Self-Inflicted Ignorance Is Suicide
The Freeman Center Is A Defense Against Ignorance
General George S. Patton, War as I Knew It
Biographer Rick Atkinson:
1. As one of his soldiers said of Patton before the Allied invasion of France: “Here was a man for whom you would go to hell and back.”
2. “In Patton’s career we see certain trademarks: a relentless aggression and faith in the offensive, and uncanny instinct for enemy intentions and disposition, a steely willingness to sustain high casualties out of conviction that faintheartedness exacts a higher price in the long run.”
3.”Patton, with pardonable pride acclaims to have “moved farther and faster and engaged more divisions in less time than any other army in the history of the United States—possibly in the history of the world….No country can stand against such an army.”
4. “In less than two weeks he pushed a dozen divisions across the Moselle, looped behind German lines, took sixty thousand enemy prisoners, and captured ten thousand square miles of territory.”
5. Said Patton: “May God have mercy upon my enemies, they will need it.”
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Machiavelli, The Prince (Chapter 14):
Since Israel is not only at war but lives in among Arab-Islamic nations in which Jihad is a religious imperative, a word from Machiavelli is in order:
“[The Prince] ought never to lift his thought from the exercise of war, and he ought to exercise more in peace than in war, which he can do in two modes: one with works, the other with the intellect.”
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A Brief Eidelberg Report
It has been learned that the Kurds are sending a Flotilla against Turkish occupation. Before continuing, a few words about the Kurds.
No firm statistics exist for the Kurdish population. Estimates range between 16 and 25 million, divided as follows: 8 - 13m in Turkey, 4-5m in Iraq,
4-5m in Iran, 1m in Syria and another million scattered between Lebanon, Armenia and other neighboring states. A majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslim, not ethnically Arab.
Note that the Kurds constitute a significant portion of Turkey. Unlike the Turks, however, they speak an Indo-European language. They live across all of Turkey (mainly in the south), but Turkey's treatment of the Kurds has been a frequent subject of international criticism.[1]
Now, since the Kurds are seeking national self-determination, Israel—which has supported them in the past—should portray them as would-be Zionists and call upon the democratic world to support them, especially in view of the fact that the Kurds, unlike most Muslims, are friends of democracy!
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Thoughts to Ponder
Paul Eidelberg
Consider Netanyahu's statement regarding the untoward consequences of the IDF's actions on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara— “We had no choice.” This is typical democratic timidity intended to relieve the decision-maker of moral responsibility. The manly and statesmanlike thing is to declare, in the first person: "I decided to foil this illegal and vicious attempt by Israel's Islamic enemies to aid the Hamas terrorist regime —Iran's proxy in Gaza."
Israeli's political elites must cease posing as "moralists." The world does not give a damn about moralists—especially if they are Jews. (And of course the Arabs only despise Jews for their benevolence.) The world admires winners, not losers. In Jewish thought, the individual Jew should be humble (anav), but the Jewish nation must be proud since its purpose is to represent the glory of God.
Israel's government must stop groveling or demeaning itself by trying to win the approval of mankind. But if you don't want to learn from serious Judaism, then learn from Machiavelli: "Better to be feared than loved." Why? Because love is fickle and depends on the other, whereas fear depends on you.
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Paranoids or Pussy Cats?
Prof. Paul Eidelberg
Question: "What are Israel's Oslovian prime ministers most afraid of?" Answer: "Losing their reputation as Democratic Humanitarians." Hence turn to Sun Tzu's treatise The Art of War.
Although written about 500 B.C.E., The Art of War remains an indispensable guide for generals and political leaders. Sun Tzu puts to shame Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert, and Binyamin Netanyahu. During their reign, or since the Arab Terror War erupted in September 2000, more than 1,600 Jews have been murdered and many thousands more have been wounded and maimed by Arab terrorists. Meanwhile, Israel has been retreating toward her indefensible pre-1967 borders. Why is all this happening?
Referring to the IDF's response to Arab terrorism, former Prime Minister Sharon said, "self-restraint is strength"! Was Sharon dictum derived from the Sermon on the Mount or from a misreading of Sun Tzu’s treatise on war? True, Sun Tzu would have a general exhibit, at first, "the coyness of a maiden"—to draw out the enemy—but thereafter he would have him emulate the fierceness of a lion. In fact, Sun Tzu, anticipating George Patton—a lion—emphasizes that there are occasions when a general must not obey the commands of his sovereign when victory over the enemy is for the taking.
In contrast, Israel's Oslovian prime ministers, instead of conquering the enemy—the PLO-cum-Palestinian Authority—appease and want to negotiate with the enemy. They dismiss the genocidal objectives of this enemy. Had they sense and stamina, they would have long ago ordered the IDF to demolish the enemy, to sear into Arab consciousness: Don't mess with Israel!
(To be continued, God willing, on June 14.)
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