UN condemns Israeli strategy as ‘immoral’

[Kulapavana]

 

If it was more than once it should be very easy to present a copy and paste of my so-called comments - please do that kulapavana ...

 

I'm not wasting my time going through hundreds of your drivel posts to prove what you, me, and everybody else knows is true.

[Guest guest]

TAMOHARA DASA: "Kindly read Caitanaya Bhagavata. In it, you will find that Lord Viswambhara vowed to destroy the entire Yavana race if they continued to interfere with the chanting of the name of Hari. Once, the Khazi and his men attacked the devotees of a sankirtana party, breaking the drums and beating severely the devotees. In response, performing a massive sankirtana, He and the devotees broke and burned the Khazi’s possessions and domicile, while all the men of the Khazi ran away in fear.

 

Nowadays, the Wahhabi Sunni Muslims are prepared to execute or expel all preachers of Krsna consciousness from all Muslim lands, calling them Satan’s dupes. They have banned all Hindu practices on punishment of death in Saudi Arabia, the heart of Islam. You might wish to actually come in contact with the people living in these countries before thinking you have got it all down based upon an understanding from a distance. So, despite your words intended to paint a nice face on a camels’ backside, it still stinks.

 

So far as the Bible and Koran being “on par with the Vedas”, this is obviously false. These are meat-eater religions, mostly business and not real religion at all. Otherwise, why should Prabhupada bother to bring Gita to the west, where we already have Bibles galore? So although these literatures may be in pursuit of the truth, they are lower, and we do not follow them. They are not even up to the standard of the karma-kanda sections of the Vedas, demigod worship, which we ourselves reject. We take the milk from the water mix, like a swan.

 

It would be possible to comment more particularly if you were to give the location and context of your quotes of Srila Prabhupada. As I understand, Prabhupada also said that Hitler was empowered. Being empowered doesn’t necessarily mean being Krsna conscious, or even good.

 

Thank you for presenting your best understanding, as it is meant for the benefit of all. There is no fault on your part, but perhaps a lack of experience? We do not wish to disturb anyone’s beliefs unreasonably, and we do wish them to be non-envious enough to listen to Krsna’s words. It is very dangerous to criticize Muhammad or the Koran. Srila Prabhupada said that he takes the dust of anyone who preaches in the Muslim countries. Certainly we are not anti-Muslim, we are anti-hypocrisy and against Kali-yuga false teachers in the name of religion. Islam in a pure form may exist somewhere, but nowhere that I have seen yet…

 

On a somewhat more proactive note, I found that the best way to preach to a Muslim is to emphasize the importance of chanting God’s Names. This they also do, with good benefits, as do we. Even the name ‘Rama” is there in Arabic, meaning the Merciful. Koran also says that the Lord appears in all communities of men, but the current Muslims say, not among the Hindus. So, they themselves in general do not listen carefully to their own Koran. By practicing some austerities and chanting, they make some advancement relative to the total spiritual wash-out of western modernity, but it is all tainted with envy of others. The Koran makes more sense if you are a Bedu accustomed to the lowest modes of nature. It is righteous and powerful; qualities much appreciated by the Arab people. However, Bhakta Abdula’s quotes from Koran should be enough to open your eyes as to the vision of a cruel and unforgiving God which many keep in their hearts.

 

If there are more devotees from Muslim countries out there, or those who have lived in these countries, please, what are your comments?

[Kulapavana]

 

If there are more devotees from Muslim countries out there, or those who have lived in these countries, please, what are your comments?

 

why do we even agonize so much over lost preaching opportunities in Muslim countries? we can barely keep the doors open to most temples in the West as our preaching is both minimal and out of touch with reality.

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

 

I'm not wasting my time going through hundreds of your drivel posts to prove what you, me, and everybody else knows is true.

 

Well kulapavana - that's only because you cannot - because i did not - so - i just want to ask the readers to question 'why' you have posted this propaganda against me and - 'why' you did so - without copy-n-pasted proof along side the accusation - ask yourself - how the readers are going to see it?

 

I could go and copy and paste some of your own [many] well known comments that are dare i say - anti-semitic.

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

 

why do we even agonize so much over lost preaching opportunities in Muslim countries? we can barely keep the doors open to most temples in the West as our preaching is both minimal and out of touch with reality.

Your preaching is out of touch with reality - no doubt about it kulapavana..

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

I'm not wasting my time going through hundreds of your drivel posts to prove what you, me, and everybody else knows is true.

