By their links shall ye know them
One of the standard tropes of the "decents" is that many on "the left" or "liberals" operate a no-enemies-on-the-left policy that ends up with them excusing tyranny or being complicit by silence in crimes against humanity (etc, etc, of course). Disgust at said leftists has led "decent" bloggers to prune their blogrolls of these supposed apologists with the result that they end up almost without links to the very part of the political spectrum they claim to belong to. At the same time they have expanded their links to take in many loony right-wing sites, some of which are hardly shy in advertising their endorsement of vicious crimes committed in the cold war. So Geras, for example, links to sites like Powerline and USS Neverdock. Disturbingly, he even manages a link to the utterly unhinged John J. Ray's Dissecting Leftism -- strapline "It's the shared hatred of the rest of us that unites Islamists and the Left".
Relatedly, it is instructive to browse the books recommended by the Henry Jackson Society. Under "Radical Islam and Terror", they point us to works by Melanie Phillips, Michael Gove, Oriani Fallaci, and Bruce Bawer. One of two books recommended under "Foreign Policy" is Mark Steyn's America Alone.
Relatedly, it is instructive to browse the books recommended by the Henry Jackson Society. Under "Radical Islam and Terror", they point us to works by Melanie Phillips, Michael Gove, Oriani Fallaci, and Bruce Bawer. One of two books recommended under "Foreign Policy" is Mark Steyn's America Alone.
posted by Captain Cabernet at 1/02/2008 10:48:00 AM
18 Comments:
Has the Henry Jackson Society ever had any connections with the Left? I know "Scoop" Jackson's followers in America were originally of the left, but that hardly applies to the Society's British members, who are almost entirely of the Right. I mean, its based in Peterhouse. (At its first meeting there three years ago - addressed by Richard Perle - only one "leftie" attended - inevitably, Dennis Macshane). Isn't it obligatory that every member of the Society has had to have been buggared by Maurice Cowling at least once?
Marko Attila Hoare, their point-man on the Balkans and much else, certainly thinks of himself as of the left. And, of course, Oliver Kamm, who I believe to be a member, regularly reminds us all that he is a left-winger.
The GB Scoopies have an odd Marxist-turned-Ulster Unionist element to their genealogy.
Marc Mulholland
If the left operates a no-enemies-on-the-Left policy it makes the tone and content of many Left discussions a little hard to explain.
I think it's a hard call whether Dissecting Leftism is actually more deranged than USS Neverdock - from the bloke who brought you Say No To Islam). I was lucky enough to be on hand to document his finest hour.
There was a time, before it had sunk in how much a mess Iraq had become, when the Scoopies (and various others) made a pitch for the affections of the moderate Left. The Euston manifesto itself, an article by the Scoopies in the Guardian and various other things seemed to be trying to prove what Blair said in his 2001 Labour Party speech: hitch your wagon to the US military and you get all these good things that the Left believes in. It's just that it all looks very odd now in the cold light of day.
Guano
There's plenty of current and former Labour MPs on the signatories list of the Scoopies, if that means anything regarding membership of the left. But then we are plagued with self-proclaimers. I mean, Mad Mel considers herself to be a liberal.
More relevantly, they're currently advertising the transcript of their event starring the well-known leftist John Bolton.
It did make me wonder what Gisela Stuart's relationship to Maurice Cowling might be ...
I mean, Mad Mel considers herself to be a liberal.
Surely not? I'm sure she considers herself to be an ex-liberal.
Having been ticked off for blogroll impurity by the lunatic fringe of Decency, I'm not a fan of the "You link to x ergo you must be y" argument.
Hypocritically though, I've often thought it was a bit odd for Professor Norm to not only link, but also give a long post, to that race-baiting nut at Gates of Vienna.
Actual apologism for real, live fascists - I thought he was opposed to that kind of thing.
Geras has long been an enthusiastic linker to various types of far-right nutcase, usually American. I wonder if the Gates of Vienna chaps sent him a "Counterjihad Calendar" for Christmas.
"Styled a conservative by her opponents, she prefers to think of herself as defending authentic liberal values against the attempt to destroy western culture from within."
http://www.melaniephillips.com/biography/
As shown by an earlier post on this thread, Nick Cohen endorsed - to the point of suggesting we make donations to it - Democratiya, which contained an interviewee propounding the view that the Nicaraguan Contras were merely just fighters against an oppressive regime, whose cause was so self-evidently just that they promptly won the next election following their terrorist campaign (sorry, war of liberation).
Given the way that Cohen himself picks through the utterances of every Muslim scholar guest of Ken Livingstone, one wonders why he doesn't turn his searchlight gaze on the publications he plugs.
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com/2008/01/decents-left-has-always-been-plagued-by.html
And, as if by magic, Alan Mendoza appears on Comment is Free.
Guano
Oh dear. I think JJ Ray may need a sharper scalpel...
Long, long ago Geras berated me for being a bit impolite about what I said about his support for the Wars on Afghanistan/Iraq, doing his whole "elder, wiser" schtick, so it has been hilarious to see him giving space and apparantely admiring such wingnuts as Michelle Malkin.
I wonder where the film "Charlie Wilson's War" fits into the Decent narrative of world history. Who was shipping Stinger missiles to the Islamists? (Certainly not the Left!)Did Charlie Wilson hate the rest of us?
Guano
i wonder what the eustonites are going to say about bush explicitly condemning and oh yes singling out israeli settlements for condemnation...
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