Will Biden Stay in Bibi’s Pocket? (REVISED)

By Ray McGovern, May 19, 2021

Netanyahu’s own words, videotaped two decades ago, show his disdain for the malleability of  former U.S. presidents.  As it turns out, Netanyahu had good reason to hold them in contempt as he “maneuvered” around them to ensure unstinting American support for status-quo Israeli domination of the Palestinians.

How about now? Will he see President Biden as a wimp, with Biden’s mealy-mouthed comment to Netanyahu earlier today that Biden “expects to see a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire” in Gaza.

If past is precedent, Netanyahu’s likely response will be a half-polite, “Joe, please take that and shove it … and oh, by the way, I meant to thank you for your proposed sale of $735 million-worth of smart bombs a couple of weeks ago. It came at just the right time for me.”

You readers will be quick to point out, Netanyahu could not survive, were the U.S. to stop its misconceived, lemming-like, unprecedentedly generous support for Israel.  And you would be correct.  Still, the odds are against anything more effective than pious calls for steps “on the path to a ceasefire”, until Israeli forces accomplish what the Israelis now admit they have long planned to achieve in Gaza.

Here’s Why

Netanyahu thought the camera/sound was off 20 years ago, when he spoke with unspeakable candor to a small private group, explaining,  “America is a thing that can be easily moved … moved in the right direction. They [Americans] will not bother us.”

In this 5-minute video, leaked and aired on Channel 10 News in Israel, Netanyahu in 2001 discussed the Oslo Accords, the peace process, Bill Clinton, and Israel’s power to move the U.S. “in the right direction’.

Translation (based on the subtitles) follows, with Netanyahu in bold.

“The Arabs now are preparing a campaign [war] of terror, and they think that this will break us.

“The main thing is, first and foremost, to hit them hard.

“Not just one hit … but many painful, so that the price will be unbearable.

“The price is not unbearable now.

“A total assault on the Palestinian Authority.

“To bring them to a state of panic that everything is collapsing.

“ … fear that everything will collapse … this is what we’ll bring them to …

[Woman interrupts: But wait a minute.  At that point the whole world will say, ‘What are you, occupiers?]

“The world will say nothing.  The world will say we are defending ourselves.

[Woman: ‘Aren’t you afraid of the world, Bibi?

“No.

“Especially now with America, I know what America is. 

“America is a thing that can be easily moved … moved in the right direction.

“They [Americans] will not bother us.

“Let’s suppose they [Americans] will say something to us – Israelis … so they say it …  [so what?].

“80 percent of the Americans support us.

“It’s absurd.  We have such [great] support there!

“And we say … what shall we do with this [support]?

“Look, the other administration [that of Clinton] was pro-Palestinian in an extreme way.

“I was not afraid to maneuver there.  I did not fear confrontation with Clinton.

“I was not afraid to clash with the UN.” …

Netanyahu then goes on to explain how he exploited a loophole in the Oslo Accords (regarding which side defines what a “military site” is), and that, in Netanyahu’s words is how “I actually stopped the Oslo Accords.”  (The Accords provided, among other things, for phased withdrawal of Israeli troops.)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What About Now?

We will soon find out not only if there is any “significant de-escalation”, but also if there is any significant change in who is calling the shots now — Bibi or the U.S. president.

Those who want really significant change had better show that they care enough to get out in the streets.

Otherwise, nothing “significant” will happen, and the Israeli military will continue to “mow the grass” in Gaza, unhindered — and with a Netanyahu-type smirk on their faces.  ( See: https://consortiumnews.com/2021/05/16/26686/. ) And Biden will have shown that, like his predecessors, he lacked the courage and the will to climb out of Bibi’s pocket.

Expert at Surprises: Is Iran Next?

Again, if past is precedent …

Blindsiding other countries has long been a favorite arrow in Israel’s quiver. During the Middle East crisis in the spring of 1967, some of us witnessed closely a flood of Israeli surprises and deceptions, as Netanyahu’s predecessors feigned fear of an imminent Arab attack as justification for starting a war to seize and occupy Arab territories.

Few Americans realize that we in U.S. intelligence had long since concluded that Israel had been grossly exaggerating the Arab “threat” in early 1967.  Fifteen years later, in 1982, former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin publicly confessed:

“In June 1967, we had a choice. The Egyptian army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that [Egyptian President] Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.”

