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I've added the npov tag until the following items are resolved in an npov manner: (1) Karsh's quote on Cole's views about Israel. This is an idiosyncratic interpretation of an obscure quote in a book review that can be legitimately interpreted in various ways as the above discussion shows. Karsh interprets it in a way that is most unfavorable to Cole, which is his prerogative, but it should not be the first sentence in a section purportedly about Cole's views of Israel. Let's start with some quotes specifically about Cole's views on Israel now, rather than an ambiguous statement about what Britain did fifty years ago. Elevating this quote to a fundamental part of Cole's beliefs on the basis of a quote from his biggest critic turns this section into a smear. If I find a quote from someone saying that the white settlers in the US should never have given smallpox blankets to the Indians, would you say that the quote proves that the person's fundamental belief is that the USA should never have existed? That is the kind of interpretation we are privileging here and it is wrong.
(2) The section on Hitchens v. Cole as outlined above unfairly elevates Hitchens' interpretation of Cole's statement over Cole's own interpretation of that statement. Cole reexplains himself several times at length. We had this debate on the Cole talk page and Armon stopped pursuing the point there; I assumed he had accepted the points that I made as valid, but apparently not. I don't relish having the same debate over again, but the version of that section currently up makes that impossible to avoid. I rewrote that section in sandbox 3 a while back and I propose that we start with that instead of the current section.
Otherwise we should call this page "Criticism of Cole" and be honest about it rather than pretending this even attempts to accurately portray his views. For some reason editors here seem to want to bend over backwards to turn this guy into an antisemite, yet they cannot find a single quote from him saying anything bad about Jews in general. I find this approach to the topic insulting and offensive.-- csloat 20:01, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
I think we need to clarify exactly what this page is about.
Should this article:
This isn't an exhaustive or mutually exclusive list. If anyone has other options please add them to the list so we (or at least I) can figure out what should and shouldn't be here. -- Armon 14:16, 1 June 2006 (UTC) I've updated the list with Elizmr's & TheronJ's take. Armon 16:44, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
The sentence "Cole's view of Feith has been corroborated by Condi Rice and John Wilkerson" was supplied without a reference, but that isn't the only problem. The loaded term "corroborated" suggests that Condi and John have provided supporting evidence for Feith's untrustworthiness. Even if Condi and John share *exactly* Cole's view, that is not the same as corroborating it. But the sentence does not even make clear what view they share. Does Condi feel that Feith cannot be trusted to give priority to American interests, or does she merely think that Feith is a zealous Likud supporter? Precis 22:48, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
Let's assume for the moment that others' opinions of Feith are even relevant to this article. Then a reference to Douglas Feith#Professional criticism would be fine to indicate that R/W have "expressed agreement with some of Cole's views on Feith". But such reference does not support theclaim that R/W's opinions corroborate (i.e., provide supporting evidence for) Cole's views. Engel has expressed the opinion that M&W are antisemitic, but that doesn't mean he has corroborated the view that M&W are antisemitic. Precis 14:30, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
1. Feith participated in the writing of the "Defense of the Realm" document for Netanyahu. A blueprint for the NeoCon demolition of the Oslo process and invasion of Iraq. So did Maryam Wurmser, cofounder of the translation service that is the subject of another controversy section in this article. 2. Feith as No. 3 at the Pentagon made many decisions more in Likuds Israels' interest than in America's. 3. Cole called Feith on this. 4. Because of this Cole, is labeled a "NAS" as a reactive mechanism by the Israeli lobby, some of which are esteemed academics. 5. In defense it is offered the CORROBORATIVE statements, properly footnoted, at Douglas Feith, sorry I haven't learned how to do footnotes or I would transfer them here. 6. Relevance is when a the existence of a fact at issue is made less likely or not. If everybody around corrobrates Cole's view of Feith as unreliable than either the whole world is "NAS" by definition or Cole is not a "NAS." It appears "NAS" is a definition of conveniance applied politically. 7. Here is the Condi statement again from the Doug article "Former National Security Advisor Condeleezza Rice According to the long-running Washington newsletter, The Nelson Report, edited by Christopher Nelson, Feith was standing in for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at a 2003 interagency 'Principals' Meeting' debating the Middle East, and ended his remarks on behalf of the Pentagon. Then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said, "Thanks Doug, but when we want the Israeli position we'll invite the ambassador." [21] [22] 8. Here is the John Wilkerson statement which has been watered down "Former Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State, Larry Wilkerson In 2005, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to then Secretary of State Colin Powell, publicly stated he could "testify to" Franks' comment, and added "Seldom in my life have I met a dumber man." [29] Regarding Feith and his colleague, David Wurmser, Colonel Wilkerson has stated "A lot of these guys, including Wurmser, I looked at as card-carrying members of the Likud party, as I did with Feith. You wouldn’t open their wallet and find a card, but I often wondered if their primary allegiance was to their own country or to Israel. That was the thing that troubled me, because there was so much that they said and did that looked like it was more reflective of Israel’s interest than our own."[30]
The whole kernel issue that needs to be addressed in this whole discussion is JC's reaction to the doctrine of "NAS." We have his letter to then Harvard Professor Summer's labeling of a an academic boycott as NAS. When I get a little time and have a chance to read about footnoing i plan to write that section, even though it may get continually deleted, b/c awh shucks forget, assume good faith. Take Care! -- Will 02:00, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
(moved from main Cole talk page by Elizmr) Actually, since you don't have a "side" in the whole Baha'i thing, you're probably the best person to write it! :-) It all looks o.k. to me. I tried to add a link to H-Bahai, but couldn't get it to come up right. The URL is http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/ Now, that I think about it, there should probably also be a link to Juan's statement that he's a Baha'i outside the administration, just so that is sourced. Also, just FYI, a recent article quotes an insider as saying that one reason Juan didn't get the Yale job was that "most of Cole’s scholarship pertains to the Baha’i faith and is limited to the 18th and 19th centuries". So, it appears that his commitment to Baha'i scholarship cost him, career-wise. Of course, his combativeness on his weblog was also given as a reason.69.232.171.3 03:02, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
I"d like to get into more detail into the Faha'i controversy. After reading the Gnosis article, I know a little more about the basis of the Talisman emails. The controversy had three aspects/ First the emails were about the lack of women in the high council. The Baha'i faith prides itself on gender equality yet there are no women on the high council or equivalent. Second, the leadership was set in its ways and there was no room for new blood, the Talisman discussed term limits and other ways to get more participation and democratization. Third, there was a requirement for some kind of censorship and/or prior approval of academic papers by Baha'i members. This is what the investigation was about and why Cole quit after being subjected to late night phone calls. So says the Gnosis article. I'm just throwing it out for discussion. The flip side is the organization wanted to maintain orthodoxy and guard against schism Take Care! --
Will
02:01, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Absent any discussion, I added more detail to the Talisman proposed reform changes. Take Care! --
Will
22:28, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Hi, Will -- I just noticed your contribution here. What you've added seems fine to me. One could, of course, go into more detail; it just depends on what Wikipedians here think is appropriate. Just FYI, the "high council" you speak of is called the Universal House of Justice, and the policy of Baha'i review also has an article here at Wikipedia. I don't know if it makes a difference, but Juan has been rather reticent about discussing his Baha'i background since becoming more widely famous, but there's ample material on the web about the Baha'i controversies for anyone who is curious. 69.232.171.126 02:46, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
Cole supporters might say that influential board members and faculty kept Cole from getting the appointment for political reasons, critics might say it was that his area of scholarship was not appropriate to a modern middle east appointment or cite his combative personality on the Web log as a reason. Since Yale hasn't published a statement we don't know the real reason for sure. The title as it stands suggests that it is the latter stuff. I think if we want to include this, we should probably change the title to something more neutral, like having "Yale appointment" as a subject heading under "controversies". The reader could make conclusions for his/herself. Sarah Crane, what do you think about this? Elizmr 01:13, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
My understanding is that the relevant Departments signed off on his appointment. This also address the comment made above about Bahai scholarship. (The Bab made his appearance in the 19th century.) FYI, here is what JC has to say about the Yale appointment (from Informed Comment). "Friday, June 09, 2006
Yale Affair
I am not going to talk about the Yale affair per se.
But I did want to clear up some misimpressions I've seen here and there.
First, it should be remembered that senior professors are sort of like baseball players, and other teams look at them from time to time, as recruitment prospects. It goes on constantly, formally or informally. Such looking is never taken very seriously by anyone unless it eventuates in an actual offer.
Second, it is important in interpreting these things to know who initiated the looking. I am not actively seeking other employment, and did not apply to Yale; they came to me and asked if they could look at me for an appointment. I am very happy at the University of Michigan, which has among the largest and oldest Middle East Studies programs in the United States. It is like Disney World for a Middle East specialist. To its credit, the University invested tens of millions of dollars in creating positions and building library and other resources in this field at at time when it was considered marginal by many other universities. Michigan also has a History Department that is among the very best and largest in the country, characterized by diversity of area specialization and innovative, interdisciplinary scholarship. It is a nurturing and congenial intellectual environment. Many fine departments in the US have a North Atlantic focus or bias, but Michigan for decades has had a global emphasis.
The press has some out of date impressions about our major research universities, imagining that the old hierarchy of Ivy League versus the rest is still meaningful. It is not. Research universities, whether state (Berkeley, the University of Michigan) or private, are much more similar than they are different. Were I ever to go to another place, it would likely be as a pioneer in a less well-developed Middle East Studies program, for the purpose of building up something that we already have at Michigan. That is, it would be a personal sacrifice for some purpose, and not a decision easily made.
I was extremely fortunate to have been hired at the University of Michigan right out of graduate school. I moved from UCLA to the pinnacle of my profession at a young age. I am doing what I enjoy doing, which is studying and teaching the Middle East and South Asia, and communicating about it to various publics. I have not, and short of foul play cannot be stopped from doing what I am doing, and what I enjoy. I welcome critiques of my work. There are obviously some critics, however, who go rather beyond simple critique to wishing to silence or smear me. In the former, at least, they cannot succeed by mere yellow journalism. So I have what I want, but they cannot have what they want. I win, every day.
Many thanks to all the kind messages and votes of confidence from readers. I've decided that this is a subject better closed, so am not taking comments.
posted by Juan @ 6/09/2006 06:03:00 AM " http://www.juancole.com/2006/06/yale-affair-i-am-not-going-to-talk.html Take Care! -- Will 02:23, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
"God and Money at Yale: Inside History of the Israel Lobby." Bill Mon's take of the taking down of JC's certain Yale nomination. http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/June/13%20o/God%20and%20Money%20at%20Yale%20Inside%20History%20of%20the%20Israel%20Lobby%20By%20Bill%20Mon.htm Take Care! -- Will 21:07, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
"I probably am the only non-Jew editing this article. " Have you forgotten, the Israel Lobby is also composed of Christian Zionists.
Precis
10:27, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
Give me a break. Precis. The guess-estimate is drawn from the pre-occupation with NAS and Israel by the respective editors on a JC cole page. I would think the Xtian Zionists would not be so preccopied with NAS. Keep trash talk off WP. email me. Take Care! -- Will 15:14, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
Over-ruling one Dept. is unheard of, the odss of over-ruling two Dept.'s is astronomical w/o the concerted media and donor campaign. "Zachary Lockman, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at New York University, called the campaign against Cole “an assault on academic freedom and the academic enterprise.” Lockman is president-elect of the Middle East Studies Association. He stressed that he was speaking for himself, not the group, and that he didn’t have firsthand knowledge of the Yale search. Lockman said that Cole is “one of the preeminent historians of the modern Middle East and he’s been attacked on political grounds — because he’s critical of the Bush administration and Israel.” Given Cole’s reputation and the departmental backing for his appointment, Lockman said of the decision to reject Cole: “Universities seem to be willing to kowtow to pressure from outside interest groups.” http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/05/cole Take Care! -- Will 15:14, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
Took out the comment by deputy provost. pure fluff, adds nothing to the article. Two departments were overturned. It was a Unique occurrence! More relevant would be expanding the article to include contra campaign by Rubin & Mowbray and Mowbray's letter to Jewish Yale donors. Or leave the article like it is. Jus for laughs, if Cole know so little about the Modern Middle East, how come he's quoted about it and interviewed all the time as an Iraqi and Shiite expert? I guess you are criticized for not being a stuffy professor and having an uptodate blog w/ latest knowledge and then hanged for not being a stuffy old professor. Take Care! -- Will 15:46, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
It doesn't matter what you do your original scholarship in, that's where you cut your teeth and show you know how to do the research and do the papers. What matters is what happens laters, where you acquire a mastery of the field to the point where you can teach effectively and supervise other people doing research. that's why Karsh's statement elsehwere that JC's knowledge is derivative and therefore inferior is bullcrap. The skinny on the appointment at Yale is that the losing History professors lobbied the smaller last resort committee (and coupled with the heat about the Taliban Yale student) prevailed. Rubin's and Mowbray's publicity work is relevant in putting additional heat on Yale (already under scrutiny with the Taliban student) and provides context for Cole's later remark about the "attack on academic inegegrity" which is otherwise senseless. The provost stuff is self-serving fluff. Some appointments make it, some don't. Whopee Doo. Nothing unsusual going on. Bullcrap. Most appointments do make it through. Most airplanes do not crash. There is no evidence that JC is nothing but a collegial gentleman in the classroom or at a college setting althogh he suffers no fools with his pen. Take Care! -- Will 22:31, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
As to JC's personality. There is no evidence that JC is nothing but a collegial gentleman in the classroom or at a college setting althogh he suffers no fools with his pen. After watching his online 90 minute streaming lecture on Political Shiaa in Iraq given at the Mershon center, I have to agree that he is a mild mannered professor. Judge for yourself. http://www.mershon.ohio-state.edu/Events/05-06events/colej/jcole.htm Take Care! -- Will 22:52, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
Going to put in some relevant balancing comments from insidehighered article by Scott Jaschik Blackblalled at Yale Take Care! -- Will (talk) 15:52, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
I archived most of the talk page. I felt the topics on here which still seemed to be active or have been recently added. I wasn't sure about the Feith stuff since I've not been involved in editing that section, so I left it. Elizmr 14:01, 12 June 2006 (UTC)
There are several problems with the current version.
"And while most faculty members contacted for this piece agree that it is highly improbable that outside pressure played a part in the tenure committee’s decision, the letters and the subsequent calls suggest a campaign to discredit Cole." Precis 01:16, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
The Bill Mon piece is not being cited in WP. It is an external reference. It is properly labeleled as "Earthy." Mowbray & Rubin interjected themselves into the Yale process causing a controversy. This is the section for JC views and controversy. Causaly, it may have been a tangential intervening cause but it became a source of controversy. It is not being used to support any facts in the article. It is merely an external reference. It uses colorful earthy language and it communicates the viewpoint very well and in a devastating fashion. The "rodent" may be seen as unfairly prejudicial so is the "The elders of Zion" stuff Karsh tries to link JC. But what good did it do to complain about that? The sensitivities are all in one direction on this forum, obviously!
The provost comment is pure fluff. I have addressed that previously. A whole paragraph of purely innoccous bio information was removed by Elizimr b/c she said it was "fluff". She and her friends should not be heard to complain now. Take Care! -- Will 07:34, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
The "highly unusual" quotes must thus be removed as well. We don't want WP to be accused of observing a double standard. Precis 09:09, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. Bullcrap. All sources agree it was an unusual move. Get your head out of the sand. Take Care! -- Will 15:00, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
I am not going to revert Isarig's most recent changes to the Ahmadinejad section, but I do want to know why it is necessary to treat everything Cole says -- even explanations of basic facts that can be looked up in a grammar book -- as if it is just a "claim," or that it is more NPOV to pretend his argument is less legitimate than the so-called "expert's," even though he offers credible reasons for his argument (and the expert does not), he offers both verb forms in Persian, and the expert does not, and he offers examples of the verb form being used in a sentence (while the NYT expert does not). Cole also puts his reputation behind his translation and challenges the expertise of the expert; I read the NYT piece, and the expert says nothing about Cole's qualifications. I think the presumption is heavily on Cole's side here, and if he is wrong, this should be very easy to prove (and likely pretty embarrassing for Cole). Let's be clear - either the verb is transitive or it is not; this is an accuracy issue, not a POV issue. I also think Cole's comment in the NYT explaining the implications of all this should be included -- "I am entirely aware that Ahmadinejad is hostile to Israel. The question is whether his intentions and capabilities would lead to a military attack, and whether therefore pre-emptive warfare is prescribed. I am saying no, and the boring philology is part of the reason for the no."-- csloat 05:55, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
Could you please stop accusing each other of injecting POV? In particular, csloat, why do you insist on using phrases such as "don't be silly" and imbed your arguments in these long paragraphs? Let me suggest my motto "Lo bueno, si breve, dos veces bueno". You have made one good point The fact that a person is a native speaker does not mean that person has better command of a language than a non-native speaker. In fact, given the choice between a non-native speaker who is an academic authority on a language and a competent native speaker who is not, the choice is almost always that the academic authority is more reliable. Therefore, the argument should rely on whether Cole and the other individual are academic authorities on the language. I don't want to inject myself into this seemingly endless debate other than to point out that this is assertion that requires proof.-- CSTAR 23:51, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
"posted by Juan @ 6/15/2006 12:30:00 AM 0 comments Steele on Ahmadinejad: Of Arenas of Time and Intransitive Verbs http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jonathan_steele/2006/06/post_155.html Jonathan Steele of the Guardian does a good piece about the controversy over Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's quotation from Khomeini that "the occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" -- which some Iranian activists and the Western press translated as "Israel must be wiped off the face of the map."