 

Still no copy-n-paste - so - either you're lazy or - you're a prevaricator or - both.

 

Didn't i tell you that that was how you would reply?

 

Why would you make such an accusation and then skulk-out on proving your comment?

 

I wonder if yer trying to get readers [who haven't read my postings] - especially muslim readers - to look down on me?

 

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

TAMOHARA DASA: [...] Nowadays, the Wahhabi Sunni Muslims are prepared to execute or expel all preachers of Krsna consciousness from all Muslim lands, calling them Satan’s dupes. They have banned all Hindu practices on punishment of death in Saudi Arabia, the heart of Islam. [...]

So - why is it like this? Can these places ever embrace freedoms? Could these issues ever be an issue for devotees in other nations?

[theist]

My view on the UN is that it is a worse then useless body of wankers that have only the potency to talk and arrange meetings for more talk. What they have to say about any countries morality or lack of it is immaterial to me. These are the same people who were doing backdoor deals with Sadam Hussein in the oil for food program and by doing so participated in the making of the lives of the poor Iraqis more miserable. BTW the oil for food program was one that came by way of the UN making their crimes that much more duplicitous.

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

so you deny that Israel dropped over 90% of cluster bombs during the last theree days of war, so they could kill as many civilians as possible?

 

Even their sugar daddy US is investigating whether Israel broke secret agreements on cluster bomb use made between these two countries (it was a condition Israel agreed on in order to get these bombs from US - for free, btw.).

 

war criminals exposed one more time. lying, cheating and breaking every rule with impunity.

 

So again:

 

If Israel used such 'cluster' weapons in the last days of the war - it was only because hezbollah was engaged in the well-known practice of attacking from within and - hiding amongst - civillian populations.

 

What are the reasons that the U.N. AND so many others have failed to understand why such groups choose such cowardly and irregular fighting practices?

 

When dealing with such irregular fighters [terrorists] - like hezbollah - what can be done?

 

I wonder if the U.N. is invesitgating and condemning that hezbollah loaded all their rockets with ballbearings and shrapnel plates?

It should be noted that these rockets were directed at civillian population centers - where there were no IDF soldiers 'hiding out'!

These rockets were not directed as a means to attack other soldiers - they were directed at civillians - with little chance of affecting the IDF - YES - hezbollah knew this and - that was their heinous plan - kill as many Israeli civillians as possible.

[theist]

"

Originally Posted by Kulapavana

so you deny that Israel dropped over 90% of cluster bombs during the last theree days of war, so they could kill as many civilians as possible?"

This is your prejudice showing. You project onto Israel the deire to kill "as many civilians as possible". Wheras Hezbollah only targeted civilians by trying to hit only major civilian population areas. The only Israeli's they killed beside the original 8 where the ones that directly confronted them in southern Lebannon.

 

All during the conflict Israel was petioning the US to deliver the proper type of cluster bombs for the fight asking the particular entrenched positions that Hezbollah had arranged. These had already been approved for sale to Israel by the US congress but the US held up their shipment due to the war. A stupid decision IMO.

[suchandra]

 

"

Originally Posted by Kulapavana

so you deny that Israel dropped over 90% of cluster bombs during the last theree days of war, so they could kill as many civilians as possible?"

 

This is your prejudice showing. You project onto Israel the deire to kill "as many civilians as possible". Wheras Hezbollah only targeted civilians by trying to hit only major civilian population areas. The only Israeli's they killed beside the original 8 where the ones that directly confronted them in southern Lebannon.

 

All during the conflict Israel was petioning the US to deliver the proper type of cluster bombs for the fight asking the particular entrenched positions that Hezbollah had arranged. These had already been approved for sale to Israel by the US congress but the US held up their shipment due to the war. A stupid decision IMO.

 

Nice instruction manual how to solve BDM's gordian knot - to solve the Islamic question.

 

Waging War in the Information Age: ISKCON's Role

 

by Krishna-kirti das September 03, 2006

 

In the history of warfare, seizing different positions on a battlefield from which it is easier to hit one's enemy than it is for one's enemy to hit back has always been an advantage--often a decisive one. Traditionally, this advantageous position has been the high ground, but over the ages, this "high ground" has progressively evolved. With the advent of air power, whoever controlled the skies also controlled the battlefield--this was true on land as well as on the sea. And later, with the advent of satellite surveillance, space became the new high ground.

