The Israel-Zionist Power Configuration

For the first time in the history of world empires, a tiny ethnic-religious minority, representing less than 2% of the population is able to shape US policy in the Middle East to serve the colonial interests of a foreign country (Israel), which represents less than 1% of the population of the Middle East. The Zionist Power Configuration(ZPC) in the US with several hundred thousand fanatical activists, throughout the country, can mobilize close to 98% of the US Congress on any legislation favoring Israel, even when their approval prejudices major US oil multinationals. The America Pro-Israel lobby AIPAC (the America-Israel Political Affairs Committee) with one hundred thousand members and 100 full time agents writes over 100 pieces of Congressional legislation affecting US trade, military aid and sanctions policies favoring Israel every year. In March 2007, the leaders of both political parties, Congress and the Senate and over 50% of all members of the Congress attended and pledged allegiance to the state of Israel at AIPAC convention in Washington.

The Zionist power configuration includes far more than the AIPAC ‘lobby’. In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Zionists controlled the Vice President’s office including convicted felon Irving ‘Scooter’ Libby, the Pentagon and its ‘intelligence’ operations (Wolfowitz, Feith and Shumsky) and held strategic positions in the White House and National Security Council (Frum – author of Bush’s ‘Axis of Evil’ speech, Abrams – pardoned felon from Iran Contra scandal, now in charge of Middle East policy, and Ari Fleischer – President Bush’s spokesman). Zionists dominate the editorial and opinion pages of the major newspapers (Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and New York Times), major television networks and Hollywood. Hundreds of regional state and local Jewish federations intervene to prevent any criticism of Israel, attacking any critics, meetings, theatrical or cinema productions – successfully forcing cancelations.

The Zionist power structure has been the leading force pushing US war plans and sanctions against Iran. They backed Bush’s invasion of Iraq. The ZPC secured US backing for Israel’s bloody attack on Lebanon weakening US puppet ruler Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. The ZPC authored and secured Congressional legislation blocking any contact with the Palestinian unity government. They successfully lined up US congressional support for Israel’s starvation blockade of Palestine over the last 20 months. The scope and depth of Zionist power over US Middle East policy goes far beyond influencing ‘public opinion’ – it penetrates key institutions, designs and enforces policy implementation and promotes wars, which benefit Israel.

In a word, the Zionist Power Configuration’s primary loyalty is to the state of Israel and its policy is designed to colonize the US Congress on behalf and benefit of the ‘mother country’, Israel.

An understanding of US "imperial" foreign policy in the Middle East requires an analysis, which centers on four points:

1. The power and influence of Israel and the Zionist power configuration over US political institutions (Congress, the Executive branch, the mass media, the two major political parties and electoral processes), their economic leverage on investment and financial institutions (state and trade union pension funds, investment banks), their cultural domination of journals, the performing arts, magazines, films and newspapers. Zionist political, economic and cultural power is directed exclusively toward maximizing Israel’s military, economic and political expansion and superiority in the Middle East even when it conflicts with other US imperialist interests. 
2. The capacity of the US Empire to construct and instrumentalize Middle East client states and mercenary forces to implement US policies. The most prominent and important current instruments of US policy in the Middle East include the puppet regime in Iraq, the Abbas-Dahlan group in Palestine, the Kurds in Iraq, the Sinoria-Harari-Jumblat regime in Lebanon, the Mujahideen-e Khalq Organisation, Kurds and Sunni tribalists in Iran and the puppet Somali ‘regime’ backed by Ethiopian-Ugandan mercenaries. 
3. An alliance with right-wing regimes and rulers in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and Israel to provide military bases, intelligence and political backing for the colonial occupation in Iraq, the division of Iraq, economic sanctions and war against Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and any other clerical-nationalist and leftist movements in the Middle East. 
4. The capacity to contain, repress and limit the opposition of the majority of the US public and a minority of Congress members to the current war in Iraq and a future war against Iran. The key problem for US imperialism is the discrediting of the civilian-militarists in the White House and their increasing tendency to resort to new political ‘adventures’ and ‘provocations’ to recover support and to concentrate dictatorial powers in the President’s office. 