The only thing I would add is that mahv shodan is in fact an intransitive verb construction. Shodan is to become. An mard khoshhal shodeh is "that man became happy." It is not a transitive verb. That is why mahv shodan is better translated "vanish," also an intransitive verb. The transitive is mahv kardan, to "wipe out" or "eliminate."
The New York Times was told by supposed Persian language experts in Iran, and appears to believe, that mahv shodan is a transitive verb construct. It makes me a little worried about the state of grammar in Iran, and in the Persian speaking staff of the NYT, and also about its newsgathering prowess. If they cannot find out that shodan is intransitive, something well known in Persian grammar for thousands of years, you wonder what other assertions they are swallowing. I told them this, by the way, before the article came out. I guess we academic Persianists are not trusted to know an intransitive verb when we see one. No wonder we're mostly not trusted to know more important things. posted by Juan @ 6/15/2006 12:24:00 AM 0 comments" Take Care! -- Will 18:21, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
From Sullivan's article in the Guardian "This, in my view, is the crucial point and I'm glad the NYT accepts that the word "map" was not used by Ahmadinejad. (By the way, the Wikipedia entry on the controversy gets the NYT wrong, claiming falsely that Ethan Bronner "concluded that Ahmadinejad had in fact said that Israel was to be wiped off the map".) At least he is reading WP. Good Work Commodore. If it wasn't for your efforts. He would have said the WP also gets the whole quote wrong. Take Care! -- Will 18:39, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
IMHO, there are two issues. (We're way into OR here, but it's the talk page).
I think Theronj and Precis have it all wrong, just part of the mindset. 1) Read Mahmoud Ahmadi's whole speech in the MEMRI translation. He is not talking about violence. He mentions the Soviet Union in particular, that you have to go to the libraries to find scraps of it and even there the scraps are wanting. that gives context to the whole remarks. 2) Don't underestimate the war mongering potential of the NYT. That's where Judith Miller drummed up the support for the Weapons of Mass Deception and the war on Iraq. Peres followed up with AhmedNejadi's speech with a counterthreat to wipe Iran off the map. Like Cole says, philolgy though dry can be important. At least to the living and whole not yet made dead and wounded by the warmongers. That's the only reason I take time to set the record straight on Cole on these pages. Take Care! -- Will 21:03, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
very good work Commodore. I sincerely hope your work on the translation remarks does not get vandalized. Take Care! -- Will 22:21, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
"I think Theronj and Precis have it all wrong, just part of the mindset." I'm wondering which of my three statements were wrong. I'll label them A,B,C for easy reference.
I'd like to suggest a compromise on the Yale section. I've rewritten the section to include bullet points for the various opinions, and would suggest that people add more bullet points if I've missed any. (In particular, (1) I haven't included any citations stating that the decision to overrule was based on Cole's academic work and/or his blogging; and (2) I haven't included Cole's statement on the subject, which I recall he posted on his website.) Let me know your thoughts, particularly if you're concerned that I put in too much or not enough. TheronJ 15:43, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
The "highly unusual" were not mine to begin with. My edit was to 1) put it in the Rubin and Mowbray publicity campagign and take out the self serving fluff 2) provost statement. The Provost saying it is not unusual does not make is so " " "If two departments agreed to hire him … it's hard to swallow that some outside committee would decide against it," Allouche said." OK you can have it. The reader is smart enough to figure out two departments being overturned is "unusual." When I have the time to figure out footnotes, I"ll try my hand at putting in Allouche's statement in directly. One attributed quote to balance another attributed quote. Take Care! -- Will 17:11, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
The following was on JC's blog. Full quote and blog date above. "There are obviously some critics, however, who go rather beyond simple critique to wishing to silence or smear me. In the former, at least, they cannot succeed by mere yellow journalism." Take Care! -- Will 17:42, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
As was discussed extensively on this page before, Will keeps addign the allegation that Rice and Wilkerson share Cole's opinion of Feith. I have removed this (and will keep removing it) for the follwoing reasons: (1) The issue is not Feith. It is Cole's belief that pro-Israel jewish members of the administration have dual loyalties. Feith is used just as an example (2) Even if th eissue was Feith, this articel is not the place to list all those who allegedly agree with Cole. It is for presenting his views, and presenting criticisms of those views. There are doubtless million sof people who share Cole's views on th eIraq ar - are we going to list them all in that section? (3) Given (1) & (2), this is a moot point, but claim is also false. Wilkerson said Feith is stupid, but did not accuse him of dual loyalty, and neither did Rice. Will - please address these issues here before re-inserting that statement, which has been removed by other editors as well. Isarig 04:26, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
First, I reject your implicit premise about Cole's reasoning. It is not deductive but inductive. Let me illustrate the difference. Deductive. All Jews in government have dual loyalties. Feith is a Jew, therefore Feith has dual loyalties. In deductive you reason from an absolute to particulars. Inductive. In inductive reasoning, you start with instances, then you make a general statement. Feith is a Jew that co-authored a paper for Netanyhu along with Maryam Wurmser (MEMRI cofouonder), Richard Perle other American Jewish Likudniks. this paper urged an overthrow of the Oslo accords and the invasion of Iraq. Scooter Libby is an American Jew hi in government that stovepiped cooked up or suspect intelligence straight into the WH. Wolfwitz, No. 2, at the Pentagon, urged the invasion on Iraq in liew of Afghanistan. Many more examples. Proceeding from the general then one makes a statement "there are highly placed American Jews" affaliated with the Israeli hardline "keep the settlements" Liud party that have dual loyalties. When Feith, who was No. 3 at the Pentagon and disbanded the Iraq Army etc, is offered as a test case, the counterexample is that Cole is proceeding from induction. Indeed Feith did have dual loyalties and Cole can olnly have a derivative opinion of it. There are first hand participants that speak to his dual loyalties. Thus they blow the case wide apart that Cole is guilty of NAS (New-Anti-Semitism). That is the relevance. Rice and Wilkerson see Feith's dual loyalty. Are they NAS's? Not all American Jews are Likudnik NeoKons. Edward Witten, the string theorist, and arguably the smartest man in America is a peace activist. If he had a role in the U.S. government, No one would ever say he had divided loyalties. The relevance is that "Feith" is used as a specific example to show that JC is a NAS. My "corroborative" counterexample shows that JC is not necessarily NAS by his Likudnik in government opinion. Because it so devastating to those that have an Israeli lobby NOV, they are constantly deleting the comment. Take Care! -- Will 23:44, 16 June 2006 (UTC) Take Care! -- Will 23:44, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
Isarig: " Wilkerson said Feith is stupid, but did not accuse him of dual loyalty, and neither did Rice. Will - please address these issues . O.K. one more time After subbing for Rumsfeld at a briefing (Feith was No. 3 in the Pentagon) "Former National Security Advisor Condeleezza RiceThen-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said, "Thanks Doug, but when we want the Israeli position we'll invite the ambassador."
Wilkerson: "Regarding Feith and his colleague, David Wurmser, Colonel Wilkerson has stated "A lot of these guys, including Wurmser, I looked at as card-carrying members of the Likud party, as I did with Feith. You wouldn’t open their wallet and find a card, but I often wondered if their primary allegiance was to their own country or to Israel. That was the thing that troubled me, because there was so much that they said and did that looked like it was more reflective of Israel’s interest than our own. When asked to characterize Feith's role in US government, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson replied "Was he nefarious? Absolutely." Colonel Wilkerson "believes that Feith placed Likud's interests above America's during his service at the Pentagon."
It is very hard to find any highly placed Jewish American official that did not favor Israel against the interests of the U.S. From Elliot Abrams to Dennis Ross. If you define American interests as Peace, stability, the fullfillment of human rights enshrined by the bedrock American principles
"All men are created equal by their Creator, and entitled to the blessings of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Read Palestinians to be inclulded in the phrase All Men. 18th Century notions of Pursluit of Happiness include ownership of property.
Isarig. the 3R rule reflects a policy to avoid endless edit wars. It is not a license to revert three in one day, then punishment on the fourth. (It is the fourth edit supposedly that gets you in trouble). Even one edit a day if done w/ your intent is suffiecient from my reading." I have removed this (and will keep removing it) ...." Take Care! -- Will 07:50, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
"It is very hard to find any highly placed Jewish American official that did not favor Israel against the interests of the U.S. From Elliot Abrams to Dennis Ross. If you define American interests as Peace, stability, the fullfillment of human rights enshrined by the bedrock American principles." This statement singles out Jews for disloyalty, and as such strikes me as a perfect example of antisemitism. Can sincere belief in the truth of this statement be used as a defense? Consider the following opinion of X: "It's hard to find any black baseball player who is faithful to his wife." Whether X truly believes this or not, his statement is racist because it singles out black athletes for vilification. Precis 09:00, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
I am reminded of Samuel Johnson's definition of a patriot. So it seems with AS and NAS. It is used as a political ploy to keep the inhuman occupation going and suck America and Israel into unending wars and human misery. There again deduction is confused with induction. Induction precedes by a case by case basis. Deniis Ross at disastrous Camp David told Barak, "One more concession, I am walking out of the meeting." The reader would be well familiar with Elliot Abrams. I wish there was a counterexample. There are many American Jews that do work for Peace. I am not familiar with any in the Bush WH.
Prominent American Jews that have recently worked for Mid-East Peace are Edward Witten, the string theorist, and Jason Alexander, George from Seinfeld, who has traveled to Israel and met with Palestinians. The true friends of Israel are the ones that work for Peace and not the ones that work to prolong the Occupation. Read www.gush-shalom.org. Here's a statement from an Haaretz article well worth considering in this whole AS, NAS debate http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/726493.html "When will we understand that only the 1967 lines are the borders to defend the "Jewish and democratic state" from bestiality? And who, aside from us, really cares if we become bestial? Or maybe we don't care anymore?" Yossi Sarid. Who do you prefer, Yossi Sarid, a man of Peace, or Karsh who has written a tract "What Occupation?" It's a matter of POV. After a trillion dollars of direct and indirect costs of the Iraq War, 2500 dead, and nearly 20,000 wounded, it's time to face reality for Americans as well as Israelis. Take Care! -- Will 11:24, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. No reasonable person can disagree with the strawman you set up. But that's not what I said. Repeating the difference between deductive and inductive statements would not do any good, b/c apparently you did not get it or you ignored it the first and second time. A third time is not going to be the "charm." I love a soap box as well as anybody else and I could go through all the points again b\ it would be against WP policy. Take it up on my user page or yours. No use having it out here on the JC page. Take Care! -- Will 01:40, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
I removed the following sentence: In response to Mowbray's letter, the Jewish Week reported, based on reports from "several faculty members" of Yale, that "at least four major Jewish donors [...] contacted officials at the university urging that Cole’s appointment be denied." I find this to be a dishonest rendition of what The Jewish Week actually said, which is: Several faculty members said they had heard that at least four major Jewish donors, whose identity the faculty members did not know, have contacted officials at the university urging that Cole’s appointment be denied. The dishonesty is twofold:
Despite my admonition, the ellipses version was placed back into the article. I offered to replace the ellipses version with the following full quote: Several faculty members said they had heard that at least four major Jewish donors, whose identity the faculty members did not know, have contacted officials at the university urging that Cole’s appointment be denied. (I was reluctant to offer this, because I think quoting reports based on rumors coming from sources unknown even to The Jewish Week makes WP look ridiculous. Did the rumor come from a department secretary? Imagine the Britannica writing something like "Several professors said they'd heard through the grapevine that four individuals whose names they did not know ..." However, I offered to put in the full quote in the spirit of compromise. The editor who at first accepted this compromise then promptly reverted, replacing the full quote by the ellipses version. What is the justification? Precis 12:03, 18 June 2006 (UTC) P. S. The Nation quotes the sentence in question as follows: "Several faculty members said they had heard that at least four major Jewish donors...have contacted officials at the university urging that Cole's appointment be denied." [7]. The obfuscation is not quite as pronounced here, since the word "heard" is included. But the ellipses are still shameful. Precis 12:29, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. Methinks you protest too much. The main point is not AS or NAS but Semitism run amok. Rubin and Mowbray stuck their thumb and left feet into an academic process they would have better left alone. Yes, they exercised their free speech. But they gave the effect of the American Israeli lobby hounding the mild mannered professor in retaliation for speaking truth to moneyed steam roller power. The irony of it is their clumsy clownish campaign may not have had that much effect. Take Care! -- Will 17:20, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Uri is also a combat veteran that prefers the way of peace. Are you going to also call his an anti-semite? Take Care! -- Will 17:48, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis's proposed compromise sounds fair - Will, can you clarify whether you are insisting on the elipses, and why? TheronJ 17:44, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
TheronJ. I have no dog in this elipses thing. I just made the comment that it was a lot of nitpicking. The main point is that clowns Rubin and Mowbray jumped into an academic matter. It's obvious to any reader from the account. What you have is fine. You are quite a diplomat. Appreciate your efforts. Take Care! -- Will 17:52, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
BHouston, did you mean to make this edit? [8] If Precis puts in the quote without elipses, do you have any objections? Thanks, TheronJ 18:09, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
"Precis was continuing to play the revert game"? I had reverted exactly once: (cur) (last) 01:41, 17 June 2006 Precis (→Faculty position at Yale University - Either put in the entire JW quote or leave it out, but WP shouldn't be reporting rumor as fact and hiding this with ellipses.) before inserting the compromise. I was very surprised that the ellipses version kept wending its way back into the article with no justification offered for removing the word "heard". Further, reversions that promote a disputed point of view should not be labeled as minor edits. That being said, I apologize for assuming the mistake was due to malice. I agree with Will that TheronJ is developing quite a reputation as a diplomat. Precis 21:15, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
"The main point is that clowns Rubin and Mowbray jumped into an academic matter." Suppose that the target happened to be a neocon instead of Cole. Would R and M still be called clowns? Is the name-calling really due to R and M's methods? Or is it rather due to indignation over their POV? Precis 10:42, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. "R and M's methods"=Klowns. To be more precise your "Rumor" terminology should have been "hearsay." Hearsay can be very credible depending on the chain of sources. Its failing in a adversarial setting is you can't x-examine the primary witness. No doubt, you were really nit-picking on that one. Take Care! -- Will 15:18, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
Here's something to help us take our minds off the small stuff. Take Care! -- Will 16:11, 19 June 2006 (UTC) Take Care! -- Will (talk) 16:11, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
Going back to the big picture. When I had paraphrased the JW article. I had left out "Jewish" donor. It was put back in later. I was in error to have left it out. I see that now. Because it is part of a larger pattern. The same thing was done to Walt at Harvard when the working paper on the Israeli lobby was posted on the Harvard website. It's just a fact of academic life, freedom of academic expression has a chilling financial price- backwash neokon pressure on Jewish academic financial donors. It's hilarious that I understand the Harvard logo came off the Mearsheimer-Walt paper but I see Dershowitz's reply has the Harvard logo on it. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 16:31, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. "Charge," "Accuse," Lighten up. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 23:46, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
From antiwar.com I can't figure out the author, it shows him smoking a cigarette. Randolph Bourne? It echoes a lot of the
issues raised here and the debate , though in more extreme stronger language and with a strong POV. http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9170 In part
"June 19, 2006 The Assassins From character assassination to physical assassination, the Lobby and its agents ruthlessly pursue their agenda
When John J. Mearsheimer, .......... the outcry from all the usual suspects was stupendous. After all, the professors had unapologetically said what everyone knows to be true: that U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East is geared to Israeli and not American interests. It is a case of altruism sui generis.
If anyone says that – out loud, that is – the price they pay is exorbitant,......... that anyone who criticizes Israel, or, more significantly, notices the Lobby's decisive influence over U.S. policymakers, risks their career, whether it be in politics, the media, or academia.
In regard to this last, Mearsheimer and Walt report that the Lobby has recently begun a campaign to "take back the campuses," and I would point out that the latest victim is Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan. Professor Cole is a Middle East expert, a distinguished scholar, and an articulate critic of our interventionist foreign policy. His popular blog, Informed Comment, richly deserves its name, and he has lately become someone the more in-depth media outlets turn to when they want knowledgeable commentary about current events in the region. The news that he was up for an appointment at Yale University, to head up a new department of Middle Eastern studies, was just what the Lobby needed to hear to swing into action.
Cole's sin: he, like Mearsheimer and Walt, had noted the inordinate influence of what The Nation magazine termed "American Likudniks" on the course of our foreign policy, and it wasn't long before the appointment was buried in a blizzard of outraged op-eds in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Sun, while the neocon contingent of the blogosphere was frothing at the mouth. In what was quite clearly an organized effort, Joel Mowbray, a smalltime neocon columnist who specializes in smearing enemies of the Lobby with the tar brush of "anti-Semitism" – his enemies list includes Gen. Anthony Zinni and the U.S. Justice Department, which had the temerity to prosecute admitted Israeli spy Larry Franklin – sent a letter to a good number of Yale donors, alerting them to Cole's pending appointment and urging action. Jewish Week reports that "several faculty members said they had heard that at least four major Jewish donors … have contacted officials at the university urging that Cole's appointment be denied."
