Realism ain’t what it used to be
Recently there have been some defenders of the Walt/Mearsheimer paper on the Israel lobby. I never bought the defense. If Walt and Mearsheimer were tendentiously claiming that they couldn’t get their paper published because of the all powerful Israel Lobby there was never any doubt to benefit them.Now they’ve gone to Robert Fisk for an interview in the Independent. And what do you see on the cover? A picture of the American flag with the star field made up of Stars of David instead of the standard five pointed ones. (See here and scroll down.) Classic ZOG (warning: vile link)material.
If Richard Cohen and Molly Ivins are honest they’d have to admit that Walt and Mearsheimer. Walt and Mearsheimer aren’t naifs. I’m sure they know who they were dealing with when they dealt with Fisk. And barring any complaint from the pair about the cover picture we have to assume they approved it.
If you’re interested in an antidote, there’s an excellent one at Deja Vu.
Unfortunately, the only real American realists were found in the military. It stopped viewing Israel as a strategic liability, begun seeing it as a strategic asset and recommended a policy commensurate with that notion. As a result it stopped producing papers arguing against American support for Israel and producing papers on “U.S. Strategic Interest in Israel.”
Yup, the realist school of foreign policy viewed Israel as a strategic asset at its founding. Hmm. But now the realists are excused for viewing Israel as a liability. I guess that realism ain’t what it used to be.
But then, with their conversation with Fisk, Walt and Mearsheimer have shown that “realism” is not their only motivation.
Technorati tags: Walt and Mearsheimer, Israel.
Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.