The Internet, however (and before that the printing press, film, radio, and television), provided a distinctly new high ground that is even above outer space: it is the realm of ideas, the abstract, the high-ground of the symbol. Information can now be considered, along with air power and space, a distinct dimension of any battlefield. And nowadays, because the battlefield of the 21st century has extended into nearly every facet of society, dominating the realm of information has become more important relative to other, traditional areas of the battlefield. On this all-pervasive and increasingly abstract battlefield, winning the hearts and minds of the members of a society is virtually now the only way to win a battle.

In the article "No Neutral Position Left on Islamic Aggression", I argued that ISKCON has no choice but to take seriously Islamic aggression and develop it's own means of countering it. Some recent news gives us hope that ISKCON not only is capable of rising to the task but can also take a lead in the matter of countering Islamic aggression. In a recent email, we have news of the first printing of the Srimad-Bhagavatam in Urdu:

 

 

 

Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

I just inform you that now I am published Srimad Bhagavatam first Canto in Urdu language. After waiting a long period of 25 years, Srimad Bhagavatam, now in our hand.

 

Thank you,

 

Your Servant,

 

XYZ das

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urdu, of course, is the mother tongue of Muslims in Pakistan and much of India. It is also spoken by many Hindus in India, too. Considering that India has close cultural and linguistic ties to Pakistan and India's Eastern neighbor Bangladesh, another Islamic country, South Asia represents the cultural soft-underbelly of the Islamic world with India as the world's best staging ground for a cultural counter-offensive.

 

On the other hand, the Islamic world's dearth of information of other cultures and religious ideas has allowed radical Islam to persist (bolding added):

 

Religion-shaping will not aim at the Protestantization of the global umma, but rather at the de-Salafization of the global ulema. Don’t say, “Unlike Christianity, Islam does not recognize the distinction between public and private spheres.” Say instead, “So long as there is no adequate knowledge base, any religion in any society will occupy a hegemonic position in the public sphere.” Be it ethnic or religious, identity-shaping is not rocket science. Since U.S. marketers do that routinely every day, it can be outsourced to a large extent by the public diplomacy bureaucracy. Knowledge-building will require a three-pronged approach.

Now that the famous 2002 UNDP Arab Development Report has revealed that the number of books translated by the whole Arab world over the past thousand years is equivalent to the numbers of books translated by Spain in one year, the most urgent program will have to be an old-fashioned, if massive, book-in-translation program, which will contribute to the shrinking of the role of religion in the public sphere.

Tony Corn. "World War IV As Fourth-Generation Warfare." Web Special, Jan 2006. Policy Review. 2 Feb 2006

http://policyreview.org/000/corn.html

 

 

 

A cultural counter-offensive against Islam means dominating the information networks in that culture, or at least keeping them out of the control of their elites, and a protracted Internet and traditional mass-media campaign that presents religious ideas that automatically compete with Islam has the best chance of accomplishing this task. Since we in ISKCON already have a book-in-translation program and are ideologically motivated to pursue it, we are also in a position to take a lead on this.

At a linguistic level, ISKCON can probably leverage more resources to get Urdu translations out faster. This will receive priority in proportion to the urgency ISKCON's leadership gives such a program. (25 years is a long time.)

At a technological level, ISKCON is in an excellent position to leverage existing talent in information technology or recruit it. Getting books out in print should not be our only priority. Getting transcendental information into the hands or computer monitors of people whose mother tongue is Urdu is just as important.

At an artistic level, coming up with creative entertainment mixed with the ideas and precepts of bhakti targeted specifically at Muslims who speak Urdu and Bengali is very important. An illiterate person won't be able to read a book, but he can certainly watch TV or any multimedia presentation. One time, when I was living in India, while I was purchasing printing paper at a paper market run by a Muslim, one of his workers, a young Muslim boy, was singing quietly to himself the "Hare Krishna" song in the movie Pardes. Considering that ISKCON has a number of important ties to the film and television industry in India, it should also be in a position to recruit artistic talent that can produce such entertainment.

At a strategic infrastructure level, what would it take to create an Internet in Kashmir that was fully wireless? What would be involved to create a wireless Internet terminal that had some of these specifications:

 

1. Runs on standard AC power locally available.
   
2. Can tolerate wide fluctuations and spikes in the power source.
   
3. Does not require the mounting of an antenna or parabolic reflector outside of a residence.
   
4. Fast enough and robust enough to reliably stream multimedia.
   
5. Uses a standard television as a monitor.
   
6. Affordable by most people (even if subsidized).

Perhaps a reasonably inexpensive technical solution would be to create a wireless network with routers using a wi-fi standard of 802.11n (or faster) but that can broadcast a much stronger signal that is accessible over several kilometers. A standard like 802.11n would be necessary for streaming multi-media because much of the population is illiterate. Of course, such a network can be disrupted by electronic jamming, but law enforcement and the military would have the task of suppressing such electronic countermeasures.

