[lbo-talk] Mahathir: Jews rule the world

kjkhoo at softhome.net kjkhoo at softhome.net
Mon Oct 20 04:28:50 PDT 2003


He's wrong to equate Jews and israel, but that's Mahathir (and many others, including Israel's self-identification as "the Jewish state"). But Mahathir's surely not wrong in saying that Israel exercises a significant weight with US foreign policy and that Muslims might learn from that, absorbing the lesson of the futility of violence at this juncture?

Whatever, the reactions of western capitals -- esp in view of the contemporaneous reports about that US under-secretary's speeches re the satanic Muslims, and the writings of such as Lewis and Pipes, etc., not to mention Friedman -- is sanctimonious cant.

And, speaking as one of those lumped as "lords of the pacific rim", "the bamboo network", etc., I've got to say I feel little sympathy for academics and others who are quick to jump to it when mention is made of Jews who today are at little risk of any real pogrom, but contribute famously to analyses of E Asia economic performance by all too easy reference to the role of the Chinese, with loose talk and career-enhancing articles of the so-called Chinese diaspora lumping together the very many tens of millions who are no more diasporic than the many Germans, Scandinavians, Italians, Slavs in the US, e.g. or even more, the many more Anglos in Canada, the US, Australia and NZ. While it is no longer permissible in respectable company to talk of Jewish control of the US this or that, it is not only respectable but seemingly well-founded academic wisdom to go on and on about the Chinese control of the economy, etc. Pick up virtually any summary article on Malaysia and there it will be: the Chinese dominate the economy. Heck, that was said thirty years ago when foreign ownership of corporate equity was running at close to 70%, and the bulk of large plantations and tin mines were foreign owned.

kj khoo

At 9:15 AM -0400 16/10/03, Doug Henwood wrote:
>Mahathir tells Muslims: use brains against Israel
>Thu Oct 16,12:52 AM ET
>
>PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters) - Malaysia's prime minister urged
>Muslims on Thursday to start using brains rather than brawn against
>Israel, telling an Islamic summit it was the only way to reverse 50
>years of bitter defeat.
>
>Mahathir Mohamad, a veteran leader with a reputation for speaking
>his mind, told delegates that the Jewish people, because of their
>relationship with the United States, had an influence in the world
>that far outweighed their numbers.



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