In the end, Cole's appointment was nixed – and a central contention of Mearsheimer and Walt's analysis was confirmed. As they wrote:
"Groups within the Lobby put pressure on particular academics and universities. Columbia has been a frequent target, no doubt because of the presence of the late Edward Said on its faculty. 'One can be sure that any public statement in support of the Palestinian people by the pre-eminent literary critic Edward Said will elicit hundreds of emails, letters and journalistic accounts that call on us to denounce Said and to either sanction or fire him,' ........ Princeton also faced a few years later when it considered wooing Khalidi away from Columbia."
Yale's turn came soon enough. Whose turn will it be tomorrow?
In the Lobby's arsenal, character assassination is a major weapon of choice, and this was wielded against Cole time and again. Michael Rubin, a former employee of the Coalition Provisional Authority whose views are so extreme that he now accuses the Bush administration of selling out its original program of "regime change," wrote:
"While Cole condemns anti-Semitism, he accuses prominent Jewish-American officials of having dual loyalties, a frequent anti-Semitic refrain. That he accuses Jewish Americans of using 'the Pentagon as Israel's Gurkha regiment' is unfortunate."
This "Gurkha regiment" phrase, lifted out of context, occurred in the course of Cole's analysis of the Larry Franklin espionage case, in which Franklin, a Pentagon analyst who specialized in Iran, admitted passing sensitive classified intelligence to Israeli officials via Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, two top officials of the pro-Israel lobbying group scheduled to go on trial soon. Here is the original context:
"Here is my take on the Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal in the Pentagon.
"It is an echo of the one-two punch secretly planned by the pro-Likud faction in the Department of Defense. First, Iraq would be taken out by the United States, and then Iran. David Wurmser, a key member of the group, also wanted Syria included. These pro-Likud intellectuals concluded that 9/11 would give them carte blanche to use the Pentagon as Israel's Gurkha regiment, fighting elective wars on behalf of Tel Aviv (not wars that really needed to be fought, but wars that the Likud coalition thought it would be nice to see fought so as to increase Israel's ability to annex land and act aggressively, especially if someone else's boys did the dying)."
Franklin is not Jewish, and the Jewishness of these "pro-Likud intellectuals" has nothing to do with Cole's opposition to their activities, which seem – in Franklin's case, and also Rosen's and Weissman's – to include espionage on behalf of Israel. It is typical, however, of the Lobby to smear anyone who criticizes them as an "anti-Semite" – an accusation that, if it sticks, effectively immunizes the neoconservatives who put Israel first from all criticism.
......................................
Cornered, the Lobby screeches "bigotry!" – but this is merely a reflex, uttered without sincerity or any indication that even the accusers take it seriously. It is merely meant to blacken the name of anyone who stands up to the threats and intimidation routinely employed by a cabal of ruthless political operatives, who have no more of a moral compass than a flamethrower.
The utter ruthlessness of the Amen Corner's tactics resembles nothing so much as the tactics and methods of a covert action carried out by agents of a foreign power, and, indeed, some of these people – such as Larry Franklin, for example, along with his accomplices – are foreign agents, who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Character assassination is, for them, a routine matter – and, in certain cases, physical assassination is not out of the question. The news that Lebanon has uncovered an Israeli spy ring that routinely engaged in a number of assassinations ought not surprise anyone. ............................. Oh, but nix that – everybody knows that the Mossad would never, ever engage in assassinations, and to even imply such a thing is to confess that one's favorite reading material is The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. " Take Care! -- Will (talk) 08:03, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
It's hilarious that I understand the Harvard logo came off the Mearsheimer-Walt paper but I see Dershowitz's reply has the Harvard logo on it. Take Care! --Will... You see that D's reply has the logo? This is what is known in the trade as false testimony. Neither article has the logo. Oh, but there is a logo on the html page containing Dershowitz's abstract. It's got to be the work of that hilariously hypocritical Jewish Lobby, right? Well, not quite, the Mearsheimer-Walt abstract is accompanied by the same logo. No worries, I'm sure you'll find another way to be victimized by the Lobby real soon. Precis 07:27, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. Testimony from "Latin testes" oh forget the legal lesson. Thank you for your trivia research. I"m glad Dersh was man enough to follow up on removing the logo as Walt removed his. As far as laughing matters and fun and games: In the vein of Karsh's article "What occupation?," Go tell that to the Gazans in their steel cage with a demolished airport and seaport, or the Palestinians on the West Bank in perpetual lockdown in their cantons of Bantustans or the Iraqis, or American dead and wounded, go tell them it's all make believe and make your charges, accusations, and quasi-legal crap here in America and peace and comfort. Take Care! --
Will
(talk)
08:15, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Try telling that to the jewish, black, homosexual, etc victims of hate here. This is Wikipedia--we are all supposed to be taking a three dimensional view. I'm sorry to go on at length here on the talk page, but I'm just trying to get you to see some other sides of these issues you care so deeply about. Elizmr 10:40, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Elizmr. I don't disagree with some of what you've said. The secular Arab states have been largely dealt a death blow and the most extreme kind of Salfist Islam is replacing it. Part of is can be traced to the 1967 land grab and the acquiesance of the U.S. in it and in vetoing U.N. resolultions to grapple with it. The mostrosity of the occupation in Gaza is not outwweighed by the incidents you mentioned, about 5000 settlers in seaside villas using up 20% of the land among a million impoverished Gazans, the settlers guarded by tens of thousands of Israeli troops at a cost of billions. Ironically, now some of the Israeli Gaza settlers, experts at hydroponic agriculture, are running agriculture in enterprises in Morocco, where Arab-Jewish relations are excellent. so, some things are not beyond hope. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 13:35, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Elizmr. You are absolutely right. The Juan Cole page is not a proxy page to fight out the Arab-Israeli dispute. There are may strands such as the meaning of words. Do the descendants of the Jews that originated Xtianity and converted lose their rights as human beings? Do the Xtians of Bethlehem become untermenschen subject to confiscation of their lands and property? Do the descendants of the Jews that converted to Islam lose their humanity and property rights? Have you ever heard of Zaid ibn Su`nah the Jewish companion of the Prophet Muhammad?. That's why in this day and age, I focus on individuals and individual human rights. The proper starting points are these two principles which encapsulate all of human rights in a nutshell.
Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
US Constitution Amendment XIV Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Israel does not have a written Constitution and for good reason! By definition, it is partial to one group of people.
The whole Mid-East conundrum now pretextually is about security, but the real nut is about the land grab of the West Bank. The large settlement blocs have been conceded in the Taba or Geneva accords. It just needs leadership to carry out one of those plans followed up by the Beirut plan with full peace and trade. Everybody will be so busy making money, they will forget about the old bullcrap just like the French and Germans did. Who remembers now that in the single battle of Verdun a million of each died in a single stupid battle? Take Care! -- Will (talk) 22:45, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. You did very good in clearing up the Harvard seal matter. My apology for blowing off your effort. What is this "us" stuff? "This is how you thank us." Take Care! -- Will (talk) 15:56, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
New major article on the Juan Cole - Yale - Neoconservative controversy. Lots of good quotes and analysis here: [9]. -- Ben Houston 16:06, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Very Good Article. I knew he was a military "brat." I didn't know he had cousins working in the Pentagon during 9.11. He's absolutely right about the jihadist connection and the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. A recent news item reported that al-Qaeda perfected the holy grail of terrorist weaponry, set it in motion but al-Zawahiri pulled it back, so they are capable of some discretion and rational behavior. Cyanide Weapon I need to add a Google Alert "Yale Juan Cole." The articles I"ve pulled have been serendiptious. I've had a "Walt Mearsheimer" alert and it's roped in some Juan Cole-Yale articles. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 17:58, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Added some rebuttal material by James Joyner. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 19:03, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Isarig: the policy you cite is a guideline. The mischief the guideline is directed against is unverified FACT not OPINION. In the instant case, the author is known and the subject matter is opinion. Kindly please read WP:RS again and then keep your cotton-picking hand off the James Joyner quote. I know it does not agree with your POV, but that is no reason to keep counterbalancing verified opinion prejudicial to your POV that is helpful to JC of HIS biographical page. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 21:36, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyner "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Joyner (born November 16, 1965) is best known as the founder and editor-in-chief of the weblogOutside The Beltway and a frequent contributor to TCS Daily (formerly Tech Central Station).
He is a management analyst at Lanmark Technology, Inc., a Washington, D.C. area defense contractor and works at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) in Falls Church, Virginia. From January 2004 to March 2005, he was also Managing Editor of Strategic Insights, the professional journal of the Center for Contemporary Conflict at the [Naval Postgraduate School]. Previously, he was acquisitions editor for international affairs at Brassey's, Inc. (now, Potomac Books) a Dulles, Virginia book publisher and a political science professor at [Troy State University], [Bainbridge College], and the [University of Tennessee at Chattanooga].
He has published academic articles in International Studies Quarterly and Strategic Insights; five book reviews; fourteen encyclopedia articles; over two dozen conference papers; and numerous columns for Tech Central Station. A more-or-less complete listing can be found here.
James served in the U.S. Army from 1988-1992 and is a combat veteran of Operation Desert Storm. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and numerous service medals and ribbons. He is a graduate of the Airborne and Air Assault schools.
He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Alabama (1995) and B.A. (1987) and M.A. (1988) degrees in Political Science from Jacksonville State University. [edit]
External links Strategic Insights / Outside The Beltway If we can't use Dr. James Joyner then whom can we use?????????" Take Care! -- Will (talk) 22:08, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Reply to Isarig No, I don't recall the incident you mentioned, though this sentence about blogs may have may have indeed been uttered by someone at some point (since it is the guideline statment). I certainly don't recall it nor do I think I emitted any opinion regarding Jeff Weintraub, his blog or any blog for that matter, nor do I recall having "voted" or expressed an opinion for anything like this. Are you suggesting I did this? Let's be clear. -- CSTAR 22:13, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Isarig is running free, character assasinating JC all over the article. That's O.K. any fair reader can see through what's going on. The character and intellect of the mild mannered courageous professor will shine through the slime being heaped on him. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 00:38, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
(UTC)
Ben. Are you talking about Joshua Landis of www.syriacomment.com fame. He's already in the article already somewhere. Probably quoted in a newspaper article. I say let it all in. Cole's head will pop up through the slime. After all, he says over and over again, he's being slimed for his views. But identify the Karsh's and Pipes for their affiliation. The proof is in the pudding. If he wasn't so effective, he wouldn't be so hotly and diligently pursued on this page. But all the non-partisan Mid-East experts, that don't have an iron in the Israeli camp, say he's one of the best! Cole is not a Salafist or a Shiate, He's a non-mainstream Baha'i for goodness sakes. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 21:49, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
of your blog spree. I think any reader can see thru all that self-serving lobby stuff and it actually hurts your cause. I have not problem w/ opinion even if it comes from a blog it it's counterbalanced by other opinion. what matters is verifiablility. Is it a noted blog? Do we know who the author is? Is he well known in the blogosphere? Opinions are like buttholes, Everybody has one. Facts are different, Everybody is entitles to his own opinion b/ not his own facts. Facts have different evidentiary standards. Now using expert opinion to establish facts is a different can of worms. We"ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 17:45, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
Landis is married to an Alawite, a member of the minority sect ruling Syria. Alawites are halfway between Xtians and Muslims- not doing the five prayers but celebrating Xmas and Easter. When they controlled Lebanon, they got the senior Shiite cleric to declare them a Shiite sect. He gives the Alawites a fair shake. He is sympathetic to Assad and not hostile. It is a valuable POV when everybody else is patently hostile. He also gives the Syrian Muslim brotherhood and the exile groups a hearing. I did not particlarly have him in mind. But Joyner does not have a dog in the fight. But for sure Karsh, a former Colonel in the IDF, Pipes & Co. are very partisan and should be so identifed. In fact their rhetoric self-identifes them- labeling anybody and everybody not agreeing with a greater Israel as AS or NAS. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 22:57, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
Actually the Alawites are a bit more complicated than that. WP has a hell of a good article on them learnt a lot by reading it. They have become a lot more outwardly Muslim conforming. Their inward religion is very sophisticated- has to do w/ star transmigration of souls. The Alawites and Druze religions are both very, very interesting! The Alawites also have a Bab lilke the Baha'i. I have added the video streaming link of the Mershon Center Ohio State Juan Cole lecture of Shiite Politics in Iraq to External links section. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 01:32, 22 June 2006 (UTC)~
Professor Juan Cole: the latest victim of "the lobby from the South End, The Student Voice of Wayne State University by Faheem Khan | Contributing Writer Jun/21/2006. This is not a blog b/ a newspaper so there should not any problem using it. Ironic, an unkown student in a college paper has greater access to some than James Joyner! Take Care! -- Will (talk) 15:57, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
After sleeping on it, here are my thoughts. This is an article about criticism of Cole. IMHO, we should accept on-line criticisms and defenses from any published middle east scholar. This would include Cole critics like Karsh and Kramer and Cole defenders like Landis. (I propose that we table the more difficult question of whether Pipes qualifies as a middle east scholar until we set a baseline rule). Here are my reasons:
Thanks, TheronJ 15:50, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
Theron. Did you mean to say " don't see how that's one whit more reliable than a posting on "Landis's" blog stating "In my opinion, Cole is the new Bernard Lewis." Edit. That was the whole point and distinction between Opinion and fact Take Care! -- Will (talk) 16:11, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
I hope JC is not the next Bernard Lewis! Many Jews, while emphasizing the Shoah, slight what happened to the Armenians. The lobby in the U.S., desiring to keep good ties w/ Turkey has been strong in shooting down an Armenian remembrance day. from his WP "In a November 1993 Le Monde interview, Lewis said that the Ottoman Turks’ killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 was not "genocide", but the "brutal byproduct of war".[10] Lewis meant that it was not part of a plan to exterminate the entire Armenian race - not that it was justified or that it did not happen. Parisian court interpreted his remarks as a denial of the Armenian Genocide and fined him one franc. [11" Take Care! -- Will (talk) 16:50, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
Ben Houston and Isarig do not make a consensus! I'm still waiting on CSTAR! Take Care! -- Will (talk) 23:12, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
This has got to be the darndest thing I have ever seen. Theronj has weighed in in favor of free speech for including notable blog opinion. CSTAR has read the WP guideline in its plain meaning as permitting blog opinion and then Isarig and Ben Houston on their own as two people form a consensus of two and start deleting all blog materials! Take Care! -- Will (talk) 23:20, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
"WP:RS differentiates between facts and opinions regarding blogs. The mischief the guideline strives to avoid in unverified facts. In mainstream media, there are mechanisms for checking and verifying facts. Reporters tradition, reputation, editors, newspaper reputation. Opinion is different. Everybody has an opinion, they are like buttholes. If the blog is notable, the blogger is notable, the opinion is in his relevant field, then the opinion should be admissable. In quotes and verbatim- straight out of the horse's mouth would be my prefernce. The case in point that set off the discussion comes from the controversial Juan Cole article views and controversies page. He has earned the interest of the Israeli lobby for his interest in the plight of the Palestinians, Iraq, and Iran and has been criticized heavily, inter alia for his blog "Informed Consent," for allegedly having poor scholarship, and for being too polemic. The best quote in his defense comes from James Joyner who is a sometime critic of JC but comes to his defense as far as the blog, academic expertise and publishing. i believe it is crucial to the article. There is no other way to make the point that needs to be made of the function that Juan Cole's blog has served in society- a role that educates the public in an expert way more beneficial than pedantic nit-picking. Here it is in context. " Take Care! -- Will (talk) 10:18, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
"Using online and self-published sources
A self-published source is a published source that has not been subject to any form of independent fact-checking, or where no one stands between the writer and the act of publication. It includes personal websites, and books published by vanity presses.
Anyone can create a website or pay to have a book published, and then claim to be an expert in a certain field. For that reason, self-published books, personal websites, and blogs are largely not acceptable as sources.
Exceptions may be when a well-known, professional researcher writing within his field of expertise, or a well-known professional journalist, has produced self-published material. In some cases, these may be acceptable as sources, so long as their work has been previously published by credible, third-party publications, and they are writing under their own names, and not a pseudonym.
However, editors should exercise caution for two reasons: first, if the information on the professional researcher's blog is really worth reporting, someone else will have done so; secondly, because the information has been self-published, which means it has not been subject to any independent form of fact-checking." Isarig 14:01, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
Been Having a wheel war with Isarig on two items.
Since I am the introducer of the quote, it is dissapointing that he keeps on interfering with it since the epithet is accurate, fair, verified, relevant to the suject matter of the quote, and researched. Of course it is prejudicial to his POV which is to slime JC whenever possible and thus he keeps deleting it.
