Been There

The shock many Jews feel today when much of the Left pissed in their faces after the horrific terror attack on Israel is exactly what we Ukrainians felt when much of the Right abandoned us and became Putin’s little bitches.

17 thoughts on “Been There

  1. The silence from academic circles is telling. I do not remember anything like it in recent years. Whatever natural disasters happened, BLM protests, even the beginning of Russian invasion of Ukraine, there were always messages from various institutional levels to everyone. If you look at my email inbox now, it is as if nothing has been happening in the Middle East right now. I was thinking about this and realized that while we have a number of students from Lebanon, Egypt, and other countries surrounding the Israel, I cannot think of a single Israeli student here. I think there is a concern from the administration about what any statement on their part would precipitate.

    P.S. I finally figured out how to post under my pseudonym again. The change in the wordpress interface threw me off!

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    1. What about the Jewish faculty and students, though? Their feelings should matter, too.

      We had a million proclamations, meetings, committees and policy changes about George Floyd. Then this enormous atrocity happens, and there’s bupkes. It’s truly a silence that speaks volumes. It’s like in the USSR where “Jew” was a dirty word.

      Students had organized manifestations in support of Ukraine, for which I’m deeply grateful. But there’s nothing in support of Israel. Overall on campus, aside from Jewish colleagues, nobody is saying anything at all. This is not a conversation topic at all. I’ve never seen anything like this on any other subject. Earthquakes in Turkey, for example. Everybody talked about that.

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  2. I’m not sure if the shock is comparable. The American right has historically been anti-Russia. The left is…just saying the same stuff it’s always said about Israel/Palestine. It’s only the context that makes it shocking.

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    1. It’s true but I guess people kind of assumed that in case of a terror attack or some kind of atrocity, their friends would be supportive and not cheer and celebrate. And now they know they were wrong.

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    2. With Trump’s election, the American right became a Trump cult and pro-Russia. The anti-Russia actions Clarissa insisted Trump took were actually carried out by the remaining sane Republicans in his administration to counter him.

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      1. This isn’t remotely about Trump. Trump has no interest in Russia, Ukraine, Israel, etc. This is coming from the base and it’s about 60% the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and about 40% the failure of Ukrainian foreign affairs outreach.

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        1. Trump is definitely interested in Russian money.

          What was the failure of Ukrainian foreign affairs outreach? Not passing anti-gay laws? Not wrapping themselves in Orthodox Christian trappings?

          A huge chunk of Republican base is against Ukraine to own the libs. The liberals support Ukraine, so the right-wing base doesn’t. It’s as simple as that.

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            1. Why are you thinking of bribes? Trump has been selling real estate to Russians for a long time. Donald Trump Jr said in an interview some number of years ago that most of their money was coming from Russians at that point. Trump had been trying to negotiate a Trump Tower Moscow deal.

              Trump is interested in any money he can get from anyone. Are you seriously going to argue against that?

              What do you think Ukraine could have done differently in its foreign outreach to get the Republican base on its side?

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          1. “A huge chunk of Republican base is against Ukraine to own the libs.”

            Unfortunately this is the basis for a whole lot of Republican policy; just a contrarian policy against anything the Democrats are for. They’ve had plenty of opportunities to implement policy but they’ve done nothing with it and have little to nothing to show for it.

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    3. Very good point. Today’s Republican party is not the party of Ronald Reagan.

      This attack on Israel also highlights the dangers of inciting division and animosity within a population. Right now Republican senator Tuberville is holding up critical military appointments and promotions.

      https://www.businessinsider.com/tuberville-refuses-to-lift-his-ongoing-block-on-military-promotions-2023-10

      They’re no longer the party of defense and security.

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    1. It sounds like that was done earlier and those were hostages the terrorists were holding in Israel, not the hostages they took to Gaza.

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