Israel, in fact, had prepared well militarily and also mounted provocations against its neighbors, in order to provoke a response that could be used to justify expansion of its borders.  In today’s fluid, unpredictable circumstances, President Biden would be well advised to greet with appropriate skepticism any private assurances Netanyahu may provide that he will not go for broke and launch a surprise attack on Iran. (See: https://consortiumnews.com/2010/080310c.html for additional background)

Will Biden Stay in Bibi’s Pocket?

By Ray McGovern, May 19, 2021

In Netanyahu’s own words, two decades ago.  He was right then.  How about now? Will he see President Biden as a wimp, with his his mealy-mouthed comment to Netanyahu that Biden “expects to see a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire” in Gaza.

If past is precedent, Netanyahu’s likely response will be a polite, “Joe, you can take that and shove it … oh, and by the way, thanks for the $735 million weapons sale you proposed a couple of weeks ago.” 

But, you say, Netanyahu could not survive, were the U.S. to stop its misconceived, lemming-like support for Israel.  And you would be correct.  Still, the odds are against anything more than pious calls for steps “on the path to a ceasefire”, until Israeli forces accomplish what the Israelis now admit they have long planned to achieve in Gaza.

Here’s Why

Netanyahu thought the camera/sound was off when he spoke with unspeakable candor to a small private group 20 years ago, explaining,  “America is a thing that can be easily moved … moved in the right direction. They [Americans] will not bother us.”

In this 5-minute video, leaked and aired on Channel 10 News in Israel, Netanyahu in 2001 at a constituent’s home discussed the Oslo Accords, the peace process, Bill Clinton, and the United States.

Literal translation (based on the subtitles); Bibi in bold.

“The Arabs now are preparing a campaign [war] of terror, and they think that this will break us.

“The main thing is, first and foremost, to hit them hard.

“Not just one hit … but many painful, so that the price will be unbearable.

“The price is not unbearable now.

“A total assault on the Palestinian Authority.

“To bring them to a state of panic that everything is collapsing.

“ … fear that everything will collapse … this is what we’ll bring them to …

[Woman interrupts: But wait a minute.  At that point the whole world will say, ‘What are you, occupiers?]

“The world will say nothing.  The world will say we are defending ourselves.

[Woman: ‘Aren’t you afraid of the world, Bibi?

“No.

“Especially now with America, I know what America is. 

“America is a thing that can be easily moved … moved in the right direction.

“They [Americans] will not bother us.

“Let’s suppose they [Americans] will say something to us – Israelis … so they say it …  [so what?].

“80 percent of the Americans support us.

“It’s absurd.  We have such [great] support there!

“And we say … what shall we do with this [support]?

“Look, the other administration [that of Clinton] was pro-Palestinian in an extreme way.

“I was not afraid to maneuver there.  I did not fear confrontation with Clinton.

“I was not afraid to clash with the UN.” …

Netanyahu then goes on to explain how he exploited a loophole in the Oslo Accords (regarding which side defines what a “military site” is), and that, in Netanyahu’s words is how “I actually stopped the Oslo Accords.”  (The Accords provided, among other things, for phased withdrawal of Israeli troops.)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What About Now?

We will soon find out not only if there is any “significant de-escalation”, but also if there is any significant change in who is calling the shots now — Bibi or Biden.

Those who want really significant change had better care enough to get out in the streets.

Otherwise, nothing “significant” will happen, and the Israeli military will continue to “mow the grass” in Gaza, unhindered — with a Netanyahu-type smirk on their faces.  ( See: https://consortiumnews.com/2021/05/16/26686/. ) And Biden will have shown that, like his predecessors, he lacked the courage and the will to climb out of Bibi’s pocket.

Remember the USS Liberty

URGENT: Tell the Navy to REMEMBER THE USS LIBERTY, which was deliberately attacked by Israel June 8, 1967, killing 34 and wounding 171. Pentagon: move ships out of range. Biden: tell Netanyahu not to even think about a false-flag attack to draw the US in!

Rare Discussion Between Kremlin Adviser & Ray McGovern

On May 6, 2021, Vladimir Kozin joined me on a webinar for a broad discussion of U.S.-Russia relations, focusing mostly on military developments and mutual tensions that could leave us all dead. World Beyond War and the Center for Citizen Initiatives organized the session.