The Joyner quote had mysteriously disappeared and didn't show up in the history= w/o trace. A lot of the section shows in the edit part b/ disappears out of edit??? Maybe I'm crosseyed. ??? This is why the Landis quote was double sourced. First it was in the Weiss article. Second Landis referred to in in his blog. Braggin on being in the Weiss article. This is where I saw it. That's why I sourced it! Take Care! -- Will (talk) 23:07, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
We have already lowered the bar on this article (if that's possible) by quoting unsubstantiated rumor. I would find it satisfying if we now go all the way and start quoting opinions of bloggers. Only unsupported opinions will be allowed, of course, since WP considers blogs unreliable sources for facts. The benefits of this new policy will be immediately visible: "Joyner thinks it is highly unusual. Kramer thinks it is not so unusual. Weintraub thinks..." Precis 21:27, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
I'm talking about making a bad thing worse. I think the term is proliferation. Precis 21:42, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
Pare as much unsupported opinion from the article as possible. Many rambling, opinionated quotes could be summarized as follows: "X and Y have expressed support for this point of view; see [ ] and [ ]." Precis 22:11, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
In this example, I would cite Professor TP's primary sources as evidence rather than quoting from her own blog. But there is more to this than just reliability of source. To name one of many examples, the Lockman quote on the Yale controversy gives only unsupported opinion. Since no reasons are provided for his beliefs, this is a case where condensation would be in order: "Lockman agrees with Cole's view; see [ ]." Incidentally, I find it most unfortunate that Professor TP, who recently married Professor Lobby, decided to hyphenate her name. Precis 22:59, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
The unfortunate thing is that Ms. TP did not want to discard her maiden name, so she now goes by the hyphenated combination Ms. Toute-puissante-Lobby. As for not citing blogs, that's exactly the point. Precis 00:12, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
Yes, to the Washington Times question. I think of the game this way. Mme TP is tempted to quote from CounterPunch, but then she thinks, "If I do that, M. L might start quoting from FrontPage Magazine." And so the WP structure itself motivates avoidance of fringe partisan sources. (I hope I didn't just espouse Mearsheimerian neorealism, else my days in the Lobby are numbered.) Many blogs are worth quoting, but do we want to open the door for a host of quotes from opposing blogs? That would lead to...p r o l i f e r a t i o n...(to be read in the same tone as Meg's Ryan's "Lactose Intolerance" in "French Kiss"), which is bad enough here already without opening the floodgates. I agree that rare exceptions for a blog can be made, e.g.,when it is the only source available. Fearing the slippery slope, I spoke out against the inclusion of Melanie Phillips's blog at The Israel Lobby in April. But her quote is so witty that I wasn't sufficiently motivated to remove it myself. (Yes, I'm that hypocritical.) Speaking of wit, thanks for the great story. Was the participle "interdit" used in a transitive or intransitive sense? No matter, the point is moot: Mme TPL went through with the operation, her husband changed parties, and they are now living happily in a liberal enclave on Castro Street. Precis 12:23, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
B removes all blogs, and W disagrees. What should W do?
In my opinion, (a) is best, (b) is second best, and (c) is a very distant third. Now here is a question for those who favor the use of blogs. May I have permission to use quotes about Cole from all of these bloggers? [14], [15], [16], [17], [18]? (Some may not be notable, but I can get around that issue by using Slate [19] as a tertiary source.) Precis 12:14, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
The extent of what is appropriate isn't clear. For example, in WorldNetDaily.com [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48426], Ilana Mercer referred to Cole's Salon article "Sharon as Jailer" as a "dog's breakfast of an essay". Is it appropriate to use her quote? I'll bet there is no consensus on that. Precis 01:43, 26 June 2006 (UTC) P.S. Are refereed blogs also inappropriate? See for example [20]. Precis 11:25, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
I challenge you to address an even more difficult case. Is it ok to use blog passages which were reprinted in a reliable source? An example would be to use the blog quotes reprinted in Slate [21]. Precis 10:07, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
You make an important point that for judging reliability of a quote, one should consider not only the medium source but also the nature of the article within it. I agree with your opinions in this section, with two caveats:
Cole has taken a firm stand against the kind of anti-semitic conspiracy theory that some of his critics accuse him of. This opening sentence needs to be reworded. If Cole's critics had specifically said "Cole believes that Jews conspire to start wars", then the wording would be fine. But critics' comments on the dual-loyalty issue are of a somewhat different nature. Thus the current phrasing smacks a bit of editorialising. Precis 10:17, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
Isarig's version was better, because we are not necessarily talking conspiracy here. Precis 04:41, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
If the conspiracy angle were precisely the grounds on which Cole takes issue with Mr. Gibson, I would certainly agree with you. But I read Cole's article, and while I saw Cole take issue with blaming Jews and stereotyping Jews, I saw no reference to Jewish conspiracy. Can you copy/paste a sentence where such reference is made? Perhaps our disagreement is due to different definitions of "conspiracy". To me, that word means "secret plot". Did Cole ever refer to secrecy, plots, covert planning, or the like? It seems to me you are reading more into this than is actually there. However, it's a small point, so if you still think I'm wrong, I won't press the issue. Precis 11:24, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
Mel said that the jews were responsible for all wars. What definition of "conspiracy" are you using that makes it obvious to you that Mel is talking about a conspiracy? Is being responsible the same as conspiring? We must be using different definitions. Precis 22:19, 1 August 2006 (UTC) P.S. This is from www.dictionary.com:
n. A theory seeking to explain a disputed case or matter as a plot by a secret group or alliance rather than an individual or isolated act. Precis 22:28, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
con·spir·a·cy Audio pronunciation of "conspiracy" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kn-spîr-s)
n. pl. con·spir·a·cies
1. An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act. 2. A group of conspirators. 3. Law. An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action. 4. A joining or acting together, as if by sinister design: a conspiracy of wind and tide that devastated coastal areas.
from here. This is the last I have to say about this tired and irrelevant argument.-- csloat 22:38, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
Some critics of this statement have called this a conspiracy theory. Mearsheimer and Walt, on the other hand, are offended by such language. As a matter of course, WP should avoid using loaded terms when the interpretation is disputed. Precis 00:21, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
If we are going to keep the lengthy Democracy Now quote (and I don't think we should), should we print Cole's actual quote, viz., "The most dangerous regime to United States interests in the Middle East is that of Ariel Sharon, not because he fights terrorists, but because he is stealing the land of another people and is brutalizing them in the process--and those are people with whom the rest of the Middle East and the Muslim world sympathizes." [22] Precis 20:58, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
If sourced speculation is to be removed, it should be removed on both sides. Precis 23:37, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
Cole described the events as a “tempest in a teapot” claiming the “scandal” was propagated by a handful of “neo-con” journalists.
- -
“ Well, first of all, I never applied for a job at Yale. Some people at Yale asked if they could look at me for a senior appointment. I said, "Look all you want." So that's up to them. Senior professors are like baseball players. You’re being looked at by other teams all the time. If it doesn't result in an offer, then nobody takes it seriously. Some neo-con journalists have tried to make this a big scandal. Who knows what their hiring process is like, what things they were looking for? I think it's a tempest in a teapot. ”
Elizmr 18:20, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
I am not doing anything to the section in terms of getting rid of it or paring it down, as I already said, because others feel strongly that it should be there and argued that. Please see my original edit summary if you want to know why I am "picking on you" for a description of your POVpushing edit with no justification. Elizmr 17:34, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
I went ahead and pared it down, deleting quotes from Cole's supporters as well as detractors. I even left one of TDC's quotes in there so Elizmr can't personally attack me again for POV pushing.-- csloat 17:55, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
Uhh, now you're trolling, TDC. Stop it.-- csloat 18:01, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
This section is in flux, but it currently reads as follows:
Faculty position at Yale University In 2006 Cole was nominated to teach at Yale University and was approved by both Yale's sociology and history departments. However, the senior appointments committee overruled the departments, and Cole was not appointed.
According to "several Yale faculty members," the decision to overrule Cole's approval was "highly unusual." [37]. However, Yale officials stated that the rejection was not unusual, and Deputy Provost Charles Long stated that "every year, least one and often more fail at one of these levels, and that happened in this case."[49] The history department vote was 13 yes, 7 no, and 3 abstain . [37] Professors interviewed by the Yale Daily News [49] said "the faculty appeared sharply divided."
Yale Historian Paula Hyman commented that the deep divisions in the appointment committee were the primary reasons that Cole was rejected: "There was also concern, aside from the process, about the nature of his blog and what it would be like to have a very divisive colleague."[15]
In an interview on Democracy Now!,[50] Cole described the events as a “tempest in a teapot” claiming the “scandal” was propagated by a handful of “neo-con” journalists.
Two comments: (1) PH's opinion should be balanced by an opposing opinion of another Yale historian, e.g, John Merriman, a Yale history professor, said of Cole's rejection: "In this case, academic integrity clearly has been trumped by politics." Burning Cole (2) I like the idea of shortening the Democracy Now passage, but the current version has been condensed in a misleading way. Look at the way Cole actually used the word "scandal", for example. In highly charged matters, verbatim quotes seem more advisable than interpretation. Precis 20:19, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
Just to be clear on this, for Isarig's benefit: I believe TDC's summary of Cole is factually incorrect and POV. The above substantiates that opinion. I will restore the tag and ask that Isarig not revert a third time. He has asked me to restore the quote in order to address the problem; I have not done so because I have already done that twice and user TDC has reverted me both times. If someone restores the quote we can remove the tag. Thanks.-- csloat 00:22, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
I'm going on vacation shortly, but I'd like to leave the following suggestions for compromise: (1) Remove the final quote and the tag, until a consensus is reached on Talk. (2) The consensus may be to leave the DN quote out altogether. That would be fine with me. (3) The quote is too long relative to its importance, so I sympathize with attempts to shorten it, but I'm also sympathetic with preserving verbatim quotes whenever possible. (4) One possible compromise:
Yes, this leaves off the fact that Cole didn't apply for the job, but I fail to see why that's important. What difference does it make whether the process was initiated by Cole himself or by recruiters? The bottom line is that Cole was interested in the position, or else he wouldn't have given the recruiters the green light. Precis 08:30, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
I think that this section would do well to be in reverse chronological order as readers will likely be reading for more recent issues first.
Currently is reads:
I think it ought to be:
I don't want to unilaterally make this change without discussion. MARussellPESE 04:04, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
expertise faculty posit Ahmadinejad Legal disputes Baha'i moving from general to more specific incidents, put yale first since it follows from expertise and professionalism Elizmr 21:42, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
I think Elizmr is trying to place these topics in descending order of general interest. Interestingly, that parallels a reverse-chronological order almost perfectly. I can readily see arguments in both directions — because either direction seems to indicate that controversies around Cole expand with him as his notoriety expands.
I lean towards descending interest as currently presented for readability reasons. Nobody but a few of us Baha'is — and by far not even a lot of us — have more than passing familiarity with his conflicts within that community. On the other hand, the Yale appointment and comments viewed by some as almost apologetics regarding the Iranian regime have garnered a lot of press. These are subjects readers would be far more interested in I think. MARussellPESE 19:40, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
Just for the record, you are not the, "target of [my] personal ire," because of your, "defense of some of Cole's statements." Defense of Cole's statements is fine with me and without that Wikipedia wouldn't be Wikipedia; Wikipedia needs to show all sides. You have earned ire from me because of your unconditional knee-jerk defense of Cole, becuase of the rude and dismissive way you treat other editors, and because of the way you combat against the article showing more than one POV. (And for the record I agree with you that the Yale thing doesn't need to be in Wikipedia. I said this a long time ago and Ben Houston disagreed. He felt that the Yale thing showed that Cole is very well respected, etc, to be nominated and it should stay for that reason. Not a bad point.) I think that the most interesting aspect of the Yale affair is that it is an example of a classic Cole pattern. He is great when agreed with, but when challenged or faced with adversity, he replies with one of two options: a)this is a well-funded powerful neo-con right-wing likudnik conspiracy at work!!! or b)you are an idiot who doesn't know anything and I am the great and powerful Cole!!! Elizmr 00:08, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
Your use of the imperative "get off my case" isn't called for. You've asserted that the Yale appointment is/was silly and I've countered that it wasn't. It was discussed in reputable places like the WSJ and The Chronicle of Higher Education, and got more than a brief mention in the Washington Times. Referring to that as reputable does strain credulity, but not the WSJ and Chronicle. I'm not "on your case". I'm just trying to have an even-tempered conversation and make a point or two — politely. If you don't think I have, please respond in kind.
A comparison between the notoriety of Cole and Butz is perfectly reasonable — which is all that I made. I made no cheap shot on Cole, and did not use a reducto ad Hitlerim argument. I went out of my way to state clearly what I believe: that Cole's no Nazi apologist — no matter what the Secretary of Defense may pronounce.
Oddly enough, I'll lay good odds that if you sample the average Newshour viewer who these guys are, you'll find those that know of Cole to be an integer multiple of those that know of Butz. Hence, the difference the the amount of Wiki-ink relative to the two.
However, Cole has been a fire-brand for about ten years himself, and shows no signs of slowing down. His acerbic, dismissive, tone with any critic is notorious. "Condescending" doesn't begin to capture the way he comes across. People have called him the next Bernard Lewis, and he could well be if he takes a page from that scholar's book. Lord knows the West could use more of that insight — but Cole's withering rhetoric with anybody who disagrees with him will, I suspect, keep him notorious for years to come. And it does, I'm sure, compromise the effect of whatever he has to say, no matter how insightful.
By the way, Barbara Foley was not a tenured faculty member and not fired from Northwestern for being a fire-brand. She was denied tenure for inciting a riot (Fall 1984) and refusing to apologize. I know. I was in the room when she did it. Storming the stage with about twenty people and telling the room that the speaker, Contra leader Adolfo Calero (a miserable human being), would "be lucky to get out of here alive!" [26] (That's the direct quote I remember, and it's aggravated menacing. She doesn't remember it that way though. [27] No surprise: she stops just short of that pithy sentence. But I do. It was a memorable introduction to the academy.) That would go beyond the limits of academic freedom, wouldn't you agree?
To compare her notoriety with Butz or Cole: her's extended as far as the campus paper and the two local dailies for about a quarter. By the time I was a senior it was "Barbara Who"? Agreed, she probably would have made Wikipedia with all sorts of citations. But they wouldn't be from the likes of WSJ saying one thing and Chronicle saying almost the opposite. (That's what makes these things about Cole "noteworthy controversies".) In Foley's case, everybody thought she should be fired, and was one event. (Which makes it not noteworthy and why that episode's justifiably not on Wikipedia.) MARussellPESE 21:35, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
If that's the case, then it'll, quite appropriately, come down then.
Last point: Inciting to riot is a crime itself. Freedom of speech categorically does not allow one to threaten violence against anybody — something neither the far left, right or religious seem to grasp. But grown-ups do. MARussellPESE 23:09, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
Thanks, Italiavivi 01:04, 31 August 2006 (UTC).
I would like to have a discussion about the title of this page before the revert war continues any further. I feel it was entirely inappropriate for Italiaviva to make massive changes without any discussion or attempt to achieve consensus. The title and content of this page was discussed for weeks, and even the founder of wikipedia weighed in the discussion as I recall. I don't think a unilateral move by one person who claims there are POV issues here is appropriate at all. I will be fine with such a move if consensus is achieved - or at least some semblance of a reasonable discussion - but I am not comfortable with the unilateral move. Am I out of line here? Can someone explain what is POV about "Views and controversies"? Or why it is less POV to make this page exclusively about attacks against Cole? I just don't understand.-- csloat 20:18, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
I agree with both csloat & MARussellPESE. This is a NPOV title that we have agreed on after a long discussion that led to consensus. Italiavivi is trolling here and on other pages, making controversial unilateral moves and changes, and then resorting to revert wars, 3RR violations and personal attacks agianst editors who disagree with him Isarig 18:09, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
Will314159, these pages are part of an encyclopedia we are trying to write, not a playground for you to experiment with to indulge your egocentric fantasies. Please do not make any more edits like your recent ones, deleting, then restroing content in order to gauge other editors' reaaction to them. That is a violation of so many WP guidelines that I won't even enumerate them. You have been warned. Isarig 17:03, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
the grand champion reverter of all time is one editor by name of Isarig. I wish there was a counter for that category Isarig. You would win hands down of reversions of POV pushing. Best Wishes. Will314159 19:50, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
04:44, 11 October 2006 Armon (Talk | contribs) ({{Cquote| are prettier and make it eaiser to read)"" massive rewrite, but from reading the log you would think he prettied up some quotes. Hope you can sleep at night. Best Wishes Will314159 04:57, 11 October 2006 (UTC)
04:30, 11 October 2006 Will314159 (Talk | contribs) (→On Israel - denial of human rights is fascism irrespective of voting- did Kramer say that? I missed it)
Again Armon is making misleading edit logs. The whole Cole rebuttal to Kramer criticism is that Likud is not fascist because it does or does not participate in democracy. The Cole criticism is that it is facist because of the way it treats and supresses the Palestinians. Fascism has evolved from Mussollini's days. See the neofascism article. He keeps on deleting my counterbalancing edit. This is an article on Juan Cole's views, isn't it? Or is it an article of how the Likud lobby want to paint Juan Cole's views? Or if Armon doesn't delete, you can bet Isarig will, or xxx, or yyyy. Definitely outnumbered here and very, very, little sense of fair play. Best Wishes Will314159 05:07, 11 October 2006 (UTC) Edit So Armon ask Kramer if we should adjust the double standard so that both are fascist, or neither is? His argument seems to accept an equivalence. Cheers Will314159 05:10, 11 October 2006 (UTC)
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I've added the npov tag until the following items are resolved in an npov manner: (1) Karsh's quote on Cole's views about Israel. This is an idiosyncratic interpretation of an obscure quote in a book review that can be legitimately interpreted in various ways as the above discussion shows. Karsh interprets it in a way that is most unfavorable to Cole, which is his prerogative, but it should not be the first sentence in a section purportedly about Cole's views of Israel. Let's start with some quotes specifically about Cole's views on Israel now, rather than an ambiguous statement about what Britain did fifty years ago. Elevating this quote to a fundamental part of Cole's beliefs on the basis of a quote from his biggest critic turns this section into a smear. If I find a quote from someone saying that the white settlers in the US should never have given smallpox blankets to the Indians, would you say that the quote proves that the person's fundamental belief is that the USA should never have existed? That is the kind of interpretation we are privileging here and it is wrong.