Nevertheless, there are signs (weak to be sure) that the visible and invisible power of the ZPC is being subject to critical public scrutiny and even ‘put on trial’ among US clients. The Council of Gulf Cooperation composed of Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are the world’s biggest oil suppliers (over 40%), made up of conservative, pro-US regimes, housing US military bases, linked to the largest US oil and financial houses and the biggest purchasers of military hardware from the US military-industrial complex. They met in late March 2007 and called for the US to engage Iran diplomatically and not militarily or with economic sanctions. Israel took a diametrically opposing view pushing for tighter sanctions and a military confrontation. Automatically the ZPC echoed the Israeli Party line (Daily Alert, March 26-30, 2007). Congress and Bush ignored Big Oil, the military-industrial complex, its Arab clients and followed the Zionist line: they escalated sanctions, increased commando operations, added to the war-ships off the coast of Iran and offered to send fighter-planes into Iran after British sailors, engaged in espionage, were captured (Blair, for once, rejected the war provocation). Once again the ZPC out-muscled Big Oil and the military-industrial complex in dictating US Middle-East policy.

Equally important, the US foremost Arab ‘allies’ in the Middle East have promulgated a series of proposals and policy options, which are directly opposed to the ZPC-Israeli agenda. Saudi Arabia’s proposal approved by the Arab League offering Israel recognition and normal relations in exchange for abiding by UN resolutions and returning territory seized in 1967 is one example. These Arab initiatives have elicited a positive response in many governments in the European Union and Turkey, adding to the forces arrainged against the ZPC-Israeli direction for US Middle East policy.

Notes taken from the following articles:

The Pro-Israel Lobby and US Middle East Policy
US Empire and the Middle East: Zionism, Puppet Regimes and Political Allies

Why Condemning Israel and the Zionist Lobby is So Important
On Israel, America and Aipac by George Soros.

Violation of Article 9

After the end of World War II, the Japanese constitution, written by the United States for the defeated Japanese, rejected war as a solution for conflict.

Article 9 states:

“Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.”

Now 61 years later, the Bush administration is undermining the spirit and intent of Article 9 of the Japanese constitution by urging the Japanese government to allow the Japanese Self-Defense forces to provide air and sea logistics assistance to Bush’s war on Iraq. Former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage in 2004 complained that “Article 9 is an impediment to the US-Japanese alliance,” an alliance the Bush administration wants to use to spread the financial and military operational burden of the war on Iraq.

Over the objections of many Japanese citizens, the Japanese government havs provided limited numbers of refueling ships for resupplying American warships and logistic transport aircraft that fly supplies into Baghdad. A recent decision by the High Court of Nagoya found that Japanese Air Self-Self Defense Force missions into Iraq were unconstitutional as they violated Article 9.

Reported here.

The Three Presidency Candidates are Fundamentally Alike

FUNDAMENTALLY ALIKE

As to the rest of the world – postures are there in position papers that are surely not written by the candidates and are not really intended to be read or taken seriously – the candidates' positions are also remarkably similar. They're deeply concerned about growing authoritarianism in Russia, but don't have much of an idea what, if anything the U.S. should do about it beyond tut-tutting. They're concerned about China's potential effect on U.S. jobs and its growing regional military/political influence, but don't want to do anything drastic about it, like cutting off or restricting trade. They have no objections to the unification of Europe if it happens, but don't care much if the Europeans go slower than some of their leaders propose.

This consensus is in some ways remarkable but perhaps not so much. All three likelies share many fundamental assumptions about the nature and use of American power in the world at large. They all see the U.S. as the de facto leader of the world – if not the sole superpower then its dominant force, and rightly so. The disagreement about Iraq is a disagreement about tactics and specifics – not whether U.S. power should be applied to influence outcomes in other countries as a general principle, but whether it should have been applied in this particular place at this particular time.

There is no candidate with a chance at the presidency who questions the fundamental underpinnings of the policy of maintaining dozens of forward military positions in the world at large. None is proposing to withdraw from Japan, South Korea or Germany – let alone Kazakhstan or other central Asian countries that might or might not turn out to have tappable energy resources – despite the general uselessness and ongoing irritant and expense such deployments represent. No candidate has a vision of U.S. foreign policy that moves beyond empire to a position closer to something like continental self-defense and war avoidance, let alone reducing the U.S. footprint in the world at large.

The Hukm Regarding Currency

The sharp decline of the US dollar has been felt across the globe. Traders, unsure of the value of paper assets, are bidding up the price of commodities. The Associated Press recently reported that,”Huge price hikes have been caused by a weaker U.S. dollar and financial turmoil that saw investors stash money in commodities such as oil, which hit another record high Monday [April 28, 2008] of $119.93 per barrel.” With a recession looming and inflation on the rise, the US has exported its financial crisis beyond its borders to other countries. How can the currency of one nation wreak so much havoc worldwide?