Webinar (complete with slides used in the presentation) available here:
https://worldbeyondwar.org/video-conversation-on-russia-u-s-peace-and-war-with-vladimir-kozin-and-ray-mcgovern/

Ray led off, speaking for 19 minutes beginning at minute 1:45, followed by Vladimir Kozin for 17 minutes before the Q and A. Many of the questions were right on the mark; same goes for the answers, many of which covered new territory. So much so that the moderators decided to lengthen the time for Q and A.

More than 600 initially signed up for the webinar; over 300 actually took part. They were from the U.S., Russia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the UK, among other countries. A very international audience.

‘Mainstream’ Media, Vestigial Organs: A Few ‘For Instances’

By Ray McGovern, May 3, 2021

I was happy to be asked by the World Ethical Data Foundation to speak at their Forum this year about the media. I chose to select a couple of instructive “for instances” (short for what the Harvard Business School calls “case studies”) to put flesh on this dismal subject.  Still all thumbs at making slides, at the last minute I enlisted the help of my friend Ann Batiza; kudos to Ann if you find my presentation coherent.

I decided, also at the last minute, to begin with a song. And those interested in why I chose Die Gedanken Sind Frei can find a fulsome explanation below. But first, to provide some idea as to my train of thought — and hopefully whet an appetite or two — I’ll just list the titles of the slides in the order shown:

1 — William Casey’s Dream Fulfilled
2 — Ken Delanian: John Brennan’s Dream Come True
3 — Comey: Steele Dossier ‘Verified’, also ‘Not Corroborated’
4 — Chuck Grassley Laments the Department of ‘Just Us’
5 — CNN: Expect ‘Technical Difficulties’ the Moment Israel Criticized
6 — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: Why I Did 9/11
7 — Don Lemon to Ray McG: Huh? Julian Assange NOT a Terrorist?
8 — The Noah Principle


Are Die Gedanken Frei – Really?

On a train hurtling through Germany in September 2015, my former CIA colleague, Elizabeth Murray, was teaching me a German song: Die Gedanken Sind Frei, in English “Thoughts are Free”. We were giving presentations in major German cities on the general theme Wie Werden Kriege Gemacht — loose translation, “How Do Wars Get Started”. We encountered considerable puzzlement at how we could feel free to speak so candidly and fearlessly about the responsibility of our own government for causing chaos in the Middle East. In that light, this old German song seemed worth bringing to mind — and perhaps singing at some point during one of our talks. Besides, we thought it might add a much needed lighter, more hopeful note to our dreary theme.

“Collateral damage”, so to speak, from the various wars in the Middle East was having a palpable effect in Germany at the time, with the arrival of tens of thousands of refugees primarily from Syria.  We witnessed this personally everywhere our train stopped — and particularly at the main Bahnhof in the north German city of Rostock when we arrived to give a talk there. The railroad station platform could hardly be seen under the open bags and suitcases of hundreds of Syrian refugees.

Under a huge banner ALLE Sind Herzlich Willkommen!, local German volunteers were serving their Arab “guests” coffee, milk, and bread. The refugees’ relief and joy were poignant, the more so when Elizabeth walked into their midst to add words of welcome, using her fluent Arabic to engage them person to person. I felt a strange mixture of shame at our country’s part in causing so many to have to flee their own country; and I felt some hope as I watched the local Germans “welcome the stranger”. (It was entirely predictable that Chancellor Angela Merkel would eventually have to take heavy flak for observing this key biblical mandate. She did it anyway. In my view, it was the right thing to do.)

After Rostock our next engagement was in Berlin, and as our train sped south, Elizabeth and I were rehearsing — discreetly, we thought — Die Gedanken Sind Frei. Not quietly enough, it turned out. It was not long before the four elderly women sitting across the aisle spontaneously joined the singing — and then almost at once, to our astonishment, the entire car of that train joined in.** When the verses had all been sung, I thanked our four women co-passengers for joining in, adding “You were probably not able to sing that when Hitler was in power.” As with one voice, they shouted:

“DOCH!”

A forceful way of saying “NO WAY did we stop singing that song; we sang it all the time.” (I later learned that Sophie Scholl, a leader of die Weisse Rose student resistance group bravely played that song on her flute outside the walls of the prison in which her father was detained for calling Hitler a “scourge of God”. Sophie herself was later caught and executed.)