(2) The section on Hitchens v. Cole as outlined above unfairly elevates Hitchens' interpretation of Cole's statement over Cole's own interpretation of that statement. Cole reexplains himself several times at length. We had this debate on the Cole talk page and Armon stopped pursuing the point there; I assumed he had accepted the points that I made as valid, but apparently not. I don't relish having the same debate over again, but the version of that section currently up makes that impossible to avoid. I rewrote that section in sandbox 3 a while back and I propose that we start with that instead of the current section.
Otherwise we should call this page "Criticism of Cole" and be honest about it rather than pretending this even attempts to accurately portray his views. For some reason editors here seem to want to bend over backwards to turn this guy into an antisemite, yet they cannot find a single quote from him saying anything bad about Jews in general. I find this approach to the topic insulting and offensive.-- csloat 20:01, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
I think we need to clarify exactly what this page is about.
Should this article:
This isn't an exhaustive or mutually exclusive list. If anyone has other options please add them to the list so we (or at least I) can figure out what should and shouldn't be here. -- Armon 14:16, 1 June 2006 (UTC) I've updated the list with Elizmr's & TheronJ's take. Armon 16:44, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
The sentence "Cole's view of Feith has been corroborated by Condi Rice and John Wilkerson" was supplied without a reference, but that isn't the only problem. The loaded term "corroborated" suggests that Condi and John have provided supporting evidence for Feith's untrustworthiness. Even if Condi and John share *exactly* Cole's view, that is not the same as corroborating it. But the sentence does not even make clear what view they share. Does Condi feel that Feith cannot be trusted to give priority to American interests, or does she merely think that Feith is a zealous Likud supporter? Precis 22:48, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
Let's assume for the moment that others' opinions of Feith are even relevant to this article. Then a reference to Douglas Feith#Professional criticism would be fine to indicate that R/W have "expressed agreement with some of Cole's views on Feith". But such reference does not support theclaim that R/W's opinions corroborate (i.e., provide supporting evidence for) Cole's views. Engel has expressed the opinion that M&W are antisemitic, but that doesn't mean he has corroborated the view that M&W are antisemitic. Precis 14:30, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
1. Feith participated in the writing of the "Defense of the Realm" document for Netanyahu. A blueprint for the NeoCon demolition of the Oslo process and invasion of Iraq. So did Maryam Wurmser, cofounder of the translation service that is the subject of another controversy section in this article. 2. Feith as No. 3 at the Pentagon made many decisions more in Likuds Israels' interest than in America's. 3. Cole called Feith on this. 4. Because of this Cole, is labeled a "NAS" as a reactive mechanism by the Israeli lobby, some of which are esteemed academics. 5. In defense it is offered the CORROBORATIVE statements, properly footnoted, at Douglas Feith, sorry I haven't learned how to do footnotes or I would transfer them here. 6. Relevance is when a the existence of a fact at issue is made less likely or not. If everybody around corrobrates Cole's view of Feith as unreliable than either the whole world is "NAS" by definition or Cole is not a "NAS." It appears "NAS" is a definition of conveniance applied politically. 7. Here is the Condi statement again from the Doug article "Former National Security Advisor Condeleezza Rice According to the long-running Washington newsletter, The Nelson Report, edited by Christopher Nelson, Feith was standing in for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at a 2003 interagency 'Principals' Meeting' debating the Middle East, and ended his remarks on behalf of the Pentagon. Then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said, "Thanks Doug, but when we want the Israeli position we'll invite the ambassador." [21] [22] 8. Here is the John Wilkerson statement which has been watered down "Former Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State, Larry Wilkerson In 2005, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to then Secretary of State Colin Powell, publicly stated he could "testify to" Franks' comment, and added "Seldom in my life have I met a dumber man." [29] Regarding Feith and his colleague, David Wurmser, Colonel Wilkerson has stated "A lot of these guys, including Wurmser, I looked at as card-carrying members of the Likud party, as I did with Feith. You wouldn’t open their wallet and find a card, but I often wondered if their primary allegiance was to their own country or to Israel. That was the thing that troubled me, because there was so much that they said and did that looked like it was more reflective of Israel’s interest than our own."[30]
The whole kernel issue that needs to be addressed in this whole discussion is JC's reaction to the doctrine of "NAS." We have his letter to then Harvard Professor Summer's labeling of a an academic boycott as NAS. When I get a little time and have a chance to read about footnoing i plan to write that section, even though it may get continually deleted, b/c awh shucks forget, assume good faith. Take Care! -- Will 02:00, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
(moved from main Cole talk page by Elizmr) Actually, since you don't have a "side" in the whole Baha'i thing, you're probably the best person to write it! :-) It all looks o.k. to me. I tried to add a link to H-Bahai, but couldn't get it to come up right. The URL is http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/ Now, that I think about it, there should probably also be a link to Juan's statement that he's a Baha'i outside the administration, just so that is sourced. Also, just FYI, a recent article quotes an insider as saying that one reason Juan didn't get the Yale job was that "most of Cole’s scholarship pertains to the Baha’i faith and is limited to the 18th and 19th centuries". So, it appears that his commitment to Baha'i scholarship cost him, career-wise. Of course, his combativeness on his weblog was also given as a reason.69.232.171.3 03:02, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
I"d like to get into more detail into the Faha'i controversy. After reading the Gnosis article, I know a little more about the basis of the Talisman emails. The controversy had three aspects/ First the emails were about the lack of women in the high council. The Baha'i faith prides itself on gender equality yet there are no women on the high council or equivalent. Second, the leadership was set in its ways and there was no room for new blood, the Talisman discussed term limits and other ways to get more participation and democratization. Third, there was a requirement for some kind of censorship and/or prior approval of academic papers by Baha'i members. This is what the investigation was about and why Cole quit after being subjected to late night phone calls. So says the Gnosis article. I'm just throwing it out for discussion. The flip side is the organization wanted to maintain orthodoxy and guard against schism Take Care! --
Will
02:01, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Absent any discussion, I added more detail to the Talisman proposed reform changes. Take Care! --
Will
22:28, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Hi, Will -- I just noticed your contribution here. What you've added seems fine to me. One could, of course, go into more detail; it just depends on what Wikipedians here think is appropriate. Just FYI, the "high council" you speak of is called the Universal House of Justice, and the policy of Baha'i review also has an article here at Wikipedia. I don't know if it makes a difference, but Juan has been rather reticent about discussing his Baha'i background since becoming more widely famous, but there's ample material on the web about the Baha'i controversies for anyone who is curious. 69.232.171.126 02:46, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
Cole supporters might say that influential board members and faculty kept Cole from getting the appointment for political reasons, critics might say it was that his area of scholarship was not appropriate to a modern middle east appointment or cite his combative personality on the Web log as a reason. Since Yale hasn't published a statement we don't know the real reason for sure. The title as it stands suggests that it is the latter stuff. I think if we want to include this, we should probably change the title to something more neutral, like having "Yale appointment" as a subject heading under "controversies". The reader could make conclusions for his/herself. Sarah Crane, what do you think about this? Elizmr 01:13, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
My understanding is that the relevant Departments signed off on his appointment. This also address the comment made above about Bahai scholarship. (The Bab made his appearance in the 19th century.) FYI, here is what JC has to say about the Yale appointment (from Informed Comment). "Friday, June 09, 2006
Yale Affair
I am not going to talk about the Yale affair per se.
But I did want to clear up some misimpressions I've seen here and there.
First, it should be remembered that senior professors are sort of like baseball players, and other teams look at them from time to time, as recruitment prospects. It goes on constantly, formally or informally. Such looking is never taken very seriously by anyone unless it eventuates in an actual offer.
Second, it is important in interpreting these things to know who initiated the looking. I am not actively seeking other employment, and did not apply to Yale; they came to me and asked if they could look at me for an appointment. I am very happy at the University of Michigan, which has among the largest and oldest Middle East Studies programs in the United States. It is like Disney World for a Middle East specialist. To its credit, the University invested tens of millions of dollars in creating positions and building library and other resources in this field at at time when it was considered marginal by many other universities. Michigan also has a History Department that is among the very best and largest in the country, characterized by diversity of area specialization and innovative, interdisciplinary scholarship. It is a nurturing and congenial intellectual environment. Many fine departments in the US have a North Atlantic focus or bias, but Michigan for decades has had a global emphasis.
The press has some out of date impressions about our major research universities, imagining that the old hierarchy of Ivy League versus the rest is still meaningful. It is not. Research universities, whether state (Berkeley, the University of Michigan) or private, are much more similar than they are different. Were I ever to go to another place, it would likely be as a pioneer in a less well-developed Middle East Studies program, for the purpose of building up something that we already have at Michigan. That is, it would be a personal sacrifice for some purpose, and not a decision easily made.
I was extremely fortunate to have been hired at the University of Michigan right out of graduate school. I moved from UCLA to the pinnacle of my profession at a young age. I am doing what I enjoy doing, which is studying and teaching the Middle East and South Asia, and communicating about it to various publics. I have not, and short of foul play cannot be stopped from doing what I am doing, and what I enjoy. I welcome critiques of my work. There are obviously some critics, however, who go rather beyond simple critique to wishing to silence or smear me. In the former, at least, they cannot succeed by mere yellow journalism. So I have what I want, but they cannot have what they want. I win, every day.
Many thanks to all the kind messages and votes of confidence from readers. I've decided that this is a subject better closed, so am not taking comments.
posted by Juan @ 6/09/2006 06:03:00 AM " http://www.juancole.com/2006/06/yale-affair-i-am-not-going-to-talk.html Take Care! -- Will 02:23, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
"God and Money at Yale: Inside History of the Israel Lobby." Bill Mon's take of the taking down of JC's certain Yale nomination. http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/June/13%20o/God%20and%20Money%20at%20Yale%20Inside%20History%20of%20the%20Israel%20Lobby%20By%20Bill%20Mon.htm Take Care! -- Will 21:07, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
"I probably am the only non-Jew editing this article. " Have you forgotten, the Israel Lobby is also composed of Christian Zionists.
Precis
10:27, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
Give me a break. Precis. The guess-estimate is drawn from the pre-occupation with NAS and Israel by the respective editors on a JC cole page. I would think the Xtian Zionists would not be so preccopied with NAS. Keep trash talk off WP. email me. Take Care! -- Will 15:14, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
Over-ruling one Dept. is unheard of, the odss of over-ruling two Dept.'s is astronomical w/o the concerted media and donor campaign. "Zachary Lockman, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at New York University, called the campaign against Cole “an assault on academic freedom and the academic enterprise.” Lockman is president-elect of the Middle East Studies Association. He stressed that he was speaking for himself, not the group, and that he didn’t have firsthand knowledge of the Yale search. Lockman said that Cole is “one of the preeminent historians of the modern Middle East and he’s been attacked on political grounds — because he’s critical of the Bush administration and Israel.” Given Cole’s reputation and the departmental backing for his appointment, Lockman said of the decision to reject Cole: “Universities seem to be willing to kowtow to pressure from outside interest groups.” http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/05/cole Take Care! -- Will 15:14, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
Took out the comment by deputy provost. pure fluff, adds nothing to the article. Two departments were overturned. It was a Unique occurrence! More relevant would be expanding the article to include contra campaign by Rubin & Mowbray and Mowbray's letter to Jewish Yale donors. Or leave the article like it is. Jus for laughs, if Cole know so little about the Modern Middle East, how come he's quoted about it and interviewed all the time as an Iraqi and Shiite expert? I guess you are criticized for not being a stuffy professor and having an uptodate blog w/ latest knowledge and then hanged for not being a stuffy old professor. Take Care! -- Will 15:46, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
It doesn't matter what you do your original scholarship in, that's where you cut your teeth and show you know how to do the research and do the papers. What matters is what happens laters, where you acquire a mastery of the field to the point where you can teach effectively and supervise other people doing research. that's why Karsh's statement elsehwere that JC's knowledge is derivative and therefore inferior is bullcrap. The skinny on the appointment at Yale is that the losing History professors lobbied the smaller last resort committee (and coupled with the heat about the Taliban Yale student) prevailed. Rubin's and Mowbray's publicity work is relevant in putting additional heat on Yale (already under scrutiny with the Taliban student) and provides context for Cole's later remark about the "attack on academic inegegrity" which is otherwise senseless. The provost stuff is self-serving fluff. Some appointments make it, some don't. Whopee Doo. Nothing unsusual going on. Bullcrap. Most appointments do make it through. Most airplanes do not crash. There is no evidence that JC is nothing but a collegial gentleman in the classroom or at a college setting althogh he suffers no fools with his pen. Take Care! -- Will 22:31, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
As to JC's personality. There is no evidence that JC is nothing but a collegial gentleman in the classroom or at a college setting althogh he suffers no fools with his pen. After watching his online 90 minute streaming lecture on Political Shiaa in Iraq given at the Mershon center, I have to agree that he is a mild mannered professor. Judge for yourself. http://www.mershon.ohio-state.edu/Events/05-06events/colej/jcole.htm Take Care! -- Will 22:52, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
Going to put in some relevant balancing comments from insidehighered article by Scott Jaschik Blackblalled at Yale Take Care! -- Will (talk) 15:52, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
I archived most of the talk page. I felt the topics on here which still seemed to be active or have been recently added. I wasn't sure about the Feith stuff since I've not been involved in editing that section, so I left it. Elizmr 14:01, 12 June 2006 (UTC)
There are several problems with the current version.
"And while most faculty members contacted for this piece agree that it is highly improbable that outside pressure played a part in the tenure committee’s decision, the letters and the subsequent calls suggest a campaign to discredit Cole." Precis 01:16, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
The Bill Mon piece is not being cited in WP. It is an external reference. It is properly labeleled as "Earthy." Mowbray & Rubin interjected themselves into the Yale process causing a controversy. This is the section for JC views and controversy. Causaly, it may have been a tangential intervening cause but it became a source of controversy. It is not being used to support any facts in the article. It is merely an external reference. It uses colorful earthy language and it communicates the viewpoint very well and in a devastating fashion. The "rodent" may be seen as unfairly prejudicial so is the "The elders of Zion" stuff Karsh tries to link JC. But what good did it do to complain about that? The sensitivities are all in one direction on this forum, obviously!
The provost comment is pure fluff. I have addressed that previously. A whole paragraph of purely innoccous bio information was removed by Elizimr b/c she said it was "fluff". She and her friends should not be heard to complain now. Take Care! -- Will 07:34, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
The "highly unusual" quotes must thus be removed as well. We don't want WP to be accused of observing a double standard. Precis 09:09, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. Bullcrap. All sources agree it was an unusual move. Get your head out of the sand. Take Care! -- Will 15:00, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
I am not going to revert Isarig's most recent changes to the Ahmadinejad section, but I do want to know why it is necessary to treat everything Cole says -- even explanations of basic facts that can be looked up in a grammar book -- as if it is just a "claim," or that it is more NPOV to pretend his argument is less legitimate than the so-called "expert's," even though he offers credible reasons for his argument (and the expert does not), he offers both verb forms in Persian, and the expert does not, and he offers examples of the verb form being used in a sentence (while the NYT expert does not). Cole also puts his reputation behind his translation and challenges the expertise of the expert; I read the NYT piece, and the expert says nothing about Cole's qualifications. I think the presumption is heavily on Cole's side here, and if he is wrong, this should be very easy to prove (and likely pretty embarrassing for Cole). Let's be clear - either the verb is transitive or it is not; this is an accuracy issue, not a POV issue. I also think Cole's comment in the NYT explaining the implications of all this should be included -- "I am entirely aware that Ahmadinejad is hostile to Israel. The question is whether his intentions and capabilities would lead to a military attack, and whether therefore pre-emptive warfare is prescribed. I am saying no, and the boring philology is part of the reason for the no."-- csloat 05:55, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
Could you please stop accusing each other of injecting POV? In particular, csloat, why do you insist on using phrases such as "don't be silly" and imbed your arguments in these long paragraphs? Let me suggest my motto "Lo bueno, si breve, dos veces bueno". You have made one good point The fact that a person is a native speaker does not mean that person has better command of a language than a non-native speaker. In fact, given the choice between a non-native speaker who is an academic authority on a language and a competent native speaker who is not, the choice is almost always that the academic authority is more reliable. Therefore, the argument should rely on whether Cole and the other individual are academic authorities on the language. I don't want to inject myself into this seemingly endless debate other than to point out that this is assertion that requires proof.-- CSTAR 23:51, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
"posted by Juan @ 6/15/2006 12:30:00 AM 0 comments Steele on Ahmadinejad: Of Arenas of Time and Intransitive Verbs http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jonathan_steele/2006/06/post_155.html Jonathan Steele of the Guardian does a good piece about the controversy over Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's quotation from Khomeini that "the occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" -- which some Iranian activists and the Western press translated as "Israel must be wiped off the face of the map."
