The BBC carry a story about the controversy that Mearsheimer and Walt’s book on the supposed effectiveness of the Israeli lobby has provoked. The article makes it clear that the authors do not think there is a conspiracy, but that “pro-Israeli lobbying is not secretive, but conforms to the open rules of America’s democratic system.” However Mearsheimer and Walt’s discussion about the negative reaction to their book is interesting:

Virtually all reviews of the book in the mainstream US press have been negative.

“They have often misrepresented our arguments badly or tried to smear us by either saying or hinting that we are anti-Semitic,” Mr Walt told the BBC News website.
[…]
The authors regard their excoriation in the US press as a sign of the lobby’s effectiveness.

Are they suggesting that the pro-Israeli lobby have been lobbying the media openly using the American democratic system? All the negative book reviews were due to Zionist lobbying? Where is the evidence for this? How convenient that negative reactions to their books must be a sign of the lobby’s effectiveness.

So, let’s get this clear. The “Israeli lobby” controls US foreign policy and also the US media?

I’m surprised they got their book past the Israeli lobby’s censor, given the power they ascribe to it.

Two supporters of the Australian government have taken part in a historical re-enactment, with a contemporary twist, of the UK’s Zinoviev Letter.

Australia’s prime minister has condemned members of his own party for distributing leaflets implying the Labor opposition supports terrorism.

John Howard, who trails Labor’s Kevin Rudd in opinion polls ahead of a Saturday’s general election, said the Liberal Party had not authorised them.

The flyers purported to be from an Islamic group thanking Labor for its sympathy for the Bali bombers.

Two Liberal activists have been expelled from the party.

The leaflets were distributed in the Sydney constituency of Lyndsay - a marginal seat in what will be a keenly fought election.

The Zinoviev Letter was a supposed letter from sent in 1924 written by Grigory Zinoviev, chairman of the Comintern in the Soviet Union. Zinoviev promoted revolution through acts of sedition. It was intercepted by MI5, and then leaked to the Daily Mail with serious consequences for the Labour Party.

The letter was published in these newspapers four days before the 1924 General Election and contributed to the defeat of MacDonald and the Labour Party. After the election it was claimed that two of MI5’s agents, Sidney Reilly and Arthur Maundy Gregory, had forged the letter and that Major Joseph Ball, a MI5 leaked it to the press. In 1927 Ball went to work for the Conservative Central Office where he pioneered the idea of spin-doctoring.

It was my pleasure to have visited Americaland in recent days and I found it curious and heartwarming that as far back as last weekend everyone was already wishing everyone else a Happy Holidays, even though the day itself isn’t until Thursday, which is still to come from where I write this. It’s a really big deal down there. A fine custom, too, and loads of good eats (if it were me, I’d go for the Twinkie Teramisu with Espresso Syrup).

We had ours several weeks ago, as per usual in Canuckistan. Still, today, I happened to receive three correspondences via the electronic pneumatique from Americans, and each of them wished me a Happy Holidays. Whether they offered the salutation unaware of the differences in our respective feast days or just because that’s what Americans say to people around this time of year regardless, I don’t know. I appreciated it all the same.

Happy Thanksgiving to the lot of you.