What If You Don’t Know What to Think? As mentioned above, Die Gedanken Sind Frei again came to mind as I was preparing to present to the World Ethical Data Foundation in March.  OK, I thought, even under Hitler people felt free to sing a song about being able to have thoughts that are free. But if such thoughts are not informed by accurate information, how much are they really worth? How can they engender action aimed at “doing the right thing”?  With those thoughts in the back of my head, I decided to sing the first stanza of the song to begin my talk and then proceed to wrestle with that key question.

I had given my talk the title: “Mainstream Media: Vestigial Organs” — which eventually morphed into “Turnkey Tyranny”. And I sang the first stanza:

Die Gedanken sind frei, wer kann sie erraten,
sie fliegen vorbei wie nächtliche Schatten.
Kein Mensch kann sie wissen, kein Jäger sie schießen
mit Pulver und Blei: Die Gedanken sind frei!

Below is a good literal English translation:

Thoughts are free, who can guess them?
They fly by like nocturnal shadows.
No person can know them, no hunter can shoot them
with powder and lead: Thoughts are free!

It occurred to me later that perhaps I should simply have played the following YouTube of Pete Seeger with a free translation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbwQXVcbkU0

___________________________

**A similar thing happened a week later in Cologne in the cavernous — and very full — Lutherkirche toward the end of our presentation. I froze after singing the first line of the song, gave the microphone to Elizabeth who picked up beautifully and, yes, by the third line the entire church had broken out in song. It was quite moving. For those interested, this very short but poignant interlude takes place at minute 1:13:30 of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7Lia8caiZM

Ukraine-Russia 2.0

By Ray McGovern, May 2, 2021

“Ukraine For Dummies” is the title I gave to a piece I published a year and a half ago ( See: https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/14/ray-mcgovern-ukraine-for-dummies/ ) to provide some background for those wondering why the news was full of Ukraine and the pundits were full of something else.

On Friday, April 30, I was interviewed by an independent Dutch researcher and journalist Elze van Hamelen for what I might describe as a sequel to “Ukraine For Dummies” — a sort of Cliff’s Notes regarding Ukraine as the center of the storm in recent weeks — a summary with some relevant color for the non-expert. It was a happily relaxed conversation, during which I could elaborate freely on recent postings like these three:
https://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2021/04/21/putin-isnt-bluffing-on-ukraine/
https://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2021/04/14/biden-and-blinken-blink-on-ukraine/
https://raymcgovern.com/2021/02/04/most-blatant-coup-in-history/

Reviewing the chronology of events over the past five tense weeks, it became clear that several things came to a head on April 13, culminating in President Biden’s very strange call to President Putin. My guess is that it was Putin who called first and left a “voicemail” saying: “Your Ukrainians and the crazies abetting them are playing with fire; please call me — and quickly.”

Lots more was covered in the interview:

— The key role of China — yes, China — a increasingly important factor in the background

— The meretricious “mainstream media” as the anchor, the linchpin of the MICIMATT

— Who’s in charge in Washington?

— Has Russia matched the U.S. in sophisticated weaponry?

— How a kindergarten teacher showed me more wisdom than George Kennan

— Dan Berrigan, simple but profound: “Do the right thing. Results are not unimportant, but they are secondary,” 

I hope listeners enjoy the interview as much as I did.

Annie Machon: 19th Recipient of the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence

(Website: samadamsaward.ch)

The annual award ceremony was as instructive and as warm as usual, even though held virtually. The honor was given to former MI5 whistleblower Annie Machon who, together with a MI5 colleague, did their best to expose serious misdeeds of British intelligence.

In addition, an honorary award was given posthumously to Russian scholar Stephen Cohen, husband of Katrina vanden Heuvel, who added poignant remarks to her reading of the citation honoring Steve.

The awards were presented on March 17 at the World Ethical Data Forum.

Here is the video of the Sam Adams Award ceremony; the texts of the two citations follow below the video:

Citation for Annie Machon

Know all ye by these presents that Annie Machon is hereby honored with the traditional Sam Adams Corner-Brightener Candlestick Holder, in symbolic recognition of her courage in shining light into dark places.

“If you see something, say something.” Long before that saying came into vogue, Annie Machon took its essence to heart.

MI5, the British domestic intelligence agency, recognized how bright, enterprising, and unflappable Annie was and recruited her as soon as she completed her studies at Cambridge.

The good old boys in MI5 apparently thought she would have a malleable conscience, as well — such that she would have no qualms about secret monitoring of the very government officials overseeing MI5 itself, for example.

