archived: 13 - 19 Mar, 2005         Back                 Next

UPDATED:  March 17, 2004  

Junkie:  Dr. Jonas’ column today is taken from two articles originally published in The Planetary Movement, Junkie Editor Michael Carmichael’s wonderful website based in England.  TPJ readers can visit the website by following this hyperlink:  -- The Planetary Movement  

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GEORGITE “FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY” 

My column for this week is about the Georgite concept of "Freedom and Democracy," as applied to the United States. It would seem to be logical that this model is the template for the nations of the Middle East where the Georgites say they are trying to establish it (by force of arms, of course). Their concept of "F&D" as they are developing it in the US makes for interesting reading. (If you would like to see just what it is in summary, please go to my TPJ column of Feb. 10, 2005.) But what about the Georgite concept of "F&D" as they are applying it to the Middle East? Well, here are two enlightening bits. 

Steven Weisman in The New York Times of Jan. 30, 2005 reported that the Bush Administration, represented by Vice-President Cheney on down (or up, depending upon your point of view) has repeatedly complained to the government of Qatar, where the Arab TV channel Al-Jazeera (supported in part by the Qatar government) is based, about the channel's content. Since the channel often shows what is really going on in Iraq from the Arab perspective, the Georgites view it as anti-American. The top Georgite leadership has demanded that the channel be shut down. Qatar has responded by putting the channel on the market for sale to private ownership. 

The Progress Report of Feb. 7, 2005 reported that in 2003 Sec. Rumsfeld announced that whatever else happened, the US would not tolerate an Iran-style theocracy in Iraq. (As an aside, one wonders why Rumsfeld is against theocracy. The Georgites are steadily moving forward to establish one in the US; see Editor/Publisher Judge Stephen Gheen's lead in The Political Junkies.net for Feb. 13, 2005.) Just about a year later, on Feb. 6, 2005, Rumsfeld stated that should the majority Shiites establish an Islamist state, as their leading clerics are advocating, the US would keep hands off. "Iraq belongs to the Iraqis," he said. Now that sounds like "F&D," you might say. Except that theocracies are by their very nature neither free nor democratic. 

Uh oh. One must wonder exactly what the Georgites mean by the phrase "F&D," mustn't one. 

And, speaking of Donald Rumsfeld.  In The New York Times of February 11, 2005, a story by James Brooke and David E. Sanger quoted US Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as saying: “One has to worry about weapons of that power in the hands of leadership of that nature. . . . I don't think that anyone would characterize the leadership in that country as being restrained.” Gee, wonder which leadership in which country he was talking about. 

His country invaded Iraq on false premises and, by the way, never bothered to negotiate with its government on the issues with which the US was supposedly concerned before that invasion, leaving that to the UN. When the Georgites didn't like how things were going (too well?) with the UN, in they went. Restraint? 

His country has issues with Iran over nuclear weapons development, but his government is not part of any negotiation with the government of Iran, leaving that to the European Union. In the meantime, his government has been making aggressive noises towards Iran since it invaded Iraq, is conducting not-so-covert operations on the ground in that country, and is also running a spy-plane operation there. (I suppose that if the Iranians shot one down, Rumsfeld would claim “aggression” on their part.) Restraint?

Well, actually Rumsfeld was talking about North Korea. Not a terrific place, and not terrific leadership, but for years, North Korea has been saying that it would not proceed with nuclear weapons development, and would submit to an ongoing comprehensive inspection process if only the US, which has been making aggressive noises towards that country since the Clinton talks were broken off, would sign a bilateral non-aggression pact with them. The US still refuses to negotiate bilaterally and today it is revealed that it has already developed a comprehensive “choke-em-to-death” plan for dealing with North Korea. Restraint? 

This may sound too shrink-like, but I just wonder if Rumsfeld, above, is projecting.

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Dr. Steven Jonas is a TPJ contributing author.  He is a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) and author/co-author of over twenty books. Dr. Jonas is one of America's most perceptive Democratic political analysts.

In his book The New Americanism, Dr. Jonas presents his case that the Democratic Party has come adrift from its founding principles.  He urges the Party to turn to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to find the new vision and mission that it, and our country, so desperately need. "The New Americanism: How the Democratic Party Can Win the Presidency  is available from Amazon.com (just click on the title) and BarnesandNoble.com.

He is also the author of The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022, originally published in 1996 under the pseudonym “Jonathan Westminster,” and republished with a New Introduction in 2004, under the same author's name.  The 2004 edition is available at www.barnesandnoble.com (just enter the title) and www.xlibris.com (“Bookstore,” “Search”).  Both versions are available at www.amazon.com (just click on the title).