The Russian Bear and the Israeli Ant

Manhigut Yehudit--The Jewish Leadership Movement ^ | 8/'08 | Moshe Feiglin

[Zionist Conspirator]

Spend more on social programs and less on the military?

Doesn’t sound like someone I’d like to see in charge.

What you critics of this line in Feiglin's article don't seem to realize is that Feiglin believes in G-d and takes His Word and His promises seriously. He knows that Israel's surest defense is obedience to G-d and the Torah. If Israel were obedient then no outside force could touch her. Contrariwise, all the defense spending in the world cannot save a nation on whom G-d has turned. The remarks some of you are making sound as if they come from atheists.

Similarly, neither Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, John Locke, Friedrich von Hayek, nor Ludwig Van Mises created the universe. Conservatism is defined by the Word of G-d (the Torah), not the economic and social doctrines of human beings.

[SolidWood]

Clown. Feiglin and his wife have five kids and are grandparents. You sure love slanders and bile.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

If you believe in God, type God.

This is still America as far as I know. ;)

[SolidWood]

Jews refrain from writing God, out of respect and the fact that the Hebrew names have no vowels. Hence G-D.

[JimSEA]

The problem was a loss of our sense of justice and common goals that create our cohesiveness and national might.

While this may be true in Israel and may be occurring now in America, the answer is not a collectivist state as this writer seems to imply. Common purpose may be lost in a number of ways. We in the USA seem to be going in at least four different directions just now and with nothing but disdain for our allies as well as our enemies. The split between Hillery and Obama is more between New Deal Democrats and the New Left. On the Right, internationalists and Isolationists are in a less heated clash, only because the Isolationists are less in number. JMHO

[SJackson]

Actually it relates to the Commandment not to destroy his name. A short explanation , middle of the page.

[SJackson]

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High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel, WOT

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[<1/1,000,000th%]

Then they should write “GD”.

G-d looks like a defacement to me IMHO.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel, WOT

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[<1/1,000,000th%]

Interesting link.

Thanks.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Then they should write “GD”.

G-d looks like a defacement to me IMHO.

That is because of your ignorance.

Halakhah, not you, tells Jews what they should and shouldn't do.

If you have nothing to remark about the actual topic of the thread, then kindly get off it.

[Zionist Conspirator]

While this may be true in Israel and may be occurring now in America, the answer is not a collectivist state as this writer seems to imply.

Just what is a "collectivist state?" You mean a state with a national identity? Surely that is as collectivist as anything.

Patriotism is collectivist. So is the military. The only alternative to "collectivism" is radical atomistic individualism, which doesn't exist. Basically, it is almost impossible not to be "collectivist."

When American conservatives use the word "collectivism" they usually define it in the sense of Austrian economics. But this is only one form of collectivism. In fact, most "anti-collectivists" of the Austrian mold are very much collectivistic themselves in other matters.

Austrian economics is not the end-all and be-all of everything. G-d's Torah regulates economics as it does all other facets of life.

[JimSEA]

The huge sums that the security lobbyists are demanding should be funneled to Israel's social needs.

"Collectivist" = back to the Kibbutz. In other contexts, the "commune" would work. "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need." No Thanks. This is far different from a sense of national unity in the face of a common enemy.

[Zionist Conspirator]

"Collectivist" = back to the Kibbutz. In other contexts, the "commune" would work. "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need." No Thanks. This is far different from a sense of national unity in the face of a common enemy.

::Sigh:: Mr. Feiglin never used the word "kibbutz." He didn't even use the word "collectivist." You are projecting your Austrian economic worldview onto his reference to "social spending." Neither you nor I have any idea what he is referring to.

Do you have nothing to say about anything else he said? To ignore the whole thing and pick on one sentence near the end seems totally disproportional.

[dennisw]

Vlad has skimmed billions off oil/energy operations. He’s worth between 20-100 billion

Vlad is a kleptomaniac same as Fernando Marcos. Marcos was only worth a few billion but I guartee you that bald headed stooge (Putin) would gladly fork over a billion to have a full head of black hair like Marcos

So instead Putin tries to macho it up with his karate and horseback riding. This is called compensating. He’s also a puny little shrimp like Napoleon and has a Napoleon complex AKA little man complex

[JimSEA]

The point of the entire article is that Israel is facing a crisis without the sense of unity it had in the past. The writer asserts that the solution must be the diverting of funds from arms to societal concerns. It sounds to me a lot like what Obama, Kennedy, Biden, Durban, et. al are saying here in the USA. Class warfare, social leveling and redistribution of wealth are not political positions I support.

[SolidWood]

Thanks for the further info! When I cited “respect” a reason I was referencing to the Commandment.

[xJones]

Very interesting analysis, although the only reference I've ever heard about a 3 legged stool was in regard to the Espiscopalian church.

Putin might have been wrong that the third leg will be the military, however. As much as the Russian people might want a strong military, because of xenophobia, in truth there really isn’t a threat to Russia.

A strong military makes people feel secure, that's right, but Russia does have some enemies. Remember Beslan, the Russian school children massacre by Chechan Muslims. And then there was the Moscow theatre hostage situation by Muslim extremists. The Russians have their own versions of 9/11.

[xJones]

So instead Putin tries to macho it up with his karate and horseback riding. This is called compensating. He’s also a puny little shrimp like Napoleon and has a Napoleon complex AKA little man complex

I've thought that also. Putin wasn't cursed with the ketchup splotch on his forehead like Gorbachav, but he does look like he had a hard time in kindergarten and grade school. And the end of his nose is always a bright, moist pink like he's either been crying or suffers from hook worms.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Traditionally, Russians fear invasion. Anything else is much less important. This is why there have never been major highways built from eastern Europe deep into Russia. Even the railroads have a different gauge of track, so everything must be transferred back and fourth.

If you’ve ever seen the film Alexander Nevsky (1938), it shows the depth of xenophobia felt by Russians, still paranoid from a 13th Century invasion. So emotionally overwrought, the heroic Russians spend most of the movie posing, and the evil HRE Teutonic Knight invaders being evil and menacing.

In retrospect, it was just crude propaganda, but it made a big impression on the average Russian, likely the first movie any had seen. But it was preaching to the choir, reinforcing their feelings about outsiders.

Beslan was probably seen as far less menacing than the series of Moscow apartment bomb blasts, some of which it was suggested were the work of the FSB to encourage the public to want to expel non-Russians from Moscow. It did result in the creation of a semi-fascist movement, as well as a youth movement sponsored by Putin.