Annie would not be quiet about this secret abuse. Her partner, David Shayler, an MI5 colleague and — like Annie — a person of integrity and respect for law, became aware of an MI6 plan to assassinate Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

They decided to blow the whistle and fled to France. (Many years later, a woman of high station but more flexible integrity openly gloated over Gaddafi’s brutal assassination.)

After three years on the lam, hiding mostly in France, they returned to the UK, where Annie was arrested (but never charged with a crime). The powers-that-be, however, chose to make an example of Shayler (not unlike what they are now doing to Julian Assange).

Shayler’s whistleblowing case dragged on for seven years, during which he did a brief stint in the infamous high-security prison where Julian Assange still rots (having been denied bail, yet again). A strong mitigation plea by Annie helped reduce Shayler’s remaining prison time. All in all, though, what he was forced to endure took a hard toll on him.

More broadly, the issues that surfaced around whistleblowing at the time remain largely the same two decades later. Annie Machon has been a very prominent and strong supporter of Julian. She has also been a much admired mentor to less experienced women and men as they seek to become better informed on issues of integrity and courage, and take Annie up on her offer to “help them meet interesting people”, as she puts it.

We would be remiss today were we not to call to mind the courageous example of our first two awardees, Coleen Rowley (FBI) and Katharine Gun (GCHQ), who took great risks in exposing malfeasance and in trying to head off the attack on Iraq. And, as Julian Assange did when he won this award, we again honor his treasured source, Chelsea Manning, for her continuing courage and scarcely believable integrity.

Ed Snowden, our Sam Adams awardee in 2013, noted that we tend to ignore some degree of evil in our daily life, but, as Ed put it, “We also have a breaking point and when people find that, they act.”

Annie is still acting, as one can see as this World Ethical Data Forum unfolds.

Presented this 17th day of March at the World Ethical Data Forum by admirers of the example set by the late CIA analyst, Sam Adams.

_____________________________

Citation for Posthumous Award to Stephen F. Cohen

Know all ye by these presents that Sam Adams Associates honors Professor Stephen F. Cohen with a posthumous tribute for his exemplary scholarship, integrity, and courage.

Stephen Cohen is still with us — in the hearts of those who knew him and try to emulate his courage. The word comes from cor – Latin for heart. It means “to speak one’s mind AND heart”. Aristotle saw courage as the sine qua non for all other virtue. In plain-speak, it doesn’t matter how much you know, if you lack courage.

Steve knew a lot about Russia. But at his courageous core, he was also a Mensch — influencing hearts as well as minds — whether the hearts of kids playing schoolyard basketball on the Upper West Side, or the hearts of presidents in Washington and Moscow. And it was Steve’s courageous commitment to historical truth that set him apart from self-styled specialists on Russia bowing to prevailing Russophobic winds.

Though Steve often was an outlier, his scholarship and advice were valued by top U.S. and Russian leaders alike. Three weeks after the Berlin Wall fell, Steve and his wife Katrina vanden Heuvel were with President George H. W. Bush at the summit in Malta at which Bush reassured Mikhail Gorbachev that the U.S. would not take advantage of the ferment in Eastern Europe. Under Bush’s successors NATO crept east — right up to Russia’s border, despite George Kennan’s warning that this “would restore the atmosphere of the cold war”.

Ever the historian, Steve put both Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin in context, showing that Putin assumed power in a country on the verge of collapse, Yeltsin having allowed the plundering of Russia’s wealth. After the February 2014 coup on Russia’s doorstep in Ukraine, Steve quickly explained — with a candor unwelcome in Washington — why Russia reacted the way it did. Steve was “controversialized” and put in “Putin’s pocket”.

We veteran Russia-watchers took encouragement in knowing that Steve’s analysis was congruent with our own. Particularly welcome was the seal of approval given by Steve and Katrina to a newly coined acronym enumerating the main forces behind the campaign to portray Russia as enemy: MICIMATT — the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank complex.

Fortunately, Steve did not have to resort to samizdat. He had a close friend at a highly respected periodical — one known for its hospitality to serious scholarship and to views shunned elsewhere. The Nation. Our deepest thanks go out to its publisher, who faced into the prevailing winds and gave Steve a platform for his uniquely astute views on Russia, the country he and Katrina had come to know so well.

Presented this 17th day of March 2021 at the World Ethical Data Forum by admirers of the courageous example set by the late CIA analyst, Sam Adams.

___________________________________

(See: Sam Adams Associates website samadamsaward.ch for full listing and citations.)