The only thing I would add is that mahv shodan is in fact an intransitive verb construction. Shodan is to become. An mard khoshhal shodeh is "that man became happy." It is not a transitive verb. That is why mahv shodan is better translated "vanish," also an intransitive verb. The transitive is mahv kardan, to "wipe out" or "eliminate."
The New York Times was told by supposed Persian language experts in Iran, and appears to believe, that mahv shodan is a transitive verb construct. It makes me a little worried about the state of grammar in Iran, and in the Persian speaking staff of the NYT, and also about its newsgathering prowess. If they cannot find out that shodan is intransitive, something well known in Persian grammar for thousands of years, you wonder what other assertions they are swallowing. I told them this, by the way, before the article came out. I guess we academic Persianists are not trusted to know an intransitive verb when we see one. No wonder we're mostly not trusted to know more important things. posted by Juan @ 6/15/2006 12:24:00 AM 0 comments" Take Care! -- Will 18:21, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
From Sullivan's article in the Guardian "This, in my view, is the crucial point and I'm glad the NYT accepts that the word "map" was not used by Ahmadinejad. (By the way, the Wikipedia entry on the controversy gets the NYT wrong, claiming falsely that Ethan Bronner "concluded that Ahmadinejad had in fact said that Israel was to be wiped off the map".) At least he is reading WP. Good Work Commodore. If it wasn't for your efforts. He would have said the WP also gets the whole quote wrong. Take Care! -- Will 18:39, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
IMHO, there are two issues. (We're way into OR here, but it's the talk page).
I think Theronj and Precis have it all wrong, just part of the mindset. 1) Read Mahmoud Ahmadi's whole speech in the MEMRI translation. He is not talking about violence. He mentions the Soviet Union in particular, that you have to go to the libraries to find scraps of it and even there the scraps are wanting. that gives context to the whole remarks. 2) Don't underestimate the war mongering potential of the NYT. That's where Judith Miller drummed up the support for the Weapons of Mass Deception and the war on Iraq. Peres followed up with AhmedNejadi's speech with a counterthreat to wipe Iran off the map. Like Cole says, philolgy though dry can be important. At least to the living and whole not yet made dead and wounded by the warmongers. That's the only reason I take time to set the record straight on Cole on these pages. Take Care! -- Will 21:03, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
very good work Commodore. I sincerely hope your work on the translation remarks does not get vandalized. Take Care! -- Will 22:21, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
"I think Theronj and Precis have it all wrong, just part of the mindset." I'm wondering which of my three statements were wrong. I'll label them A,B,C for easy reference.
I'd like to suggest a compromise on the Yale section. I've rewritten the section to include bullet points for the various opinions, and would suggest that people add more bullet points if I've missed any. (In particular, (1) I haven't included any citations stating that the decision to overrule was based on Cole's academic work and/or his blogging; and (2) I haven't included Cole's statement on the subject, which I recall he posted on his website.) Let me know your thoughts, particularly if you're concerned that I put in too much or not enough. TheronJ 15:43, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
The "highly unusual" were not mine to begin with. My edit was to 1) put it in the Rubin and Mowbray publicity campagign and take out the self serving fluff 2) provost statement. The Provost saying it is not unusual does not make is so " " "If two departments agreed to hire him … it's hard to swallow that some outside committee would decide against it," Allouche said." OK you can have it. The reader is smart enough to figure out two departments being overturned is "unusual." When I have the time to figure out footnotes, I"ll try my hand at putting in Allouche's statement in directly. One attributed quote to balance another attributed quote. Take Care! -- Will 17:11, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
The following was on JC's blog. Full quote and blog date above. "There are obviously some critics, however, who go rather beyond simple critique to wishing to silence or smear me. In the former, at least, they cannot succeed by mere yellow journalism." Take Care! -- Will 17:42, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
As was discussed extensively on this page before, Will keeps addign the allegation that Rice and Wilkerson share Cole's opinion of Feith. I have removed this (and will keep removing it) for the follwoing reasons: (1) The issue is not Feith. It is Cole's belief that pro-Israel jewish members of the administration have dual loyalties. Feith is used just as an example (2) Even if th eissue was Feith, this articel is not the place to list all those who allegedly agree with Cole. It is for presenting his views, and presenting criticisms of those views. There are doubtless million sof people who share Cole's views on th eIraq ar - are we going to list them all in that section? (3) Given (1) & (2), this is a moot point, but claim is also false. Wilkerson said Feith is stupid, but did not accuse him of dual loyalty, and neither did Rice. Will - please address these issues here before re-inserting that statement, which has been removed by other editors as well. Isarig 04:26, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
First, I reject your implicit premise about Cole's reasoning. It is not deductive but inductive. Let me illustrate the difference. Deductive. All Jews in government have dual loyalties. Feith is a Jew, therefore Feith has dual loyalties. In deductive you reason from an absolute to particulars. Inductive. In inductive reasoning, you start with instances, then you make a general statement. Feith is a Jew that co-authored a paper for Netanyhu along with Maryam Wurmser (MEMRI cofouonder), Richard Perle other American Jewish Likudniks. this paper urged an overthrow of the Oslo accords and the invasion of Iraq. Scooter Libby is an American Jew hi in government that stovepiped cooked up or suspect intelligence straight into the WH. Wolfwitz, No. 2, at the Pentagon, urged the invasion on Iraq in liew of Afghanistan. Many more examples. Proceeding from the general then one makes a statement "there are highly placed American Jews" affaliated with the Israeli hardline "keep the settlements" Liud party that have dual loyalties. When Feith, who was No. 3 at the Pentagon and disbanded the Iraq Army etc, is offered as a test case, the counterexample is that Cole is proceeding from induction. Indeed Feith did have dual loyalties and Cole can olnly have a derivative opinion of it. There are first hand participants that speak to his dual loyalties. Thus they blow the case wide apart that Cole is guilty of NAS (New-Anti-Semitism). That is the relevance. Rice and Wilkerson see Feith's dual loyalty. Are they NAS's? Not all American Jews are Likudnik NeoKons. Edward Witten, the string theorist, and arguably the smartest man in America is a peace activist. If he had a role in the U.S. government, No one would ever say he had divided loyalties. The relevance is that "Feith" is used as a specific example to show that JC is a NAS. My "corroborative" counterexample shows that JC is not necessarily NAS by his Likudnik in government opinion. Because it so devastating to those that have an Israeli lobby NOV, they are constantly deleting the comment. Take Care! -- Will 23:44, 16 June 2006 (UTC) Take Care! -- Will 23:44, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
Isarig: " Wilkerson said Feith is stupid, but did not accuse him of dual loyalty, and neither did Rice. Will - please address these issues . O.K. one more time After subbing for Rumsfeld at a briefing (Feith was No. 3 in the Pentagon) "Former National Security Advisor Condeleezza RiceThen-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said, "Thanks Doug, but when we want the Israeli position we'll invite the ambassador."
Wilkerson: "Regarding Feith and his colleague, David Wurmser, Colonel Wilkerson has stated "A lot of these guys, including Wurmser, I looked at as card-carrying members of the Likud party, as I did with Feith. You wouldn’t open their wallet and find a card, but I often wondered if their primary allegiance was to their own country or to Israel. That was the thing that troubled me, because there was so much that they said and did that looked like it was more reflective of Israel’s interest than our own. When asked to characterize Feith's role in US government, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson replied "Was he nefarious? Absolutely." Colonel Wilkerson "believes that Feith placed Likud's interests above America's during his service at the Pentagon."
It is very hard to find any highly placed Jewish American official that did not favor Israel against the interests of the U.S. From Elliot Abrams to Dennis Ross. If you define American interests as Peace, stability, the fullfillment of human rights enshrined by the bedrock American principles
"All men are created equal by their Creator, and entitled to the blessings of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Read Palestinians to be inclulded in the phrase All Men. 18th Century notions of Pursluit of Happiness include ownership of property.
Isarig. the 3R rule reflects a policy to avoid endless edit wars. It is not a license to revert three in one day, then punishment on the fourth. (It is the fourth edit supposedly that gets you in trouble). Even one edit a day if done w/ your intent is suffiecient from my reading." I have removed this (and will keep removing it) ...." Take Care! -- Will 07:50, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
"It is very hard to find any highly placed Jewish American official that did not favor Israel against the interests of the U.S. From Elliot Abrams to Dennis Ross. If you define American interests as Peace, stability, the fullfillment of human rights enshrined by the bedrock American principles." This statement singles out Jews for disloyalty, and as such strikes me as a perfect example of antisemitism. Can sincere belief in the truth of this statement be used as a defense? Consider the following opinion of X: "It's hard to find any black baseball player who is faithful to his wife." Whether X truly believes this or not, his statement is racist because it singles out black athletes for vilification. Precis 09:00, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
I am reminded of Samuel Johnson's definition of a patriot. So it seems with AS and NAS. It is used as a political ploy to keep the inhuman occupation going and suck America and Israel into unending wars and human misery. There again deduction is confused with induction. Induction precedes by a case by case basis. Deniis Ross at disastrous Camp David told Barak, "One more concession, I am walking out of the meeting." The reader would be well familiar with Elliot Abrams. I wish there was a counterexample. There are many American Jews that do work for Peace. I am not familiar with any in the Bush WH.
Prominent American Jews that have recently worked for Mid-East Peace are Edward Witten, the string theorist, and Jason Alexander, George from Seinfeld, who has traveled to Israel and met with Palestinians. The true friends of Israel are the ones that work for Peace and not the ones that work to prolong the Occupation. Read www.gush-shalom.org. Here's a statement from an Haaretz article well worth considering in this whole AS, NAS debate http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/726493.html "When will we understand that only the 1967 lines are the borders to defend the "Jewish and democratic state" from bestiality? And who, aside from us, really cares if we become bestial? Or maybe we don't care anymore?" Yossi Sarid. Who do you prefer, Yossi Sarid, a man of Peace, or Karsh who has written a tract "What Occupation?" It's a matter of POV. After a trillion dollars of direct and indirect costs of the Iraq War, 2500 dead, and nearly 20,000 wounded, it's time to face reality for Americans as well as Israelis. Take Care! -- Will 11:24, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. No reasonable person can disagree with the strawman you set up. But that's not what I said. Repeating the difference between deductive and inductive statements would not do any good, b/c apparently you did not get it or you ignored it the first and second time. A third time is not going to be the "charm." I love a soap box as well as anybody else and I could go through all the points again b\ it would be against WP policy. Take it up on my user page or yours. No use having it out here on the JC page. Take Care! -- Will 01:40, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
I removed the following sentence: In response to Mowbray's letter, the Jewish Week reported, based on reports from "several faculty members" of Yale, that "at least four major Jewish donors [...] contacted officials at the university urging that Cole’s appointment be denied." I find this to be a dishonest rendition of what The Jewish Week actually said, which is: Several faculty members said they had heard that at least four major Jewish donors, whose identity the faculty members did not know, have contacted officials at the university urging that Cole’s appointment be denied. The dishonesty is twofold:
Despite my admonition, the ellipses version was placed back into the article. I offered to replace the ellipses version with the following full quote: Several faculty members said they had heard that at least four major Jewish donors, whose identity the faculty members did not know, have contacted officials at the university urging that Cole’s appointment be denied. (I was reluctant to offer this, because I think quoting reports based on rumors coming from sources unknown even to The Jewish Week makes WP look ridiculous. Did the rumor come from a department secretary? Imagine the Britannica writing something like "Several professors said they'd heard through the grapevine that four individuals whose names they did not know ..." However, I offered to put in the full quote in the spirit of compromise. The editor who at first accepted this compromise then promptly reverted, replacing the full quote by the ellipses version. What is the justification? Precis 12:03, 18 June 2006 (UTC) P. S. The Nation quotes the sentence in question as follows: "Several faculty members said they had heard that at least four major Jewish donors...have contacted officials at the university urging that Cole's appointment be denied." [7]. The obfuscation is not quite as pronounced here, since the word "heard" is included. But the ellipses are still shameful. Precis 12:29, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. Methinks you protest too much. The main point is not AS or NAS but Semitism run amok. Rubin and Mowbray stuck their thumb and left feet into an academic process they would have better left alone. Yes, they exercised their free speech. But they gave the effect of the American Israeli lobby hounding the mild mannered professor in retaliation for speaking truth to moneyed steam roller power. The irony of it is their clumsy clownish campaign may not have had that much effect. Take Care! -- Will 17:20, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Uri is also a combat veteran that prefers the way of peace. Are you going to also call his an anti-semite? Take Care! -- Will 17:48, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis's proposed compromise sounds fair - Will, can you clarify whether you are insisting on the elipses, and why? TheronJ 17:44, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
TheronJ. I have no dog in this elipses thing. I just made the comment that it was a lot of nitpicking. The main point is that clowns Rubin and Mowbray jumped into an academic matter. It's obvious to any reader from the account. What you have is fine. You are quite a diplomat. Appreciate your efforts. Take Care! -- Will 17:52, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
BHouston, did you mean to make this edit? [8] If Precis puts in the quote without elipses, do you have any objections? Thanks, TheronJ 18:09, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
"Precis was continuing to play the revert game"? I had reverted exactly once: (cur) (last) 01:41, 17 June 2006 Precis (→Faculty position at Yale University - Either put in the entire JW quote or leave it out, but WP shouldn't be reporting rumor as fact and hiding this with ellipses.) before inserting the compromise. I was very surprised that the ellipses version kept wending its way back into the article with no justification offered for removing the word "heard". Further, reversions that promote a disputed point of view should not be labeled as minor edits. That being said, I apologize for assuming the mistake was due to malice. I agree with Will that TheronJ is developing quite a reputation as a diplomat. Precis 21:15, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
"The main point is that clowns Rubin and Mowbray jumped into an academic matter." Suppose that the target happened to be a neocon instead of Cole. Would R and M still be called clowns? Is the name-calling really due to R and M's methods? Or is it rather due to indignation over their POV? Precis 10:42, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. "R and M's methods"=Klowns. To be more precise your "Rumor" terminology should have been "hearsay." Hearsay can be very credible depending on the chain of sources. Its failing in a adversarial setting is you can't x-examine the primary witness. No doubt, you were really nit-picking on that one. Take Care! -- Will 15:18, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
Here's something to help us take our minds off the small stuff. Take Care! -- Will 16:11, 19 June 2006 (UTC) Take Care! -- Will (talk) 16:11, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
Going back to the big picture. When I had paraphrased the JW article. I had left out "Jewish" donor. It was put back in later. I was in error to have left it out. I see that now. Because it is part of a larger pattern. The same thing was done to Walt at Harvard when the working paper on the Israeli lobby was posted on the Harvard website. It's just a fact of academic life, freedom of academic expression has a chilling financial price- backwash neokon pressure on Jewish academic financial donors. It's hilarious that I understand the Harvard logo came off the Mearsheimer-Walt paper but I see Dershowitz's reply has the Harvard logo on it. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 16:31, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. "Charge," "Accuse," Lighten up. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 23:46, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
From antiwar.com I can't figure out the author, it shows him smoking a cigarette. Randolph Bourne? It echoes a lot of the
issues raised here and the debate , though in more extreme stronger language and with a strong POV. http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9170 In part
"June 19, 2006 The Assassins From character assassination to physical assassination, the Lobby and its agents ruthlessly pursue their agenda
When John J. Mearsheimer, .......... the outcry from all the usual suspects was stupendous. After all, the professors had unapologetically said what everyone knows to be true: that U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East is geared to Israeli and not American interests. It is a case of altruism sui generis.
If anyone says that – out loud, that is – the price they pay is exorbitant,......... that anyone who criticizes Israel, or, more significantly, notices the Lobby's decisive influence over U.S. policymakers, risks their career, whether it be in politics, the media, or academia.
In regard to this last, Mearsheimer and Walt report that the Lobby has recently begun a campaign to "take back the campuses," and I would point out that the latest victim is Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan. Professor Cole is a Middle East expert, a distinguished scholar, and an articulate critic of our interventionist foreign policy. His popular blog, Informed Comment, richly deserves its name, and he has lately become someone the more in-depth media outlets turn to when they want knowledgeable commentary about current events in the region. The news that he was up for an appointment at Yale University, to head up a new department of Middle Eastern studies, was just what the Lobby needed to hear to swing into action.
Cole's sin: he, like Mearsheimer and Walt, had noted the inordinate influence of what The Nation magazine termed "American Likudniks" on the course of our foreign policy, and it wasn't long before the appointment was buried in a blizzard of outraged op-eds in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Sun, while the neocon contingent of the blogosphere was frothing at the mouth. In what was quite clearly an organized effort, Joel Mowbray, a smalltime neocon columnist who specializes in smearing enemies of the Lobby with the tar brush of "anti-Semitism" – his enemies list includes Gen. Anthony Zinni and the U.S. Justice Department, which had the temerity to prosecute admitted Israeli spy Larry Franklin – sent a letter to a good number of Yale donors, alerting them to Cole's pending appointment and urging action. Jewish Week reports that "several faculty members said they had heard that at least four major Jewish donors … have contacted officials at the university urging that Cole's appointment be denied."