Currencies and American Control
In the past, a country’s currency would be based on the amount of gold it had in its reserves. Whenever countries would trade with each other, they would transfer gold as a method of payment. In this way, the country’s currency would increase or decrease depending on how much gold remained in its reserve.

In 1944, the Bretton Woods conference changed the way currencies would be valued. Rather than have each currency matched against their gold reserves, they would be matched against the US dollar. In 1971 under the Nixon administration, America completely severed the link between its dollar and gold. With gold no longer backing the US dollar, currencies no longer had intrinsic value but only a legally imposed one. In other words, it would only be a piece of paper with no worth unless its citizens and other countries agreed to hold value to it.

The fiat currency (i.e.: currency made legal tender by sanction and neither backed by, nor necessarily convertible into, gold or silver) has a major part to play in the financial crisis we see today. This currency is open to government manipulation in the pursuit of personal interest. With no limit on the amount of dollars being printed, a government can essentially pay its way out of debt with money created out of thin air. As with any commodity, too much supply in the market will decrease the value of the currency leading to inflationary prices. With so many currencies pegged to the US dollar it is impossible for this to remain an isolated event.

The Hukm Regarding Currency
When it comes to exchanging a commodity with a specific monetary unit, Islam has guided us to the gold and silver standard. It has restricted the Islamic State to using this standard when engaging in transactions.

This specification could be deduced from several matters:

1. When Islam prohibited the hoarding of wealth, it was specifically related to the hoarding of gold and silver despite the fact that wealth includes any property that can be owned. The prohibition in the verse refers to the hoarding of money, since it acts as the generally accepted medium of exchange, and because the hoarding of money is the issue that produces the effect of the prohibition i.e. restricting circulation. The verse has specified the money which Allah (swt) has prohibited us to hoard which is gold and silver. Allah (swt) says 

   “And those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend them in the way of Allah, let them know that a severe punishment is awaiting them” [quran 9:34]

   Therefore, the prohibition is focused on the monetary medium of exchange, which makes the hoarding of gold and silver forbidden, whether it was minted or not.
2. Islam has linked gold and silver to a set of fixed rules. Therefore, when it imposed the Diyyah (blood money), it specified a fixed amount of gold. Also, when it decreed the penalty of cutting the hand of the thief, it specified the minimum value of gold that is stolen which would entail the cutting of the hand. In his letter to the people of Yemen, the Prophet (saw) was reported by An-Nisai to have said: “The blood money for one soul would be 100 camels...and for those who deal in gold it would be 1000 dinars.” Bukhari also reported on the authority of Aisha (ra) that the Prophet (saw) also said: “The hand is cut for the theft of one-quarter dinar and upward.” Therefore, the fact that Islam has linked the Shari’ah rules to gold and silver by text, when these rules are related to money, serves as evidence that the currency is solely restricted to gold and silver.
   
3. The Prophet (saw) has determined that gold and silver be used as money, and exclusively made them the monetary measure to evaluate goods and services. He (saw) ensured that all transactions were conducted with them as their basis. All trade and marriage transactions were conducted in gold and silver, in their quality as money, and this has been established in the Sahih Ahadith.
4. When Allah (swt) decreed the Zakat on money, He (swt) made it obligatory in gold and silver, and He (swt) determined a Nisab (amount) for the Zakat in gold and silver. Therefore, to consider the Zakat on money as being in gold and silver would establish that currency is gold and silver.

Is There Enough Gold in the World?
The gold existing in the world is enough to return the global economy to the gold standard. Gold has sufficient flexibility to produce the money required to cover trade and other economic needs in the world for the following reasons:

1. Throughout human history, no metal has ever enjoyed an interest similar to gold. All that has been mined in the past centuries continues to be used today, as it does not perish with time. Rather, all that occurs is its exchange in the form of currency or jewellery, or in some other form of manufacturing or re-melting.
2. Gold in all previous times, up to the end of the 19th century, was sufficient for all trade activities as it covered all of the world’s economic needs. Throughout the 19th century, in which economic growth increased to a great level, the world witnessed a great economic increase and a great reduction of prices and increase in wages without any shortages in the quantity of gold currency displayed for use, despite the increased goods and services.
3. Whenever goods and services increase while the quantity of circulating currency remains steady, it enables the currency unit of buying a greater quantity of goods and services. The opposite is also true i.e. if the quantity of goods and services decreases while the quantity of a currency remains steady, the currency unit’s purchasing ability i.e. its ability to buy goods and services decreases. Whatever the case, the circulating currency may be sufficient for currency exchange, no matter how much of it is in circulation.
4. What appears to be a visible shortage of gold is only due to the prevailing global inflation. If the world were to return to the gold standard, gold would no longer be used for trade speculation. Rather, the use of gold would be restricted to trading transactions and economic needs. As a result, stability and discipline would return to currency prices. This is because currency prices and their relation to each other will be determined by gold, thus making all currencies in the world virtually one currency which will lead to the inability of speculation with it and reduce the profits of trading with gold. This will lead to an abundance in gold thereby its shortage will disappear.

Advantages of the Gold Standard
When a state adopts the gold standard, it uses the gold currency in its foreign and domestic transactions. It uses the gold standard, even if it used paper currency as long as the paper currency can be exchanged for gold and this exchange is fixed i.e. a specific unit of paper currency can be exchanged for a specific amount of gold.
This would bring stability to the exchange rates between countries, as gold cannot be manipulated like the fiat currency. This will increase international trade and reduce trade barriers. Businesses which are dependent on imported commodities do not have to fear that these commodities will become too expensive as a result of their currency devaluing. Businesses which export their products do not fear their commodities becoming too expensive for the destined countries as a result of the increase in value of their currency.

It would remove the problem of inflation, as gold is a scarce commodity. The money supply cannot be increased at the will or whim of a government. The prices of goods and services may still increase as a result of gold coming into the state due to a high level of exports. This will lead to economic growth, which would mean more locally produced goods and services being available, which would counterbalance the extra gold coming into the state. As long as the state allows the free circulation of gold (i.e. import and export) then there will be financial and economic stability.

Today, international trade is hindered because of the lack of hard currencies. Many of the currencies are considered too weak and volatile for international trade. Globally, most transactions are carried out in US dollars. However, even in times of war the dollar is not stable, since it is only a fiat currency having no intrinsic value. It is only gold (and silver) that is a truly stable currency. It is only through the bimetallic standard that these barriers to international trade can be removed.

It is only the Islamic State, carrying the ideology of Islam that will adopt such a standard. Moreover, the Shariah has made it an obligation to implement the gold (or silver) standard. When the Islamic State returns it will adopt the gold and silver standard, thus transforming the current international money markets and prevent any single country from imposing its will on the monetary markets.

Our Deen Has Been Perfected
As Muslims, we need to not only inform ourselves but to teach others of this Deen that Allah (swt) has perfected for us since it is not only a mercy for the Muslims but for all of mankind. Allah (swt) says:

“This day, I have perfected your Deen for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your Deen.” [quran 5:3]

In Ibn Kathir’s tasfir he explains: “This, indeed, is the biggest favor from Allah to this Ummah, for He has completed their religion for them, and they, thus, do not need any other religion or any other Prophet except Muhammad. This is why Allah made Muhammad the Final Prophet and sent him to all humans and Jinn. Therefore, the permissible is what he allows, the impermissible is what he prohibits, the Law is what he legislates and everything that he conveys is true and authentic and does not contain lies or contradictions.” Therefore, Islam is a complete system and Allah (swt) has provided solutions and guidance for all of man’s problems. Only with Islam which is from the infinite knowledge of The Creator – Al Alim – can man implement a system that will take care of all his affairs in a comprehensive and just manner.

Text taken from here.

Why the Pope Offends Muslims, Jews and Protestants

Came across this article, although cited late last year, I think is interesting to reprint in my blog.

Why the Pope Offends Muslims, Jews and Protestants
August 17, 2007 | From theTrumpet.com
BY GERALD FLURRY

In September 2006, the pope offended Muslims by quoting a Byzantine emperor from the 14th century. Here is what the emperor said: “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached” (emphasis mine throughout).

The pope apologized for offending Muslims, but didn’t retract what he said. And it was a shocking statement.

But here is something far more shocking. I didn’t notice anyone reminding the pope of his own church’s history! He discussed Mohammed’s “command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,” but the truth of history is that no church has spread its faith by the sword more than the Catholics!

