to Israel; they revert to the old discredited and now historically passed-up one.
To sum up... At this point in history one can think of the basic political alignment in the U.S. and the Middle East as follows:
Republicans - tied to the Likud in Israel, the evangelical right and the neocons at home, the super wealthy 'client regimes' in the region, and now masquerading with the 'democracy' theme that hardly anyone beyond American shores takes seriously.
Democrats - tied to the Labor party and remnants in Israel, the pro-Israel labor movement and Jewish 'liberals' at home (small in numbers but extremely important in the media, money, and power circles), many of the 'client regimes' in the region (even if now trying to find alternative strongman regimes), and masquerading with the 'peace process' theme that hardly anyone anymore really finds credible beyond American and some European shores.
* Mark Bruzonsky's background and publication information is at http://www.MiddleEast.Org/mab. He has been Washington Representative of the World Jewish Congress and has visited countries throughout Europe and the Middle East on more than 200 visits. He personally arranged with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat the first public telegram ever sent from the Arab world to Israel. Bruzonsky can be reached at Mark@MiddleEast.Org and (202) 362-5266.