In the end, Cole's appointment was nixed – and a central contention of Mearsheimer and Walt's analysis was confirmed. As they wrote:
"Groups within the Lobby put pressure on particular academics and universities. Columbia has been a frequent target, no doubt because of the presence of the late Edward Said on its faculty. 'One can be sure that any public statement in support of the Palestinian people by the pre-eminent literary critic Edward Said will elicit hundreds of emails, letters and journalistic accounts that call on us to denounce Said and to either sanction or fire him,' ........ Princeton also faced a few years later when it considered wooing Khalidi away from Columbia."
Yale's turn came soon enough. Whose turn will it be tomorrow?
In the Lobby's arsenal, character assassination is a major weapon of choice, and this was wielded against Cole time and again. Michael Rubin, a former employee of the Coalition Provisional Authority whose views are so extreme that he now accuses the Bush administration of selling out its original program of "regime change," wrote:
"While Cole condemns anti-Semitism, he accuses prominent Jewish-American officials of having dual loyalties, a frequent anti-Semitic refrain. That he accuses Jewish Americans of using 'the Pentagon as Israel's Gurkha regiment' is unfortunate."
This "Gurkha regiment" phrase, lifted out of context, occurred in the course of Cole's analysis of the Larry Franklin espionage case, in which Franklin, a Pentagon analyst who specialized in Iran, admitted passing sensitive classified intelligence to Israeli officials via Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, two top officials of the pro-Israel lobbying group scheduled to go on trial soon. Here is the original context:
"Here is my take on the Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal in the Pentagon.
"It is an echo of the one-two punch secretly planned by the pro-Likud faction in the Department of Defense. First, Iraq would be taken out by the United States, and then Iran. David Wurmser, a key member of the group, also wanted Syria included. These pro-Likud intellectuals concluded that 9/11 would give them carte blanche to use the Pentagon as Israel's Gurkha regiment, fighting elective wars on behalf of Tel Aviv (not wars that really needed to be fought, but wars that the Likud coalition thought it would be nice to see fought so as to increase Israel's ability to annex land and act aggressively, especially if someone else's boys did the dying)."
Franklin is not Jewish, and the Jewishness of these "pro-Likud intellectuals" has nothing to do with Cole's opposition to their activities, which seem – in Franklin's case, and also Rosen's and Weissman's – to include espionage on behalf of Israel. It is typical, however, of the Lobby to smear anyone who criticizes them as an "anti-Semite" – an accusation that, if it sticks, effectively immunizes the neoconservatives who put Israel first from all criticism.
......................................
Cornered, the Lobby screeches "bigotry!" – but this is merely a reflex, uttered without sincerity or any indication that even the accusers take it seriously. It is merely meant to blacken the name of anyone who stands up to the threats and intimidation routinely employed by a cabal of ruthless political operatives, who have no more of a moral compass than a flamethrower.
The utter ruthlessness of the Amen Corner's tactics resembles nothing so much as the tactics and methods of a covert action carried out by agents of a foreign power, and, indeed, some of these people – such as Larry Franklin, for example, along with his accomplices – are foreign agents, who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Character assassination is, for them, a routine matter – and, in certain cases, physical assassination is not out of the question. The news that Lebanon has uncovered an Israeli spy ring that routinely engaged in a number of assassinations ought not surprise anyone. ............................. Oh, but nix that – everybody knows that the Mossad would never, ever engage in assassinations, and to even imply such a thing is to confess that one's favorite reading material is The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. " Take Care! -- Will (talk) 08:03, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
It's hilarious that I understand the Harvard logo came off the Mearsheimer-Walt paper but I see Dershowitz's reply has the Harvard logo on it. Take Care! --Will... You see that D's reply has the logo? This is what is known in the trade as false testimony. Neither article has the logo. Oh, but there is a logo on the html page containing Dershowitz's abstract. It's got to be the work of that hilariously hypocritical Jewish Lobby, right? Well, not quite, the Mearsheimer-Walt abstract is accompanied by the same logo. No worries, I'm sure you'll find another way to be victimized by the Lobby real soon. Precis 07:27, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. Testimony from "Latin testes" oh forget the legal lesson. Thank you for your trivia research. I"m glad Dersh was man enough to follow up on removing the logo as Walt removed his. As far as laughing matters and fun and games: In the vein of Karsh's article "What occupation?," Go tell that to the Gazans in their steel cage with a demolished airport and seaport, or the Palestinians on the West Bank in perpetual lockdown in their cantons of Bantustans or the Iraqis, or American dead and wounded, go tell them it's all make believe and make your charges, accusations, and quasi-legal crap here in America and peace and comfort. Take Care! --
Will
(talk)
08:15, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Try telling that to the jewish, black, homosexual, etc victims of hate here. This is Wikipedia--we are all supposed to be taking a three dimensional view. I'm sorry to go on at length here on the talk page, but I'm just trying to get you to see some other sides of these issues you care so deeply about. Elizmr 10:40, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Elizmr. I don't disagree with some of what you've said. The secular Arab states have been largely dealt a death blow and the most extreme kind of Salfist Islam is replacing it. Part of is can be traced to the 1967 land grab and the acquiesance of the U.S. in it and in vetoing U.N. resolultions to grapple with it. The mostrosity of the occupation in Gaza is not outwweighed by the incidents you mentioned, about 5000 settlers in seaside villas using up 20% of the land among a million impoverished Gazans, the settlers guarded by tens of thousands of Israeli troops at a cost of billions. Ironically, now some of the Israeli Gaza settlers, experts at hydroponic agriculture, are running agriculture in enterprises in Morocco, where Arab-Jewish relations are excellent. so, some things are not beyond hope. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 13:35, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Elizmr. You are absolutely right. The Juan Cole page is not a proxy page to fight out the Arab-Israeli dispute. There are may strands such as the meaning of words. Do the descendants of the Jews that originated Xtianity and converted lose their rights as human beings? Do the Xtians of Bethlehem become untermenschen subject to confiscation of their lands and property? Do the descendants of the Jews that converted to Islam lose their humanity and property rights? Have you ever heard of Zaid ibn Su`nah the Jewish companion of the Prophet Muhammad?. That's why in this day and age, I focus on individuals and individual human rights. The proper starting points are these two principles which encapsulate all of human rights in a nutshell.
Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
US Constitution Amendment XIV Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Israel does not have a written Constitution and for good reason! By definition, it is partial to one group of people.
The whole Mid-East conundrum now pretextually is about security, but the real nut is about the land grab of the West Bank. The large settlement blocs have been conceded in the Taba or Geneva accords. It just needs leadership to carry out one of those plans followed up by the Beirut plan with full peace and trade. Everybody will be so busy making money, they will forget about the old bullcrap just like the French and Germans did. Who remembers now that in the single battle of Verdun a million of each died in a single stupid battle? Take Care! -- Will (talk) 22:45, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
Precis. You did very good in clearing up the Harvard seal matter. My apology for blowing off your effort. What is this "us" stuff? "This is how you thank us." Take Care! -- Will (talk) 15:56, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
New major article on the Juan Cole - Yale - Neoconservative controversy. Lots of good quotes and analysis here: [9]. -- Ben Houston 16:06, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Very Good Article. I knew he was a military "brat." I didn't know he had cousins working in the Pentagon during 9.11. He's absolutely right about the jihadist connection and the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. A recent news item reported that al-Qaeda perfected the holy grail of terrorist weaponry, set it in motion but al-Zawahiri pulled it back, so they are capable of some discretion and rational behavior. Cyanide Weapon I need to add a Google Alert "Yale Juan Cole." The articles I"ve pulled have been serendiptious. I've had a "Walt Mearsheimer" alert and it's roped in some Juan Cole-Yale articles. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 17:58, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Added some rebuttal material by James Joyner. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 19:03, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Isarig: the policy you cite is a guideline. The mischief the guideline is directed against is unverified FACT not OPINION. In the instant case, the author is known and the subject matter is opinion. Kindly please read WP:RS again and then keep your cotton-picking hand off the James Joyner quote. I know it does not agree with your POV, but that is no reason to keep counterbalancing verified opinion prejudicial to your POV that is helpful to JC of HIS biographical page. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 21:36, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyner "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Joyner (born November 16, 1965) is best known as the founder and editor-in-chief of the weblogOutside The Beltway and a frequent contributor to TCS Daily (formerly Tech Central Station).
He is a management analyst at Lanmark Technology, Inc., a Washington, D.C. area defense contractor and works at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) in Falls Church, Virginia. From January 2004 to March 2005, he was also Managing Editor of Strategic Insights, the professional journal of the Center for Contemporary Conflict at the [Naval Postgraduate School]. Previously, he was acquisitions editor for international affairs at Brassey's, Inc. (now, Potomac Books) a Dulles, Virginia book publisher and a political science professor at [Troy State University], [Bainbridge College], and the [University of Tennessee at Chattanooga].
He has published academic articles in International Studies Quarterly and Strategic Insights; five book reviews; fourteen encyclopedia articles; over two dozen conference papers; and numerous columns for Tech Central Station. A more-or-less complete listing can be found here.
James served in the U.S. Army from 1988-1992 and is a combat veteran of Operation Desert Storm. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and numerous service medals and ribbons. He is a graduate of the Airborne and Air Assault schools.
He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Alabama (1995) and B.A. (1987) and M.A. (1988) degrees in Political Science from Jacksonville State University. [edit]
External links Strategic Insights / Outside The Beltway If we can't use Dr. James Joyner then whom can we use?????????" Take Care! -- Will (talk) 22:08, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Reply to Isarig No, I don't recall the incident you mentioned, though this sentence about blogs may have may have indeed been uttered by someone at some point (since it is the guideline statment). I certainly don't recall it nor do I think I emitted any opinion regarding Jeff Weintraub, his blog or any blog for that matter, nor do I recall having "voted" or expressed an opinion for anything like this. Are you suggesting I did this? Let's be clear. -- CSTAR 22:13, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
Isarig is running free, character assasinating JC all over the article. That's O.K. any fair reader can see through what's going on. The character and intellect of the mild mannered courageous professor will shine through the slime being heaped on him. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 00:38, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
(UTC)
Ben. Are you talking about Joshua Landis of www.syriacomment.com fame. He's already in the article already somewhere. Probably quoted in a newspaper article. I say let it all in. Cole's head will pop up through the slime. After all, he says over and over again, he's being slimed for his views. But identify the Karsh's and Pipes for their affiliation. The proof is in the pudding. If he wasn't so effective, he wouldn't be so hotly and diligently pursued on this page. But all the non-partisan Mid-East experts, that don't have an iron in the Israeli camp, say he's one of the best! Cole is not a Salafist or a Shiate, He's a non-mainstream Baha'i for goodness sakes. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 21:49, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
of your blog spree. I think any reader can see thru all that self-serving lobby stuff and it actually hurts your cause. I have not problem w/ opinion even if it comes from a blog it it's counterbalanced by other opinion. what matters is verifiablility. Is it a noted blog? Do we know who the author is? Is he well known in the blogosphere? Opinions are like buttholes, Everybody has one. Facts are different, Everybody is entitles to his own opinion b/ not his own facts. Facts have different evidentiary standards. Now using expert opinion to establish facts is a different can of worms. We"ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 17:45, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
Landis is married to an Alawite, a member of the minority sect ruling Syria. Alawites are halfway between Xtians and Muslims- not doing the five prayers but celebrating Xmas and Easter. When they controlled Lebanon, they got the senior Shiite cleric to declare them a Shiite sect. He gives the Alawites a fair shake. He is sympathetic to Assad and not hostile. It is a valuable POV when everybody else is patently hostile. He also gives the Syrian Muslim brotherhood and the exile groups a hearing. I did not particlarly have him in mind. But Joyner does not have a dog in the fight. But for sure Karsh, a former Colonel in the IDF, Pipes & Co. are very partisan and should be so identifed. In fact their rhetoric self-identifes them- labeling anybody and everybody not agreeing with a greater Israel as AS or NAS. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 22:57, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
Actually the Alawites are a bit more complicated than that. WP has a hell of a good article on them learnt a lot by reading it. They have become a lot more outwardly Muslim conforming. Their inward religion is very sophisticated- has to do w/ star transmigration of souls. The Alawites and Druze religions are both very, very interesting! The Alawites also have a Bab lilke the Baha'i. I have added the video streaming link of the Mershon Center Ohio State Juan Cole lecture of Shiite Politics in Iraq to External links section. Take Care! -- Will (talk) 01:32, 22 June 2006 (UTC)~
Professor Juan Cole: the latest victim of "the lobby from the South End, The Student Voice of Wayne State University by Faheem Khan | Contributing Writer Jun/21/2006. This is not a blog b/ a newspaper so there should not any problem using it. Ironic, an unkown student in a college paper has greater access to some than James Joyner! Take Care! -- Will (talk) 15:57, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
After sleeping on it, here are my thoughts. This is an article about criticism of Cole. IMHO, we should accept on-line criticisms and defenses from any published middle east scholar. This would include Cole critics like Karsh and Kramer and Cole defenders like Landis. (I propose that we table the more difficult question of whether Pipes qualifies as a middle east scholar until we set a baseline rule). Here are my reasons:
Thanks, TheronJ 15:50, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
Theron. Did you mean to say " don't see how that's one whit more reliable than a posting on "Landis's" blog stating "In my opinion, Cole is the new Bernard Lewis." Edit. That was the whole point and distinction between Opinion and fact Take Care! -- Will (talk) 16:11, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
I hope JC is not the next Bernard Lewis! Many Jews, while emphasizing the Shoah, slight what happened to the Armenians. The lobby in the U.S., desiring to keep good ties w/ Turkey has been strong in shooting down an Armenian remembrance day. from his WP "In a November 1993 Le Monde interview, Lewis said that the Ottoman Turks’ killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 was not "genocide", but the "brutal byproduct of war".[10] Lewis meant that it was not part of a plan to exterminate the entire Armenian race - not that it was justified or that it did not happen. Parisian court interpreted his remarks as a denial of the Armenian Genocide and fined him one franc. [11" Take Care! -- Will (talk) 16:50, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
Ben Houston and Isarig do not make a consensus! I'm still waiting on CSTAR! Take Care! -- Will (talk) 23:12, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
This has got to be the darndest thing I have ever seen. Theronj has weighed in in favor of free speech for including notable blog opinion. CSTAR has read the WP guideline in its plain meaning as permitting blog opinion and then Isarig and Ben Houston on their own as two people form a consensus of two and start deleting all blog materials! Take Care! -- Will (talk) 23:20, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
"WP:RS differentiates between facts and opinions regarding blogs. The mischief the guideline strives to avoid in unverified facts. In mainstream media, there are mechanisms for checking and verifying facts. Reporters tradition, reputation, editors, newspaper reputation. Opinion is different. Everybody has an opinion, they are like buttholes. If the blog is notable, the blogger is notable, the opinion is in his relevant field, then the opinion should be admissable. In quotes and verbatim- straight out of the horse's mouth would be my prefernce. The case in point that set off the discussion comes from the controversial Juan Cole article views and controversies page. He has earned the interest of the Israeli lobby for his interest in the plight of the Palestinians, Iraq, and Iran and has been criticized heavily, inter alia for his blog "Informed Consent," for allegedly having poor scholarship, and for being too polemic. The best quote in his defense comes from James Joyner who is a sometime critic of JC but comes to his defense as far as the blog, academic expertise and publishing. i believe it is crucial to the article. There is no other way to make the point that needs to be made of the function that Juan Cole's blog has served in society- a role that educates the public in an expert way more beneficial than pedantic nit-picking. Here it is in context. " Take Care! -- Will (talk) 10:18, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
"Using online and self-published sources
A self-published source is a published source that has not been subject to any form of independent fact-checking, or where no one stands between the writer and the act of publication. It includes personal websites, and books published by vanity presses.
Anyone can create a website or pay to have a book published, and then claim to be an expert in a certain field. For that reason, self-published books, personal websites, and blogs are largely not acceptable as sources.
Exceptions may be when a well-known, professional researcher writing within his field of expertise, or a well-known professional journalist, has produced self-published material. In some cases, these may be acceptable as sources, so long as their work has been previously published by credible, third-party publications, and they are writing under their own names, and not a pseudonym.
However, editors should exercise caution for two reasons: first, if the information on the professional researcher's blog is really worth reporting, someone else will have done so; secondly, because the information has been self-published, which means it has not been subject to any independent form of fact-checking." Isarig 14:01, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
Been Having a wheel war with Isarig on two items.
Since I am the introducer of the quote, it is dissapointing that he keeps on interfering with it since the epithet is accurate, fair, verified, relevant to the suject matter of the quote, and researched. Of course it is prejudicial to his POV which is to slime JC whenever possible and thus he keeps deleting it.