The Vatican and Germany primarily comprise the so-called Holy Roman Empire. Six resurrections of that empire have come and gone. I defy anybody to show me a religious empire that has shed more blood in man’s entire history!

In spite of this bloody history, the pope is doing most of the criticizing and condemning.

The seventh head of the Holy Roman Empire is now on the scene in Europe. And the stronger it gets, the more aggressive the Vatican becomes. That empire has had a history of converting people to Catholicism with the sword for about 1,500 years. Bloodshed has repeatedly followed its strong criticisms.

The greatest hero of the Holy Roman Empire is Charlemagne. He waded through a sea of blood to win converts to Catholicism. Still, the last two popes have continually instructed Roman Catholics to remember and resurrect that “glorious” past! That is the opposite of repenting for past sins! Some European Union leaders even discuss how they are waiting for a new Charlemagne to get the Holy Roman Empire moving again. And nobody seems to be alarmed.

Have people forgotten the history of the Holy Roman Empire?

How about the Catholic crusades?

Most religious (and even secular) people are reluctant to criticize the Vatican. But the pope is hurling some scathing criticisms at others—especially other religions.

Since the Vatican is so critical, surely it can stand a little criticism too.

If we fail to learn from history, the bloodshed is going to get a lot worse. This world desperately needs to know where the Vatican’s aggression is leading. All religions have their faults. However, the Vatican acts like it is innocent.

Protestants Not Even a “Church”

London’s Telegraph newspaper reported, “Christian denominations outside Roman Catholicism are either defective or are not full churches of Jesus Christ, the Vatican has reaffirmed. A 16-page document released by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict xvi once headed, described Orthodox churches as true churches, but said they are suffering from a ‘wound’ since they do not recognize the primacy [state of being first!] of the pope.

“The document, approved by Pope Benedict, went on to say the ‘wound is still more profound’ in Protestant denominations. ‘Despite the fact that this teaching has created no little distress … it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of “church” could possibly be attributed to them,’ it said. …

“While there was nothing doctrinally new in the document, it nevertheless prompted swift criticism from Protestants, Lutherans and other Christian denominations” (July 11). But the criticism was anemic compared to the pope’s scathing condemnation of their religion. The reason Protestants revolted in the first place was the corruption inside the Roman Catholic Church.

The pope can’t see how the Protestants could even have the title of “church” attributed to them! Quite an outrage coming from a church with such a bloody history.

This document criticized Orthodox churches almost as severely.

Other religions have a history of being afraid to criticize a powerful Catholic Church. And that situation is only going to get worse, as the Catholic Church rapidly grows in power and influence.

Jews Are “Blind”

Here is an excerpt from the Observer newspaper, July 8: “Jewish leaders and community groups criticized Pope Benedict xvi strongly yesterday after the head of the Roman Catholic Church formally removed restrictions on celebrating an old form of the Latin mass which includes prayers calling for the Jews to ‘be delivered from their darkness’ and converted to Catholicism. …

“However, the older rite’s prayers calling on God to ‘lift the veil from the eyes’ of the Jews and to end ‘the blindness of that people so that they may acknowledge the light of your truth, which is Christ’—used just once a year during the Good Friday service—have sparked outrage.

“Yesterday the Anti-Defamation League, the American-based Jewish advocacy group, called the papal decision a ‘body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations.’” Still, the Vatican continues to allow use of the ceremony, and Jewish criticism is becoming muted. The Vatican is certain it sees Jewish blindness, but what about its own blindness?

We all remember that the Nazis killed 6 million Jews in World War ii. There is an abundance of proof that the Vatican helped more Nazis escape at the end of the war than any other institution by far!

How could that happen if the Vatican hadn’t been allied with Adolf Hitler? Is that history a prophetic insight, showing that history is about to repeat itself? Is this the kind of “light” the Vatican wants to give the Jews? Does the Vatican think it was following Christ in those evil deeds?

“The pope also sparked bewilderment when he made no mention of anti-Semitism, or the fact that the Nazis killed millions of people because they were Jewish, in a speech last year at Auschwitz. He also failed to acknowledge that there might be some degree of collective responsibility of the German people” (ibid.).

Is this the voice of a church that has repented of its sins? These are mind-numbing facts that we can’t ignore! And yet the Vatican goes around castigating all other religions and acting like it is the repository of all righteousness. It is a deadly sign of where the European Union is headed!

The Catholic Church has over a billion members and wields frightening power within the European Union and in this world.

Read further  here.