Segacs’s World I Know

JWR posted an article by Sam Schulman in which he claims that appeasement in the 1930s may have accidentally caused the Holocaust, but today’s anti-war activists have no accident about their intentions:

Our grandparents’ anti-war allies enabled the Holocaust — by accident. Your present day anti-war allies wish quite deliberately to destroy “Jewish interests” — and the lives of many, many Jews in the process. And this is not an unintentional byproduct of good intentions — but for many leaders of the peace movement, a precious goal.

[ . . . ]

As Orwell pointed out long ago, pacifism in the face of armed evil is equivalent to a blind worship of force. For those of our race – the historic victims of so many causes – it would be disastrous to make the same mistake twice, and entrust our children’s fate to the hands of these sad and complicitous pacifists.

Yeah, go read the whole thing. Twice.

Maybe I ought to take back my praise of York University, in light of this: (via Damian Penny)

A protest at York University over a possible war in Iraq ended in violence yesterday when opposing groups crossed paths.

Miriam Levin, a Jewish student, said she was intimidated and roughed up by the protesters. And a group that had a U.S. flag at its booth said members were attacked by demonstrators who marched through the university.

[ . . . ]

Later, the protesters entered classes for a few minutes to talk to students, said Joel Duff of the Canadian Federation of Students.

It was when the line passed a booth set up by the Young Zionist Partnership and the Canadian Alliance that a confrontation occurred. Students who ran the booth claim protesters shouted insults before charging them.

“Hundreds of people basically swarmed three people,” said Paul Cooper, president of the Zionist group. He said only a few people were confrontational, but everyone else “watched and did nothing to stop it.”

The anti-war student movement keeps showing its true colours again and again: antisemitic, anti-American, and all too willing to resort to mob violence.

After what happened at Concordia when Netanyahu tried to speak, there was an international outpouring of support for the Jewish community here. I have a feeling that after yesterday, the students at York could use some of the same.

As if we needed any more evidence that Saddam is a bad guy:

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has ordered uniforms replicating those worn by U.S. and British troops and will issue them to paramilitary fighters who would attack Iraqi civilians and blame it on Western forces, the U.S. Central Command charged on Thursday.

Sound familiar? Sounds an awful lot like how Hitler started World War II, doesn’t it?

But of course, the anti-war protesters charge that it’s the Americans who want to kill innocent Iraqi civilians. Sure, right.

Anthropologist Scott Atran published his study on suicide bombers in the journal Science, in which he claims that it is a dangerous misconception to call these people “desperate” or “crazed”: (Hat tip: Josh)

Atran, who has lived in Jerusalem and who did his own research as well as reviewed the work of others, noted that many suicide bombers are relatively affluent and well-educated, and so cannot be seen to be acting out of desperation. Instead, they are manipulated by leaders who know how to tap into instincts on par with the need to eat and reproduce.

“They do so very effectively,” Atran said.

“My feeling is that people have been barking up the wrong tree completely in dealing with this. They are often thinking these people are crazed, which they are not. They have no suicidal tendencies, no split families,” he added.

“There is no evidence whatsoever of poverty. On the contrary, they are usually better off than the surrounding population.”

This cuts against the propaganda that pro-Palestinian apologists for terror want people to believe – that suicide bombers are fringe extremists, acting out of poverty and desperation.

Atran then goes on to criticize the Western – namely American – response to Palestinian terrorism and suicide bombings:

“(President) Bush has been saying the way to fight terrorism is by raising education and fighting illiteracy but he is just whistling in the wind.”

It is also impossible to ‘sell’ American values to these groups, Atran maintains. [ . . . ] “If people are already convinced of an ideological position that is antagonistic to your own, then bombarding them with information relating to your own only increases their antagonism,” he said.

Atran believes a better approach would be to sideline the extremists. “I think the United States and its allies should try to empower moderates from within the community,” he said.

So far so good. Sideline the extremists. Empower the moderates. Gotcha. In other words, exactly what Israel has been insisting on all along when it refuses to negotiate with Arafat’s leadership and wants to wait for a real partner for peace to emerge. Right?

But then Atran goes out into left field:

Atran, who addresses these issues in a recent book entitled “In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion”, said attacking Iraq will only worsen ill-feelings against the United States.

“We know from polls in Israel and Lebanon that when force is used to go after what people consider to be Arab terrorists, and usually miss the mark, that increases support (for those groups),” he said.

In other words, the U.S. shouldn’t go to war in Iraq because it might piss off the terrorists?

Do I even need to explain what’s wrong with that statement?

As if everyone didn’t already know, Paul Martin made it official by announcing his coronation date – er – leadership candidacy for the federal Liberals today.

Understatement of the year:

Martin [ . . . ] said he was optimistic about his chances.

Optimistic is one thing. But Martin’s probably already picked out the curtains for his office already.

I’m getting disheartened with federal politics in general lately. As messed up as Quebec politics are, at least I can go to the ballot box and vote for someone. But there’s nobody left to vote for on the federal stage. The Liberals – even with Martin at the helm – have totally lost my respect, and I don’t think I could vote for them again in good conscience. The Tory party is in shambles. The Alliance is the only party to stick up for what’s right on the foreign policy stage, but I disagree with them on virtually every domestic and social issue. I won’t even bother mentioning the NDP or the Bloc.

And it won’t matter what I do, come election time, because the Liberal dynasty is assured victory no matter what. I could vote for Mickey Mouse and it wouldn’t make the slighest bit of difference. In fact, maybe I will.

Is 7/11 less than or more than two thirds? Don’t ask the CSU council.

Councillors debated the issue for an hour and a half, even though some tried to stop debate twice. Delays continued as councillors and the chair attempted to determine if seven out of 11 votes constituted a two-thirds majority. The use of calculators did not help matters, as arguments ensued over the proper rounding technique to use.

Remember, folks, these are university students.

Daniel Pipes will be speaking at McGill next Wednesday, March 12th (at 7pm in Stewart Biology for those interested in attending. There’s a charge of $2 and all proceeds go towards helping victims of terror.) According to Stewart, Pipes doesn’t anticipate another riot – he thinks that the thugs have learned their lesson after the Concordia riot and the York demonstration.

His lecture is part of the larger 24 Hours for Israel initiative beginning at sundown March 12th and lasting all day on the 13th. Hillel, FederationNext, and several other organizations are teaming up to create an all-Israel day on university campuses around the city. At a time when morale is low – especially at universities – this is definately sounding like a needed boost.

A bomb exploded in a mall in Colombia, leaving at least seven people dead and over 68 injured.

Of course, this attack is horrible and sickening. Terrorism as a tactic will only keep gaining momentum all over the world as long as it keeps racking up successes. Whether the goals of the terrorists are motivated by hate (as with the case of Palestinian terrorism) or by greed (the Colombian rebel groups in conflict over drugs), the outcome is always the same for the innocent lives caught in the crossfire.

The Jerusalem Post is now reporting that the terrorist responsible for the bombing had written a note that, among other things, praised the September 11th attack on the World Trade Centre:

The suicide bomber was identified as 26-year-old Mahmoud Amadan Salim Kawassmeh, a resident of the West Bank town of Hebron.

Kawassmeh had left a letter stating he aimed to carry out a suicide attack against Israelis. The letter also contained praise for the terrorists who carried out the attack on the Twin Towers in New York City.

But, sure, this is only Israel’s fight. Riiiiiight.