Technically, creating such a network and its hardware is easily within reach of Indian capabilities. However, it would need the political will to implement it. A coalition of ISKCON and a number of other sympathetic religious or semi-religious organizations could generate the political gumption to implement such a network.

With a widely implemented network capable of streaming multimedia that is not subject to suppression, as one might bomb a television station or issue death threats against a newspaper editor, we might be able to truly win a propaganda war in Kashmir and elsewhere in Islamic South Asia. If ISKCON were to provide quality entertainment and informative programming targeted at an Islamic audience and delivered over such a network, then we can turn the tides against radical Islam and Islamic aggression.

Recruiting technical experts, artists, law enforcement, and politicians to aid in this effort by creating entertainment, the technical means to deliver it, and the political will to implement and protect such an effort will unquestionably be of great benefit to all. This would take the propagation of the bhakti cult and Vedic culture to a new level and provide a spiritual solution to a very serious material problem: Islamic aggression.

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

Nice instruction manual how to solve BDM's gordian knot - to solve the Islamic question.

 

Waging War in the Information Age: ISKCON's Role

 

by Krishna-kirti das September 03, 2006

 

In the history of warfare, seizing different positions on a battlefield from which it is easier to hit one's enemy than it is for one's enemy to hit back has always been an advantage--often a decisive one. Traditionally, this advantageous position has been the high ground, but over the ages, this "high ground" has progressively evolved. With the advent of air power, whoever controlled the skies also controlled the battlefield--this was true on land as well as on the sea. And later, with the advent of satellite surveillance, space became the new high ground.

The Internet, however (and before that the printing press, film, radio, and television), provided a distinctly new high ground that is even above outer space: it is the realm of ideas, the abstract, the high-ground of the symbol. Information can now be considered, along with air power and space, a distinct dimension of any battlefield. And nowadays, because the battlefield of the 21st century has extended into nearly every facet of society, dominating the realm of information has become more important relative to other, traditional areas of the battlefield. On this all-pervasive and increasingly abstract battlefield, winning the hearts and minds of the members of a society is virtually now the only way to win a battle.

In the article "No Neutral Position Left on Islamic Aggression", I argued that ISKCON has no choice but to take seriously Islamic aggression and develop it's own means of countering it. Some recent news gives us hope that ISKCON not only is capable of rising to the task but can also take a lead in the matter of countering Islamic aggression. In a recent email, we have news of the first printing of the Srimad-Bhagavatam in Urdu:

Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

I just inform you that now I am published Srimad Bhagavatam first Canto in Urdu language. After waiting a long period of 25 years, Srimad Bhagavatam, now in our hand.

 

Thank you,

 

Your Servant,

 

XYZ das

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urdu, of course, is the mother tongue of Muslims in Pakistan and much of India. It is also spoken by many Hindus in India, too. Considering that India has close cultural and linguistic ties to Pakistan and India's Eastern neighbor Bangladesh, another Islamic country, South Asia represents the cultural soft-underbelly of the Islamic world with India as the world's best staging ground for a cultural counter-offensive.

 

On the other hand, the Islamic world's dearth of information of other cultures and religious ideas has allowed radical Islam to persist (bolding added):

 

Religion-shaping will not aim at the Protestantization of the global umma, but rather at the de-Salafization of the global ulema. Don’t say, “Unlike Christianity, Islam does not recognize the distinction between public and private spheres.” Say instead, “So long as there is no adequate knowledge base, any religion in any society will occupy a hegemonic position in the public sphere.” Be it ethnic or religious, identity-shaping is not rocket science. Since U.S. marketers do that routinely every day, it can be outsourced to a large extent by the public diplomacy bureaucracy. Knowledge-building will require a three-pronged approach.

Now that the famous 2002 UNDP Arab Development Report has revealed that the number of books translated by the whole Arab world over the past thousand years is equivalent to the numbers of books translated by Spain in one year, the most urgent program will have to be an old-fashioned, if massive, book-in-translation program, which will contribute to the shrinking of the role of religion in the public sphere.