The Joyner quote had mysteriously disappeared and didn't show up in the history= w/o trace. A lot of the section shows in the edit part b/ disappears out of edit??? Maybe I'm crosseyed. ??? This is why the Landis quote was double sourced. First it was in the Weiss article. Second Landis referred to in in his blog. Braggin on being in the Weiss article. This is where I saw it. That's why I sourced it! Take Care! -- Will (talk) 23:07, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
We have already lowered the bar on this article (if that's possible) by quoting unsubstantiated rumor. I would find it satisfying if we now go all the way and start quoting opinions of bloggers. Only unsupported opinions will be allowed, of course, since WP considers blogs unreliable sources for facts. The benefits of this new policy will be immediately visible: "Joyner thinks it is highly unusual. Kramer thinks it is not so unusual. Weintraub thinks..." Precis 21:27, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
I'm talking about making a bad thing worse. I think the term is proliferation. Precis 21:42, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
Pare as much unsupported opinion from the article as possible. Many rambling, opinionated quotes could be summarized as follows: "X and Y have expressed support for this point of view; see [ ] and [ ]." Precis 22:11, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
In this example, I would cite Professor TP's primary sources as evidence rather than quoting from her own blog. But there is more to this than just reliability of source. To name one of many examples, the Lockman quote on the Yale controversy gives only unsupported opinion. Since no reasons are provided for his beliefs, this is a case where condensation would be in order: "Lockman agrees with Cole's view; see [ ]." Incidentally, I find it most unfortunate that Professor TP, who recently married Professor Lobby, decided to hyphenate her name. Precis 22:59, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
The unfortunate thing is that Ms. TP did not want to discard her maiden name, so she now goes by the hyphenated combination Ms. Toute-puissante-Lobby. As for not citing blogs, that's exactly the point. Precis 00:12, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
Yes, to the Washington Times question. I think of the game this way. Mme TP is tempted to quote from CounterPunch, but then she thinks, "If I do that, M. L might start quoting from FrontPage Magazine." And so the WP structure itself motivates avoidance of fringe partisan sources. (I hope I didn't just espouse Mearsheimerian neorealism, else my days in the Lobby are numbered.) Many blogs are worth quoting, but do we want to open the door for a host of quotes from opposing blogs? That would lead to...p r o l i f e r a t i o n...(to be read in the same tone as Meg's Ryan's "Lactose Intolerance" in "French Kiss"), which is bad enough here already without opening the floodgates. I agree that rare exceptions for a blog can be made, e.g.,when it is the only source available. Fearing the slippery slope, I spoke out against the inclusion of Melanie Phillips's blog at The Israel Lobby in April. But her quote is so witty that I wasn't sufficiently motivated to remove it myself. (Yes, I'm that hypocritical.) Speaking of wit, thanks for the great story. Was the participle "interdit" used in a transitive or intransitive sense? No matter, the point is moot: Mme TPL went through with the operation, her husband changed parties, and they are now living happily in a liberal enclave on Castro Street. Precis 12:23, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
B removes all blogs, and W disagrees. What should W do?
In my opinion, (a) is best, (b) is second best, and (c) is a very distant third. Now here is a question for those who favor the use of blogs. May I have permission to use quotes about Cole from all of these bloggers? [14], [15], [16], [17], [18]? (Some may not be notable, but I can get around that issue by using Slate [19] as a tertiary source.) Precis 12:14, 25 June 2006 (UTC)
The extent of what is appropriate isn't clear. For example, in WorldNetDaily.com [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48426], Ilana Mercer referred to Cole's Salon article "Sharon as Jailer" as a "dog's breakfast of an essay". Is it appropriate to use her quote? I'll bet there is no consensus on that. Precis 01:43, 26 June 2006 (UTC) P.S. Are refereed blogs also inappropriate? See for example [20]. Precis 11:25, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
I challenge you to address an even more difficult case. Is it ok to use blog passages which were reprinted in a reliable source? An example would be to use the blog quotes reprinted in Slate [21]. Precis 10:07, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
You make an important point that for judging reliability of a quote, one should consider not only the medium source but also the nature of the article within it. I agree with your opinions in this section, with two caveats:
Cole has taken a firm stand against the kind of anti-semitic conspiracy theory that some of his critics accuse him of. This opening sentence needs to be reworded. If Cole's critics had specifically said "Cole believes that Jews conspire to start wars", then the wording would be fine. But critics' comments on the dual-loyalty issue are of a somewhat different nature. Thus the current phrasing smacks a bit of editorialising. Precis 10:17, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
Isarig's version was better, because we are not necessarily talking conspiracy here. Precis 04:41, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
If the conspiracy angle were precisely the grounds on which Cole takes issue with Mr. Gibson, I would certainly agree with you. But I read Cole's article, and while I saw Cole take issue with blaming Jews and stereotyping Jews, I saw no reference to Jewish conspiracy. Can you copy/paste a sentence where such reference is made? Perhaps our disagreement is due to different definitions of "conspiracy". To me, that word means "secret plot". Did Cole ever refer to secrecy, plots, covert planning, or the like? It seems to me you are reading more into this than is actually there. However, it's a small point, so if you still think I'm wrong, I won't press the issue. Precis 11:24, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
Mel said that the jews were responsible for all wars. What definition of "conspiracy" are you using that makes it obvious to you that Mel is talking about a conspiracy? Is being responsible the same as conspiring? We must be using different definitions. Precis 22:19, 1 August 2006 (UTC) P.S. This is from www.dictionary.com:
n. A theory seeking to explain a disputed case or matter as a plot by a secret group or alliance rather than an individual or isolated act. Precis 22:28, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
con·spir·a·cy Audio pronunciation of "conspiracy" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kn-spîr-s)
n. pl. con·spir·a·cies
1. An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act. 2. A group of conspirators. 3. Law. An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action. 4. A joining or acting together, as if by sinister design: a conspiracy of wind and tide that devastated coastal areas.
from here. This is the last I have to say about this tired and irrelevant argument.-- csloat 22:38, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
Some critics of this statement have called this a conspiracy theory. Mearsheimer and Walt, on the other hand, are offended by such language. As a matter of course, WP should avoid using loaded terms when the interpretation is disputed. Precis 00:21, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
If we are going to keep the lengthy Democracy Now quote (and I don't think we should), should we print Cole's actual quote, viz., "The most dangerous regime to United States interests in the Middle East is that of Ariel Sharon, not because he fights terrorists, but because he is stealing the land of another people and is brutalizing them in the process--and those are people with whom the rest of the Middle East and the Muslim world sympathizes." [22] Precis 20:58, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
If sourced speculation is to be removed, it should be removed on both sides. Precis 23:37, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
Cole described the events as a “tempest in a teapot” claiming the “scandal” was propagated by a handful of “neo-con” journalists.
- -
“ Well, first of all, I never applied for a job at Yale. Some people at Yale asked if they could look at me for a senior appointment. I said, "Look all you want." So that's up to them. Senior professors are like baseball players. You’re being looked at by other teams all the time. If it doesn't result in an offer, then nobody takes it seriously. Some neo-con journalists have tried to make this a big scandal. Who knows what their hiring process is like, what things they were looking for? I think it's a tempest in a teapot. ”
Elizmr 18:20, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
I am not doing anything to the section in terms of getting rid of it or paring it down, as I already said, because others feel strongly that it should be there and argued that. Please see my original edit summary if you want to know why I am "picking on you" for a description of your POVpushing edit with no justification. Elizmr 17:34, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
I went ahead and pared it down, deleting quotes from Cole's supporters as well as detractors. I even left one of TDC's quotes in there so Elizmr can't personally attack me again for POV pushing.-- csloat 17:55, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
Uhh, now you're trolling, TDC. Stop it.-- csloat 18:01, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
This section is in flux, but it currently reads as follows:
Faculty position at Yale University In 2006 Cole was nominated to teach at Yale University and was approved by both Yale's sociology and history departments. However, the senior appointments committee overruled the departments, and Cole was not appointed.
According to "several Yale faculty members," the decision to overrule Cole's approval was "highly unusual." [37]. However, Yale officials stated that the rejection was not unusual, and Deputy Provost Charles Long stated that "every year, least one and often more fail at one of these levels, and that happened in this case."[49] The history department vote was 13 yes, 7 no, and 3 abstain . [37] Professors interviewed by the Yale Daily News [49] said "the faculty appeared sharply divided."
Yale Historian Paula Hyman commented that the deep divisions in the appointment committee were the primary reasons that Cole was rejected: "There was also concern, aside from the process, about the nature of his blog and what it would be like to have a very divisive colleague."[15]
In an interview on Democracy Now!,[50] Cole described the events as a “tempest in a teapot” claiming the “scandal” was propagated by a handful of “neo-con” journalists.
Two comments: (1) PH's opinion should be balanced by an opposing opinion of another Yale historian, e.g, John Merriman, a Yale history professor, said of Cole's rejection: "In this case, academic integrity clearly has been trumped by politics." Burning Cole (2) I like the idea of shortening the Democracy Now passage, but the current version has been condensed in a misleading way. Look at the way Cole actually used the word "scandal", for example. In highly charged matters, verbatim quotes seem more advisable than interpretation. Precis 20:19, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
Just to be clear on this, for Isarig's benefit: I believe TDC's summary of Cole is factually incorrect and POV. The above substantiates that opinion. I will restore the tag and ask that Isarig not revert a third time. He has asked me to restore the quote in order to address the problem; I have not done so because I have already done that twice and user TDC has reverted me both times. If someone restores the quote we can remove the tag. Thanks.-- csloat 00:22, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
I'm going on vacation shortly, but I'd like to leave the following suggestions for compromise: (1) Remove the final quote and the tag, until a consensus is reached on Talk. (2) The consensus may be to leave the DN quote out altogether. That would be fine with me. (3) The quote is too long relative to its importance, so I sympathize with attempts to shorten it, but I'm also sympathetic with preserving verbatim quotes whenever possible. (4) One possible compromise:
Yes, this leaves off the fact that Cole didn't apply for the job, but I fail to see why that's important. What difference does it make whether the process was initiated by Cole himself or by recruiters? The bottom line is that Cole was interested in the position, or else he wouldn't have given the recruiters the green light. Precis 08:30, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
I think that this section would do well to be in reverse chronological order as readers will likely be reading for more recent issues first.
Currently is reads:
I think it ought to be:
I don't want to unilaterally make this change without discussion. MARussellPESE 04:04, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
expertise faculty posit Ahmadinejad Legal disputes Baha'i moving from general to more specific incidents, put yale first since it follows from expertise and professionalism Elizmr 21:42, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
I think Elizmr is trying to place these topics in descending order of general interest. Interestingly, that parallels a reverse-chronological order almost perfectly. I can readily see arguments in both directions — because either direction seems to indicate that controversies around Cole expand with him as his notoriety expands.
I lean towards descending interest as currently presented for readability reasons. Nobody but a few of us Baha'is — and by far not even a lot of us — have more than passing familiarity with his conflicts within that community. On the other hand, the Yale appointment and comments viewed by some as almost apologetics regarding the Iranian regime have garnered a lot of press. These are subjects readers would be far more interested in I think. MARussellPESE 19:40, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
Just for the record, you are not the, "target of [my] personal ire," because of your, "defense of some of Cole's statements." Defense of Cole's statements is fine with me and without that Wikipedia wouldn't be Wikipedia; Wikipedia needs to show all sides. You have earned ire from me because of your unconditional knee-jerk defense of Cole, becuase of the rude and dismissive way you treat other editors, and because of the way you combat against the article showing more than one POV. (And for the record I agree with you that the Yale thing doesn't need to be in Wikipedia. I said this a long time ago and Ben Houston disagreed. He felt that the Yale thing showed that Cole is very well respected, etc, to be nominated and it should stay for that reason. Not a bad point.) I think that the most interesting aspect of the Yale affair is that it is an example of a classic Cole pattern. He is great when agreed with, but when challenged or faced with adversity, he replies with one of two options: a)this is a well-funded powerful neo-con right-wing likudnik conspiracy at work!!! or b)you are an idiot who doesn't know anything and I am the great and powerful Cole!!! Elizmr 00:08, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
Your use of the imperative "get off my case" isn't called for. You've asserted that the Yale appointment is/was silly and I've countered that it wasn't. It was discussed in reputable places like the WSJ and The Chronicle of Higher Education, and got more than a brief mention in the Washington Times. Referring to that as reputable does strain credulity, but not the WSJ and Chronicle. I'm not "on your case". I'm just trying to have an even-tempered conversation and make a point or two — politely. If you don't think I have, please respond in kind.
A comparison between the notoriety of Cole and Butz is perfectly reasonable — which is all that I made. I made no cheap shot on Cole, and did not use a reducto ad Hitlerim argument. I went out of my way to state clearly what I believe: that Cole's no Nazi apologist — no matter what the Secretary of Defense may pronounce.
Oddly enough, I'll lay good odds that if you sample the average Newshour viewer who these guys are, you'll find those that know of Cole to be an integer multiple of those that know of Butz. Hence, the difference the the amount of Wiki-ink relative to the two.
However, Cole has been a fire-brand for about ten years himself, and shows no signs of slowing down. His acerbic, dismissive, tone with any critic is notorious. "Condescending" doesn't begin to capture the way he comes across. People have called him the next Bernard Lewis, and he could well be if he takes a page from that scholar's book. Lord knows the West could use more of that insight — but Cole's withering rhetoric with anybody who disagrees with him will, I suspect, keep him notorious for years to come. And it does, I'm sure, compromise the effect of whatever he has to say, no matter how insightful.
By the way, Barbara Foley was not a tenured faculty member and not fired from Northwestern for being a fire-brand. She was denied tenure for inciting a riot (Fall 1984) and refusing to apologize. I know. I was in the room when she did it. Storming the stage with about twenty people and telling the room that the speaker, Contra leader Adolfo Calero (a miserable human being), would "be lucky to get out of here alive!" [26] (That's the direct quote I remember, and it's aggravated menacing. She doesn't remember it that way though. [27] No surprise: she stops just short of that pithy sentence. But I do. It was a memorable introduction to the academy.) That would go beyond the limits of academic freedom, wouldn't you agree?
To compare her notoriety with Butz or Cole: her's extended as far as the campus paper and the two local dailies for about a quarter. By the time I was a senior it was "Barbara Who"? Agreed, she probably would have made Wikipedia with all sorts of citations. But they wouldn't be from the likes of WSJ saying one thing and Chronicle saying almost the opposite. (That's what makes these things about Cole "noteworthy controversies".) In Foley's case, everybody thought she should be fired, and was one event. (Which makes it not noteworthy and why that episode's justifiably not on Wikipedia.) MARussellPESE 21:35, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
If that's the case, then it'll, quite appropriately, come down then.
Last point: Inciting to riot is a crime itself. Freedom of speech categorically does not allow one to threaten violence against anybody — something neither the far left, right or religious seem to grasp. But grown-ups do. MARussellPESE 23:09, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
Thanks, Italiavivi 01:04, 31 August 2006 (UTC).
I would like to have a discussion about the title of this page before the revert war continues any further. I feel it was entirely inappropriate for Italiaviva to make massive changes without any discussion or attempt to achieve consensus. The title and content of this page was discussed for weeks, and even the founder of wikipedia weighed in the discussion as I recall. I don't think a unilateral move by one person who claims there are POV issues here is appropriate at all. I will be fine with such a move if consensus is achieved - or at least some semblance of a reasonable discussion - but I am not comfortable with the unilateral move. Am I out of line here? Can someone explain what is POV about "Views and controversies"? Or why it is less POV to make this page exclusively about attacks against Cole? I just don't understand.-- csloat 20:18, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
I agree with both csloat & MARussellPESE. This is a NPOV title that we have agreed on after a long discussion that led to consensus. Italiavivi is trolling here and on other pages, making controversial unilateral moves and changes, and then resorting to revert wars, 3RR violations and personal attacks agianst editors who disagree with him Isarig 18:09, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
Will314159, these pages are part of an encyclopedia we are trying to write, not a playground for you to experiment with to indulge your egocentric fantasies. Please do not make any more edits like your recent ones, deleting, then restroing content in order to gauge other editors' reaaction to them. That is a violation of so many WP guidelines that I won't even enumerate them. You have been warned. Isarig 17:03, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
the grand champion reverter of all time is one editor by name of Isarig. I wish there was a counter for that category Isarig. You would win hands down of reversions of POV pushing. Best Wishes. Will314159 19:50, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
04:44, 11 October 2006 Armon (Talk | contribs) ({{Cquote| are prettier and make it eaiser to read)"" massive rewrite, but from reading the log you would think he prettied up some quotes. Hope you can sleep at night. Best Wishes Will314159 04:57, 11 October 2006 (UTC)
04:30, 11 October 2006 Will314159 (Talk | contribs) (→On Israel - denial of human rights is fascism irrespective of voting- did Kramer say that? I missed it)
Again Armon is making misleading edit logs. The whole Cole rebuttal to Kramer criticism is that Likud is not fascist because it does or does not participate in democracy. The Cole criticism is that it is facist because of the way it treats and supresses the Palestinians. Fascism has evolved from Mussollini's days. See the neofascism article. He keeps on deleting my counterbalancing edit. This is an article on Juan Cole's views, isn't it? Or is it an article of how the Likud lobby want to paint Juan Cole's views? Or if Armon doesn't delete, you can bet Isarig will, or xxx, or yyyy. Definitely outnumbered here and very, very, little sense of fair play. Best Wishes Will314159 05:07, 11 October 2006 (UTC) Edit So Armon ask Kramer if we should adjust the double standard so that both are fascist, or neither is? His argument seems to accept an equivalence. Cheers Will314159 05:10, 11 October 2006 (UTC)
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