Tony Corn. "World War IV As Fourth-Generation Warfare." Web Special, Jan 2006. Policy Review. 2 Feb 2006

http://policyreview.org/000/corn.html

 

 

A cultural counter-offensive against Islam means dominating the information networks in that culture, or at least keeping them out of the control of their elites, and a protracted Internet and traditional mass-media campaign that presents religious ideas that automatically compete with Islam has the best chance of accomplishing this task. Since we in ISKCON already have a book-in-translation program and are ideologically motivated to pursue it, we are also in a position to take a lead on this.

At a linguistic level, ISKCON can probably leverage more resources to get Urdu translations out faster. This will receive priority in proportion to the urgency ISKCON's leadership gives such a program. (25 years is a long time.)

At a technological level, ISKCON is in an excellent position to leverage existing talent in information technology or recruit it. Getting books out in print should not be our only priority. Getting transcendental information into the hands or computer monitors of people whose mother tongue is Urdu is just as important.

At an artistic level, coming up with creative entertainment mixed with the ideas and precepts of bhakti targeted specifically at Muslims who speak Urdu and Bengali is very important. An illiterate person won't be able to read a book, but he can certainly watch TV or any multimedia presentation. One time, when I was living in India, while I was purchasing printing paper at a paper market run by a Muslim, one of his workers, a young Muslim boy, was singing quietly to himself the "Hare Krishna" song in the movie Pardes. Considering that ISKCON has a number of important ties to the film and television industry in India, it should also be in a position to recruit artistic talent that can produce such entertainment.

At a strategic infrastructure level, what would it take to create an Internet in Kashmir that was fully wireless? What would be involved to create a wireless Internet terminal that had some of these specifications:

1. Runs on standard AC power locally available.
   
2. Can tolerate wide fluctuations and spikes in the power source.
   
3. Does not require the mounting of an antenna or parabolic reflector outside of a residence.
   
4. Fast enough and robust enough to reliably stream multimedia.
   
5. Uses a standard television as a monitor.
   
6. Affordable by most people (even if subsidized).

Perhaps a reasonably inexpensive technical solution would be to create a wireless network with routers using a wi-fi standard of 802.11n (or faster) but that can broadcast a much stronger signal that is accessible over several kilometers. A standard like 802.11n would be necessary for streaming multi-media because much of the population is illiterate. Of course, such a network can be disrupted by electronic jamming, but law enforcement and the military would have the task of suppressing such electronic countermeasures.

Technically, creating such a network and its hardware is easily within reach of Indian capabilities. However, it would need the political will to implement it. A coalition of ISKCON and a number of other sympathetic religious or semi-religious organizations could generate the political gumption to implement such a network.

With a widely implemented network capable of streaming multimedia that is not subject to suppression, as one might bomb a television station or issue death threats against a newspaper editor, we might be able to truly win a propaganda war in Kashmir and elsewhere in Islamic South Asia. If ISKCON were to provide quality entertainment and informative programming targeted at an Islamic audience and delivered over such a network, then we can turn the tides against radical Islam and Islamic aggression.

Recruiting technical experts, artists, law enforcement, and politicians to aid in this effort by creating entertainment, the technical means to deliver it, and the political will to implement and protect such an effort will unquestionably be of great benefit to all. This would take the propagation of the bhakti cult and Vedic culture to a new level and provide a spiritual solution to a very serious material problem: Islamic aggression.

 

The 'gordian knot' is going to take a collective non-sectarian approach to loosen...one that isn't going to proselytize for conversions to any one specific faith.

 

Without a doubt a comprehensive international 'counter-propaganda' unit is what is needed and - it must be a muliti-faith effort - your specific program is a good very idea for India and area but - it isn't going to take effect in the middle east nor - in north america - the more all-inclusive need is for the noted multi-faith international 'counter-propaganda' unit.

 

...this war is more than a military conflict; it is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century...

 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060902.html

[Guest guest]

<strong>"The source also revealed that US generals had repeatedly war-gamed a prospective conflict with Iran, but consistently found that the simulations predicted “an absolute nuclear disaster”, from which no clear winner would emerge. The scenarios gamed were so dismal, he said, that the generals briefed administration officials to avoid such a war at all costs. However, the source said that the Bush administration is ignoring the fears of the US military."</strong>

 

 

Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 3, Chapter 1, Text 9

<strong>Lord Krishna was sent by Arjuna into the assembly as the spiritual master of the whole world, and although His words were heard by some [like Bhishma] as pure nectar, it was not so for the others, who were completely bereft of the last farthing of past pious works. The King [Dhritarashtra or Duryodhana] did not take the words of Lord Krishna very seriously.</strong>

 

PURPORT

Lord Krishna, who is the spiritual master of the entire universe, accepted the duty of a messenger, and, deputed by Arjuna, went to the assembly of King Dhritarashtra on a peace mission. Krishna is everyone's Lord, yet because He was the transcendental friend of Arjuna, He gladly accepted the role of messenger, exactly like an ordinary friend. That is the beauty of the Lord's behavior with His pure devotees. He reached the assembly and spoke about peace, and the message was relished by Bhishma and other great leaders because it was spoken by the Lord Himself. But due to the exhaustion of the pious results of their past deeds, Duryodhana, or his father, Dhritarashtra, did not take the message very seriously. That is the way of persons who have no credit of pious deeds. By past pious deeds, one may become the king of a country, but because the results of the pious acts of Duryodhana and company were dwindling, it became evident from their actions that they were sure to lose the kingdom to the Pandavas. The message of Godhead is always like nectar to the devotees, but it is just the opposite to the nondevotees. Sugar candy is always sweet to a healthy man, but it tastes very bitter to persons suffering from jaundice.

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

"The source also revealed that US generals had repeatedly war-gamed a prospective conflict with Iran, but consistently found that the simulations predicted “an absolute nuclear disaster”, from which no clear winner would emerge. The scenarios gamed were so dismal, he said, that the generals briefed administration officials to avoid such a war at all costs. However, the source said that the Bush administration is ignoring the fears of the US military."

 

 

Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 3, Chapter 1, Text 9

Lord Krishna was sent by Arjuna into the assembly as the spiritual master of the whole world, and although His words were heard by some [like Bhishma] as pure nectar, it was not so for the others, who were completely bereft of the last farthing of past pious works. The King [Dhritarashtra or Duryodhana] did not take the words of Lord Krishna very seriously.

 

PURPORT

Lord Krishna, who is the spiritual master of the entire universe, accepted the duty of a messenger, and, deputed by Arjuna, went to the assembly of King Dhritarashtra on a peace mission. Krishna is everyone's Lord, yet because He was the transcendental friend of Arjuna, He gladly accepted the role of messenger, exactly like an ordinary friend. That is the beauty of the Lord's behavior with His pure devotees. He reached the assembly and spoke about peace, and the message was relished by Bhishma and other great leaders because it was spoken by the Lord Himself. But due to the exhaustion of the pious results of their past deeds, Duryodhana, or his father, Dhritarashtra, did not take the message very seriously. That is the way of persons who have no credit of pious deeds. By past pious deeds, one may become the king of a country, but because the results of the pious acts of Duryodhana and company were dwindling, it became evident from their actions that they were sure to lose the kingdom to the Pandavas. The message of Godhead is always like nectar to the devotees, but it is just the opposite to the nondevotees. Sugar candy is always sweet to a healthy man, but it tastes very bitter to persons suffering from jaundice.

 

What is the price of the 'do nothing' scenario?

 

Arjuna had to choose not between war and peace but rather between war and another war - only the 'other' war was an inner battle - a war with the idea of fighting in the first place...of course we all know that he did fight.

[Guest guest]

When Criticism of Cluster Bombs is "Anti-Semitic"

 

By STANLEY HELLER

 

The Israeli paper Ha'aretz reports that the head of Germany's Jewish community accused a minister in Angela Merkel's German government of "anti-Semitism" because of the minister's statement on Israel's use of cluster bombs. Development Aid Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul had asked for a United Nations probe into Israel's use of cluster bombs in civilian areas of Lebanon.

 

Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Central Council of German Jews, complained about what she terms a growing "anti-mood [sic] against Israel and the Jews" in Germany. [Ha,aretz August 30] Merkel, who made absolutely no criticism of Israel during the fighting, immediately met with Knobloch to "soothe Jewish ire" according to Deutche Welle [August 31]

 

The U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland revealed this week that of the estimated 100,000 unexploded cluster bombs lying in Lebanon almost all of them were fired in the last few days of the fighting when the terms of the ceasefire had already been set. The Guardian (UK) reports Egleand said, "What's shocking--and I would say to me completely immoral is that ninety per cent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution," he said.

 

It was known that in the last days of the war the Israeli army was engaged in a desperate attempt to have some "victory" and rushed troops here and there in an attempt to have a photo shoot near the Litani River. What was not known until now was the blind spite that sowed the ground of South Lebanon with a massive number of bomblets.

 

Cluster bombs are delivered by a large canister and disperse over a wide area, a sort of lethal piñata. The bomblets come in many sizes. Some are tiny, even smaller than 2 inches in diameter. Kids are constantly trying to kick them or pick them up with the result in the loss an arm or leg or even death. "Every day people are maimed, wounded and are killed by these ordnance," said Egeland. The UN official based his estimate on the reports of the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre which has traveled through 85% of Lebanon. The casualty figures as of 29 August from unexploded ordnance rose to 59 people, including 13 killed and 46 injured.

 

Responding to U.N. reports of cluster bombs being found in Lebanese civilian areas the U.S. government has begun an investigation to determine if cluster bombs have been responsible for civilian casualties. It seems far fetched that the Bush Administration would do anything other than shower Israel with more money, but the Reagan administration did ban export of cluster bombs to Israel for six years for its misuse during its 1982 Lebanese invasion.

 

The Zionist Ultras have been circling the wagons on this issue, not giving an inch. They hysterical statement by the German Jewish leader was typical of many.

 

Responding to a report by Human Rights Watch charging Israel with war crimes in its conduct of the war in Lebanon that was written by its director Kenneth Roth, Rabbi Avi Shafran of Agudath Israel has called Roth "loathsome." An editorial in the New York Sun accused Roth of "de-legitimization of Judaism" because his group condemned Israel's strategy as "an eye for an eye." Rabbi Aryeh Spero in Human Events Online referred to Roth as a "human rights impostor," and likened him to "Nazis and Communists." On Sunday, the Jerusalem Post published an op-ed by NGO Monitor's Gerald Steinberg titled "Ken Roth's Blood Libel."

The fact that Kenneth Roth is Jewish and his father fled Nazi Germany makes no difference to the Ultras. If you are do not support Israel 110% you are a Jew-hater, a renegade, a self-hater, and a holocaust denier. Get it?

 

In a very competitive field Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League took the prize for the comment showing the most utter stupidly. In attacking Human Rights Watch he said if Hezbollah was not made to pay an "overwhelming price" for rocket attacks "the Holocaust would be in the works". [Peratis, Washington Post]

 

Jewish Disgust with Israel

 

In a very encouraging development hundreds of U.S. Jews are calling for strong measures to be taken against the Israeli government including a cut off of U.S. aid and U.N. sanctions. Over 800 have signed the statement calling for "U.S. Jewish Solidarity with Muslim and Arab Peoples of the Middle East". It states "we are outraged by the violence being perpetrated in our name both as Jews and as U.S. citizens. We, the undersigned, represent Jews across the United States who are choosing to stand in solidarity with the peoples of Gaza and Lebanon". It includes the statement, "There is no Jewish safety in a country that rehearses the violence and persecution which Ashkenazi Jews experienced for centuries through the annihilation of the Palestinian people and their homeland." The signers are collecting money for a full page in the New York Times and are just $800 away from their goal.

 

It was after the 1982 invasion of Lebanon that U.S. Jews in significant numbers began open and trenchant criticisms of Israel. Chomsky's watershed "The Fateful Triangle" was published that year. Hopefully there will be even bigger shows of outrage this time around.

 

Stanley Heller is chairperson of the Middle East Crisis Committee in Connecticut.

counterpunch.com/heller09022006.html

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

When Criticism of Cluster Bombs is "Anti-Semitic"

 

By STANLEY HELLER

 

The Israeli paper Ha'aretz reports that the head of Germany's Jewish community accused a minister in Angela Merkel's German government of "anti-Semitism" because of the minister's statement on Israel's use of cluster bombs. Development Aid Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul had asked for a United Nations probe into Israel's use of cluster bombs in civilian areas of Lebanon.

 

Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Central Council of German Jews, complained about what she terms a growing "anti-mood [sic] against Israel and the Jews" in Germany. [Ha,aretz August 30] Merkel, who made absolutely no criticism of Israel during the fighting, immediately met with Knobloch to "soothe Jewish ire" according to Deutche Welle [August 31]

 

The U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland revealed this week that of the estimated 100,000 unexploded cluster bombs lying in Lebanon almost all of them were fired in the last few days of the fighting when the terms of the ceasefire had already been set. The Guardian (UK) reports Egleand said, "What's shocking--and I would say to me completely immoral is that ninety per cent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution," he said.

 

It was known that in the last days of the war the Israeli army was engaged in a desperate attempt to have some "victory" and rushed troops here and there in an attempt to have a photo shoot near the Litani River. What was not known until now was the blind spite that sowed the ground of South Lebanon with a massive number of bomblets.

 

Cluster bombs are delivered by a large canister and disperse over a wide area, a sort of lethal piñata. The bomblets come in many sizes. Some are tiny, even smaller than 2 inches in diameter. Kids are constantly trying to kick them or pick them up with the result in the loss an arm or leg or even death. "Every day people are maimed, wounded and are killed by these ordnance," said Egeland. The UN official based his estimate on the reports of the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre which has traveled through 85% of Lebanon. The casualty figures as of 29 August from unexploded ordnance rose to 59 people, including 13 killed and 46 injured.

 

Responding to U.N. reports of cluster bombs being found in Lebanese civilian areas the U.S. government has begun an investigation to determine if cluster bombs have been responsible for civilian casualties. It seems far fetched that the Bush Administration would do anything other than shower Israel with more money, but the Reagan administration did ban export of cluster bombs to Israel for six years for its misuse during its 1982 Lebanese invasion.

 

The Zionist Ultras have been circling the wagons on this issue, not giving an inch. They hysterical statement by the German Jewish leader was typical of many.

 

Responding to a report by Human Rights Watch charging Israel with war crimes in its conduct of the war in Lebanon that was written by its director Kenneth Roth, Rabbi Avi Shafran of Agudath Israel has called Roth "loathsome." An editorial in the New York Sun accused Roth of "de-legitimization of Judaism" because his group condemned Israel's strategy as "an eye for an eye." Rabbi Aryeh Spero in Human Events Online referred to Roth as a "human rights impostor," and likened him to "Nazis and Communists." On Sunday, the Jerusalem Post published an op-ed by NGO Monitor's Gerald Steinberg titled "Ken Roth's Blood Libel."

 

Your writer is out-of-touch with reality...

 

So again:

 

If Israel used such 'cluster' weapons in the last days of the war - it was only because hezbollah was engaged in the well-known practice of attacking from within and - hiding amongst - civillian populations.

 

What are the reasons that the U.N. AND so many others have failed to understand why such groups choose such cowardly and irregular fighting practices?

 

When dealing with such irregular fighters [terrorists] - like hezbollah - what can be done?

 

I wonder if the U.N. is invesitgating and condemning that hezbollah loaded all their rockets with ballbearings and shrapnel plates?

It should be noted that these rockets were directed at civillian population centers - where there were no IDF soldiers 'hiding out'!

These rockets were not directed as a means to attack other soldiers - they were directed at civillians - with little chance of affecting the IDF - YES - hezbollah knew this and - that was their heinous plan - kill as many Israeli civillians as possible.

[Guest guest]

Both sides act like real asuras, but that does not excuse either party from responsibility for their actions

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

Both sides act like real asuras, but that does not excuse either party from responsibility for their actions

 

Really now - when dealing with such irregular fighters [terrorists] - like hezbollah - what can be done?

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

I'm not wasting my time going through hundreds of your drivel posts to prove what you, me, and everybody else knows is true.

 

 

Well kulapavana - it's been awhile and still nothing - that's only because you cannot find any such comments - because i did not make such comments - so - ask if the readers question 'why' you have posted this propaganda against me and - 'why' you did so - without copy-n-pasted proof along side the accusation - ask yourself - how the readers now see it?

 

I could still go and copy and paste some of your own [many] well known comments that are dare i say - pro-islamist

[Bhakta Don Muntean]

 

Well kulapavana...I could still go and copy and paste some of your own [many] well known comments that are dare i say - pro-islamist

 

This is a clear support for the Islamists you've evidenced in your posting on 05/02/2006:

 

"...as to the Israelis and all the Jews alligned with them: this is the hand that has been stirring Middle Eastern pot for decades, hoping for a nice, mostly free, meal...

now they are almost ready for their new target: Iran... Lord help us when that war begins...

as to the islamic terrorism: it is simply a reaction to the above mentioned action... do you understand the law of karma, BDM?

and finally: the Torah, Talmud and it's byproducts... they form the backbone of this greedy sectarianism, and justify the materialistic desire to subjugate others by force in the name of our own god... "

 

http://www.audarya-fellowship.com/forums/world-review/42797-bush-greatest-danger-facing-us-2.html

 

Yes there is a great deal errant in your posted position...